Great Sermon, Great Worship, Great Fellowship, Great family time = Spectacular Sunday!

There is something amazingly wonderful about worshiping the God of the universe together as a body. Totally enjoyed church the past two weeks. Great worship, great sermons, old and new friends.  Today we enjoyed the added bonus of hearing Pastor Breanne G (our daughter) share her heart and vision for Kids on the Rock Children's Ministry. I have a few pictures from last week, which I wasn't sure I'd have a chance to share. LOL 

Donna and BreAnne are office Buddies

Children's Ministry has the upstairs of the church - and it's beautiful! 

Stacia and Zander have enjoyed all the kids and stories

They're buying goats as an outreach project

Yes, they even have a rock wall....and they use it.

It's a good thing BRE is the pastor in this section - I think I'd be tempted to hang a few darlins from the rock wall. ::snsort:: 

Dad is still contagious today and didn't come to church.

Mom, Will, Sherri, the kids, Michael, Bre and I went to lunch. 

Sherri and I made a Costco run. I was AMAZED AGAIN at the portion sizes of products and such in America. How quickly I forget. ::grin::  Sherri introduced me to Sweet Life....fun place to sit and visit. 

Nolan had gone to the girl's apartment for a party. We went over to pick him up and enjoyed a family walk along the Willamette river. I LOVE this river-walk....natural and pretty.... just fun! I think there is a chain of parks along the other side of the river. If Michael is up to it after his tests on Tuesday and Wednesday, I think we'll pack lunches and go exploring.  We plan to be packing on Thursday and possibly flying on Friday????? 

 Back at the girls' apartment Michael busied himself with bike repair (anyone have a gear puller)?

We visited and played games.....

Honestly, enjoying this taste of family living has me thinking more and more about retirement. LOL  Stacia has informed me it's TIME to go back to Misawa - she misses her dolls. 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Surprising Saturday

The day got an unexpected start as I blogged below....it continued to be full of surprises.

We had thought we'd spend the day today and tomorrow with Mom G. We tried throughout the afternoon and evening to reach her yesterday and couldn't.  She was out visiting thrift shops and neither she nor us have a cell phone so we were passing messages back and forth through others. We weren't too worried. She's a late riser; our plan was to call her early and arrange the rest of the day.  We called several times before we finally heard from Mike's sister around noon  she'd gone home  to California. We were able to talk to her tonight and she made great time driving home. She's happy to be back home.

So....realizing our day was STRANGE....Mom G was gone and Mom and Dad T are contagious....we went shopping. The kids have a hard time finding a few clothing items in Japan due to their size (off base) and selection (on base).  We had fun buying them the things they needed.

Krista came over this evening and watched the kids while Michael and I went out to Olive Garden with Will and Sherri (my brother and sister in law).  We rarely snatch time for a visit just the four of us - so this was a treat. The night was perfect for a walk along the river after dinner.

One fun memory...as we watched a couple of fishermen, Will noticed an osprey (no photo). He commented his money was on the osprey to catch a trout before the fisherman. It was amazing to watch the osprey swoop down and snatch a trout from between the two fishermen. LOL

Blue Heron 

Two of my favorite guys

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Friday the 13th

We started the day with a trip to the cardiologist for Michael. No news....more tests next week. This means we are NOT flying home Wednesday. 


We dropped by and had lunch at Mom and Dad's. 


We spent a couple of hours with Sherri (Sister in law) and Will. 

We met the girls for dinner. 


We picked up Mom T and went to Krista's softball game. We couldn't make connections with Mom G - she was out thrift store shopping.  It was a perfect night for a softball game...not cold, not hot. 


Krista plays on a co-ed team from her church and they play in a city league. Last night they played a team which was undefeated.  They led until the very last inning....good showing.

This a.m. has started rough.....Arielle got something in her eye when she was messing with her contact and is quite a bit of pain, Zander burned his hand at breakfast, Stacia's toe is still bothering her (can't enjoy the pool), Gpa has pneumonia so we'll stay away from there for a bit and pray no one else gets it, and there is a fair amount of let down as we'd hoped to have the "all-clear" to travel home.  


Stacia and Zander DID amuse the breakfast lounge with thrilling tales of neighborhood battles, tsunamis and earthquakes. They could take this act on the road. I just stared into space and muttered, "That poor man with those kids." ::snort:: Didn't work too well: as I was sneaking out of the lobby, I was stopped, "Your kids are charming." Me - "well, they're certainly talkative." LOL They are charming....I just could use charming a bit later in the day. LOL 


So....today we regroup, take care of various owies.....try to connect with Mom G again and remind ourselves our task is to Choose Joy! LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Cardiac Update

Quick update. Thanks for all the prayers. We know nothing new. ::snort:: 


We know the cardiologist also thinks Michael is in superb shape. We know  8-9 min on the treadmill is considered to be in shape for an American  51 yo male - wow that's a LOW bar.


Michael will be having another ECG and stress test next week. He'll also have an abdominal ultrasound. He's been having a pain since surgery and was told it would eventually go away. It's not. It's getting more pronounced....cardiologist says sometimes they leave things inside. ::gulp:: Michael replied, "Not Flora!" BUT the cardiologist, not knowing Flora,  scheduled an ultrasound to rule out abscess in the general region. 


Basically, Cardiologist wants to see if there have been any changes in the past 3 weeks and confirm the findings from Hachinohe for himself. If he agrees with Hachinohe findings, or if things look worse, there will be more tests and procedures. If things look normal to him we'll be cleared to fly home. 


 Tricare requires pre-authroization (I know this is what Misawa Dr wanted so just paperwork). Wed is the earliest this will be done. We won't be flying home on Wednesday. He DID say he'd call with results quickly after recommending we change flight plans to no earlier than Friday. 


Fun trivia - cardiologist was in Kyoto in his 20's and is married to a Japanese woman. He was hoping the results would be in Japanese so he could practice his Japanese. He totally understands where we live in Misawa. LOL 


Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

A Day at the Beach

Tomorrow is the long awaited cardiologist follow-up. In an effort to keep Michael away from Google and Web MD we headed to the Oregon Coast. Bre had to work. We picked up Krista, Mom T and Mom G. 

Waldport Sighting

Gherkins on THIS side of the pacific

We discovered Arielle has a wonderful talent....she makes amazing sand art with her feet! 

Follow these steps if you find debris from Japan

Surreal to stand in Newport, OR and see a piece of the dock from the fishing harbor 2 miles away from our home in Misawa, Japan. 

This photo is just to show the amazingly pretty location where it landed....the dock is barely seen just below the "k" in the photo

Back in Florence for a family tradition 

Sand-boarding.....a new tradition? 

We came home tired, ordered a pizza, doctored Stacia's toe and watched Narnia on T.V.

I dreamed of PWOC Mentors: Deb showed up and told me she loved me. Victoria told me to pray, prepare, practice and present and that self-care was not selfish, Audrey and Becky were teaching me how to pack. ::snort::  Michael read too much at WebMD - think it's good we're seeing doc today.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Tea, Airplanes and the Outback...

Another fine day in Eugene. Michael went to a men's breakfast study. I took the younger three to the pool     and soaked up some vitamin  D while I read the newspaper.

The girls, Sherri (Sister in law), Mom G and Mom T enjoyed a tea party at Mom T's. 

We all picked our favorite tea cup to use

My favorite which I didn't select as I figured it would be near impossible with the handle

Bad photo - but the only group photo I took 

Michael took the boys on a super secret surprise.....an airplane ride. 

We've had LOTS of plane rides recently so what made this special? Well - it IS a small plane....

and Michael piloted the plane. Michael attended the flight program at a college in this town...the boys had a blast....and Michael did too. The timing was right. 

I think there are a couple of girls who would like a redo on this tea/airplane choice...they want to have their tea and plane too. ::snort:: Another plane trip may be in the near future. 

Michael, myself, Arielle, Nolan, Zander and Stacia met Bre, Mom G and Rebecca for dinner tonight.  Then Arielle, Zander and Nolan went with Pastor Bre to work on a VBS banner. 

We brought Stacia home hoping to find a nice kids' movie for her to watch - you'd think as they have cable...NOPE nothing suitable for a child. She fell asleep. She hurt her toe this afternoon - I believe she'll lose the toe nail - it's loose and so she's a bit worn out. She hates, and is terrified of, blood. 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...