Update on Phil

Phil is the name of our young friend who was wounded in theater last Saturday. Things have been happening so fast that I've not been sure what to update. Here's the latest happenings.

• Phil made it safely to the East Coast and is being treated at the Navy Hospital - his family is very impressed with the care he (and they) are receiving. The Army is also doing a superb job of caring for his wife and parents.
• The neurosurgeon is amazed at how quickly Phil is recovering. He said they did a good job at the field hospital.
• Phil's sisters and brother are all on the East Coast now.
• Please continue to pray that feeling and movement will return to Phil's left side.
• Phil has been moved out of ICU today and this means he can see his nieces and nephew.
• Phil would like to see the President...to make this happen has become the mission of his siblings.
• Ev asks that we pray for those who were responsible for shooting Phil and his cell.
• There are two young men who were heroes in getting Phil off the field.... Phil is working to make sure they are properly thanked - military style.
• The near future looks like a couple of weeks in the hospital and then moving on to rehab.

Thanks so much for your prayers for Phil and for all of the troops in harm's way.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Young Love

Zander has his first crush. It's a doozy. He's picked a wonderful student at the base. His siblings have told him she's too old (19) ....doesn't matter. She sits with him at potlucks, smiles at him....he's smitten with Sara.

During a recent conversation he cracked us all up when he said.....

"The minute I saw her I did this.."

"Then I fell over,"...looks up and says, "Arielle and Nolan thought I had a stroke."

His taste is superb....can't wait to meet the young lady he brings home in 15 - 20 years. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

WooHOO!! Weekend Recap

Another thing crossed off the check list. I made the girls' reservations to fly out for Jamin's graduation/Arielle's Birthday (same day). Bre will come out early and stay for a week.

Krista will fly in the day before the graduation. She plans to stay with us in San Angelo (jump out of a plane), and drive back west with us. One last PCS road trip.....

Cy made a 100% on a paper he turned in. He just got from a Chick Fil A manager team building weekend....where they had a auto accident, a boat motor quit, and had to push the boat back to shore. ::snort::

Jared and Mike fixed both our bath tubs and made great progress on the pond for the front yard.

I didn't get a LOT done yesterday...but Mike has been at chapel since 7:30 a.m.....so I got a lot done today! Tickets and Winter Gear.....

{Military Speak: PCS - Permanent Change of Station; MOVE}

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Success - Sort of

I spent 3 hours - THREE HOURS - shopping online. This takes a lot of time....when Internet Explorer went down...and I lost the shopping bag. Grrrrr....

THEN I went back and put it all back a second time. Goes much quicker the second time. I've ordered coats for all but Nolan and ski pants for all but Jared and I. I'm not sure where else to try for those last things.

I'm not sure I got the right size...but I measured everyone and went with their size charts...not at all the sizes I would have bought. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Roasted Asparagus with Onion

Chop two sweet onions and spread on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Add some garlic and sprinkle with Kosher salt.

Roast in oven 20 minutes.

I was baking chicken at the time so the temp was lower than I would normally favor for roasted veggies. 400 or 425 works best.

After the onions have softened a bit (turn over with fork), add fresh asparagus (woody ends snapped off). Drizzle (or spritz) with olive oil, sprinkle salt and fresh Rosemary. Bake for another 10 minutes. When asparagus is done to desired softness (I like mine crisp), take out and garnish with fresh Parmesan cheese.

I love roasted onions so I took the opportunity to cook them along with the asparagus. You’ll have to experiment with the baking time. I was working on pulling everything together for dinner and didn’t time the veggies very precisely. Okay, I barely timed them at all so I am not responsible for your under or over cooked veggies.

Roast at your own risk.

Visit the Recipe Index (linked in side bar) for more yummy eats. This recipe was shared on SHS by Kathy of Ducakbush Blog and has become a favorite.

{I'm making it a lot right now as I'm not sure I'll be able to easily get asparagus in Japan. Still posting favorites to Choosing Joy in the hopes of leaving cookbooks behind.}

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Check it out

My friend Debbie told me about an album she found that she thought would be great for me. I agree (but am committed to using all my Creative Memory albums first). While I was picking up stuff for PWOC today, I called Debbie and she directed me to the aisle where these babies are kept. These are made by Pebbles Inc.

You can slide your printed 4 x 6 photos right into the sleeves (No Time), or add a couple of journaling boxes (Some Time), or do what I've been doing with my digital, make a fancy 12 x 12 layout and slide it into a full page protector with the next page being plain (Creative Time). This seems to allow for digital scrapping pretties when wanted, ease of storing photos in a safe spot etc....not sure that I'd want to do this when I reach my digital photos.....as I plan to do most of that on whatever size, print it out and put them in an album....but who knows.

They ship FREE to military bases world wide....gotta love a company that puts their "military support" into discounts. ::snort:: It's standard shipping and I've been told that standard shipping to Japan can take a long time...but it IS an option.

Has anyone used these albums?

No, we didn't find winter gear...but surely Japanese children wear winter gear, boots, gloves etc for skiing etc???? I've heard from saver that the BX sells out quick and has cheap stuff that doesn't hold up. I've heard that you need to be petite to find clothes in Misawa and that there isn't much there actually....but don't you think that they'd have SOME winter gear either in local shops or at the base thrift shop? I can see stocking up for Jared, Mike and I - possibly Arielle but the boys and Stacia are young enough I would think there would be something! What do you think?

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Photo Albums ???

I've been thinking as I transfer photos from boxes to CM safe albums (naked albums). I'm now at June 9, 1985 - the day Bre entered the world...so 23 1/2 years to go...... Hey that means I've finished 22 years. ::snort::

I want to use up all my CM albums but then I'm thinking of changing.....

Keep the naked CM albums until I run out (probably about when we switched to digital photos)

At that point I planned on switching to a hybrid/digital scrapping style. Those I can work on in Japan....BUT I got to wondering.....do you think I'll find a place to PRINT 12 x 12 digital layouts in Japan? I may go to 8 x 11....

I saw Lois' albums and she has them in page protectors and nice notebooks....certainly cheaper than buying CM albums....and easy to print at home or at any photo shop.... Of course they wouldn't all be the same then...naked albums until 1990's, a few years of highly decorated scrapbooks, more naked albums, then 8 x 11 digital albums. I don't know if I can handle that....I'm the one with 28 matching, 3 ring magnetic albums....it always must match. What is God doing? First my curriculum being 1/2 classic and 1/2 redesign and now my albums....

OK - off to search for winter wear on clearance....and work on more photos....and go through a few more closets...

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.