Hawaii!!!!

I doubt that I can do justice to our trip - but photos will go along way. By the time we left Japan, I knew that my life was about to make some big changes in Hawaii. I was hit with NERVES big time and Windy had to pray me out the door and on to the plane. Poor thing, she must have wondered what sort of psycho she was traveling with. ::snort::

Here we are - looking refreshed and excited to begin our really BIG ADVENTURE - bigger than our night out at the library! ::snort:: BTW - that's me on the left.
Two plane trips, one bus ride and a day later we were well welcomed in Honolulu.

Windy and I shared a room. Here's the view from our room.



Our group - and the brunette behind us on the left is from our first assignment. A highlight for me was seeing Julie and Sarah (both from Malmstrom AFB) again.
Sunday Morning, Brenda Marlin, PWOCI President, prayed for the next generation of women.


After the conference our group went out on a Catamaran. This couple touched a deep chord in me.
Ah - sailing....
Windy enjoys the ride....

and then....I got "violently ill"! Really. I threw up seven times on the Catamaran. The conference had concluded on a high point for me (and I'll blog that later), and this was a low point! ::snort:: I told God if he really loved me, He'd calm the waves like He did for the disciples...but He didn't.....Windy got ill too. Susane felt ill but held it together. I wasn't sure I'd make it back to the hotel when we landed. I figured God was helping me face my fear of motion sickness....afterall it can't get much more humiliating than what I went through on this trip. I'll spare you lots of the details. I was thankful that He was showing me that I could handle the worse and not fear flying and motion sickness. We made it back to the hotel. I slept. Everyone slept. We got up and went in search of a baked potatoe. I got sick again.

We got up early to fly back to Japan....I was sick. I got sick a couple of times before boarding the plane....slept most the way home....Susane had to go to the hospital in Hawaii. We chatted yesterday and I discovered that six women from Hickam and she and I seem to have contacted some sort of food poisioning...so it wasn't all motion sickness.

It really was a great trip. My traveling companions were precious. The time away was about right. I was able to see old friends.....the very ladies who introduced me to PWOC. There will be lots more photos as they are sent to me...but these give you the idea.

I'll have more to say in the next day or so. I need time to write it well. LOL If a picture is worth a thousand words, THIS one is worth a few million.

For those who recognize some of the ladies, yes, I'm the new PWOC Asia Region President...and I'm more humbled and more exhilerated than I can remember being in a very long time.

Time to run....Prot News is done and I'd like to get home to my babies.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

This can only mean one thing!

INTERNET....

Mike met me at the airport with the news that we will have Interent installed next Tuesday (3rd). This is way before DECEMBER and I'm thankful! It's also on a day when both Mike and I have meetings. Mike, however, is determined that we are getting Internet on the 3rd. LOL

No, I've not been continually griping...but he knows that life will be normal, easier and such with communication at home. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Today's Adventure

On base AGAIN and must get home.

I needed to check email and will send a quick blog post.

Had a dr appt today. I think I'm going to like our doc. He's a Mormon and LISTENED to me. I will have bunch of labs done when I get home from Hawaii. It appears that many of my strange symptoms could be the diabetes back again...We shall see. I also had my first EKG. MUCH better than a mammogram, that. They said that things are fine. I'll see the doc again in a month. He had lots to say about lots of things...and now we have lots to consider and pray about. ::snort::

THEN I had my beauty adventure. I knew it was time to do something about my hair and my eyebrows.

Hair - I'm going to go gray...but the blonde highlights and the brunette/gray was driving me nuts. I decided to go back to my "original" and then let the gray grow in from there. SO....I went to a local shop I'd heard about. As they applied the color I remember being warned NOT to let them color my hair...but all is well. They are so NICE and relaxing and CAREFUL...wow. It took 20 minutes to wash my hair and the massage was oh so nice. My hair is dark...but it's the lightest of the two that they said were my "original".

Eyebrows....when she came at me with scissors and a razor I decided we'd had enough cultural exchange for the day. ::snort:: She said, "De'Ettasan, waxing hurts!"

I stopped at the BX and got my eyebrows waxed...but she used scissors and a razor too...and she kept apologizing for the pain of waxing. ::snort::

Now - time to run home and pack. I really do need to find all my paperwork and pack for Hawaii.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Amusing Car Makes

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Random Things of Some Significance

I can't find my camera battery charger.

I can't take photos until I find a new battery charger somewhere.

I can't buy printer ink for my printer here.

I can't find computer paper or file folders.

I'm surprised to enjoy serving our local PWOC as an Interim Children's Ministry Coordinator….I'm gleaning lots of great new teaching illustrations for down the road. ::snort:: Yes, gals who've served with me in the past, you read that right. It's not ME - it's GOT TO BE a work of GOD in my life, as teaching groups of others' little children has not been my thing in the past.

There are big birds that honk like geese flying over our home. This happened last night and this a.m. They always head in the same direction - away from this northern tip of Honshu. Can this be a sign that winter is coming? I wonder what the birds are….big ducks, geese, cranes….

FIVE women from our base are flying to Hawaii on Friday (We are also flying away from the Northern tip of Honshu ::snort::). Please pray for our travels, our relationships, our families at home, and our time away with Jesus. We will be attending the Pacific Region's PWOC (women's ministry) conference. The new Asia Region of PWOC will be birthed at this conference. God is moving.

I put a roast and veggies in my crock pot on low at 6:40 a.m. At 6:00 p.m., the veggies were still crunchy. I suspect voltage and the low setting….maybe I need to use the high setting while we are here - what will that do to yogurt making?

I can't find a live yogurt culture, but Deja reminded me of yogamet or some such thing.

I've been blessed with good friends….both in TX, in Japan, in cyber land and all over the world.

However, calling good friends at 1 a.m. is not advisable. ::snort:: Sorry, Deja, Beth, and Julie….I can only rejoice that no one picked up the phone and I'm being much more careful this week.

I plan to order a "few" things I NEED from the TX co-op and have them shipped here….my way of working around a commissary that seems content to say, "We're the end of the AFES line, we get what the other bases don't want". Humph….

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Misawa Air Show 2009 (Sunday)

This is a HUGE gathering. The estimates from yesterday are nearly 1/2 a million spectators. Folks drive from all over Northern Japan to attend. There were even visitors from other islands and Tokyo.

We ended up with a strange dynamic at this Air Show - we divided. We had trouble finding info on times, routes etc….Mike went in at 6 a.m. His HOPE was to beat the crowds and then call us with the time for the Thunderbirds. He didn't beat the traffic.

The traffic was WILD. When the kids and I drove in it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to drive about 2 miles. ::snort:: Jared tried to find wifi connections while the rest occupied themselves playing the alphabet game…which is challenging in Japan. ::snort:: I occupied myself with driving.

We did finally meet up with Mike. I loved this air show. What I have least liked at recent air shows is HEAT, long lines, the inability to bring our own food and drinks….I was shocked that there was NO checkpoint to get on to the base or the flight line. BUT I was happy. The weather was gorgeous. No chance of heat stroke (Jared at the San Antonio Air Show). AND everyone had coolers and had brought food in. I'll remember this for next year.

There was only one big demo team - the Thunderbirds. What fun to watch them with a Japanese audience who isn't jaded about such things. They ohed and ahhed…and clapped….and WOW the cameras they pulled out. Jared especially loved being able to see over the crowd to the flight line. ::snort::

The food was eclectic. Many Japanese families stocked up on "American Pizzas", baked good and hotdogs. We enjoyed yakiniku, yakisoba, "French fries", and Cadinimun (????). This latest was ALMOST Sio Pao (childhood favorite from the Philippine Islands). I discovered it by stalking a nice Japanese gentleman who had some. It took a bit of pantomime to explain that I'd like to know where he got it and what it was called. LOL I was thrilled. It's the same dough/dumpling thing….with meat in the middle (not sure what type). Instead of an enclosed dumpling, it looked like a folded taco on steroids…but tasted oh so good.



This view cracked us up.



Can you tell what it is? Whenever the planes flew over all eyes and hands went up. Here's a closer view.



Here’s a great view.




A few shots of other spectators and eating offerings.







After the air show we had dinner at the Mokuteki (or the kids did), then a joint chapel service (the last before we move in to our new chapel YeHAW!), and headed home.

Jared was thrilled that he got about an hour online. All in all it was a splendid day.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Intimacy Revisited (Tuesday)

I've shared; previously, God seems to reveal "words" - memorial stones - to me annually. These words are little clues to where God may take me and what He may teach me in the upcoming year. Listing them in the sidebar serves to remind me of the works of grace He's manifested in my life over the "recent" past. Yes, I've already sensed the word for next year. The last few months have not gone as planned (::snort::). I need to capture a few thoughts…without a lot of flowery speech. If I don't do it now, I fear I won't have life lessons captured anywhere (remember my journal and Bible were stolen).

This year, truths I've known "forever" have been made "real". Sometimes being real/authenticity hurts. Here are a few thoughts…..

Intimacy requires privacy, trust and vulnerability.

Intimacy with Christ, a daily, extravagant, genuine love relationship, is what God wants most from me and for me.

Often times of great intimacy follow times of great turmoil, unrest, instability or suffering.

Intimacy requires solitude. Luke portrays Jesus, Himself, consistently seeking out solitude. I must cultivate, set aside, time for SILENCE. Too much noise and activity in my life is the enemy of intimacy.

God wants me to pursue Him.

He pursues me and will go to great lengths to arrange my life so that I have times of solitude with Him (revisit a stolen van, a husband on a separate continent….).

Nothing else in my life is as vital as intimacy with Christ. NOTHING!

Intimacy often leads to a pruning of outside activities and relationships…as THIS relationship grows and takes over more of my attention.

We must choose carefully what/who we will become intimate with. Intimacy, of all kinds, leads to places we may not envision.

Intimacy often leads to fruitfulness….in His way and in His time.

Intimacy's heart cry, is the cry of the apostle Paul. "I count all things to be loss in view of (or comparison with) the SURPASSING VALUE OF KNOWING (being intimate with) Christ Jesus my Lord. " (Phil 3:8)

The above are a few life lessons that God has lovingly shared with me this year. I have read, rather hit and miss, Oswald Chamber's, "My Utmost for His Highest" for decades. I try to find new devotionals and always come back to this one….but as I say…rather hit and miss.

This past week, I unpacked this gem and set it by the toilet (hmmmm…. What's with this recurring toilet theme?). The last few days' readings have eloquently stated the cry of my heart in recent weeks.

"A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ's own…someone who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord calls us to no special work. He calls us to Himself. 'Pray the Lord of the harvest,' and He will engineer your circumstances to send you out as His laborer." (Based on Matt 9:38)16 Oct.

"The greatest enemy of Christ is "work"…This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God…..The central point of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others."

Mr. Chambers goes on to write that the great benefit of the Bible Training College (where he taught) was not in its many Christian activities…but in allowing its students the opportunity to be "immersed in the truths of God, to soak in them before Him." (Based on Luke 17:20-21) 19 Oct.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...