This morning I asked one of the older ones if they were upset with me.
"Child, are you upset with me?"
"No."
"Ok, you seemed a bit upset."
Enter Stacia. Big hug.
"Mommy, you're just adorable." ::snort::
Maybe she has the gift of encouragement?
JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...
Very, very observant blog followers may have noticed that I added a new Memorial Stone for 2010 a few days ago. I've been seeing tests and worksheets to help one chose the "right word for the year". It seems the purpose is to pick a word to motivate one's self or define one's self... My "word of the year" is a bit different. It's a personal memorial stone.
I don't pick it. It picks me, in a sense. In my quiet times, usually in the fall, I began to sense a word that will clue me in to a theme God is going to work in and through me during the upcoming year/season. Often these words don't "stop" at a new year....they linger... works such as holiness, grace, glory, wholehearted love, choosing joy, surrender, intimacy.....God has worked each concept into my life, and these words have truly served as memorial stones to that work. Sometimes I'm excited to begin to glimpse the word, i.e. "intimacy." Sometimes I think "really?" i.e. "surrender."
With all that said, I do have a word/stone for 2010. I can look back in my Life Journal and clearly pinpoint when God showed me my word for 2010. I was reading Ezekiel. It made LITTLE SENSE to me. The word is "watchman". It's not flashy. It's not current. It's not vibrant. I knew in October it was THE WORD for 2010 and I know it now. I sense that this path is going to call me out of my comfort zone. I can already see it beginning to work out in my life....as I was placed in regional leadership with PWOC - time to watch/guard/intercede...... As Mike deploys, I have his back. As we live in Japan and pray for God's heart for the nation. I sense that God is going to take the recent years of focus on surrender and intimacy and call me to now stand guard and do battle...though I'm not sure exactly what this means.
I share in Intimacy Revisited some of the lessons God has taught me in this year of Intimacy. This has been a wonderful year of beholding His face in ever growing intimacy and vulnerability. I've not had a lot of time to blog it, as I've spent lots more time than normal in study, prayer and meditation. I have a lot of "musing" blog posts in my Life Journal...maybe I'll take a retreat with my laptop and write and write and write some weekend. ::snort::
I have previously written about my Personal Memorial Stones.
I sense 2010 is the year that God is going to lead to a path of standing as a watchman. I'm sure to grab a concordance, do some word studies, find some books and eventually get a clearer grasp as to what this path means.
JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...
Alright, if you have experience in this NOW is the time to step forward. LOL
When I began blogging, I would write each post in word, add the photos, make it pretty, check the grammar and then copy the text to blogger and add the photos via blogger. I did this so we'd have a printed back up of our Family Journal. It was cumbersome. I quit doing this. The photos were especially cumbersome. It took more time than I had for blogging. I went to composing on blogger and adding photo links. I decided capturing the day for family was more important than making it pretty - at least during THIS season of life. That has been a good choice for me as it removed the pressure to have a "polished blog" and affirmed the decision to create a "family journal".
Mike would like the blog printed. I know it seems inconceivable that blogger would go out of business, or have a crash and lose all the blogs...but honestly....4 1/2 years of family history would be heartbreaking to lose. I do NOT want to copy and paste each entry to a Word or PDF file to print.....
I have been researching blog2print - but I repeatedly get a Server 500 error when I try to use the service. Their response is "be sure you are typing your URL correctly" - I'm pasting it. I've also heard things that concern me on their Facebook page. Every company will have some problems with their product, it will be how they resolve those problems that matter. I understand. However, many are mentioning that the captions don't match their photos or comments or posts are missing from their finished product. I'm sure they're making good on these problems, but I'd rather not have the problems to begin with being over here. Also, blog 2 print only lets you select a date range. I can't pick and choose within that range. I don't want to delete posts I don't want in a book and neither do I want to spend hours re-dating those posts. Example: Product reviews, book reviews....I don't really WANT them in a family journal but I do want to keep them handy in a blog archive for when I WANT them.
I've googled and will continue to google for ideas. If any of you have experience or have done your own research, please share links.
Maybe I should have continued composing in Word. ::snort::
Here are some things I've found:
I shudder to think of the hours to turn each post into a PDF file to load to Lulu etc....but if I'm going to PAY big BUCKS to print the blog, I don't want lots of white space, I want captions to match photos, I want a bit of control over which posts are printed etc.
Add the feature to print each post with this code (didn't work well for me ::snort::) It sounds very simple to do. I couldn't find the exact line of code for the second step. If you do, please tell me about where it is...1/2 way down etc....
Blurb seems to have a lot of features. The tutorial seems to be saying I could pick and choose exact posts to print and edit as well. I may have to give this one a whirl. I could also leave the copies there for others to buy if they want (thinking family here not general public)! ::snort:: I'm downloading booksmart as I type...I can think of a lot of fun books to make. LOL
Printmyblog.com shows up on a lot of searches but the links all seem to be dead. Let me know if you find a good link for them. ::smile:: Many of the links are over 5 years old.
Scrapbookblogger.com - turn your blog into a scrapbook
This post is to assure myself that I did not waste this cold, snowy, icy day....Mike has repeatedly asked me to figure out how to print the blog...and I'm researching. Maybe a reader will benefit from the research or have the perfect new site for me to check out. Now I can go to dinner and an onsen with a clear conscience....and the family have a yummy smelling roast and veggies waiting.
Ideas?
JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...
Bre, Josiah, Jamin, Jared, Nolan, Arielle all love to play monopoly. I'm not sure if Krista likes it. I don't see her playing it at home as much as the others. When Bre is gone, Arielle tends to read instead of play the game with her brothers...... but THIS was the game to beat all games.
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JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...
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| From 2010-01-04 |
Jared is following in the rather rude and audacious steps of his older siblings: he's GROWING UP!
We have maintained for years that we have YOUNG ADULTS and not Teens. Our children clearly know that they are adults in training...and at some point they actually begin to function as YOUNG adults. Take a minute to grasp this. It's not simply semantics. If your goal is to raise an adult in the years between 12 - 20 there are clear expectations, clear steps and goals to reach....if you are raising a "teen"....well no one really knows what a teen is. I certainly do not want my children to rise to the levels of the stereotypical teen....so we call them and expect them to be young adults. We never give them benefits/privileges without responsibility. We don't pamper their every whim. We expect them to begin to act and think as adults. We expect them to do "hard things" as they mature into the men and women God has called them to be.
Jared has blessed us greatly on his journey to adulthood. Sure he's still 16...but wow! He's taken great strides in his walk with God, his relationship with his authority (us), his relationship with his siblings and peers. This has been a tough move for Jared. The things he excelled in, the areas where he was exhibiting leadership, are not available here. The homeschool support group doesn't seem to have much for young adults. There is no Civil Air Patrol. There is no homeschool sports teams. There is no House of Faith. We are not comfortable with registering him with the DOD school for a variety of reasons. He understands and doesn't make a stink. We all continue to pray for more young adults to come into Jared's life. We pray for ministry opportunities, such as he had in TX, to manifest. We are praying about starting some ministry outreaches as a family. Jared David is our "ruler beloved". It's been fun to watch God take immature leadership material - often manifested itself in his younger years in ways we didn't condone - and move it towards maturity and effectiveness for the kingdom.
Jared has a rather quirky sense of humor that keeps me smiling, covering his tail, and, at times, cringing. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Jared has a heart for God that AMAZES me and HUMBLES me and CHALLENGES me. It's not about "discipline, routine and lists," but that boy has a routine that is shocking. He reminds me of stories of some of the "greats" in Christianity....I stand back and wonder where God is taking him. I wonder what God is going to do in his generation through this young man who is seeking to follow him wholeheartedly.
Jared has an interest in politics. We all know that he will be old enough to run for President in 2029. ::snort:: His plan at this point is to graduate, go back to TX, become a city councilman and get a degree, become a mayor, a governor and then we'll see.
Jared has been the youngest child in our family. Jared has been the middle child in our family. Jared is now the oldest child of those living at home. He's stepping up to the role and we honor him for that.
We'll have a celebration on Thursday night. Last night we opened gifts.
Happy Birthday, son. We look forward to watching you mature and grow in the upcoming years. (Now go clean your room. ::snort::)
JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...
I have created a notebook of places we'd like to see in Japan. It contains driving directions from various spots. We looked through the notebook and decided we'd like to see "Nejyo Castle" in Hachinohe. The directions looked doable. I googled and found a phone number. They were open. I also discovered that it is called Nejo Castle or Nejo Historical Park. Mike went to work. The kids and I headed out.
The directions would be good IF you knew the area already. BUT I'd never taken the toll road to Hach and when it said, "Turn right onto Route 45"....I took that literally. I did not take "exit 7, and turn right at the end of the exit on to Route 45". I determined to stay the course on the toll road until I could find a spot to turn right onto Route 45.We drove a LONG way up the toll road before we could turn around. Past Nambu, to Nango (sp?)....I ended up taking 2 1/2 hours and around $16.50 in tolls to drive 10 miles from our home. ::snort::
I realized I was very low on diesel. We had our first gasoline station adventure. I did it on my own....fairly easy....I was impressed that they washed my windows etc.
The directions got worse.....we were supposed to run right into the fish market, and then we would know we were close. Following the directions, we never found the fish market. We finally found Route 19 and I headed home....it only took 20 min to get home. Maybe next time we try this we'll get a google map and go up Route 19 instead of the toll road.
As I pointed out "my Onsen" to the boys....I hit the curb. Curbs here are not like in the U.S. They aren't gradually slanted and you don't simply drive over them. They are concrete blocks...barriers....and so I got home to find a split tire.
Poor Mike had to come home and get Jared for his dental appointment.....and we'll have to replace the brand new snow tire! I offered that the tire could be my birthday present. ::snort::
I've been back online finding directions to the Fish Market so that I can find Nejo Castle Ruins...and we'll try again on another day. I did find this at the Misawa Airport site:
"Nejo Castle was built by Moroyuki Nanbu in 1334 and was home to the ruling
Nanbu Clan for nearly 300 years. The whole outline of the castle was restored,
the first such attempt in japan. It is now a park where visitors can learn about
Japan's Middle Ages. "
Doesn't this sound intriguing? I'm trying to find someone locally whose been there. LOL I've also found that there is a town up here that claims to have "Christ's Grave" in it....hmmm...
Stay tuned...we'd really like to see some castle ruins before the boys leave. We discovered we have some in Hachinohe and in Aomori.
JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...
Mike suggested we go to the Aviation Museum after we said goodbye to Krista. It was COLD and WINDY and I think he thought a diversion would be good.
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