Twenty-Seven Trusted Helpers

I nearly forgot 27 - what a day! 27 of my favorite cookbooks.....though many of my favorites are now on my blog for ease of portability.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Incredible Sunday - Michael

How do I capture a Sunday like this? I do not know, but it began Friday evening as I was struggling with the message for Sunday morning. I knew where I wanted to go, but I could not get away from the sense that God was wanting me to go another direction. So, we went another direction, but it just would not flow. It had much more in common with a wounded duck than a word from the throne of heaven. I struggled with it before, during and after the service. Where was the anointing? Where was the power? Where was the blessing? Not in the morning service. At least that is what it seemed like to me.

My brother, Josh, spoke in the evening service. He always has a good word. He has a public affairs type job, and he loves the Lord. His sermon title was "The Bad Times and the Good" coming out of Deut 8. It was a good message. We dismissed and the service was over, right? Nope. The good part was only just beginning.

The choir had continued to sing after everyone had left, which is normal. I was standing in the back looking in when I noticed a young woman in the back weeping. God was doing something. I came in and began praying with the young woman, and noted that there was more going on up front. It was the beginning of an incredible time in the presence of the living God. You know those times when you may be in a crowd, but you are alone in God's throne room - well, you and thousands of angels singing and crying out, "Holy, holy, holy..." This was one of those times.

I will have to do more thinking about take-aways, but I do have this: blessings occur in the context of obedience. This takes me back to the morning service and the wounded duck message. It is better to toss out a clunker in obedience than to release a soaring eagle in disobedience.

I do pray that this evening is a harbinger of revival in this place and in this land.

Michael

Choosing Joy!

©2010 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~

Living all of life before the face of God...

28 Always Dependable Friends

 A few of these were handed down from BreAnne and Krista....gotta be good if it lasted THAT long. 28 days.....tick tock tick tock

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Lazy Sunday

Our heart simply wasn't in the Air Show without Michael. I debated and thought of forcing it...but why? We stayed home. We Skyped with Mom and Dad and the girls. It was good to catch up.

We did some cleaning and had a nice Sunday dinner. I worked on how to present this week's Bible Study material and the kids played with lots of  kids in the neighborhood.

We went to chapel tonight. I do believe we are down to only 4 more Solo Sundays. ::grin::


Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Directions to Komakko Land - Towada Horse Park

Geo Coordinates will get you to the general area N 40*36.893    E 141* 07.877 Also known as Komakko Land



To see photos and video clip of a recent trip, click here. 

SHORTCUT - via Simon of Out the Gate - cuts at least 10 min  off the trip for us. 

• Take Route 10 into Towada (go out POL gate, stay on it until you reach Towada; or go through town, I'm not sure of that way as I live by the toll road). 
• This parallels the rail road tracks, turn RIGHT at the Y. 
• Go through 4 lights (this takes a while).
• Turn right at the first street after the 4th light. 
• Go 1.4 km (7 streets) and turn left (you'll see a brown sign like the one above).
• Go  past a house with lots of apple trees to a funky intersection. 
• Continue straight up the hill until you see the sign for the Towada Horse Museum on your left. 

Here are the directions we were first given; either set will work.   

•  Take Route 10 into Towada (go out POL gate, stay on it until you reach Towada; or go through town, I'm not sure of that way as I live by the toll road). 
• Stay along the river & rail road tracks, stay left at the Y,  past Homac, until the light. 
• Take a LEFT over the canal. 
• Pass the shrine, follow the blue traffic signs to Route 102....turn RIGHT. 
• This will take you out of Towada....around 4 km you'll see a rest area (pull out with vending machines) on your left.
• You'll turn RIGHT just after this turn out where you see a tall, skinny blue sign with cartoon horses on it.

It will look similar to this one (these are the dancing pony signs you'll follow)

And this is over the highway as you turn RIGHT

• Drive about 2 km, through fields....around 2 km you'll see a dancing pony sign and  turn LEFT  toward the hills (there is a sign like the one  above - that looks like it may be directing you left.....but you want to stay straight until you've gone the 2 km  or you end up at a golf course). 
• Drive 2.8 km - you'll go through a 4 way stop sign. Go up a hill. The Park is on your LEFT.

Hours:

• 0830 - 1800 (April 1 - Oct 31)
• 0830 - 1700 (Nov 1 - Mar 31)
• Closed: Mondays (Tuesday if Monday is a national holiday) and New Year
• Note slides will be closed if it has rained. 

Visit the Komakko Land website!

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

WE DID IT - An Adventure

We weren't able to go to Towada Horse Park yesterday. We had nothing planned today and the kids wanted to give it a shot. I wanted to get a bit more concrete details on the directions to share with those who've never found this treasure. We sat off. 


FIRST we found Risoukyo Flower Farm and Outdoor Museum. There weren't many flowers blooming...but we can see this is a place to revisit in the right season. We enjoyed the grounds....we marked it in the gps so we can find it again. 

We left the flower gardens and headed for "Shotokukan" - Towada Horse Park. This place is fun! 

Horse Barns...

There was a horse determined to reach Stacia...kept butting it's head against the bars....this was taken right after he turned around and began pushing his rump against the bars. 

playgrounds

Fun slides - Trojan Horse

Main ROLLER slide....this is the bottom half....

The top half winds through the trees, up the hill. 

Instead of horse rides, we took a pony cart ride. What a deal - it would have cost Y2,400; but they gave us a Y1,000 per family rate.  We'll do the horses when Jared can join us. 

Then it RAINED....lovely....and I was so proud of how the children take each of these things as a part of the adventure. It would have been miserable if they were the complaining type....but we sat down for a snack, then made a run for it. 

This spot is only 30 - 40 minutes (depending on traffic) from our home. We'll visit again. We've still not visited the horse museum, eaten ramen at the shop or rode the horses.

We stopped at Hard Off Recycle shop and bought 29 pieces of pottery. LOL 

We ended the adventure with homemade chicken noodle soup...and an episode or two of The Lucy Show (thanks, Mom).

Arielle went down the slide with the video camera to give you a taste of the fun.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

29 pieces of Japanese Pottery

Yes, I planned on collecting polish pottery - but that seems a bit silly as I live in Japan. Here are 29 pieces of pottery (28 plus the Wallace and Grommet set we couldn't abandon) from the recycle shop. They match the same color pattern as the plates the kids got me for Mother's Day. 


Today, I need to report that Zander and Stacia have figured out the countdown. They're a bit more cognizant than I thought. They were talking about "Only 29 days until dad gets back"....so they won't be surprised if he actually arrives on the 29th day. LOL 


Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...