Sunday in San Angelo

We love Japan. We love it so much we don't want to leave and have seriously wondered what we can do to remain in the country after retirement. 


However, being HERE has been strange for us.  This was a "different" assignment as it is a student base.  We find we still have many friends left in the community - produce co-op, united co-op, SACHSA (homeschooling), retirees and contract workers at base..... We've gone "back" to past assignments but usually the majority of friends are no longer there. Coming here has felt like coming "home"....in fact a chaplain new to us welcomed the kids and I home today when we went to chapel. It was a blessing to hear how this chapel had prayed for us after the Tsunami last year. 


Yesterday, Nolan and Zander went to birthday parties. I visited with Moms as they came and left and got to see Adrienne, Misty, Deja, and Regina's hubs (Derek, I think).  Great fun. We event felt a bit "christmasy" as it is the tradition of this family to have guests at parties bring gifts or donations for a charity or mission etc.  The kids and I had fun feeling a cart at Dollar General for a Mexico outreach. I've already blogged about the library. 


Today......we went to chapel at Goodfellow Air Force Base. We felt so loved and welcomed. What a joy to see so many dear faces and get to catch up. Goodfellow has a CONSTANT turnover as it's a student base...but the core of retirees remains...and it was great fun to meet new Air Force Chaplain families too. One has followed us to Anchorage, then Goodfellow and I told him he needs to try to get to Misawa. LOL  I didn't take photos.....forgot. Oops.  I did take this one....We pulled up and Zander said, "They still have the same nativity!" As a 4 - 5 yo he had moved these things all over the lot of the old chapel. Stacia was born weeks after we arrived at Goodfellow. 

This afternoon Nolan and I went to watch Josiah be abducted  inducted into the National Association of Leadership and Success.  I enjoyed listening to the director of the school at GAFB speak about leadership - great food for thought...and I loved being there to watch this. I didn't get a great photo - but I got one! 

Josiah is 3rd from left....

I dropped in to HEB and took food over to the boys' house for dinner and a quick visit. This upcoming week is finals for the boys! 

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

Ah! The Sheer Joy!

Dairy Queen, Wal-mart, Best Buy....none of them did it.... BUT yesterday the girls and I visited the NEW public library here in San Angelo.  For the first time, I had a twinge that felt a bit like, "Gee it may be nice to have a stateside assignment."  We MISS being able to check out books we can read from a library. We forget we miss it as we buy or get free so many electronic books....but wow.....this was heaven.  Visit it here for yourself....

They were working on this the whole time we lived here. We WERE a bit disappointed with the lack of technology (online reservations, online account management) when we were here. They said they were upgrading at the new library and wow have they ever! It's amazing. On top of that they have a cafe, a teen room, kids room, whole floor of fiction and another for non-fiction, cool nooks to sit and read, and a huge community room.

I LOVE the way they've merged old and new in restoring this old department building and turning it into an amazing place to enjoy. Here are a couple of photos I found on the web...if we get back down there (we can't check things out so we would go just soak it up because we're library geeks) I'll take more photos.

 Great colors, cool lighting throughout - look at the decorations hanging from the ceiling to the right of the photo (can't remember the proper name). LOL

Glass bricks from the original building were used here and there and the glow you see here is sunlight in the Teen room.  Ivey told us today they bring therapy dogs in for kids to read too...and I think this is a great idea, one I need to explore for our struggling reader. They read, the dog loves them and doesn't laugh....

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

Weekends in Hotels

Last weekend it was the Civil War (UofO and OSU)....this weekend...last night was terrible. Noise in the halls, thumping, folks going up and down stairs....I nearly called the front desk. The thing is, my family ALL seem to have this deep-seated fear I will, "make a scene". I didn't call.

This a.m. I woke up to  chainsaws. I swear it was terrifying....sawing and strange sounds I couldn't place.  We've had a fridge making noises since we moved in. On the way to breakfast (which they close 1/2 hour before the end as they need clean up time - we're on it now and plan to MAKE it tomorrow) I noted housekeeping doing the strange things in all the rooms except ours.  It was either winter cleaning - or ?????

Note furniture away from walls, sheets

I've asked for THREE days for extra towels. We are in a FAMILY SUITE which sleeps SIX and they gave me four towels. I was worried a bit as they have a sign saying if you stain a towel they will charge you for it - so I'm wondering if going to Walmart for some towels would be a good idea anyway.....

BUT after missing breakfast because they TOLD me it would be served until 10:00 a.m. and nothing was out when we went down at 9:45 a.m.  (and not making a scene), after being up so late due to noise and being awakened to strange noises (and not making  a scene), I was DETERMINED to get a TOWEL.

I asked if I could have enough towels for each of us to have our own towel (ewww).  She said she has to "inventory the towels each day" - she proceeded to count and check the towels and then logged  she gave us five today. ::snort:: I really find it funny to speculate on why they have such strict towel regs here.  This is the 3rd Comfort Suites we've stayed at on this trip and we've not run into this yet.

Since we now had such a fun relationship - I asked if they were replacing fridges on our floor or what? She apologized for the noise and told me they are installing wide screen tvs and discovered the entertainment centers are too short. They were cutting them apart, adding boards and putting them back together again. We are in here for a week and were the only room they couldn't rearrange...so....I DID hear thumping, loud voices, saws and strange thumping sounds (Industrial Staple Guns). It wasn't a jet lag nightmare. ::snort::

Afraid to get a shot of the men - but evidence of my story

Let it be on the record, through all this I not ONCE made a scene...though I came very close.  I miss the trailer.


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

Reconnected.....

This morning the kids and I went over to reconnect with dear San Angelo Friends. We drove into the driveway and Zander commented, "Wow - THEY'VE really grown!" ::snort:: There seems to be a lot of that going around. Four sets of our kids were friends when we lived here. Deja and I did a couple of co-ops together and homeschooled, shared the same OB...that sort of friendship. She even got Nolan involved in the Nutcracker one year. LOL Doug coached Jared's basketball team....and Jamin coached basketball WITH Doug for a year or so.  It was GOOD to reconnect and to meet the newest E. 

Zander and Everson 

Erik, Nolan, Arielle, Emma (back), Ellie and Stacia

Love Mr. E...what a jolly baby

 We raced off to meet the boys for lunch. We spent an hour visiting and then they needed to run some errands and work.

We went to Walmart! ACK - overstimulated! I left with a headache...my WORD all the choices are simply befuddling.  We found it funny to find some of the same clerks. I visited the ATM and Nolan visited the barber....not our best selection. It will grow back...for now I need to find some scissors and even it up. LOL

I was VERY tempted WILD and WARM on planes.....

Stacia was much more captivated with THIS - we bought

 Jamin came over for dinner. Josiah went to work. We went to Logans. Eating our way through San Angelo. LOL

Stacia is full of love hugs at dinner

Games back at the house

 On our way back to the hotel I ended up at our OLD HOME.....a strange mix of emotions...a couple of kids asking why we can't move back HERE...... Ah - memories. I realized we've not gone back to a lot of our previous assignments.

Our friends are still in the neighborhood

We LOVED to take December eve walks in this hood

It was a full day....a fun day...we are looking forward to the rest of the family joining us soon. We're also looking forward to catching up with other friends in the next few days and fitting as much time in with these friends as we can. LOL


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

TEXAS - how I love you!

As Arielle said, "TX missed the notice about winter." What a beautiful day - 67 degrees out when we began our walk.....warm once again. I love TX. 


We had no rental car until late this afternoon. I thought we would be near restaurants....but really we aren't near much out here....

Hotel big building on the right

I next thought we'd swim and sit in the hot tub....but they are closed for the season......oy vey.....so I took a closer look at our surroundings.....

See the Olive Garden sign? At 1:00 p.m. with no hope of a car until after 3:30 p.m. the restaurant was looking closer.....Just across the road....only problem is the photo doesn't show there's a drainage ditch, 6 - 8 lanes of freeway and no cross walks..... 


We walked behind the hotel, along a back street and way up from this spot....found a cross walk that only took you 1/2 way across - wonder why???? but then had to walk through the brush on the other side back to Olive Garden. I'd say it was a good mile all together (there and back). The weather was BEAUTIFUL and Stacia and I had flip flops....thus I taught her about fire ants, cockleburs and mesquite thorns. Yowzer! 

Car lot we walked by....Stacia likes the shiny sheep of TX

I got our new little speedster...Funny thing there. I turned on the GPS and it was all in JAPANESE. I took it back and said, "I may be crazy but all I see when I turn this on in Japanese and I can't quite figure it out." They laughed. They said they thought I'd learned the language. Turns out the people who rented this car last were Japanese.  On the road again with an English GPS....and I think we'll hit the road tomorrow visiting friends, shopping, whatever while the boys are in school. 


Nice relaxing day.....long walk, beautiful weather, new rental car, settled in the hotel....dinner tonight with the boys. 


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

A Tin of Tea

in your Backpack Wins You LOTS of Attention in American Airports! No one even ASKED on the way here. LOL  "Why, Yes, I DO have a metal cylinder in my backpack!" ::snort::  I checked it through.

Most Dangerous Tea on the Market

I told the kids, "Let's write about yesterday for the blog," and Stacia replied, "It was a cold, long and boring day. And that's the end."  ::snort:: 


We arrived EARLY to check in and were told we had to pay $9 per person to board, $25 per checked bag (not even the first would be free) and $29 per seat. Wow....we are NOT in Japan any longer. Where's the sushi, free slippers and blankets? 


 We talked back and forth. I was gracious - if incredulous. She told me it's been this way for years. I told her I've not flown domestic in several years.  I told her we did NOT want to pay for seats which I thought should obviously be included in the price of the ticket. It turns out all they had left when we bought our ticket were some sort of "upgrade" seat...but that is not MY problem. I did not REQUEST these seats. I booked online and expected to take what they gave me. She finally understood my logic. I also explained there was no reason we needed special boarding, so she removed that charge too. 


Friends are telling me that they waive the fee for baggage if you are active duty or a dependent....but they told me you had to have the active duty member with you and be on orders. I will try again when we leave. LOL 


She warned me the meals on the plane would be for "purchase only".  $10 for a sandwich, $3 for a pack of crackers (you know those snack packs???) and $6 for the snack bag of chips. We ran through a little store on the way to our gate..... No bentos or rice balls in sight...but we did o.k. I told the kids they are American Bentos.  On the plane several men asked for what the kids had (we were all in different spots).  They proudly said, "Mom bought these before we got on." ::snort:: 

I could have sold this meal for a MINT

We did fine in TX - and we'll need the full hour on our return trip to make connections - but we can do it. We RAN through the halls but made it....even had time to snap a photo of this vending machine. Now we're talking....

Jamin showed up at the airport early to pick us up. He decided to sit and study for a final. As we exited - we set off an alarm. Jamin looked up and said, "Yep, the families here." ::snort:: Meanwhile, the man was saying in a stern voice "turn around and step away" so we did...then he shouted "go through the exit"....so we did...then he said, "Turn around and step back from the exit"....so we did....then he said, "I'm talking to the man in the blue coat." ::snort::  I really couldn't figure out how WE set the thing off. LOL  Evidently the man went through, realized he forgot something and wanted to come back through, was told no and did it anyway - right as Zander approached the exit gate. ::grin::

Josiah and Shelby showed up and we came to the hotel, had pizza and slept well.

Note to travelers coming in on the 20th - we DID get here at 9:00 p.m. rather than 9:20 p.m. regardless of what the ticket said. LOL

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

Traveling -

Monday we spent with my folks and the girls.....knowing we were heading down the road on Tuesday. I was NOT feeling well on Monday night or Tuesday.

Tuesday was a travel day. We turned in the rental car and found a bus to our hotel. As I was feeling yucky, the plan was to swim and rest in the afternoon and rest well.

Video Machines in America are kept under lock & chains

Fairly good travelers

We were surprised in Portland with an afternoon evening with BreAnne. She was to pick friends up at 10:30 (she thought a.m. but it was p.m.). When we arrived we got a message on FB to call her. SO....we went to LEARNING PALACE, Red Robin, Ross and Ikea.  IKEA - a store so big you need a MAP to find your way out. Wow. Our first experience...glad Bre was with us or we would have never found our way out.

Girls liked the leaves over the beds

I wonder....in IKEA

How many parents have had a Tim Hawkins experience with display toilets? Bre and I also had a good laugh thinking about his IKEA blurb, "We get it - you're Sweedish!" ::grin::

We came back and swam, visited and watched a movie.

It was a HARD night of sleep last night...trains, planes, traffic....all but Stacia have made it through breakfast. Zander is ticked I won't let him have breakfast dessert, of all things. He complains each and every plane trip of nausea and often throws up when we take off and land...he has a better chance of landing on the moon than me letting him stuff himself with donuts before a flight. ::snort::  I'm really looking forward to getting home and having a "real food only" diet for a few weeks. LOL

We leave in an hour or so and will arrive in TX - our destination - in 13 hours.

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