Our Announcement

We'd like to begin 2013 with an announcement.

We are adding a daughter/sister to our family...

Here's the photo we put into our time capsule but didn't want to share earlier.

Skype is a lovely thing

As Josiah posted on his Facebook, "She said yes!!! I thank God for bringing this amazing woman into my life."

Ah, where it belongs at last

It's been fun to watch this relationship unfold. We knew the call was coming soon...we've been promised by our kids we won't find out any more earth-shattering news on Facebook....

Josiah planned a date in San Antonio... They had dinner at the top of  the Tower of the Americas...

Glad I offered the advice to go to the restroom
before getting on this elevator!

GREAT view!

Josiah got down on his knee and asked the question right after the salad and before the entree! From what I hear there is a little girl, who was sitting at a table nearby, who will now expect her prince charming to pull off the stunt with the same finesse.  Way to go, Son! 

We are delighted to announce God has brought a new daughter into our lives...this one without labor! Woot! 

We'll be in TX on 8 August 2013 y'all!  Our younger kids couldn't be happier as we had told them we weren't sure we could swing by TX on our way to wherever our next assignment will be. We are all insured a reunion in Oregon on 20 July (Mom and Dad T's 50th anniversary) and again on 8 August (Josiah and Shelby's wedding). 

Lest you think I flew to TX and hid in the potted plants....NO...silly....I'm a techno stalker! I stalked Shelby's Facebook page...and shamelessly stole photos!  I was fairly certain she'd said yes when I saw this on her cover (she's a great artist).

This would be a good time to record Stacia's comment in December while riding in the car with Josiah and Shelby.  

"Shelby's a pretty princess."

"What am I, Stacia?" Josiah asked. 

"You're a troll. An ugly troll!" 

In our books you're both royalty!

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Eighth Day of Christmas

I planned to work out, get a good start on a study I'm itching to do (just because)...but I stopped by the laptop....and there was a PM from Josiah...and so I had a great time chatting with him in the quiet hours of the morning (afternoon his time).

I was also blessed to Skype with Krista! She's off work this week too - so I think I'll try a few more Skypes. It's always so nice to connect with the older ones.

I tried to arrange a family Skype - but it didn't work out.

Then we all Skyped with Josiah.....

Kids played outside, played LIFE, played Flash Point

Girls and I started some homemade vanilla

 Boys and Michael worked on my laptop a bit

 Dinner - love the new pan 

Dessert - Yonana Baby....

All fruit - my life just got happier! 

This will be GREAT to use in the summer...all fruit and cold...oh WAIT...we won't be in Misawa during the dog days of summer.....

And we ended the day with a Skype with Breanne and Krista. We couldn't reach Mom G but I think it's because her cell phone is broken.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

New Year's Eve Gherkin Style

Michael and I decided our New Year's celebration needed a bit of jazzing up.  We began by making plans for a time capsule. I was reminded of the following idea from Debbie. We finally pulled it off. 

Nothing fancy as I waited until 31 Dec to make these. With simplicity being my model, I drew a clock on the face of little brown bags. Beginning at 4:00 p.m. a bag was opened each hour on the hour. Our hope was this would give a bit more focus to the wait for the New Year and help some of us (Arielle and I) succeed in waiting up.

Four O' Clock and we learned we'd have our family gift exchange. We allowed two hours for this. We didn't really need two hours, but the Hobbit went longer than expected and we I was happy to have two hours scheduled so we didn't get behind. ::snort::

Six O' Clock's bag had Andes mints and instructions to go make dinner. I'd made the pizza crusts earlier in the day. I'd made 16 crusts and was able to put a few in the freezer for lunches.

This may be the new way we handle Friday Pizza/Movie nights. We ALL had pizza at the same time...quite a treat.

Seven O' Clock's bag encouraged us to bring our time capsule items to the living room.  I was proud of the thought that went into this as the kids only knew about it for a day. We've already bought 2013's capsule and everyone can put things into it throughout the year.

We went around and shared about our items. 

Stacia's tea party and friends

AWANA

Zander got his first Military Dependent ID

AWANA

Baptism

True Love Waits

Baptism

Friends - True Love Waits

Surgery 1

Surgery 2

Please note I put a LOT in but some of them were "family memories".....

Sayonara doll signed by local leadership team and local PWOC gals

Magnet bought while in VA with Susane for Vision Summit

Asia Region PWOC Coin - Asia Region was dissolved - PWOC Japan born

Shipwreck Beach - floats and sea glass

We also talked about Dad G going to heaven, about legacy, and about things I won't share here. We concluded by praying and praising God for His amazing faithfulness in 2012.

Nolan prepares another time capsule item...

Symbolizing my Japanese Driving Adventures ::snort:: 

The kids decorated the capsule.

In future years we'll fill one and open a previous year....

Eight O'Clock and the kids were happy to find a couple of new things to explore. 

Nine O'Clock's brown bag contained Wizard  (a game much like Rook we discovered). 

We opted to continue learning to play Flash Point Fire Rescue rather than another new game. We continued to play this throughout the night and finished the game around 11:30 p.m. This game was more complicated than I expected but is great fun. You work as a team to rescue people and put out the fire. 

Arielle began struggling to stay awake....but I knew the activity behind door number TEN would wake everyone up. 

NERF DARTS.....

And SHE had the big one....

Yuuki went to the door and wanted OUT. 

  

I went and cut my bangs about now....they raged upstairs, downstairs, in closets, behind doors....here they have Michael cornered in the boys room. 

Stacia cracked us up! She became an Arms Dealer...she ran around the house collecting darts and delivering them to whoever needed them. 

A motley crew - but all fully awake at 11:00 p.m. 

Our plan had been a variety of fireworks at 11:00 p.m. but it was COLD and WINDY...Michael set this one off.....

 And demonstrated an experiment with fire, balloons and a bit of water....

The brown bag opened at 11:45 p.m. contained party supplies for the last few minutes of the countdown. I will plan ahead better in the future so we can make our own hats, have poppers etc....

This "bomb" from the 100 yen store was good for confetti

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!  Happy New Year! 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...