Monday, November 30, 2009

Advent Hunt Calendar

Nope, we don't believe it's all about gifts...though you can read my thoughts on gifts at Christmas. ::snort::

We have seen families do Advent Calendars for years and simply couldn't get into it. One, we didn't want 9 calendars to open each day. Two, I didn't really want small toys or candy around all month. Those are tiny doors on the calendars. We WANTED an easy count down to Christ's birth. The "Advent Hunt Calendar" was born.

I bought this at Target last year.

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We love hunts and riddles. Mike and an assistant write up clues to put in each tiny box. I buy gifts at the $ store or the Y store....

Each night we have a Scavenger Hunt....(tonight's) AFTER our devotional.

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At the end of the hunt they find a small gift...tonight a Rubik's cube type of puzzle.

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I thought I should explain as new readers may wonder what in the world we're doing night after night. ::snort::

{For those who are wondering ~ Tonight's Clue: "It's just a mattress without these." It was hidden in my linen closet. If nothing else this will ensure I get the closets cleaned after the kids tear through them nightly. ::snort:: Great fun!}

For more Advent ideas - click here or the link at the top of the column.

ing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

The Wonderful Thing about Boxes....

Isn't that a handsome guy in that uniform?

Yeah, he IS my very own husband bringing a cart load of boxes to the Joy.

Six of the Eight boxes Deja sent have arrived. I bet I can pick up the other two tomorrow!!!! I'm very excited. Thank you so much....and Heather too...for letting us order some extras with the group. I can bake bread this week.

Let's see...what else did we do today? A couple of quick Skypes. School. Nice Skype with Mom and Dad. Piano Lessons. Arielle, Stacia and I went to the Y100 store to buy gifts for this month's Advent Calendar/Hunt. I'll have to post more about that in a bit.

I printed off some free curriculum to go with the BOZ DVD that was loaned to me last week. We'll give that a shot tomorrow in PKOC (OK that's NOT our name - we don't have a name...but if there's PYOC, PWOW, PMOC...P KOC sounds fun for the kids. ::snort::). I figured out which of the many games and crafts I wanted to attempt. I gathered supplies for those activities.

I wrote up Committee reports for the local PWOC board meeting. I'm currently the Titus 2 advisor and the Interim Children's Ministry Coordinator.

That's about it for the day. GOOD GRIEF, I FORGOT TO EAT! ::snort::

OH, Photobucket has MORE ads for Lord type games with scantily clad women on my account...I'm trying this to see if the things that frustrated me about blogger are still around. If not, I'm switching to Picassa if I don't have to have ads. Mike says $20 is a small price to pay. ::snort:: I'm worried Picassa will do the same things blogger does to me...strange spaces, dropped uploads...but I'm giving blogger a shot with this post....so we'll see if there are strange spaces. Looks o.k. now. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

First Sunday in Advent

I've debated writing one long post - or splitting it up into "Advent/religious" and daily life...then I remembered by belief that all of life is lived before the face of God....and so you'll get one post about our practically perfect first Sunday in Advent.

There was no R.E. this Sunday and so we got to sleep in a bit - carnal but real. ::snort:: We are BLESSED with a great R.E. program, but it is nice to occassionaly sleep in.

Worship, ah worship. I do love to worship. I have loved the songs the last few weeks at chapel and it's a joy to worship with fellow believers. I assisted in the children's church. God is on the move in my life. I don't really "do other's children". I just don't. I don't like disrespect. I like giving a 3 point sermon with a few real illustrations thrown in....and I've been TOLD by R.E. Coordinators NOT to volunteer for R.E. because my "gifting is adults". I've been secure in this. Earlier this fall, however, our PWOC needed an interim Children's Ministry Coordinator. They didn't NEED adult teachers. I believe it is a HUGE ministry to teach little ones...and so I volunteered...and have come to love it, though I set an end date of December due to the changing season of my ministry. Because I'm having such a good time, I went ahead and told our service children's coordinator to schedule me to help them out once a month. You just never know where God will take you....installation platform at a regional conference on Sunday, wiping snot and goobers from your hair on Tuesday. ::snort:: What WAS I saying? Oh, Sunday a.m. was great....I was with kids and loved the worship and fellowship.

After service we went to an Italian restaurant. The kids are not impressed with Japanese/Italian pizza, but we did know enough not to order squid on it. ::snort:: I also avoided the squid ink spaghetti. Mike was tempted by the spaghetti with white sauce, bacon and pumpkin - but resisted. I was proud and RELIEVED that the kids sat very quietly and meekly and ate....and we weren't louder than any of the others in the restaurant. Public outings are more subdued in Japan than they are in America. I am betting the Sumo tournaments would be the exception to this rule.

We drove to the Swan Park after lunch. Fun times.

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Look closely & you'll see Goeckers hanging out the top
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Arielle & Nolan race to ring the bell
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More swans
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Then I had a 2 hour conference call with my Asia Region PWOC team.
And..... :::drum roll:: it was time for our first Jesse Tree reading and our first Advent Scavenger Hunt. Mike and Jared made up 25 clues. Every Sunday in Advent we have a family gift. They had an extra clue and so we let the kids begin last night.
They hunted.....
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they found.
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I'll post clues daily at the end of the post as I know at least some of my family like to see if Mike is still keeping up. ::snort::

The gift this week is "10 Days in Asia". Arielle and Nolan had played it at the S's and enjoy it. They helped us learn. It's a bit more cerebral than some of us enjoy. I tend to like UNO...but I'll learn. ::snort:: Zander and Nolan were playing this afternoon.

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{clue - As you get drier, I get wetter. Thus they ran to the dryer...and finally to the upstairs bathroom where the game was hidden in the nicely folded towels. ::snort::}

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Jesse Tree Devotional & Patterns

I shared that our Jesse Tree/banner is MIA. We have used this book in the past for patterns and devotionals.

Deja sent me a link to RCA which has devotionals and patterns for Jesse Tree ornaments. We've done two of these devotionals now and they seem to be the perfect length for us. Stacia has volunteered to color all the ornaments. I'm seriously simplifying....and biting my nails. I took the thankful leaves off our thankful tree....and now we'll put these handmade ornaments up on the bulletin board, using the same grocery bag tree spine. It's a far cry from our royal blue velvet banner with the felt/embroidered ornaments that Bre and Krista made us....but it's fine for now. LOL

For more Advent Adventures check out my index - it is also linked at the top of the blog and will stay there through Advent.

{Special Advent prayer request: I'll be speaking at MOPS about Christmas next Thursday. Pray that I narrow down and focus on what I really want to say and HOW I really want to present it. Thanks.}

Choosing joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Liberty, Caches & Sunsets

Guess where we went today?

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Statue of Liberty Park, Momoishi Park, Ichou Park - all the same place...The S family invited us....and we were happy to go.... The kids enjoyed the long, long roller slide....


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Arielle, Jared, Mike and I slipped away to find a couple of caches. We invited everyone else...and planned on taking all our kids....but they were happy to accept the invitation to stay and play. Fall is here - and I'm LOVING IT.

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It was COLD at the park today. We will have to take Rodney's lead and buy a thermos - or two for future outings.

We found both cache's. This one took us to a part of the park we didn't know existed...and we thought we'd explored it thoroughly.

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We were SO cold by this point. Due to my thyroid issues, I'm still cold, hours later. I am going to have to make some "wheat bags" or "corn bags" in order to survive the fun. ::Snort::

As we walked back to the play area we noted the swans on the lake in front of Lady Liberty.

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Zander...breaking barriers

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The unseen story is that the boys had taken Zander's toy and he wanted it back. He was rather upset. Jared was able to communicate with them using his Japanese lessons...and they readily gave the toy back. Way to go Jared.

We dropped Arielle and Jared at the chapel to decorate. We ran to the BX. We stopped by the postoffice to pick up a package. It turns out it was a notebook for me....now I can begin work on my new PWOC position. We drove home to see this view....

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What a beautiful country we've been placed into. We are blessed.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Christmas Decorating 2009

Well....formerly....EVERY room of our home was decorated for Christmas. There were Nativity sets in each room. The lights were amazing....and I even had music last year. ::snort:: We purposely left 99% of our Christmas decorations in storage in the states. We knew we wouldn't have storage here....but WOW what a difference it made when we started to decorate.

It usually takes us 3 days to get the decorating done. One day on the interior, one day on the exterior, and one day for the tree. It took 3 hours to do ALL. ::snort::

The JESUS STOCKING, the Jesse Tree Banner, the Advent Wreath, all of Nolan's Photo ornaments, all wreaths and bows, Christmas movies, most Christmas books... are missing. I know they were packed to come...but aren't here. I'm praying we find a box - though we've looked everywhere....or that the packers sent the box to storage.


We bought a small pre-lit tree - that sped things up!
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The kids enjoy the books that DID make it
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The tree is decorated SOLELY in children's photo ornaments...
Stacia took this photo
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This is the FIRST time we've had a child who was old enough to remember that the youngest child gets to top the tree. There is usually a new one before they remember.
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This is ALL the outside decorations we have - 5 strands of light, an outside nativity...
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and a sign...Thanks, Deja.
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Jared and Mike were happy to have less decorations....Thanks, Rodney and Windy for the use of your ladder.
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We couldn't find the Fisher Price Nativity for the longest time. We were RELIEVED to find it....Stacia slept with the angel.
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....and took this photo of her TIVITY to show Grandma.
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Lots less fripperies....but more time to relax this weekend. That's been good and just what we needed. I really am going to have to look for a few things...like something for the door and maybe make an Advent Wreath....but even with these few decorations one of our neighbors made a comment expressing shock that we'd put up Christmas lights...so it's best we didn't have the whole arsenol....we no longer live on Christmas Lane...and I miss it. ::snort::
For a list of various Advent ideas and activities that we do around here....visit All Things Advent.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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



Friday, November 27, 2009

Interesting Tree Topper

Yesterday was the first Thanksgiving we've celebrated without the "boys" at home. It is probably inevitable that I'd be noticing a lot of firsts....

For instance.....THIS is the first time....

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I've seen HIM on top of a Christmas tree. ::snort:: No, it is NOT our tree.


Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

First Geocache in Japan

YES!

With all our decorating finished, we decided on another first for our family in Japan. We went Geocaching. Gracie (Arielle's friend) is sick. Mollie (Gracie's sister and also Arielle's friend) came with us. It was her first time geocaching. Hand-held gps units and a book on geocaching was a family Christmas gift in 2005 - one of the best gifts we've ever done. LOL

Mollie took the lead
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Even *I* didn't need to read the sign to know it would be silly to venture this way. ::snort::

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OUR FIRST FIND IN JAPAN!!!
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Jared tries out his reading skills - this is a bass pond which we will visit in the future

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Jared found some lures LOL

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As we drove off I saw a white goose, no a SWAN. I rushed to get a photo....obviously I RUSHED. ::snort:: I didn't realize that the swan were nearly tame and will eat "moss balls" from your hand. There were three Japanese nationals on the lake shore with some of those HUGE camera lenses....they got quite a laugh out of my little point and click.

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I tried out a few elementary Japanese phrases and they were glad to chat with me. The lady asked if I was from the "asylum" - base. ::snort:: She was happy to hear I lived in the city. She told me to come back with a nice camera and that the Swans STAY HERE for the winter. I sense it will be a winter project to catch some nice shots. I haven't a clue why they come here in the winter when it is cold....


We attempted one more find. I've written before about the Train Park. It was here that Stacia decided to make my photo at an inopportune moment. ::snort::

It's the perfect place for a cache...and we couldn't find it. Part of geocaching is not letting on to outsiders what you are doing. This is always a challenge with a large family.....in some of the spots you find yourself...we discovered being a large, American family, in Japan, trying not to call attention to yourself, as you geocache, adds a new dimension to the fun. We'll probably look for out of the way caches in the future. I think we managed to give the impression that Americans are simply crazy about trains. LOL


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It was too dark to really eyeball this one....we tried. We didn't find it. We'll try again.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

First Slumber Party in Japan

For years our kids would all watch movies late into the night on Friday night. They would drag out blankets and sleep in the living room. As the older ones left home, this tradition seemed to wane. Then the boys were working late Friday night and early Saturday morning and were content to sleep in their own beds.

After our practically perfect Thanksgiving (totally different than usual but so RELAXING), and after the tree was up and decorated....we pulled out The Muppet's Christmas Carol. This is a tradition that I love.


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The littles asked if they could watch more movies. We brought down their futons and they were nice and cozy for the first slumber party in Japan.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Thursday, November 26, 2009

iGoogle

So....I've been up early again and playing with google. I CANNOT use Outlook over here...some sort of strange thing with the ISP.

I use gmail (which I'm not loving), but have really missed a calendar. I created a google calendar. I saved it to igoogle. I created a gadget with Bre's photo and countdown and saved it to igoogle. I added a time clock (with lots of zones as I'm calling all sorts of places these days) and a weather gadget. This allows me to remove them from my blog so it loads quicker.

Have any of you found a gadget that lists calorie counts for various foods. I see lots of them, but thought if someone had one they recommend, I'd do that.

What other gadgets do you all like? I had movies on it from San Angelo - but haven't found one here yet. It STILL shows San Angelo on the side and I can't get rid of it. LOL The Politics in the sidebar is dated - Drudge headline reads "Clinton still not convinced Obama can win in the fall". ::snort:: I've refreshed. Can't seem to delete those side bar things.

There are even a few homeschool gadgets.

I had loaded homeschool toolbar but it did bad things to my laptop so I uninstalled it. Google toolbar also does bad things to my laptop. LOL I'm finding I can create most of the things I loved on the toolbars on iGoogle - without the crash or security issues.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

BEST MOMENTS OF THE DAY

We were able to talk to both of Mike's sisters and his parents.

We were not able to reach my brothers or parents....and will try again tomorrow.

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We DID reach all the kids....can you believe it? It was LATE their time....but Bre and the boys were on and we talked until Krista was home from her cleaning job and joined in....all of us around our computers....

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We began talking and it was Thanksgiving here....we ended and it was Thanksgiving in TX....we had dinner, checked back in and they were still talking...so Jared joined them until it was Thanksgiving in OR. ::snort::

Especially amazing is THIS: We told the kids we needed to sign off and eat our meal. Bre said, "Pray first"....and we did. We were able to all pray together on Thanksgiving Day - though we were in OR, TX and Oriase Town, Japan. What a gift.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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