Friday, February 22, 2013

Children's Crosswalk



 There are so many things we love about Japan. I don't think we've captured this yet. We'll continue to try to capture the process with children in the photo.

 This makes us smile.  YOUNG children, as well as children of all ages,  in Japan are seen walking to school early in the a.m. alone....and home at night in the dark....The yellow container with flags is their version of a "crossing guard."  The kids grab a flag, wave it as they walk across the walk....

...and deposit the flag on the other side of the walk (You can barely see the yellow container). 

This system works here! The flags are left out throughout the school year...and they STAY in the container. In other words the kids don't take them home...no one snatches them...and people respectfully watch out for our children. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Mentor Group


The Lord began speaking to me this summer about changes in my  ministry, balance of my time and such. I pulled back from much activity, PWOC is restructuring and Regional and International levels of leadership are "disappearing" as of 28 Feb.  

Six women spoke to me about mentoring them....and I prayed....and waited...and discussed it with Michael. The concern was meeting weekly with six women would take back all the margin I'd created. I read  Mentor Like Jesus. I've written about the book here.  I wrote their foundation and discovered Titus 2 Mentoring Women.  This made it possible for me to mentor six women at one time, and NOT sacrifice my family on the altar of outside ministry. This is quite a bit of commitment for both the women and myself.   It's intentionally focused on being a follower of Christ in every area of our lives.  There are assignments, a monthly group meeting, a monthly one on one meeting, verses to memorize.... I talked to PWOC leadership to make sure they were o.k. with me proceeding and that I would not in any way conflict with their vision for the local PWOC.  Michael (as my husband; not a supervising chaplain) agreed this would work.  I tossed it out there ONLY to those who had previously approached me.  We've tweaked it to fit our military life-style....for instance I planned to do something like this in the future - when I had twelve months....but in the end three women joined me for the time we have left together.  We'll Skype in one gal as she pcs'. It's totally my passion and not connected with the chapel or PWOC (though I  used the theme graphic for the notebook cover - it was perfect).....

It's a God thing - a good thing....and I'm thrilled I listened and rearranged my schedule in the fall. ::wink::  I'm praying about a "distance" group. The ministry foundation has given me approval to use their materials in this way. I have been approached by a gal I'd love to mentor who lives elsewhere in Japan (at the moment ::snort::). We'd use skype for the monthly meeting.....we'd miss the face to face intimacy...praying...and trying this for now. Maybe I'll do a distance group when I get to Beale as I won't know anyone to have a face to face group anyway for a bit of time. LOL 

Speaking of Beale.....I'm starting to make connections with those who have been to Beale. Tonight we're going to have pizza and  a movie hook the laptop up to the projector and check out maps, you tube videos, and images of the area. 

Would you believe both yesterday AND today God squarely placed ladies in my path who GREW UP in the very area of Beale? ::snort:: 

My career PCS verse: ".....through all the generations YOU have been our home!" Ps 90:1 HE has been and will continue to be our home! A person can learn a lot from Moses. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...