Let's Think About My Colors

Stacia ran up to me and said, "Let's think about my colors!"

I said, "Ok," wondering what she wanted to talk about.

She proceeded to chant, "pink, blue, orange, red, green, purple, yellow...that's all!"

If you've not noted the new prayer requests in the side bar, please do send a few extra prayers Jamin's way. He's wrestling with some decisions about his future. It's after 11 p.m. - Mike is burning a few CD's of things Dr. Wallen needs for tomorrow....Jamin just got home. I'm off....5 a.m. will come early. ::yawn::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Busy Monday

9:15 and we were gathering shoes and such to head to the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new base chapel.

I'll have to get better photos of the chapel. I was a bit preoccupied with Stacia getting on and off the top of the bleachers....

Still my favorite man in uniform (Michael - the one in glasses).

But I did get this shot of the official moment.

Yep, I'm learning how to use the big lens and didn't have the setting right. ::sigh:: The ribbon is cool...the fog I don't understand. It was fine in the first two shots.

Jamin got to talk to TX Congressman Conway. He told him the best new feature of the chapel is the padded seats. ::snort:: Jared (15) plans to go into politics and he also got to speak to Congressman Conway. They discussed survival tips for political life.

We toured the chapel. Stacia and Zander inaugarated the new Fellowship Hall floor with cake and punch. I cleaned it up - along with many willing helpers.

Mike spent the day tying up loose ends for the rest of the week with the Holocaust Survivors (food and such in rooms etc). We met up and picked them up at the airport. Then we got everyone settled in their rooms and headed for Zentner's Daughter for dinner. Several others met us there. I found it fascinating to listen to the stories, visit with our guests, and participate in a bit of the Jewish culture. Of course, discussion did turn briefly to recent Passover celebrations.

Tomorrow is a full day around town. I *think* I will stay home and meet up with everyone in the evening for dinner at the ASU President's home and then the session at ASU. I WANT to participate in all the festivities of the day but I know that I'll be out a LOT this week and think it may be too much for Jared if I'm gone from 7 a.m - 10 p.m. tomorrow.

For those of you who are local and don't have base access - tomorrow night; 6:30 p.m. Junell Center at ASU. I recommend arriving early. Last year they filled up the 200 capacity room, moved to a 500 capacity room, and were still at standing room only. I know that a school from Wall is coming in and another local high school is bringing students as well.

If you have base access consider attending the Yom Hashoah service on Thursday at the new chapel at 3:30 p.m. This is a memorial service for Holocaust victims.

There will be four additional sessions on Wednesday and Thursday on base. Dr. Wallen will give a history of the Holocaust at each session and one of the survivors will speak at each session: either Wanda or Walter. The sessions are: Wed 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and Thurs 8:45 a.m. and 5 p.m. The sessions are geared towards youth/adults....yet younger children who are familiar with the Holocaust may be o.k. I've taken 5th and 6th graders after we had studied WW2. Do be aware that there are some graphic slide clips during the sessions and the survivors DO tell their stories.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Prayer Circles

We were standing outside a restaurant today in a circle. Jamin and I reached down and grabbed Stacia's hand so that she didn't run into the street.

We soon heard, "God gave Mommy a little girl. Mommy said, 'Thank you.' God said, 'You're welcome.' God bless the cook."

Guess she assumes holding hands in a circle means it's a prayer circle. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Rock, Paper, EXPLOSION

Zander has created his own version of rock, paper, scissors.....

Rock, paper, explosion....Explosion wins them all.

{Mommy Story.}

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

If You Get a Minute

{Another Mommy story.}

Josiah (20) picked up Stacia (3) and took her grocery shopping. He said she talked from the minute they left the house until they got back. ::snort::

At one point she said to Cy, "Jared, Arielle, Nolan, Zander, Dad, Mom and I are moving to 'pan."

Cy responded, "Yeah."

Stacia, "If you get a minute, come see me!"

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Zander Experiences a First

Those of you who know Donnie W are going to laugh at me. It had never dawned on me that Donnie was from Japan. I guess I don't think in terms of countries of origin or what not. He's American...and he is.... but today we had fun.

He lived in Japan until he was 8. Zander came out and said, "Ohayou gozaimasu," to Donnie. Donnie responded in a flow of Japanese. Zander got a strange expression on his face, turned and ran. Huh? Later he told us that it scared him to have someone speak Japanese to him.....we told him he needs to get used to it.

I enjoyed discussing Japan with Donnie. Great tutoring session. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Life Can Move On....

Oh, Praise God, it's OVER. We do NOT like having garage sales. I was not thrilled at the aggressive early birds (and I've not shared all that went on yesterday). I did NOT like sorting through 19 years of homeschooling...but it's over...and it will be good.

Our home still looks like a disaster after the whirlwind of the past week, but I have great hope that by Monday it will look "normal". I'll continue to weed things out. I hope to shortly be ready to divide our belongings into 6 different packer piles. (I really don't know WHERE to begin on this - but that's to obsesss about next week!) Betsy, Bobbie Jo - have you done this before? Any tips?

We all worked HARD yesterday to be ready for the sale today (little did we know how persistent garage sale attendees can be in Texas. I'm not sure how to handle this in the future...)

I DID tell homeschoolers they could come early and so we wanted to have the homeschool stuff out last night.....

We started very orderly...looks pretty?



The homeschool wing of the sale....Notice these tables have stacks and boxes full of books underneath them. It's amazing to me that all but two apple boxes of books are gone. Wow - I didn't expect them to sell as well as they did....and many of the most excited were not homeschoolers.

Yes, we hired guards for the driveway last night.


7:30 - an hour before we opened. ::snort:: You can barely see myself and Deja's head....thanks Deja. Deja came over and helped us set things out, then she kept giving me the EYE when our early bird showed up and pressed me to make "deals" on all the big things. She reminded me that it was even 8:30 yet and I didn't need to make deals. Deja really walked me through this sale process. Her Mother and Grandmother hold estate sales for a living. It's not any friend that would get up at 5:30 a.m. to help you. ::snort::

I still don't have that, "ah, the house is bare" feeling....but I AM happy with our results. We made well over anything we've ever made before. I've had a couple of offers to take the couple of boxes of things that I have left to the homeschool sale next week.....I can't attend as I have a farewell to attend - for me and Mandy. ::sigh::

You know....I teared up when our table sold. Silly? We bought two identical tables about 8 years ago...and we needed them. We loved them...solid wood...little drawer to hide cards. ::snort:: We've heard two won't fit in the kitchen area in Misawa quarters...so we sold one...but now I realize that there is no way 7 will fit around this table.....hmm.....and I sold the cart that held my laptop so I wasn't sure I'd be able to blog...but I guess I can. ::snort:: Oh, back to the table....I was fine watching all my well-loved books leave the house, the pool, swing set, picnic tables, canoes (ouch),bike trailer etc...but that table...all the dinners, games, puzzles...discussions...it really signaled to me that our family make up is changing...and it made me sad. (I only slept 3 hours last night so that could have something to do with my emotions). ::snort::

I DID hold back the baby backpack too....no one asked about it. I'm either going to find someone who doesn't have one and likes to hike and bless them; or I'm taking it to a consignment shop. Someone snatched up the Indisposable Diapers and Stacia's first sling....I was happy that the young family was so excited to find the cloth diapers. It's the small things that made my day....I think we got to visit with most of the city. LOL We'll miss this city....and that is truly a blessing because it took a long time for this to be home for our family.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.