Tuesday

Yesterday was a catch up day after a very busy Tuesday. THIS is why I must guard weekdays...it doesn't cost me one day of school, it costs two, as we endeavor to catch up. I've taken steps to safeguard weekday mornings. It will be better in a couple of weeks. Of course, it's HARD to get dental and doctor appointments here, when they are available, we must simply deal. LOL

I visited Maeda for a bit of food. I didn't want to drive to base and lose another a.m. Shopping always is full of adventure. For instance:

• I tried Sake, Shoyu (which I couldn't read the label or I would have recognized) before I found Yakiniku sauce.
• Akiko later informed me one of the yakiniku sauce that I purchased was really yakitori sauce. Ah well, it all works.
• Carts here turn in ALL directions....mine discovered a mind of it's own and headed back to the checkout line...mowing down a woman on the way. ::blush::
• Sumimaisen is a very good phrase to know....
• Bowing low is a very good talent to have....
• The dairy aisle has a ton of drink options packagaed like milk, but not all are milk....
• Do visit the obento aisle.
• Do visit the bakery, but....
• Beware of bean paste masquerading as chocolate in "donuts, brownies and rolls".

If there is a cow on the front, take a chance...Y149 for a liter. ouch.

Food Adventures

• Daigan is the white looking thing on the left. I bought a small one.I planned to saute/grill it with mushrooms and onions in Yakiniku sauce. Akikosan informed me that is NOT THE RIGHT way to cook it...but I think I'll try anyway.
• Across the top of the photo is Nikuman from Maeda's freezer. Thanks for the tip, Kim.
• I already mentioned the sauces. Akikosan says the yakiniku is a DIPPING SAUCE ONLY...and the yakitori is for CHICKEN only and for grilled chicken - a marinade. Hmph.
• The green bag on the right is our treat of the day - a mini sugar cone with "ice cream" like stuff in the middle...not really freeze dried, more of a mix between pudding and freeze dried. We thought the green was mint, we're not so sure now.
• The kids thought the mushrooms were strange....but I also found bananas, pineapple and seedless "clementines". LOL
  

Obento Adventures

The above sports a potato filled roll, cheese filled roll, wrapped sausages, pizza, chicken nuggets on a strip, chicken dumplings (pot stickers), and potato on a stick.... I decided to bring home a variety of selections that looked kid-friendly from the "deli" - which is set up to be obento - take out lunches. This led to a fun lunch and some new adventures:

• "Pizza" - I learned this before, but forgot. The crust was nice and thick - usually paper thing and crunchy around here.....it looked good. When we sampled we discovered it was topped with mayo, potatoes and fish chunks. The kids weren't thrilled.
• The Chicken dumplings are a hit.
• The various rolls met with various responses.
• Never assume "nuggets" on a stick ARE chicken nuggets. These were various unrecognizable pieces chicken and fat on a stick. This made the fish pizza more appetizing.
• We'll pass on those specific potatoes in the future, or buy them hot at a vendor.
• Get out and TRY the new things; it was fun. The kids will feel more and more comfortable with options out in public as we try them at home.
  

Stacia was THRILLED with the bananas...."Little bananas!" I bought two bunches and they are all gone...which is sure to lead to more shopping adventures in Northern Japan.

We did school, cleaned a bit, cooked a nice dinner, enjoyed our Advent traditions and had our Japanese lesson. Akikosan asked a few questions about our decorations. This is good. She had asked us each to bring our favorite book to the lesson. SHE ASKED. I brought my Bible. I wish I could have snapped a photo...but the moment was too important. She looked. Sat it down. Picked it up and looked again. She turned it on all sides to check it out. I have a big Bible...and as mad as I was at the theives who stole my Bible this summer leading to this new Bible....I realized I would gladly give it to Akikosan if she expressed an interest. I told her what it was. She told me it was a "Bibudu" or a "Sayisho".

Akikosan brought photos of her growing up years and pets to show us. After the lesson I asked her about Onsens - she recommended her favorite. We talked about children (because I wasn't happy with a boy in the onsen Tuesday night). This led to a chance to tell her that I believe children are a gift from the true and living God...even lots of them. She appeared a bit puzzled and may ask again about our family size. Little shrines to aborted babies are common here. It's heartbreaking. They ACKNOWLEDGE the baby is a life and soul....but feel that they must abort. Abortion rate is high. I knew that Akikosan wondered why we had nine children because she often comes back to this fact in our lessons. ::snort::

I thought we would need to cancel lessons for next week, as we have dental appointments on Wed., but she really wanted to continue to meet, so we'll adjust. Please pray with us that our family will display the love of Christ to Akikosan in a way that is authentic and real and understandable to her. She isn't real sure what Shintoism believes on a number of points which I've asked. Jared is now researching Shintoism and I think he knows more about it than her. We would love to introduce her to Jesus sometime in the next 3 years....or maybe we are simply here to plant seeds. I know that she has our Cadence Missionaries and another Chaplain's family in her group classes. God is planting seeds.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Advent Hunt & Musing

Mike and the kids went ahead with the Advent devotional and hunt while I soaked in a HOT tub. ::snort::

Tonight's Clue: Here's a Hent about Cortez. Hmmm...gotta know we collect G. A. Henty, so that may not be a spelling error. Yep, the gift was behind, "By Right of Conquest" by G. A. Henty. Good find, Arielle.

I am so blessed here. I'm not sure WHY I've been blessed with really good friendships so quickly. I ALWAYS pray for friends. I ALWAYS end up with at least one life-long friend from each assignment....but this is a strange season. I had prayed for the past 7 years for more margin, more time for friendships and relationships....and here I am. I'm busy. I'm happy. God's moved me into a season that certainly carries a lot of responsibility, though some days are busy, most days are less busy than I've been for the past many years. I'm NOT running two food co-ops, I'm not running a local PWOC.... He's provided quick friends.....friendships that feel much deeper than they should this quickly. Today, I ended up with several meetings, drama for Arielle and a doc visit. I had TWO friends both willing to watch Stacia as needed - and both friends I FELT COMFORTABLE leaving Stacia with. That's amazing. In fact, I called one in the middle of the day because I wasn't sure of the next step on my schedule. Where was I supposed to meet her? ::snort:: At the end of the long day I went out with another friend for a bowl of ramen and to soak at the Onsen.....and the fellowship was sweet....and I believe refreshing for both of us. SO....here I am in a busy season of life feeling quite refreshed, blessed, and at ease.

The doc....I finally found one who agrees with me. ::snort:: It took 3 doctors but hey....he agreed. He's a Christian. He's the chief of medical staff here.....and he said that I can come off Zocor. He said at my age, with my risk factors, I have a 4% chance of a heart attack in the next 10 years. ON the Zocor I have a 3% risk. He agreed that if it were his wife, given our specific factors, he wouldn't want her on the drug. He was concerned that my blood pressure was 145/94. OBVIOUSLY, working out was doing something for me. I wasn't losing weight at a rapid pace...but it DID keep my blood pressure way, way lower. SO.....I'm to get back into my typical lifestyle, figure out how to workout "aerobically 45 min most days of the week," go off the meds...and see him again in 3 months. I pushed for 6. We agreed on 3. He said there is a new test out that helps to measure the family risk factor. I don't really understand it, it's a blood test and gives them a "reasonable guess" as to if you've started heart disease and how long you may have until a major incident. He says its best to have the test without the Zocor as it can mask the results....so he's willing to let me go off, take that test, retest my numbers and then visit again.

Diabetes: My thyroid disease, gestational diabetes, family history and elevated cholesterol all put me at "high risk" for diabetes. They ran the big dog test and my blood sugars are great. He said to keep in mind that I'm at high risk and make lifestyle changes now....but that I can still have my treats from time to time.....my sugars average 81....that's GREAT. Now family can quit worrying. I'm taking care of myself.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

How EARLY it Starts

We don't have television in our home. We don't focus on external beauty. Where does this come from and why does it start so early?

Doing Stacia's hair this a.m.

Stacia: Mom, do you think Ricky will think my hair is pretty.

Mom: I'm sure he will, but isn't it enough for Daddy and your brothers to think you are pretty?

Stacia: I don't know if they think I'm pretty.

Mom: Let's ask...of course they do and have told her that....

I maintain that deep within every girls heart is the desire to be the princess, to be loved, to be cherished and special and pretty....because we can't blame this one on the media.

It sort of saddened me...but then it made me all the more determined to be sure the girls know how much their brothers and father admire them, how much we admire their internal qualities, how very beautiful they are in our eyes.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Sicko

Conversation at our home:

Zander: Where are you going now?

Mom: The Onsen.

Zander: What's that?

Mom: Japanese Public Bath.

Zander: You mean everyone is naked?

Mom: Yes.

Zander: You're going to get naked with them?

Mom: Laughing, yes.

Zander: Sickos

Yes, I am and at the end of this very, very long and busy day, I'm totally looking forward to it. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Look closely & you'll see Goeckers hanging out the top

Arielle & Nolan race to ring the bell

More swans

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.....

they found.

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.

{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...