Gherkins Adrift in Tokyo....

Shudder! It's happened.

The boys were delayed getting out of San Angelo on American Airlines. They  missed their flight in Dallas. They ARRIVED in Tokyo one hour past the time Josiah was booked to fly.

The domestic ticket is with JAL and is not guaranteed if you don't arrive in time. We may have to buy Josiah another ticket out of pocket.  Train schedules changed recently and it's too late to get them on the train to us.

They are trying to use the pay phone, talk to American Airlines and JAL and see if someone can work something out for them...then they'll try to shuttle across Tokyo, find a hotel and try to fly to us tomorrow. JAMIN has a flight for tomorrow. Josiah doesn't, we're praying he can get on a flight tomorrow. Pray with us, please.

We found out JUST as we got on coats to go meet them. Stacia is sad and not understanding this at all.  I'm about to take the bullet train to Tokyo in the a.m. and bring them home myself...but I'm not sure how the new schedules work either. ::snort::  Still it seems that if you're going to be adrift it should be with mama....though they are 21 and 19.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Beachcombing in Northern Japan

We set off bright and early for Shipwreck Beach. It isn't snowing in Misawa.  Stacia had the best ride. I was glad we found her snow pants in the back of the van. She was comfy. 

Check out the windmills....no wind....that made this a nice outing. 

At one point Jared looked back and saw Stacia smiling and catching snowflakes on her tongue. What a life! 

The snow made it an adventure. It was a gorgeous drive. We found lots of sea glass, no floats....but I'm sure we will next time. LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Greatness

Check it out and drool! Wow this is good food. AND it was a good time to catch up with a dear friend. We laughed, we talked, she shared a new book I had to get from Kindle, we brainstormed about an upcoming PWOC event. Greatness. 

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Hilarious Christmas Charades We Love!

Can YOU guess who they are? 

I think I've trained this one right. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

VERY Merry Christmas

Our morning began with our traditional breakfast of Cinnamon Rolls and the commissary had TURKEY sausage. We enjoyed. 


Mike read the Christmas Story. The kids paid close attention, having been warned that this would be good info for the upcoming games of charades. 

We then settled on our gifts for Jesus. Each person had a budget, and the house pot allotted a healthy buffer..... We also brainstormed ideas for leveraging our donations for next year. 

All got involved in decorating the Birthday Cake for Jesus. Alas, it was  a cake malfunction of cosmic proportions. I managed to weave in the catastrophe by saying that our sins create a GAP between us and God. We took this photo early in the day as we weren't sure what the cake would look like by the time of the party. I've decided to make Twyla's Retreat Cake Balls with the left overs.

At this point the kids brought down  presents for family. We plan to open these on New Year's Day. Mike fixed the wifi and so I caught up on blogging and email. He also fixed the wind chimes that had been blown around the neighborhood earlier in the week. We all rejoice in having Mike home this year....and I find myself praying for those who are experiencing Christmas without a loved one at home.

We tried several times to reach family on Skype. We were able to reach John and Mary K (one of Mike's sisters). It was a bit late after getting off the phone with her to try others. (But our KIDS had a surprise for us on that count - LOL).

Finally, time for our Birthday party...and the GIRLS Skyped in. How cool is that? That happened last Thanksgiving too. Totally by "chance". Bre and Krista were able to join in the singing and watch the festivities via Skype.

I asked questions, explained symbolism - even the gap in the cake which by this time looked like a cross. ::snort:: 

We lit the 2010 to symbolize Christ (and discussed how much older than that He is), then each of us lit our little candy from the Christ candle to show that we are to "Shine in the Light of His Glory." We even lit candles for Bre and Krista as they joined us via Skype. 

The boys later joined us - 2 a.m. for them, midnight for the girls....5 p.m. for us....we lost video but oh what fun it was to listen to all of them talk and share...plain and simple when we all get together at one time (either in real life or via Skype) it's loud, chaotic and great fun. ::snort::

We had our Christmas dinner of lasagna, salad and garlic bread....and then played a few party games. 


Pin the Star on the Stable...fairly self-explanatory.....

Our Winner....

Gabriel's  Telephone...the old gossip telephone game...started with a "message from Gabriel" and ended finally with Mary or Joseph.... This message started as, "A baby is a wonderful gift at Christmas."

Joseph (Michael) ended up with a message of, "Obviously 99 30." He knew it couldn't be right, but hadn't a clue where to go. LOL We learned that one of our kids is prone to interpretation. LOL

Charades is always a family favorite. Today all selections had to deal with the Christmas story in some way.

I'll post some hilarious video clips next...A few random shots in closing: 

Auxiliary Freezer

At the end of the day, our pet, guards Jesus and Mary is flat on her face....destruction everywhere in the scene. 

Many of you are just now starting your Christmas. We pray your Christmas is as Merry as ours has been.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Happy Birthday Jesus!

If you've read our blog, you know we've been Christmas transition for some years.  We have been convicted about how and why we give on Christmas.  This led to us moving our family gift exchange from "Christmas" and focusing solely on celebrating Jesus and giving gifts to Him on Christmas day. (We realize some use Christmas Eve for this - that's fine - we chose this way).  We've focused on giving to Jesus for years - but it was rather intangible for our littles. 


We hesitate to share much here, not wanting to seem pharisaical. However, this is a family journal and we do try to journal those things which are important to us. We do also share what we've bought for our children's birthdays. In that spirit, here are the tangible gifts we have been honored and blessed to give  to Jesus on His birthday today. Gospel for Asia gives 100% of our donations to the areas we designate.  We have begun brainstorming how we can leverage our donations next year. I think we'll sell something and spend the money on more gifts....we still didn't make the Water Buffalo....but we're happy for these gifts....most will allow a family some relief now as well as provide an income for years to come. Many of these are destined to those in the untouchable castes of India. 

Pair of Pigs

Pair of Rabbits

Fishing Nets

Water Filter for one family

Four Blankets

3 Pairs of Chickens

Embroidery Machine

2 Lambs

1 Rickshaw

1 Radio

1 Pay Telephone (income)

and a CAMEL! 

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Christmas Eve

I love the candlelight Christmas Eve services we've enjoyed at various military chapels throughout the world.  This service always seems like a wonderful illustration of all the best parts of various church traditions.

Last night we had various passages of Scripture read (Christmas story, John 1:1 - 14 and more), a host of hymns, special music....communion and candles. Lots of candles.

No, not my sweetie, but she IS the doll of one of my gals who said I could post this photo....

After the service we drove around in search of a truly LIGHTED up neighborhood. We were sadly disappointed, but I suppose that makes the ones who DO decorate stand out all the more. LOL

Back at home we baked a Birthday cake, ate pizza,  and played our new game - Don't Say That  (Taboo for the Jr set).

At Stacia's persistent request we even played Candyland.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...