Sunburned Nose - really?

Stacia and I went to the park and enjoyed discussing 2 Peter 2 with a precious group of ladies. I HAVE A SUN BURNED FACE....because I was running late and  didn't put on my make up which has sunscreen in it - I'm a believer. 

After study we headed for the commissary to buy the ingredients to make a Reeses Peanut Butter Ice Cream cake....anyone tracking with me on this? This was HARD...I gave up chocolate May 20th and am now doing vegan plus....which means this is my all-time favorite cake and I didn't lick a spoon. ::snort:: ONLY because Arielle and Nolan took the ingredients off my hands and made the cake when I got home. 

Kids enjoyed playing outside.

I got some regional stuff done...and then was surprised when Kristin Skyped me on my computer....I'd totally forgotten a Skype call we had scheduled. ::snort:: Grace was extended and a great call too.

I took Arielle on a play date and then met a friend for a play date of my own. We went to UNcafe - new to me. I'd assumed it was a deserted building. ::snort:: I loved parking on the sidewalk...they said it was fine....and I really loved that I was not the one driving and trying to find a parking spot!

Michael is  at work....dinner is done....I'm going to wrap up a few more quick projects and steal some time to work on prepping for Saturday's project.... Still praying about the best way to go with 7 hours of training notes.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Lazy Summer Days

The morning began with an 06:30 Skype with the PWOC Japan Regional Board praying together for our ladies. What a joy it is to have two team members.....and more on the way. God is building His team in His time...and I couldn't be happier. 

Another relaxing morning of school. I could get used to this. 

Michael came running in the house mid-morning - sick. Must be a touch of the flu and I've quarantined him. 

Lunch presented the opportunity to spend time with an old friend and make a couple of new friends. While we were traveling, two chaplain families moved out and two new chaplain families moved in.  Such is military life.  We enjoyed lunch at an "organic restaurant" minutes from our home, bought produce and headed home. The kids had a good time getting to know Mike and Shannon's two little gals.

I think summer this year is going to be incredibly SHORT. I heard that it got hot the week before we came home. It was HOT that first week home. It rained all last week and this week is nice....but not unbearably warm....I felt bad that I spent the HOT week organizing and unpacking....so today I took the kids to the beach.  I remembered sitting on the beach with Twyla, eating hummus, and watching Jim's plane fly over on his way to his  second deployment....this was my first time back to the swim beach since the Tsunami. It wasn't opened last year.

Zander got Arielle a Boogie board for her b-day - fun. 

I've finally found a shortcoming of an ipad - don't want it at the beach

Just never know where those conference bags will show up!

And tonight - I discovered pure goodness! I added 2 T of this to my green smoothie. 

via google images

30 grams of protein in one drink.....though I couldn't finish it....less sugar and fat than peanut butter...less messy too.  Michael said they'd be great frozen....still working for some sort of dairy-free ice cream substitute.... LOL 

And...if you're counting it's now one day and a wake up until Stacia's long-awaited birthday. I have a sick feeling we are about to disappoint her....life is intervening....and I'm working hard to find ways to make this all she's waited for.  She was in tears when she realized her friends all moved while we were gone and she had no one to invite to her big party. I'm hoping for a big party in a bit of time - give her some time to make some new friends....and a family party on the 16th...but we'd promised her a friend party - her first ever - and none of us took the PCS cycle into account. UGH. 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

New Team Shirts

We continue to work towards a strong start to the next school year...but we're well into our rolling start....we are working on language arts, math, science, phonics....

I was happy our neighbor who moved stopped by and asked if I would continue to give her daughter a ride to youth group. Sure thing....and so I took Arielle in for a "play date" with friends - ::snort:: - and then brought everyone else in at PYOC (youth) time....

I headed off base and joined the MOPS steering team for  the Misawa MOPS planning meeting. Good fun - great year planned.

Back at home and Michael showed us a package that had arrived from Krista! New G Team shirts.....I tried to get the front and back in one shot!

This is what Krista and I were designing the night before we left Oregon. They have a tree, say estab 1984 one one side and a verse on the other....and we used the PWOC theme "Generation 2 Generation" as it FITS for a family shirt.....Now - not sure you can see it here, but we'll come up with a prize for the person who points out the fun "mistake" first.

We hadn't figured out what to do with Mom G's, Michael's and mine.....but Krista made us 0, 1 and 2.....Stacia LOVES her shirt and wore it today... She's thrilled there is no doubt it is HER shirt as she is "number 11 G."

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Ox in the Ditch

A dear friend shared a piece of advice I sorely needed several months ago....Cathy, you were truly my Titus 2 in so many ways....she told me, "De'Etta, I don't do any work on any of these projects on Sunday...unless the ox is in the ditch."  It was a word I needed.....and so today....I kept checking and the ox was NOT in the ditch....so I did NOT tend to any of the many regional PWOC  or school prep things on the list.....I worshiped at home, I spent time in the word, I continued my study on prayer, I attended chapel and was blessed by the service of the word, I was refreshed by hugs and conversations with fellow believers.....

We are enjoying getting to know Dave and Beth, our new Club Beyond directors. We took them out to lunch. Evidently, Michael's ox is in the ditch...so we parted ways and the kids and I had a very relaxing day at home. 

Relaxing to me means taking care of my CLOSET!!!! and putting a few more things into the  stack of boxes for the thrift store...or someone....and - yes I NAPPED..... 

For two weeks I've searched for the missing sourdough starter. I feared it had escaped my kitchen and would somehow take over Northern Japan, as kudzu has taken over Southern America.  Jared couldn't remember what happened. None of the kids could remember. Michael was sure it was in the freezer. He maintained his sure confidence through the whole search. That's what a man of faith does. ::wink::

 I looked through the fridge/freezer...nice to have it cleaned, I sorted through the deep freeze - repeatedly (need to defrost this week). No starter. The kids kept hinting they'd like some fresh bread. On my shopping list "bread - if you don't have time to bake" showed up.  I was telling them again Saturday night  I couldn't find the starter and would get more this week when Michael insisted it was in the freezer. I replied I'd searched repeatedly and couldn't find it...Jared didn't know where it was....Arielle, sitting at the table remained silent. Michael said, "Arielle - aren't you the one who put it in the freezer."

"Yes," she replied, "It's in the freezer."

"Show me," I've found is often a great come back and worked well here.....

I was a little sheepish when she immediately pulled out a container....but it turned out it was "ice cream" I'd tried to make from almond milk.....(if it had worked it would not be buried in the deep freeze). Arielle dug further and longer and found it.

When asked how she'd missed the frantic-and-thorough-weeks-long search,  she said she was "reading and in her own world."  Ah, I've often gone to that world, how can you fault a person for missing details when they're in their world? Though two weeks is a bit troublesome. ::snort::

I fed and pampered the starter without a lot of hope through yesterday. This afternoon I discovered.....my sourdough starter had AWOKE...it's ALIVE....so tonight I made some English muffins and that and fruit will be dinner. 

Michael called and it would appear a whole fleet of oxen are in the ditch....so we will continue to welax here at home....

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Mexican Yellow Rice and Black Beans (Vegan)

I saw this on Lisa's Facebook page. She's never led me wrong yet.  You can read notes and reviews of the recipe at food.com where it originated. 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup uncooked brown rice, rinsed and drained

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 cups vegetable stock or 2 cups chicken stock

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

1/2 medium bell pepper, diced

1/2 medium red bell pepper, diced

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained (1 1/2 Cups cooked dried beans)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (Opt)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, snipped

2 medium limes, quartered

Directions:

1. Bring the vegetable or chicken stock to a boil; stir in the turmeric and brown rice.

2. Bring rice to boiling, stir once, lower heat and cook 40 to 45 minutes or until done and liquid has been absorbed, adding more liquid if needed.

3. Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil, warming slightly.

4. To the warmed pan, add the onion, jalapeno, bell peppers, and red pepper flakes; cook for 4 minutes or until beginning to brown on the edges, remove from heat.

5. Stir the drained beans and cumin into the mixture adding salt to taste.

6. Let stand covered for 5 minutes; stir in the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil.

7. To serve, divide the rice into 4 equal portions and place on individual plates.

8. Top the rice with bean mixture, sprinkle with cheese and snipped cilantro.

9. Serve lime wedges on the side to squeeze over all.

*Notes

~I put the veggie broth, turmeric and rice in our rice steamer and it worked great. 

~The kids had cheese and sour cream - I didn't and it was just fine and vegan.

~I left out the hot peppers to make it kid friendly and I still haven't found the cilantro but it was yummy. 

~All the kids ate it - some with copious amounts of ketchup. 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Down Day

I started the day doing a few word studies, praying, reading a few blogs, updating the region's facebook and THEN....outlook popped up with a 15 min reminder.....PWOC Prayer Walk.  I think I'm going to have to set the alarms for an earlier warning as I've been caught several times this week.  ::grin::

Prayer walk was a sweet time of praying with PWOC sisters as we enjoyed the beautiful Misawa morning. Don't you think there is a special closeness which comes from praying together?

I passed Michael on the way to the base as I came home. ::snort:: He's still not home. I trust he's getting a jump start on next week...or finishing up this week with a bang.

We had a lazy Saturday. Stacia stayed in her room as she deemed herself "sick" and in need of quarantine....they LOVE the dvd player in their room.  Arielle and Zander went on a run.....then the three older ones (who used to be the 3 youngers - hmmmm) rode their bikes up for a treat at the local produce market.

I did a bit more research for our upcoming school year. I've ordered a few history books that will provide a nice spine. I plan to find out how to get into the DOD school library this week to see what they have....and explore a few options around here for hands on learning.  Our year is shaping up nicely - how can you BEAT studying Japanese history/culture for a year?

I made a new recipe for dinner.....1/2 way through the meal Arielle looked up and said, "There's no meat on the table at all!"  Look at that....eating vegetarian and they didn't get it until then....though Zander needed a lot of ketchup to make the black beans go down....and a lot of beans slipped out the bottom of his wrap. ::snort:: I give him an A+ for encouraging comments and a valiant effort.

I'm looking at the calendar to decide if we can fit in a trip to see the rice art fields next week. I'll have to take the kids alone as it just doesn't work to wait for Michael to have a day off.....I think I can find it without getting lost....we may just opt for the Towada Horse Park.  Actually, I'm about a hair's breadth away from packing the kids on the train and taking the trip to Hokkaido we had planned to do with Jared before we left suddenly for the states. We all wondered how long it would take after those unexpected 7 1/2 weeks before I was ready for more adventures...evidently two weeks. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Unexpected Blessings

Some days refuse to go as planned. We worked hard all week - at home and chapel - and expected to go see the rice art up north today. 

Instead we had the unexpected joy of  showing hospitality to new chapel staff. Things do not usually move fast in the Air Force - but WOW  - we were all surprised when our new Club Beyond directors (first really) were granted SOFA status quickly and flew in this morning.  I was so surprised I showed up with wet hair and no makeup. ::snort::  Arielle looked at us shocked as we were running out of the house at 08:50....."WHERE are you going?"

"We're picking up the Club Beyond directors and I didn't get it on the calendar." My supportive daughter's laughter rang in my ears...but I figured...oh well!  After 24 hours of traveling they aren't going to care if I have make up on or wet hair. ::snort::

It was fun to visit with Dave and Beth as we did the base tour, picked a few things up at the commissary and had lunch together.  What a blessing they will be to our community and what a blessing to show them around this a.m.  They are fresh from Incirlik, Turkey. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better...

When we got home, we thought we'd head for the rice fields.....Stacia was crying and said she had a sore throat and ear ache.  The clinic was closed today for an exercise. I was told to take her to the UCC (ER). Michael took the older three to the ocean....the boys had been wanting to swim since we got back to Japan....it's a bit chilly for my tastes!

Stacia and I went to the UCC....where we were told to get a decongestant and ibuprofen for her. Of COURSE she told them she didn't have a sore throat.....that gal.

Friday night is PIZZA night! Cheese for the kids....roasted veggies w/o cheese for Michael and me. I like the frozen stuff...Michael prefers traditional sauce and more veggies...so I'll make some next week.

WHICH brings us to the big news of the day.....I was explaining to Michael I couldn't make pizza tonight as I still hadn't found the sourdough starter and yes I HAD emptied the freezer....Arielle got up, and found it!!!! SO....it's thawing and the kids are happy to think about fresh English Muffins and homemade pizza in the upcoming week.... Now off to watch a family movie.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...