Japanese Homes

I've mentioned that our house is American style. There are homes our size and larger here. I think because it's a farming community, we do see more homes than say in like Tokyo. Most houses are smaller and close together...no yard between them at all.

Many families live in apartments like these.

Note the hooks/bars hanging from the ceilings of the balconies. These are for drying laundry. I have noticed most (if not all) homes have laundry poles outside or a room even for drying laundry. In fact a few houses I've seen have what look like SHEDS...with windows all around and lots of laundry drying inside.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Boys' Room

Welcome to the Boys' Room. Jared came to us and asked about rooming with the younger boys during this assignment. He felt he'd benefitted, as an 11 yo, from rooming with his high school brothers and wanted to help us mentor the younger boys. What a blessing! This allowed us to have a room set aside for school, computers and books.....and gives us peace knowing that our older ones are focused on partnering with us in the training of the younger ones.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Just Because

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Happy Birthday Man of Our Lives - yesterday

Yesterday (the 17th) was Mike's birthday! He chose the parrot hat instead of the pig hat.

We discovered that we need to plan ahead for birthdays of people over about 8. Oh well....We did find a few things for Mike.

Headphones so Mike can play the piano as loud as he likes, as late as he likes....and kids can practice whenever they want to - even if we're doing school in the same room.
We also got him a sweatshirt. It looked really big in the shop, but not so big next to Mike. I bet when we wash it it will fit Jared or I. LOL

It was a busy day....but we found time for games and birthday. A highlight of the day were emails from the kids, messages from friends, a Skype call with his parents, and a video greeting on Krista's blog. We also had PWOC in the morning and Middle School Drama in the afternoon. I fixed Manicotti instead of a roast...but we're still eating real food. LOL

Mike and Mom and Dad share the day....it's their 47th anniversary - and since the sun is now up on the 17th in America...Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Weather

"Mom, look how slow the rain is falling."

It is.

"Wait, it's slushing."

That's a good term to describe the weather.

"It's SNOWING, MOM!"

Yep, a bit earlier than expected.

Back to school and Japanese review in anticipation of a fun bit of time with Akikosensei.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

School Room

Welcome to day four of our rather extended "grand home tour". ::Snort:: Today you'll venture in to our school room.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Is this Balance?

I went to bed last night with head smoking......but got a lot done.

We did a bit of school. I RACED for the base for a Key Spouse "social". Arielle did a bit more school with the boys while I was gone.

We had piano lessons.

We headed back to the base again to do a bit of birthday shopping and realized we'll need to plan WAY far ahead for birthdays for anyone over 4. ::snort::

We dropped Jared off for Cross Training. Mike and he got home about 9 p.m. last night.

The rest of us came home and I worked on emails, wrapped presents, held a Regional Board meeting on Skype, adjusted a form for our needs, composed a "letter" for our region's page on the International website...found an old bio (updated) and photo (left it - 25 lbs lighter ::snort::) and sent those to our Admin Coordinator.

Headed to bed.....

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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