Please Pray for Our Great Nephew

Here's a prayer request we shared on Facebook.

"Our family needs prayers. This season has been difficult for Gherkin men. Most urgently - early this a.m. our 18 yo great nephew was celebrating the end of mid-terms with friends. He fell off a balcony and landed 2 stories down on concrete. He is currently in ICU and we're praying for a miracle. Earlier in the past month or two his grandfather - Michael's brother Earl - began battling Stage 3 colon cancer. A few weeks ago Michael's eldest brother - Mike - was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. Michael (you know - my Mike) sees the surgeon on Tuesday. Please pray for Dominic, Earl, Michael and Mike....and if you are a Gherkin male - be careful. I bought these guys a couple of weeks ago - you know - weebles wobble but they don't fall down."

As I sit here hours later - babies in bed, dog in kennel, doorbell silent - I'm sad. Just sad...and weary....and reaching for what I know to be true. God doesn't waste a minute of suffering...God has a plan....He does. God is good.  But I'm human. I'm still sad. It feels surreal that Dom could be in the ICU....so we pray. We ask God for a miracle and we believe His will will be done...in all these situations and the other situations we all face.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Double Snuggles and Laughs

We've been waiting for Friday. The day dawned cloudy and rainy. Arielle is exhausted because Stacia coughed all night....but we got up, got school done and waited.......what could this mean?

 

Elise and Clara are here!!! These little ones are a blast and we get them all day and overnight. Brenner, Stephanie and Cole are off on an over-night birthday trip for Cole (4).  Brenner is one of our Protestant chaplains and Stephanie is our PWOC Spiritual Life Ministry Team Leader.

Elise, Me and Clara Beth

There's Clara's face!

We began with snuggles.....moved on to playing

 

LUNCH TIME....Yuuki is sure if she stays between the girls she'll get treats.

 

Next on the agenda was nap time. The girls went right down. We left Arielle to secure the house and ran to buy MILK (a terrible thing to run out of - especially with young kids in the house) and a few groceries.

 

The afternoon was spent with more play time....

 



I found it fun to watch the girls play with  play dough....the difference in their personalities was fascinating. Elise made round little balls, all the colors separate.....

Clara had a lovely mash of variegated colors....she looks sad here as she's just noted all of Elise's lovely balls and she' trying to figure out how to make hers similar. 

After dinner Stacia asked Michael to play the piano so the kids could dance. Zander opted to help me with clean up. LOL

 

We planned to settle down and watch a bit of Mickey before bed...but oy vey - the Elsa's and Olafs at our door!  We DID watch some Mickey in between racing our howling Beagle to the door. It was great fun to hear all the comments as we passed out candy. My favorite was, "Oh, Daddy look, they dressed up as twins!" ::snort::

 

Arielle read stories to the girls and they went right down at bedtime.  I've given Stacia cough syrup and she may sleep down stairs to help the girls sleep a bit better in their room.  She's a bit sad about it - we don't do sleep overs so she's been looking forward to having the girls over....

 

It's been a fun day with the little gals in our home.  I can't help thinking  if I'd carried the twins to term we'd have 7 year old twins in the house.  It's been a fun day.

 



Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Laundry Day

There you have it! The wind at Beale CAN get strong enough to knock over my clothesline. I thought I left this problem behind in Misawa. LOL

We were able to rescue the sheets with a quick trip through the dryer but the clothes needed to be rewashed. 

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Clergy Appreciation

This month has been the BEST month I have ever seen in Clergy Appreciation since joining the Air Force. I'm so proud of our gals.  PWOC decided to motivate our parish and told Chaplains wives we weren't to play a part. They joined with CWOC and WOW....we had notes this month, cards for the chaplains, doughnuts, homemade soap, homemade bread, Kids Flight homeschoolers made cookies, RE classes made thank you cards...and yesterday the CWOC and PWOC  provided lunch for the staff and families.  It was well worth the early school hours to attend. LOL  Thanks to all who took part in making this such a fun appreciation month!

 

Back at home we harvested another Zuchinni

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Monday

Not one photo taken - but a very productive day.

Monday's are always very busy school days. Stacia finished an Explode the Code book, Alex began a new Wordly Wise book, we all read and read about Simon Bolivar and comrades.

Arielle and Nolan had Japanese lessons. I love to listen to the Japanese flying back and forth. The other day Arielle had a conversation with Nikki in Japanese....not just the "Good morning. How are you? I'm fine," conversation *I* have with her each week. LOL 

I spent much time in the afternoon on the computer....working on Philippians homework, announcement slide show, answering emails, touching base with volunteers and lining up activities for December and January.

Arielle completed her driving instruction - six hours behind the wheel with a certified instructor.  She would have made 82 on the driving test and would have passed. We aren't sure 82 is a score we're comfortable with - but I can't wait for her to have her license. Much of the problem came from driving the school's small car vs a 15 pass van. We're trying to figure out what to do about that. Test in the school's car, test in the van - Arielle suggests we buy a new little, sporty automatic car. ::snort::

Michael spent more time with his favorite doctor. Nothing new or exciting to share. LOL

All in all - it was a full day.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Frantic-Lazy Sunday

First, Arielle got a HUGE compliment from Nikki today. She said Arielle speaks Japanese, "Very clearly," and her teachers, "Are very good." Go Ryu and Kim!


Nikki & Margaret (Please pray for Margaret's quick healing
of a broken hip)

Today was our monthly Parish Potluck -  it was fantastic.  This month's theme was "Winter Comfort Foods." I think the theme resonated as we had a great variety of food this month.  Part of me wants to post all the photos of friends Michael took - but I don't know if all would want to be posted.  I may do a giant "Beale Chapel Faces" post before we retire. ::snort::  Here are some photos of US which Michael took.


Angela loves on our preschoolers at PWOC - and Arielle

Nolan

Note I'd STILL not made a dent on my lunch.....Hope, Cynthia, Me, Kelsey

 Melody made my day when she found me as I bustled around and asked me to come sit by her. I promised I would when I was done eating. She was faithful to check back with me until I was ready to sit down. LOL

Zander and Cole

Heaven - she's in heaven - hard to braid when your
arm is in a cast.

We got home around 2:30 and began a serious day of REST.....we all found things we find relaxing to occupy our afternoon/evening....Arielle decided it would be a great day to make a purse for Stacia. Krista has a cool purse which she MADE. Arielle went searching through Stacia's stash of material and my closet (for a belt for the adjustable strap) and set to work after a text or two.

It turned out really cute. I think we'll have to make one for Arielle and one for me - different fabric selection. LOL

Michael and Nolan continue work on "The Puzzle"

I had seen a link on the internet on how to turn a t-shirt into a tote in 10 min - no sewing.  I gave it a shot.  I did sew along the bottom as there were still holes in the bottom after I tied it all....I  think we need to find a shirt with loner arm holes. LOL

 

 

Even Yuuki relaxed

 

Stacia models her new purse. We want to buy a button or something to put on the front. Arielle will switch the strap as she didn't account for Stacia's left-handed-tendencies and the clip to adjust the strap is behind her. 

 

Yeah - need to find some stretched out t-shirts with longer arm holes. LOL

 

Are you aware October is clergy appreciation month? Phil and Beverly surprised the chaplains and staff with HOME MADE BREAD!!!! We got TWO loaves...which makes it seem doable to get caught up on baking and actually start baking our bread again. These younger kids actually LIKE fresh-baked bread. I can work with this. ::wink::  

 

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

PF Chang's Shanghai Cucumbers

I went on a search for this recipe and found arguments over which tasted "most authentic" - most saying you need much more vinegar than below. I finally check PF Chang's website and low and behold they HAD the recipe. Yay. They have a few other recipes on the site - but this was the only vegan one I saw.

They didn't peel theirs!!!!

Ingredients
12 oz peeled and seeded cucumbers, cut into 1 inch pieces (about 1.5 medium cukes)
3 T of Soy Sauce
1 tsp of White Vinegar
1/4 tsp Sesame Oil
1/2 tsp toasted Sesame Seeds

Directions
Prepare the cucumbers

Mix the sauce ingredients together

Mix the sauce with the cucumbers

Sprinkle Sesame Seeds over top.


Cynthia enjoyed these at PF Changs. I made a double batch for our potluck. They're all gone. I can't remember what it tasted like at the restaurant, but Cynthia said the only difference was mine were less salty - I use a low sodium soy sauce.


Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...