Dinner At Bovino's

After shopping at the BX, having lunch at Subway, and then more shopping at the Commisary we went to dinner at Bovino's. It's one of those Brazillian-type places where they bring on the MEAT! Dave loves these restaurants, so even though they're not my first choice, I can now say I've been. I'm not at all a fan of Japanese food either but the rice and a couple of other dishes there were very good.


We especially loved the pineapple. It was warm and covered with cinnamon!




We went walking after dinner on a beach with sinking sand! They must truck it in. The beach is beautifully terraced and it looked like the sand gets quickly washed away. It must not have been settled or something because Shannon and I both walked in the water and sank down into the sand up to our knees. It's a bit unnerving to feel the ground you're standing on giving way like that!

But I found 1 yen on the way back to the car so I figure: "Find 1 yen and pick it up, all that day we'll have good luck!"

Kadena Air Base Okinawa

It took 25 hours to get here and thank goodness! With how tiring travel can be and with the option of sleeping for much of the time, jetlag wasn't much of a problem.
This is where Shannon, Joe and Isabel live. The view of the surroundings from their house is green and beautiful with lots of trees. We came in at night so our pictures below were taken later. The top photo is from the web.

She Lives Where?!

Shannon is having a brand new little baby girl! The due date is July 11th or so. So David and I are going to go and help her and spend time with her sweet little family. Once again, as luck would have it, we have to go to the tropical island where they live, but this time we need passports! For the first time in my life I'll be going out of the country, to a place very foreign to me. We're going to Okinawa. Of course we're looking forward to being with our family,

but I must honestly say that those pristine white beaches sure look good, too!

I'll be bringin' home a bit of sand, some shells and something truly and uniquely Japanese.

Where Mark Is

Mark says he's 30 minutes from the border of Canada.
He will actually do his entry paper work on Monday so for now, he's bored, by himself and staying in very large dorm-type barracks. Thank goodness he added our Netflix app to his phone so he can pass some of the time with tv. (Television on your phone? wow!) He also is going to check out his surroundings and get his berrings. Could be that being there a little early is to his advantage.

Splish Splash!

THANK YOU, MARK!
He got the pool partly up. Later we discovered that the holes for the pump are on the wrong side so we're going to have to turn the pool around. But for at least a couple of days the kids had tons of fun out there, and with less than 2 ft. of water!




Garret was catchin' some zzzzzzz's by the time we thought to grab the camera so we snapped a couple of pics before he, Dawn, Mark and Levi took off for home this morning. Happy 3rd Birthday Sweet Little Boy! Wish you didn't have to be in the car all day, but hope that that party on Saturday is a blast!!

On Snacks in Primary, Time Out, and Being Ugly

They are only 4 years old but oh, so impressionable!
I got a call to substitute in Primary yesterday before I even got home from Celeste's house at 10 AM.. Sharion Sutherland was having some pretty severe back pain, had tried to call a number of possible subs and could find none on this Father's Day morning, so I got the job. Fortunately the subject was on the Holy Ghost which I had recently already taught, so it wasn't as bad as it could be.
At Primary, the classes were small and I wondered why they didn't just combine two together to make up for the missing teacher but by our 2:30 dismissal I knew.
It's important to note here that our ward meets at 11:30. Not an ideal time for children although I don't know if there really is a time that's "ideal". 11:30 is just late enough in the morning for kids to either not be hungry enough for lunch so they eat very little before going to church, or they don't eat lunch at all. I suspect that most parents simply serve a late breakfast on Sunday. But whatever the meal schedule, our kids are hungry in Primary by 2 PM and I had a little boy who told me he wanted a snack, accepted my explanation about being able to go home soon to eat, as I was not prepared with food, and after several minutes he quietly wept.

I can see why the food policy has been bent just a little.

Continuing the lesson I asked the question about whether they could remember having a good feeling when making a right choice. A young lady in our little class explained that the cops came to her house and she told them the truth. I asked if this made her feel good. Of course wanting to please the teacher, she said yes and followed it by adding that then they took her daddy away and put him in jail. With that, I remembered going to a jail to pay a visit and hearing a mother explain to her own child that jail is just time out for grownups. I thought this was such a good explanation that I tucked it away in my memory for later use. I think for this little girl it was the right thing to say as I treated her father's situation with matter of fact frankness.
We talked about how the Holy Ghost can help us with our friends; that we can be influences for good by listening to the Holy Ghost, but that if our friends don't want to follow us, we need to back away. The Holy Ghost is such and amazing friend, always helping us to know when something is right or wrong. What a wonderful resource!
Our open discussion about jail seemed to make it okay to talk about important issues so another little girl raised her hand and said that her mother says she's ugly! I told her that God doesn't make people ugly and she's a child of God. Sometimes we do things that are ugly, but we aren't ugly. I also taught her that we can feel ugly when we make bad choices but we can fix that if we will repent. This keeps us beautiful.
I love being in a place where I can share the important things I know. Of any calling in the church, I prefer to teach.

Graduation Day!

Graduation was held on the grounds behind the U.S. Army Infantry Museum. It was a simple ceremony but important occasion.

The ceremony began with the firing of guns and the setting off of smoke grenades. Yes, they were yellow and purple.

Then they came marching over the hill. Very impressive.



The flag ceremony and singing of our National Anthem stirred the soul.
Words were spoken of the importance and dedication of these young men to the cause of our people and our Nation.
Recognition and thanks were given in a presentation of their leaders. Then the new Infantry Soldiers were recognized as a group.
Lastly, the Foxtrot and Charlie Companies marched before the audience and off the field, to meet family and friends and then to bid farewell to Fort Benning.

The U.S. Army Infantry Museum

This is the museum. It's the only museum solely dedicated to the U.S. Army Infantry.
Andrew Summers Rowan was the messenger who braved hardship and possible death to carry a letter and deliver it safely to Garcia behind enemy lines in a battle that took place during the Spanish-American War. His story was written by Elbert Hubbard. More on him can be found here.
Isn't it remarkable that food can keep like this!
I found the posters to be very interesting.
This is the uniform that was worn when Grandpa Chandler was in the Army. Fortunately he never had to go to battle. His valuable work was in radio communications.
Dog Tags used to look like this.
I thought of my garden at home when I saw this poster. I hope the fruits of our garden really will make our rations go farther. If it does we will truly have won a victory!!
We visited Pearl Harbor when we were in Hawaii. This map shows very clearly where Pearl Harbor is and also where Schofield Barracks are, where Suzanne and Jared's family lived.
And this is how Mark spent his days at Fort Benning.

The Turning Of The Blue Ceremony

It was a tight schedule with us in and out of airports and on flights all night but we made it to Fort Benning in time to see Mark's "Turning Of The Blue" Ceremony last Thursday. This meant he could wear the blue cord on his right shoulder and was now ready for graduation the next day. I got to button the cord under the epaulet. It was so good to see him after saying "Good bye" 3 months ago.
Once again, Mark is 5th from the right in the front.

This is Mark and a friend he made there. Cole went with us to sight see for the day.