Our Japanese Adventure

Konichiwa! We are back from our trip to Hiroshima, Japan, and it was AMAZING! At the same time sobering and beautiful, Hiroshima was an experience I don't think either one of us will ever forget. I'll post a few pics here on the blog, but to be completely honest, I am way too lazy to put them all up. So the rest of them are on our share site, which you can find here. (You can also find a whole bunch of pictures of things I refused to eat!)

The first thing we did was hop a ferry to Miyajima Island. The island has long been thought to be a spiritual place and, because of this, the Itsukashima Shrine was built here. This was our first view of the O-torii Gate from the ferry. It is normally surrounded by water but, of course, we went during low tide.

This is us at the shrine looking back towards the gate. The shrine was actually designated a UNESCO World Heritage site back in 1996. It was a very cool place. . . but I think I'll stick with my Jesus ;)

This is a view of the actual shrine. You are not allowed to take pictures in the area where they worship and pray, but here's the building. The shrine is actually several smaller rooms connected by a series of corridors.

Posing on the island, looking back towards mainland Japan

Then it was back to Hiroshima City to visit the Peace Memorial Park. This is known as the "A-Bomb Dome." It was one of a hand-full of buildings to survive the blast, and it's the only structure the city of Hiroshima left standing after the renovation of the city (anything left standing--including trees--were bulldozed). It now stands in the park as a memorial and reminder of the bombing.

The museum housed a collection of artifacts from the bombing, including this watch that stopped at exactly 8:15 AM: the time the bomb detonated

This display shows you the hypocenter of the blast, along with what Hiroshima looked like afterwards. After walking around the city, seeing this was very sobering.

The marks the hypocenter of the bomb. "Little Boy," as the bomb was nicknamed, actually exploded 600 meters in the air, NOT on the ground as some people think.

To lighten the mood a bit, the next day we went to Hiroshima Castle. Like everything else, it was destroyed when the bomb hit, but it was pain-stakingly rebuilt to what it looked like originally. At one time, the castle was used as a training ground for samuris!

While we were at the castle, this Japanese lady begged us to take pictures with her kids. She wanted us to all jump up and try to catch the koi flags. Jonathan was embarrassed, but I got a kick out of it. After we finished, the little boy kept saying "Thank you berry much." So stinkin' cute.

Then she got all artistic and wanted to take pictures of the koi flags in my sunglasses. Jonathan got a kick out of it at least.

The watch-tower of Hiroshima Castle

View of Hiroshima from the watch-tower. What a beautiful city (especially coming from Korea!) I just kept repeating over and over: "It's so CLEAN here." It's sad that I've lived in Korea so long that THAT is what I notice first about a place!

The next few pictures are from Shukkeien Garden. Jonathan and I spent quite awhile here. It was so beautiful and so peaceful.

Alright, that's enough pictures for now. Remember to check out our share site for a TON more (and I was actually nice enough to include descriptions) :). Now its back to normal life in Korea for awhile. . .

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

The Woogies are off to Japan for the weekend! Hooray!!! Pics and such to follow soon! Pray for safe travels (and peace for Oskar--although I think he'll be having such a great time with his girlfriend Meg he won't even know we're gone!)

Spring is Here--Kinda. . .

Hello all! Well, after surviving my first loooooooooooong Korean winter, I'm excited to announce that spring is finally arriving on the ROK. It's not nearly as beautiful and colorful as a German spring, but I'll take ANYTHING over the freezing cold temperatures and dead, lifeless vegetation we've been seeing for the past 6 months. This morning, Oskar and I took a walk around base to snap some pictures of the signs of life popping up everywhere:

FINALLY....some green!

I absolutely LOVE these cherry blossom trees. Aren't they gorgeous?

Just BEAUTIFUL!

I'm not sure if these are planted here or growing wild. Either way, it sure does brighten up the drive through base!

These trees are all around Mustang Valley, and they sure do add a nice touch to the abandoned housing ;)

Beautiful big white blossoms. . .

And, along the flight line: the promise of more things to come!

My one complaint about the Korean spring, besides the fact that its taken forever to get here (and is STILL taking its sweet time as far as the temperatures are concerned)? The dead grass!

I mean, really: come on! Where's the green? Why does it still look like this? My poor dog has been playing on dried up dead blades for six months, and I'm starting to think I'm going green-color-blind. The flowers are gorgeous--but bring on the GREEN!

I took a lot more pictures than these. If you want to see more, visit our Shutterfly Photo Sharing Site. Enjoy!

A Random Collection of Oskar Memories

I've finally gotten a free moment to up-load some pics from my camera, and I just had to share some cute ones of Riddle OKB ;)

I absolutely love this picture. This tube is actually a cat toy, but he loves to tunnel through it and "dig" for his ball. And, when he gets tired, it's a nice quiet place to rest. He almost looks angelic here:

When Meg comes down to play, Oskar gets pretty defensive with his toys. But Meg, as small as she is, is NOT intimidated. When Oskar turns his back, she'll grab his ball so fast he doesn't have time to react. Then she'll run and jump on mine or Jonathan's lap so Oskar can't take it away. Here, Oskar is looking at her like "You've got my ball AND you're sitting on Daddy's lap? What is going ON here?!"

My friend Nicole dog-sat a couple of yorkies a few weeks ago. So when I brought Oskar to play, there were 3 yorkies and one wiener dog. We couldn't help singing: "Which one of these things is not like the other?"

And I got a short video of Oskar and Meg playing. Again, the quality is not the greatest since its just from my point-and-shoot camera, but you can at least see how stinkin' adorable they are when they play together. DISCLAIMER: Meg just got a bad haircut from a Korean groomer. Poor little thing doesn't normally look like this :(

Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Happy Easter! He is RISEN!

I recently created a blog for the Osan chapter of PWOC (if you want to see it, click the link to the right that says "Osan PWOC"). Anyways, I posted a special devotional today for Easter, and I liked it so much, I decided to share it on my personal blog as well:

"Victory is on the Other Side of Failure"

by Glynnis Whitwer

"The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.’" Matthew 28:5-6a (NIV)

Told by a teacher he was too stupid to learn: Thomas Edison

Fired from his job at a newspaper because he didn’t have good ideas: Walt Disney

A music teacher told him he had no hope as a composer: Beethoven

Falsely accused, arrested, killed: Jesus Christ

The disciples of Jesus must have been shattered that Friday. For three years they followed the man from Nazareth. They watched Him heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, and even raise people from the dead. When Jesus said, "I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness" (John 12:46, NAS), they got it. Darkness enveloped the hearts of their countrymen. They needed a "Light."

Twelve ordinary men abandoned everything to follow Jesus: jobs, family, and homes. Not with regret, but with hope. Hope for the promise Jesus offered. Look where it got them that Friday. Good Friday, we call it now. But it was anything but good to them. Jesus was dead – they’d witnessed the crucifixion. Only 11 now, they must have gathered that night after scattering throughout the city. Other followers joined them to mourn the death of the man they loved, and the death of the hope He offered.

On Saturday, they still gathered. No one left - though they could have. They could have packed up their things and put this failed adventure behind them. Back to fishing, back to family, back to normal. But no one left. In spite of what appeared to be complete failure of this new kingdom, everyone stayed. Faithful.

Saturday inched forward to noon, dusk, and then evening. The beauty of the night sky didn’t ease their pain. Perhaps they reminisced some. In hindsight, Jesus wasn’t really what they were expecting. When the prophets of old foretold a king would come to rescue them, they figured it would be someone imposing, with power, maybe with chariots to whip their enemies into submission. Some took longer than others to readjust their expectations. But when God opened their eyes to the beauty of His plan, they bought into it with their lives.

I’m sure troubled thoughts stole their sleep that Saturday night. Finally, in complete exhaustion their tired bodies overtook their worried minds. Sunday morning dawned. I imagine some woke up hoping it was all a bad dream. Then reality settled in, like heavy summer storm clouds. Jesus was still dead.

Two women got ready first and went to the tomb. Expecting to find the body of their beloved Savior, God treated them instead to a display of His power. With a violent earthquake shaking the ground, an angel of the Lord came from heaven, rolled back the stone covering the tomb and sat down on the rock. Hello!

The angel looked at the women, and spoke words that transformed them from hopeless to hope-filled: "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee" (Matthew 28:5-7a, NIV).

Can you even imagine the celebration? It had only looked like failure. Instead, it was glorious victory! Hope wasn’t dead. Jesus was alive! The disciples learned a lesson they would never forget: When God is involved, things aren’t always what they seem.

Today we see problems and failures with the same eyes as the disciples. Even knowing that God is able to do things beyond what we can imagine, when we look at a "failure," we often only see an ending. God, however, sees an opportunity for a new beginning. As we celebrate Easter, may that truth nestle itself into our heart. With God all things are possible. He is risen!

Dear Lord, my heart is filled with thanksgiving and praise for You. How can I begin to thank You for sending Jesus, and for His sacrifice for me? Thank You also for the lesson that nothing is too big for You. Help me remember that truth when I’m facing what looks like failure. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

**Taken from the website "Proverbs 31 Ministries"