Halloween and a Surprise from God

The last week of October proved to be a very eventful week for our family. Ryan and I celebrated 5 wonderful years of marriage on October 23, Ryan received his first Air Force assignment as a Navigator, Matthew turned 10 months old on October 24, and we celebrated Matthew's first Halloween!

Ryan was so thoughtful (as always) and sent me flowers on our anniversary. They were one of the most beautiful arrangements I've ever received. God has truly blessed us these past 5 years!

On Wednesday, Matthew attended his first Halloween party with our playgroup. We had a great time playing with friends and seeing all the kids in costume. They had an area sectioned off for the younger children to play and Matthew had a blast. He even crawled under one of the toys and got stuck! Now that he's crawling he's very adventurous and loves to explore new areas. It makes things very interesting for us at home!

Halloween night was equally fun as we dressed Matthew up in his pumpkin outfit again and took him Trick-or-Treating (well, we actually only went to our neighbor's house). Our little pumpkin looked so adorable and his outfit made him that much more cuddly!

Obviously, the most shocking event of all was on our 5 year anniversary when Ryan received his assignment to Japan...wow, what an anniversary gift. We will be moving to Japan sometime in 2010 and will spend about 3 years living on Yokota Air Base just outside of Tokyo. At first, it was hard to digest that we would be moving halfway around the world from our families, but once the initial shock wore off we realized this was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we trust that God has an amazing journey planned for us. Will it be hard? Yes, absolutely. But, we have so much to be thankful for...a healthy baby boy, a family who supports us and loves us, and the chance to experience another part of this great world. God always provides what we need and we know He will provide ways for us to see our families and for us to teach Matthew about the Japanese culture firsthand. Our little redheaded angel will be a Japanese superstar!

Here is the video of Ryan receiving his Japan assignment (it was an Oktoberfest theme and the assignment was taped to the bottom of the mug so it was a surprise to everyone)...We were definitely not expecting it, but thankfully God is good...all the time!