2014

We have so much to be thankful for this year. Many of the prayers we had were answered this year and we were at the receiving end of many tender mercies. 2014 was a great year. 

When we first moved to Okinawa, we were ready for adventure. In so many ways, this is a perfect fit for where our family currently is. We have been surrounded by amazing people who are kind, positive and resilient. Their generosity in our lives never cease. I was not anticipating this at all. In fact, coming to Japan wasn't in the original plan at all. I was set on moving to California. But after a lot of prayer I felt at peace about it, and then excitement. 

Shortly after we arrived, I had a dream. I do believe in personal revalation from God. That's not to say I think all my dreams mean something- because often times they are strange. But everyonce in a while I have a dream that sticks with me. It helps me to see situations in my life with perspective and clarity. Often times I have experiences that I later realize were helping me prepare for something down the road. I know this is Heavenly Father helping me.  This dream was one of those experiences- its message had prepped me for the year and has provided me with some clarity ever since. 

Here was my dream.

I dreamed that we had just arrived in Okinawa. We were still in our temp lodging at the hotel and hadn't been given a place to live yet. We were ancy. We wanted a home to stay in and a car to explore with. Steven went and checked in with his command. When he came back, he said he had been given a new assignment. He had been given orders to Italy. We were leaving in a few days. With our 10 month old. After already not living in our own place and traveling for over a month. On incredibly long flights and obnoxious layovers. Eating food that made us feel less than our best. 

So this is the craziest part: I wasn't freaking out. I was completely calm and good with it all. Here's why. 

Because I've learned that God is in control and he's got this covered. I feel like I can turn around on any given day and see where Heavenly Father has blessed us- especially when things don't look or feel like they are working in our favor. He puts people in our way to guide us and to look over us. He sends us where we need to be. The list of people who influenced us and who have given direction in both my life and Steven's life is endless. God is in control and he is watching over us. 

That's the end of it. It was simple. But the moment I woke up, I felt the impact. I very distinctly remember having the thought,"You're not going to go to Italy. But you will have a lot of changes you didn't see coming. But it's ok. God is in control. Have faith in his plan."

This last year could have certainly been described as having a lot of things I didn't see coming my way that could have caused anxiousness. But instead, I felt that moments of clarity and peace were given to me because of my faith that He is in control. 

As 2015 begins, my wish is that all people will be able to experience this peace and clarity.  Happy new year everyone. 

Steven's Promotion

Congrats to Steven for being promoted to Captain today. We are super proud of him! 

In other news we found our Christmas tree. They don't really sell your typical evergreen trees here so we went a different route. I had the best helpers decorating it. 

We decorated our tree, drank a little egg nog, danced to Christmas music and watched the Polar Express. It was so much fun!!

Harry Potter Baby Shower

We went to a fun baby shower today. I lost the "don't say baby" game for the 50th shower in a row. But it was so cute. The theme was Harry Potter. I guess I didn't relalize how into Harry Potter our friends were until people started pulling out their legit wands from Harry Potter World. We're cool, just not Harry Potter cool yet. Here's some pictures of us trying though :) 

These balloons were drawn on to look like owls. Olivia had so much fun with them! 

Abby Mai

Our lives have been changed for the better! Abby joined us on October 28th. Olivia is in love with her still and I'm so excited she is such a great big sister to Abby. 

Olivia and Abby meeting for the first time. We are grateful for wonderful neighbors who watched Olivia while we were at the hospital. They brought Olivia in a couple times during our three day stay to see us. 

Second time hanging out with Abby. I asked her if she was saying hi to sister so she started waving. I love how it looks like she is fist pumping. 

Dad and Abby! 

Then came Halloween! Olivia was a nurse except she didn't want any of her doctor toys. Maybe she is too traumatized by all the kind people at the pediatricians office. 

Can you tell having a live baby doll has made Olivia happy?

Photo update

There's so much to say but I'll be realistic here. If I were to try and talk about it all in detail, this would never get finished. So pictures and a description it is. 

We celebrated our 4th anniversary this year! Steven kept it all a surprise and planned it all. The acutual day of we just went out for dinner with Olivia. But the surprise was a sunset cruise down near Naha. It rained the whole time and so we didn't see the sunset. But it was still a lot of fun! We cooked Korean BBQ style at our individual tables. The food was so good and we had a great time!

This was at Annie's baby shower. We met her when we lived in Virginia. Her husband had gone to school with Steven and they were in our ward. She just had her baby yesterday and he is a 9lb 4 oz cutie! 

Here are a few of our friends from our apartment building. They are seriously amazing and strong women. I'm so grateful to have them as our friends. 

My full of personality little girl! She loves to accessorize! 

We have started a monthly birthday tradition with Steven's platoon. It has been a little chaotic with their ever changing schedules but has been so much fun! Last month, there was a big milestone for one of the guys so we plastered his face on shirts and they read, "it took this guy 30 years to look this good." Everyone had a great laugh over it. Even the CO was a great sport and wore the shirt for the lunch. 

We love to try new places to eat! I'm still not a raw fish sushi girl, but I do love all the other crab and veggie sushi options. At this restaurant, En-raku, you order the food via a screen and it is delivered on a conveyor belt to you. Or you can just pull dishes from the lower belt as they arrive. 

This is one of our favorite beaches, mama san beach. We love to swim and snorkel here! This fish will swim right up to you!

I love this girl! I could watch her sleep all the time. She has so much personality even when she's passed out! 

The pool opener up at the end of June. They have a kid pool there. The water comes up to her waist, so she loves it! She can walk around without help! They also have a little hippo fountain that filters the water. 

One of my favorite hikes so far! We hiked Tadake falls. You hike in the river to get to the falls. We went with the Elders, the Saunders and another friend from church. The water was so refreshing to be in on such a hot day. The footing is unsteady since it's a river, but there were little kids and people of all ages climbing the rocks and wading the waters. The falls at the end were worth it for sure! 

Some of the guys made it to the top of the falls but were sore the next day. 

We went to a Chinese lantern lighting festival. These are actually a lot harder to light than you might think. There was a pretty strong wind which unfortunatly led to several collapsed lanterns that resulted in instant incineration and diving into the crowds or sea water.

In the few moments after we walked into the house- I ran to the bathroom, washed my hands and came out to find this. She's so proud of herself. She went to the pantry and grabbed the napkins and popcorn from the lower shelves and dragged them to the bathroom. Thankfully that popcorn was never opened.

She loves this spot to read her books! 

We went to a new restaurant,Delicious Sushi, and this was our order! The picture doesn't do it justice really. The guy one a one man show during the lunch hour and made all our food on the spot to include the beautifully carved fruit. 

I went to a painting birthday party last week. While my painting is no masterpiece, I had so much fun painting it. I know that as soon as you instantly saw it, you were thinking Mt Fuji with a Torri gate right?! 

There are moments where she just looks like she has grown up to fast! She also refuses apple slices now. Ms Fancy Pants prefers to chew on the whole apple.