"Trick or Treat" - Matthew

Today was Matthew's third Halloween. Our first was in Almaty, Kazakhstan, last year and this year we were at home.

I think today was the first one that he understood what was going on. He loved his monkey costume that mommy picked out. Mommy, Matthew and I went around the block and at each house Matthew said "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you". He was so excited and walked most of the way. Once we neared home he said "Again?". He wanted to go around the block and get more candy.

Once inside the house he couldn't wait to dump his bucket and take a look at all the candy. He picked an orange sucker that he wanted to eat right then.

It was so much fun to see his excitement and hold his little monkey hand as we walked from house to house. It was as much fun for me as it was for him. I love being Matthew's daddy!!!

Carving our pumpkin together

Tonight we carved our Halloween pumpkin together. On the spur of the moment daddy came up with this design and Matthew loved it.

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day Matthew!

It was two years ago today that we were reunited with our son Matthew. What an exciting and happy day it was for us all. After waiting for 64 days since our first trip he was in our arms forever. I will never forget when one of the mama’s put him in my arms on this special day and the tears of joy were flowing from my eyes.

It’s been said that when you have a child the time just flies by and I have to say that its true. Never in my life has time gone by so fast. I wish there was something I could do to slow it down. I look at pictures of Matthew and am shocked by how much he has changed. It’s almost hard to remember back then. I’m so glad that we have our two blogs – our adoption journey and this one, so that we have a journal of Matthew growing up and the memories we have made along the way.

The past year has been a lot of fun. We went to our first circus, attended Kazapalooza in Sandusky, OH at the Kalahari Resort, went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City and did a lot of other fun little things along the way. The one thing that I enjoy the most, and I hope doesn’t end for quite awhile, is when Matthew says “Daddy, hold me” and he sits on my lap and we give each other big hugs.

I love our son with all my heart. He means the world to me. God really blessed me when He brought this sweet little boy my life.

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day son! We love you!



Here is the video of that perfect day two years ago –

What a difference 2 years can make

Two years ago today we were headed back to Kazakhstan to get our 9 month old Matthew. It was so exciting knowing that we were only about 40 hours away from holding him forever.

Today, we went to Lowe's Build & Grow to make a Creepy Keeper box for Halloween. Matthew had fun holding the hammer and helping daddy hit the nails into the wood. We really enjoy going to these together. I'm sure it won't be too long before Matthew builds the entire project vs. the way it currently works where I build 99% of it and he bangs on the nails a few times.

Here's what we made today -

Adoptive Families at Koetsier's Greenhouse for Halloween

This is an annual event put on by FFIC where internationally adoptive children living in west Michigan have some fall fun. This is our second year attending the event. Tonight we met a very nice family and their son who was adopted from Astana, Kazakhstan.

Matthew had so much fun with all the activities. We started out on a hay ride through the woods and around the farm while enjoying a very tasty apple. We saw a mini farm with goats and chickens - or "chicken nuggets" as Matthew calls them. We just finished the hay ride and got inside just before it started raining buckets!

We had a nice dinner of hot dogs, chips, veggies, candy, apple cider and more. Matthew enjoyed playing in the corn kernels, riding the tractors, playing in the bounce house, walking through the indoor "corn maze" and haunted house, tossing the bean bags into the pumpkins, painting a pumpkin and saying "Cheese" a million times as I took about 200 pictures.

It was so much fun and is so nice that the Koetsier family allows us to enjoy this while meeting with many other internationally adopted children and families.

Fun at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City

Yesterday and today we had a great time at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City.

Our Church had a group of parents with young children go on this over night retreat. It was about a 2 hour drive from our house. Michelle, Matthew and I arrived shortly after noon and had the opportunity to have fun in the water park right away.

Matthew had fun playing in the water, stepping on the holes that shoot water up and sitting on daddy's tube as we went around the lazy river. He also loved watching the huge bucket of water splash everyone below.

My camera isn't waterproof so I wasn't able to get any pictures of us playing in the water, but during Matthew's short afternoon nap I went back down and took some pictures of the water park.

After nap we all got together and had dinner at the resort. Matthew and all the kids loved watching the "talking moose-head" that would occasionally say something while we were eating dinner.

At 8PM all the kids got together in their PJ's for story time in the lodge. One of the characters told the children a story before bed. Unfortunately the battery in my camera was dead so I could only take pictures with my cell phone which isn't the best.

Saturday morning we parents got together for about an hour talking about how to Shepherd our children in the way they should grow and love our Lord. The kids played in the other room with a couple of the youth group girls.

We headed home around noon and enjoyed all the beautiful fall colors on the way.

It was a great time getting away and having fun with Matthew!

2 years 9 months old

Look who is 2 years 9 months old.

He's so darn cute!