sayonara, 2012. konnichiwa, 2013.

2012. What a great year you have been. A year full of adventure and change. A new country, new community, new friends, new home, new church, new jobs, new (old!) cars, etc. etc. 

When Brian and I sat down to reflect on the past year, we were completely amazed and utterly overwhelmed by the favor and blessing of the Lord on our lives. We remain thankful that we serve a Creator that sees the big picture. That we serve a God that says no to the things that we think we want/need, so that He can blow us away by His goodness to us when He reveals the better plan. And that even though Brian and I never thought we would be here in Japan, and never thought Brian would be doing the job that he is doing-- God knew. And He was preparing the way and working on our behalf long before we knew the details. 

I am so thankful that for once I followed through on a new years resolution-- to start a blog. Now we have pictures and words forever documented that help tell our story. So I think that will be my resolution again, to blog. To write out the story of our lives and the never ending faithfulness of God. We want to remember it all, the insignificant and the important. 

We know that these are the days that we will tell our children about. We will tell them about life in a 500 sq. foot apartment in Virginia. And living in a hotel room in North Carolina. And about the time that I was walking through Target to buy qtips and trashbags and Brian called me and said, "Hey, guess what? We're moving to Japan." We will tell them about the lifelong friendships we made along the way, and how much we love love love being together-- the two of us. 2012 is a great story for us to tell. 

I can't even imagine what 2013 will bring for us. I know it will start off with some dear friends moving to Okinawa! And then a trip to Tokyo. And then a deployment (boo!). 

Bring it on, 2013. We are ready for you.