Happy Halloween!

This year we were able to participate in Halloween festivities as a whole family ... hooray!  The holiday has never been a big deal for our family, but as with any kids, ours also enjoy dressing up and trick-or-treating.

We had put off carving our pumpkin until Saturday morning, mainly because the rest of life got in the way.  But it turned out well that we left most of the Halloween activities until Saturday; the weather was gloomy and no one had much desire or energy to do anything else.

In the picture below, you can see how our other children enjoy using Anna's wheelchair at times.  Ethan is getting better at maneuvering around obstacles in the house, too.
 

The finished product!

The kids all did some type of pumpkin craft ... painting a paper one, decorating it with orange paper, etc.

Then while Ethan was napping, we pulled out candy from the parade back in September to make candy creations.  Even Matt joined the fun for awhile.

After Ethan's nap, the kids got all dressed up for the annual costume parade in McFarland.  The rain from the morning had tapered enough for the group to make their short walk with a fire truck in the lead.

This year Anna disguised herself as a "mad scientist"; we couldn't resist going with a costume that included crazy hair.

Kate was excited to wear her leopard costume from last year; it probably fit better this year anyway.

And Ethan was a race car driver.  Matt gave the go-kart a posterboard body and we modified a second-hand astronaut costume so Ethan looked a little more like a driver.  He took his job of driving the race car through the parade and around the neighborhood very seriously.

We did our traditional short loop through our neighborhood for trick-or-treating.  The kids had fun showing off their costumes and it was a joy to add this set of memories for our family.

On a different note, Matt has been able to take a day off each week again this fall to help use up his vacation days.  We enjoy spending time outside together doing a variety of fall clean-up projects.  Ethan pitches in whenever the job requires the use of the truck :)

Time for Prayers

Thanksgiving
Please give thanks that Anna is officially one year out of treatment.
Please thank God for the extra days off last week; we all needed them.
Please rejoice with us as Anna continues to make progress.

Requests
Please pray for the son of some friends from church.  He will be having surgery this Friday to attempt to alleviate his need for a shunt.
Please ask God to bless all teachers and school staff this time of year.  Fall conferences, end of quarter, wrapping up testing, etc.  Peace, wisdom, patience, endurance, and anything else you can think of to help make this stressful time a bit easier.
Please continue to pray for our family, that we continue to receive the gifts of the Spirit.

Thanks, as always, for your continued support and prayers.