Merry Christmas 2010

 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14

And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
         And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds begansaying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.
Luke 2:9-20

Merry Christmas from the Houk Family

Kyle, Matthew, Leatha, Elizabeth & Scott

      

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this man!  I am so blessed to be this man's wife.  He is a joy to be married to and we get to celebrate his birthday today! Happy 39th Birthday Sweetie!!!

Friday Fumblings

I wanted to share some of the things that I feel God has truly blessed me with.  First and foremost - Salvation!  What a blessing that He has chosen me - ME to be His.  I didn't chose Him he chose me.  That is truly a blessing.  I can't imagine life without Him and His salvation.  This leads me to a conversation I had with my hairdresser.  She is a delightful, young, pretty, thin, sweet young woman in her early 20's.  She was sharing with me a story about shopping with her mom.  She frequents a young hip 20 something store called Forever 21.  Her mom had noticed on the bags that they have the words John 3:16 printed on the bottom of them.  Her mom decided to do some research and come to find out the company is a Christian store.  Well, as she was sharing this with me I interjected, "John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  Well, there was a pause and then she asks "How many of those do you know?" (meaning scriptures) I said, "Not many." She said, "Don't be humble!" I didn't mean to come across as righteous or as a know-it-all but I simply wanted to be able to tell her the gospel verse so that she could hear His words!:)  I knew that if I didn't say that verse out loud to her that I would regret it.  I knew the Holy Spirit was convicting my heart to just blurt it out so she could hear!  So, my fumbling for this Friday is that I feel so blessed to have His word hidden in my heart so that I could share it regardless if it came across as righteous.  He knows my heart and my intentions!  Isn't that a glorious thing?!?  Have a blessed Friday!

Changes since November

I realized after reading several other people's blogs, I need to update my own!! So, what's been going on since November, you ask - A TON!! Here are a few pictures to show what's been happening since November.

Christmas 2010 - Family Picture

Tammy's family, my Dad & Amy and my family all went to church!! We were finally able to get Tammy and her family to church. Praise the Lord!:)

Snow, Snow, Snow! - Lots of snow this winter. The most on record for Columbus, Ohio!

My Dad and Amy were married on February 13, 2010. Congratulations!

The winter sport of hockey. We were able to take in some Columbus Blue Jackets games and some OSU hockey games. Although, I don't know anything about hockey, Matthew and Kyle do and this is the one sport that they love to watch TOGETHER! Another praise!:) Of course, Elizabeth has to be in the action as well. Her brothers are so sweet to always include her!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was so excited to be able to make a turkey this year with all of the sides and desserts. I decided to order a fresh turkey. I'm so glad I did. It tasted great! It was the best turkey I have ever made. A good friend of mine talked me into brining the turkey and I will always brine a turkey from now on. It was so moist and delicious. My husband doesn't like turkey and he LOVED this one!

In addition to having a wonderful tasting turkey my Dad and his fiance surprised us and had dinner with us. It was so nice to have my Dad here to visit and share Thanksgiving with us. It was truly the best Thanksgiving ever!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." Psalm 118:1

Birthdays

Also since the spring all of us have celebrated birthdays! Another blessed year! Here we are -

Elizabeth turned 4, Matthew and Kyle turned 11, Scott turned 38 and I turned 39!:)

Chicago

One of the things we did this summer was taking a trip to Chicago for our family vacation this year. We were able to see the Sears Tower (a.k.a. the Willis Tower), John Hancock Tower, ate at some fabulous places and saw the New York Yankees play!! It was a great vacation and one that was very needed for our family. Unfortunately, before we left we found out that I was in the middle of a miscarriage. Needless to say it was stressful and sad but we serve a mighty God and He was truly merciful to me and my family while we were on vacation and when we came back! We are truly blessed and God is good to provide everything we need when we need it and this vacation was one of those times!