Almost Thanksgiving!!!!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. (Psalm 107:1)"

It is almost Thanksgiving which in our house (as in most houses) means that we are right around the corner from super busy. This year we have actually noticed and celebrated Thanksgiving. Usually we just eat some food and cram in some extended family and move on to the good stuff...Christmas. This year, however, Thanksgiving seems to be getting it's full share of pause. Maybe it is because we had a "Pow Wow" at the kids' school the other week, or because we are sending food this week for their classroom feasts. Maybe it's because the local radio station has committed to keeping the "thanks in Thanksgiving" (corny, but I like it). Maybe it's because our Bible Study has adopted some families to bring Thanksgiving dinner too. Maybe it's because we helped organize the food pantry for Thanksgiving today. Or maybe...most likely...it is because the Hooks House has so much to be thankful for this year. God has been so unbelievably gracious with us. In the midst of financial turmoil, He has shown us what an amazing provider He truly is. He has not missed a beat. I don't think I could begin to list all the ways that God has revealed Himself to the Hooks family. It has become a daily journey of miraculous events. We are thankful this season. We are blessed beyond measure. We are still standing, and feel as if we are living proof that when God calls you to insane and somewhat crazy adventures...just go and do...He will be right there making sure you have all that you need. He will.

One Blessing After Another...

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. (John 1:16)"

God's grace has been amazing in our life these past few years...those blessings that just keep coming. Where do you even begin? I think for me, sometimes, it is the "hugeness" of the day to day. The things that God does on a daily basis because He can and He is God and then mixes them in with the ordinary so that the ordinary day has some amazing grace all over it. Here is my favorite example lately:

We have a great trick or treating neighborhood. It smacks of those scenes from "E.T." or "Mr. Mom"...from 80's movies where kids really trick or treated until after dark in mass, in their own neighborhoods, with gaggles of parents trailing behind them. We look so forward to Halloween in our neighborhood. It really gets done up around here, and our neighbors go crazy with blow up items and pumpkins and candy and what not...a kid could explode!!! Needless to say, it is such a fun night. This year, we were so lucky. We went trick or treating with our neighbors who have two boys and a girl (just like us). It was great. Our children think their children are "so awesome" and we get along with them like we have known them forever...because we have. You see, when we bought our house a couple of years ago, Corey kept saying that he felt like God wanted us to buy this house in particular. It was overwhelming to him. He couldn't shake it, and even in pretty crummy circumstances we bought this house...pretty much because he felt God calling us here. Then God blessed us with something unbelievable. Corey's brother, Cameron, who passed away 11 years ago had a wonderful friend named, Matt. Matt and his family are the family that we trick or treated with...our wonderful friends with two boys and a girl. When we realized that they lived down the street two years ago we felt God calling us to pray for them. And we did. We prayed for them every time we passed by their house and said "Hi" every time we saw them outside. After a year and a half we felt God calling us to invite them to the couples Bible study we have at our house on Thursdays. They came...they were looking for something...they found Jesus. Now they go to our church and belong to our Sunday school class and we see them all the time. Would God really make people buy a house so He could speak truth into another family's life? Would God really intertwine two families with the loss of a brother and friend, and then bring them to the same street at the same time to share in Jesus together? Yes. God has a plan for us that includes one blessing after another everyday. It was as I was marvelling at my Halloween obsessed neighborhood, and my beautiful kiddos, and my fabulous friends that I realized the enormity of the plan that had been enacted here on our street. The personal, perfect grace filled plan delivering one blessing after another everyday.

What Amazing Thing is God Going to do Today?

"...I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. (Matthew 11:25)"

I love to hear my kiddos pray in the morning. We pray when we get in the car each morning because I am the parent that gets in a rush and forgets to pray before meals or bedtime. We have gotten better about bedtime prayers lately (more because of Jacob and Jude reminding us), but we now have a tradition of praying in the car. The other morning after prayers, I asked the boys, "What amazing thing do you think God is going to do today?". Before the question left my mouth, I had a list a mile long of all the amazing things I needed God to do that day. I had some pretty tall and interesting orders for Him before the day had truly begun. But when the boys started to answer I was a bit taken aback. My true expectation was that they would each talk about school or Transformers or movies...I was, as I so often am, way off base.

Jacob, "God is going to make the plants grow, and the trees, and the grass."

Jude, "God is going to open up the flowers and the colors.

Yep. He sure is. He is going to do those things today and tomorrow and yesterday and next month and next year...He is going to keep on doing AMAZING things whether I take notice of them or not. There are amazing things going on around us all the time...to name a few...Jacob, Jude and Grace and their precious car ride wisdom. Amazing.

Surrounded By Wonderful Friends

"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints (Philemon 1:4-5)."

One of the most unbelievable pieces of the Hooks Puzzle over the past three years has been the amazing group of friends that God has placed in our life. Some of them I would call my "least likely" friends, but all of them I would call personal miracles that have walked into our hearts. Today my Jude was sick with the same bug that Grace had last week and Jacob had the week before. We were supposed to go ride a train to Dallas with a group of friends, and I was making the hard to make Mommy decision that we would miss the train ride for the sake of Jude. Jacob was so disappointed. So, I called my wonderful friend Teresa and asked her if she would take Jacob with her to ride the train. She instantly says yes and moments later I am dropping my oldest off at her house to go experience such a fun day. Love that God gave us Teresa. But that is not all...it never is with God and friends that He personally chooses for your family. Last summer I was going to work at my son's preschool, but Grace was too young to attend. I asked Teresa if she could watch Grace the two days a week while I worked. She said yes, and I began to wonder how much I would need to budget to pay her. Then one afternoon at a park, Teresa tells me that God has placed it on her heart that she needed to watch Grace for free. Really? Do people actually do such things as watch your child two days a week for an entire school year and never charge you a dime???? Yes. People who are in love with Jesus and serving Him no matter how inconvenient...people like my friend, Teresa who God placed in my life to show me just what the love of Jesus looks like here on earth. So, my verse today is for Teresa. Thank you, dear friend. You are a mighty, tireless vessel of love and I am blessed beyond measure that God loves me so much that He would place you in my path.

Why This Blog???

We have found ourselves in such a struggle these past nearly two years. We have found our family walking through a journey that we never anticipated. We have had a blog before that basically told sweet stories about our three beautiful children Jacob, Jude and Grace, but we have come to realize that there is so much more going on in our lives. There is Jesus. He has walked us through our struggles on a train ride of faith that has blown us out of the water. So, we knew that if we were truly going to tell stories from our life, they must include Him...God...the One who has redeemed our lives and holds us in the palm of His hand. Anything less would simply not be an accurate account of who we are and where we are and where our hope lies. In the Old Testament there are three references to "pruning hooks". It is the only place you find the word "hooks" in the Bible. In two of the passages it is used when talking about turning weapons for evil into useful daily tools. This struck such a chord with me as I looked at how much our life has been transformed over the past few years, and how two people who lived in darkness could be turned into useful, daily tools for The Kingdom of God. What a miracle has occurred in our home and we want to share that with you...along with some sweet stories and cute pictures of our three beautiful children. We simply could no longer share our life on a blog without sharing our faith. We hope that our stories encourage others and bring glory to God.