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.