Merry Christmas

Oh man, I really wanted to post pictures of our fun Christmas weekend in Kansas, but left my camera there. I love hanging out with family! We mostly hung out, ate wonderful food and played some games. Mom and dad babysat while Brian, Leann, Mike, Tina and us went to tour the Salt Mines. It was interesting going 650 ft. below the ground and learning about what is stored in the mines as well as how they mine. We enjoyed Christmas...watching the kiddos get excited about their gifts. Tina and I tried to play Christmas "duets" on piano, but I think everyone was tired of hearing us:) Our newest nephew is adorable. He was Santa this year with his costume. We had so much fun with all of the nieces and nephews! Wish we didn't have somewhat blizzard driving conditions coming home and wish Christmas was not over already!

Celebrating the season

We haven't blogged for a little while, because we have been busy enjoying the season. I guess busy is the operative word. A week ago we went to see "White Christmas" at the Denver Performing Arts Theatre. It was amazing! The actors/actresses dressed in fur with snow falling from ceiling in the whole theatre as well as LOTS of snow falling outside, too. White Christmas was the first movie we watched together.

This last week Paul's parents visited. As always, we had fun visiting antique shops and Paul's dad took a stain glass class and made a beautiful bowl. We enjoyed seeing the lights at the Botanicals, too.

Saturday I had my wonderful "brunch bunch" over (friends from college and surrounding area) and we had a great time talking and catching up. So cozy to spend time with friends and family this time of year especially.

Winter Wonderland

This weekend we experienced December's winter wonderland in the mountains. Our neighbors, Jenn & Mike and us went up to the mountains and enjoyed skiing, scrapbooking and hiking through the snow. I even learned how to cook vegan. We had a great time and we are so glad for wonderful neighbor friends!

His Page

Lately my prayer has been that Paul and my desires would be the same as God's. I know He says, "My ways are not your ways", but I want to be on the same page with God especially regarding children. As we have walked out decisions regarding building our family, I feel like we have walked it out "His way" and let Him guide us, yet nothing comes to fruition. Last night I was truly discouraged with it all and cried out to Him again to show us His ways!
This morning Paul turned the radio on to Focus on the Family and there were guests from Global Action, a ministry to orphans. They were talking about the horrible conditions orphans live in in India. Kids live literally in the dumps with swollen bellies and lice bitten faces. These guests have gone in and started a Hope Center for orphaned children as well as recruited Indian couples to take these children in as their own. As Paul and I listened to this this morning, we were both teary-eyed. It has taken all of this brokenness in our lives to start to get on the same page as Jesus' heart. We became so excited for the years to come, in a little over 2 years Paul will probably be retired from the Air Force and we can be a part of ministry to orphans like this! Yes, God has heard our prayers for a family, but I think he has heard the cries of his orphan children as well and will do what it takes to get us out of our comfy cozy home and change our thought processes to be more in line with His. Thank you, Lord, for letting us go through this pain of wanting something so bad, so that our hearts will be broken to see your bigger picture.

Thanksgiving with the Houge Crew

What a fun celebration weekend we had with Paul's fam in Minnesota. We have 11 Houge nieces and nephews and they are all growing up! oh my! I haven't been to Minnesota since last New Year's and in the meantime Austin's (6th grader) voice has changed and he is quite the hockey player. We got to see him play on Friday. The 2 year olds, Greta, Noah & Cole are little talkers. Lauren and John are amazing swimmers and I didn't even recognize Madison...I thought she was her older sister. Needless to say, it was a great trip catching up with everyone. I even met a lot of Paul's cousins. I wish miles didn't keep us so far away. Pictured is Greta, our Goddaughter.

A Weekend to Remember

Wow, what an amazing weekend. We decided to take advantage of our pre-kiddos days and go to a marriage conference this weekend in Estes Park. We thought, we have a great marriage, but let's go check this out anyways. Well, we realized that we have some communication issues, but received tools to enhance that. I think I cried so much this weekend at meaningful stories as well as just how wonderful of a guy I married. Today we listened to a tape recorded by couples married more than 50 years. It made me so joyfully teary-eyed thinking about the many memories Paul and I have to come in our marriage together. We are so excited about bringing our marriage to another level. We would recommend this conference to any couple...it truly is "A Weekend to Remember". Oh, when we woke up this morning there were elk grazing right outside our balcony. That was a sweet God gift.

Dessert with the Steiners

Ramona's parents have been in town and came over last night for dessert and fun. I loved making a gourmet dessert and paul was so excited about making a fire in our pit:) We had a great time catching up with the Steiners.

100%

OK, so we are totally proud of our cousin Lance (Tammy's cousin who is staying with us while he is finishing his training as a United pilot). He had to take a huge test over the systems of the plane and while all of the other pilots are struggling with the test and some are failing...Lance gets a 100% on the thing! I know what pilot I want to fly our plane! We celebrated with brownies.

Wedding and Birthday

My birthday was wonderful...woke up to Paul making toad in the hole breakfast (our birthday breakfast that is french toast with eggs in the middle). I got to celebrate my birthday at Marika and Nate's wedding. It was beautiful and very fun. Wow, Marika, you are married:) But only Marika would think of others at her wedding...after Nate and Marika cut their cake, she asked me to come up and everyone sang Happy Birthday and I got to have the first piece of cake. That was absolutely the most thoughtful thing someone could do at their wedding! It was so fun to celebrate their new life together (and I forgot my camera:( ) ...Happy Honeymoon!

Birthday Week Continues

Paul is making my birthday week rock! This summer Paul has been fixing up my mom's old bike (pictured above) that I use to ride in as a baby. We found a basket at a garage sale and yesterday Paul put a bell on it (with a bonus compass) for my birthday week. I drove around our block so proud of my little bell and vintage bike! After that, Lance, Paul & I headed downtown to watch the Rockies play. They had a 40 foot screen set up downtown Denver and we joined many others to cheer on the Rockies game. They lost by 1, but we have high hopes for them tomorrow at their mile high city.

Birthday Week

At the Houge household we have Birthday Week and have I been enjoying that! Friday night I came home to presents all over the house, thank you Paul. Saturday night we dined at a very special restaurant, Texas de Brazil. What a fun week. I get to spend my birthday at Marika & Nate's wedding and they are serving my favorite cake from Bonzaier's bakery! What a fun birthday...to be a part of new life through marriage (and eating yummy cake:))

Balzer Cousins Reunion

I was so blessed to have cousins to play with in my same home town. Most of my memories growing up involved my cousins in some shape or form. Needless to say I adore my cousins. The sad thing is that since we have lived far apart as adults, we don't get together as often as we would like. It's been 5 years since Joni, Jeremy and I have actually got to hang out and that was at my wedding. This weekend, though, we got to go up to the mountains together. We had a blast. For some reason, Joni has a memory like an elephant and brought up so many memories that had all of us in stitches. We just had so much fun hiking, sitting by the fire and swimming. Paul got such a kick out of our hilarious cousins, too. We are really hoping Joni and Lance will join us in Denver. (hint hint)

Whew, it's done...well almost

Here is the before and after pictures.

History Books

So Lance is the first class of United pilots trained after September 11, 2001. It's like a historical event. One of the traditions of pilot training classes is that whoever gets the last seniority spot (decided by social security numbers) has to keep the "8 bowling ball" by his side at all times and its heavy! Because Lance's social security number starts with a 9, he is the proud carrier of the 8 ball. He walks around with that at all times when studying, training and hanging out with the fellow flight students. He hands it off to the next class mid October. But we think he will make history books for the first 8 ball holder since 9-11.

Happy Birthday Paul

We have had an insane week/weekend. On Saturday we went up to help our friend/contractor put in the floors at the condo....it was not going really well. Needless to say, we stayed up there until right before Marika's shower and then went up again Monday after work. So, normally on birthdays at the Houge household, we celebrate all week (I think we copied that idea from Jewish wedding traditions). Anyways, Paul only got one night of celebration because of our projects. But we had fun Tuesday night. Rafael and Lance celebrated with us. I made salsa, paul's fav hot dish and thai custard with coconut ice cream. It was eclectic in taste:) Rafael thought my birthday was a couple of days ago, too, so he brought me a gift, too. A good time was had by all.

Marika's Shower

Sunday was such a fun day....my EMU friends and I threw a shower for Marika. She is such a cute bride-to-be and very much in love. Her fiance's, Nathan, family came to the shower including his sister from Kansas. We had a tea party and played fun bridal games and enjoyed being girlie. Marika received some great "honeymoon" gifts! I cannot wait for Marika's wedding, too (it's on my birthday)!

Did I mention Paul is a stud?

Ok, so Saturday morning Paul gets up and runs a 10k race to raise money for an Air Force charity. He came back home with a 1st place trophy! Go Paul, you are a stud!

Cousins

Life has been crazy the last week and I am catching up on my online scrapbook. We have been enjoying Lance's stay. He has so many stories of life as a pilot, sometimes I am scared to fly when I hear about other pilots. No, he has assured us that it is safe. Friday night we went to a park and ate dinner with Lance, Jeremy & Kim and their newly adopted son, Aran. Pictured is Aran plowing our rug. We had a blast hanging out and cannot wait for my cousin, Joni, to join us for a weekend.

Weekend Blogger

Well, I am officially a weekend or post weekend blogger. First of all, Paul is a trooper! Paul has been training like a mad man for his Air Force Training Test. I mean like a mad man! He had to run a mile and a half in 10 minutes, do a large amount of sit-ups & push-ups and have a 32 inch waistline. Well, after his intense workouts..He passed with flying colors on Friday! My hubby is one inshape dude! After the test, then a long day at work, he drove up to the cabin on Friday and demolished the kitchen floor and prepped the main level for new flooring that will be installed this week. He didn't get home until 3am. We were up bright and early on Saturday to leave by 7:30 for adoption classes. After adoption classes he had to go to work for another 4 hours. Then Sunday he got up at 5am to set up the church (we meet in a school). We had lunch guest over & watched the broncos lose. Anyways, he is crazy energetic. I would have fallen over before the weekend started.

But we are having a great time this week. My cousin, Lance, (Joni's husband) just got a job as a United pilot and is training out here. He is staying with us. We love living vicariously through him...last night we drove by the simulators he will be training on...wow.

Thank You Holly!

One of the most awesome things in my life is that I have an amazing job. I love what I do, helping travelers get prepared for their trip, but the people I work actually make the job what it is. To sum that up would be to say "Holly"! She rocks! She has a heart of gold and is hiliarious at times yet is incredibly deep at other times. She is raising money to be a missionary in Eastern Europe, but as much as we want to see her over there, no one is in a rush for her to leave. Anyways, this weekend we went up to Keystone and enjoyed the aspens starting to change. It was so fun just being lazy, enjoying the outdoors and yodeling (sp?) at Oktoberfest in Breckenridge. But around 7pm we (poor Paul was working while we were playing) realized there was a lot of work that had to get done at the cabin to get the floors out of there so that wood floors can go in the next week or two. Oh my! Holly stood up to the plate and we organized all of the wood and cleaned up and got home a lot later than expected. We still had fun renovating the place. Thank you Holly for being such an awesome friend!

Ahhh...Fall

I may seem a little weird putting food on our blog but one of the things I love most about this time of year is harvesting fruits & vegies. I feel my Kansas roots through and through when I pick tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries. In Utah, we had a grapevine and made jams, wine and juice out of the sweet grapes we harvested off of our patio. Last year we planted two grape vines and I have given those plants so much TLC. HOw I loved watching the fruit grow and finally ripen. Today I enjoyed making concord grape pie and tomato salsa. There is just something about picking fruit & vegies off of plants after a summer of watering/caring for those plants, then making a treat out of them...yummmy!

Vacation continues

Dad and mom stayed until Friday and we didn't let a moment go to waste. Wednesday we rented 4wheelers for the day and had a blast on the trails around Vail/Shrine Mountain Pass. We took a crazy trail over unbelievable terrain and were amazed at what these little machines could do. Then we rode to Red Cliff (a small mountain town near Leadville) and ate lunch at the cutest restaurant. It threatened to rain all day, but only sprinkled a little, which honestly was a miracle. I think it rained everywhere else but where we were riding. Anyways, Wednesday was a memory that will last for a lifetime... it was so fun.

We also hiked and took a few scenic routes around the area which were fun. We even ended up at Como, CO which I think gets a prize for the most back country place there is in this state. But we enjoyed pie and icecream at the Como depot.

Mom and dad went on to Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp for a weekend with my dad's bro's and sis's. We stayed up in Keystone with our friends from church. We had a great bike ride and dinner and yes...an awesome time watching Broncos win!

Labor Day Weekend

This summer has officially ended with a bang! We went up to Keystone and Mom &Dad and Mike &Tina (my bro and sis-in-law) and kiddos came up for a couple of days. It was great enjoying the outdoors and nice weather and hanging out. Saturday we went to a festival and the boys were the hit of the show. They have rhythm and people we were watching them more than the show! Sunday, Jeremy, Kim & Aran and Julia &Bryan joined us and we talked the afternoon away while all the kiddos played hide and seek. Mom and dad were quite the babysitters as well. Wow, what a great weekend to end summer with!

Waterski Adventure

One thing we miss about living in the midwest is waterskiing. We haven't been out to Texas yet this year to visit my big bro Brian (thank you for always taking us waterskiing) nor have we been to Minnesota to stay at Paul's parents lake cabin... needless to say we were itching to go waterskiing. We got to do just that Friday evening! We had a blast and still are very sore. Holly joined us and we had a great time in Morrison afterwards.

Thanks for visiting Gayle and Steve/Happy Birthday Pete!

I feel like I just blog our weekends. Actually these summer weekends have been so fun...I think this has been one of my favorite summers. This weekend Gayle and Steve Miller came to Denver because Steve wanted to run in the Muddy Buddy in Boulder...a race that consists of running/biking with a friend in costume 10K then finishing with a mud obstacle course. Tammy got to hang out with Ramona and Gayle and hike at Golden State Park and enjoy Denver/Boulder. It was so fun connecting with them again...they are always so hilarious.

We also got to celebrate Pete's birthday on Saturday! We "rapped" a Happy Birthday song for him in the morning with scones then went out eating in Boulder and went to a Charlie Hill concert. We loved spending the day with Pete on his birthday!!!

August Vacation

Oh man, we just got back from the best vacation! It truly was a vacation. Our goals of the vacation were 1) spend time with Jesus 2) relax! relax! relax! 3) exercise, and of course 4) just be together. We started out the week at Estes Park and stayed in the cutest cozy cabin at the YMCA. 5 years ago we got engaged at Longs Peak outside of Estes Park and we wanted to celebrate that. We even made a Houge tile that will be put up at the YMCA and we can reflect on it when we come to visit.

Our vacation consisted of reading, napping, napping some more then we would head out for a hike or run then read some more. One of our thoughts was to read through the New Testament, but we kept journaling about Matthew and haven't made it out of there yet. We wanted to pray about our passions and what we are going to do in 2 and half years when Paul may retire from the Air Force. Overseas missions is both of our hearts, but we have other thoughts as well. Anyways, we got back from Estes on Wednesday evening and hung out with some friends, then left to go camping on Thursday. Ramona and Pete joined us for a day as well. We feel so refreshed and so relaxed.

Ramona Rocks!

This weekend started out with Ramona coming up to Keystone with me and we painted the master bedroom at the condo. Then she helped me pick out the perfect comforter for the room and then gave me a "dead sea salt manicure". Thank You girl!...our guys showed up later Friday night. Saturday morning came and we had a great idea to bike a little around some of the trails...welll a little got to be hours of climbing up hills and climbing up more hills and by this time we decided to bike all the way to Breckenridge! Oh my! Over the mountain and through the woods to Breckenridge we went. During this 12mile jaunt Ramona did not complain despite the fact she did not have padded biker shorts nor has she biked all season. You did soooo awesome Ramona!! During our little adventure we got to witness a bridal party make its way by horse drawn covered wagons to a mountain wedding....like what one would see in a magazine. When we got home, I think we all enjoyed the hot tub more than we ever had before (especially the guys...they rode their bikes back to Keystone while Ramona and I took the free bus back). What a wonderful weekend with wonderful friends!

Reflecting on God's Timing

It seems almost everyday we get some kind of news of India or China making new rules for adoption or it's monsoon season and the courts will not be open. It is hard not to be frustrated some days. On those days it is in my best interest (though some days I don't do that) to go back to God and trust Him with the 'wait'. My prayer throughout this whole process has been that I would have just as much joy in God during the process as when we actually get to hold our little ones. Through this I have seen a new character of God and learning a new relationship with Him. I have asked Him, "How do I find the balance between hope and surrender?" Hope gets dashed so often and I blame God. Then again what is God's ultimate plan for me and what am I hoping in? Am I hoping that He will change circumstances or am I hoping in Him for His best? Why can't I just hope in Him? Why do I get caught up in what I want and fear in what might happen or NOT happen with these adoptions. I read this poem today and it summed up a lot of my feelings:

Wait

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, He replied.

I pleaded, and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."

"Wait? You say wait?" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why.

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

"My future, and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me 'wait'?

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,

Or even a 'no', to which I can resign.

And Lord, you have promised that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry;

I'm weary of asking: I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, "you must wait."

So I slumped in my chair; defeated and taut

And grumbled to God; "So I'm waiting, for what?"

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes met with mine

And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens, darken the sun,

Raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.

All you see I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint;

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

YOu'd not learn to trust, just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me,

When darkness and silence was all you could see.

You would never experience that fullness of love

As the peace of my Spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late in the night;

The faith that I give when you walk without sight;

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

And you never would know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'

Yes, your dreams for that loved one (those children) o'ernight could come true,

But the loss! if you lost what I'm doing in you.

"So be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to get to know ME.

And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all...is still...wait"

by Russell Kelfer

Weekend with Mom and Dad

Whew, what a fun-filled weekend! Mom and dad came out Friday night and Saturday morning we were up early...finding all of the garage sales in our neighborhood. We found all kinds of goodies including a patio set for mom and dad. Now, how did you get that in your van again? We then headed up to the mountains! We went on a long hike, went to a Blues festival where dad bought a very stylish cowboy hat, attended an amazing church service outdoors with the river rushing behind and awesome worship music and then dad taught us how to throw horseshoes. I cannot believe we packed all of that in! Thanks mom and dad for visiting us!

Keystone Weekend

Sloan, Christina , Rafael and us went up to Keystone for the weekend and what a blast we had!! We always have such a great time talking about what Jesus is doing in our lives with these folks. We went on fun hikes and went to a jazz/rock n roll concert at the Dillon ampitheatre. We even caught the Keystone fireworks afterwards. Paul and I rode our bikes up to Keystone resorts chairlifts today (Paul took the day off). We found new ways to ski down in the winter:) We both wish today was Friday and we could start this weekend all over again, it was so nice.