Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich.  ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford

 What a restful holiday season it has been! Ryan and I have caught up on so much sleep after last weekend...it was wonderful.  Ryan needed it more than I did; he had been fighting a cold so I was grateful he could take it easy while we visited family.  We had a QUECK family Christmas this year!  I  loved being with Ryan's parents and Abby this past weekend in Willis, Texas.  Christmas eve and morning wasn't the same without my parents and Carl....but I cherish both sides of our family, so it was great to be with Ryan's parents this year.  How richly blessed are we?!  Two sets of parents that continually pour their love out on us...thankful!  Here are some pictures from our trip to Mom and Dad Queck's.

 Beautifully set table for Christmas Eve dinner.

Ryan and his Momma

 

Snuggle bugs

Sis got mittens!

   

Still a little girl at heart!

 

  

 

Papa opening his gifts. 

 

    This time two years ago Ryan and I had just started dating and were headed to to the SALT conference with Chi Alpha (a college ministry that's close to both of our hearts :)  This year is different and I'm slightly jealous that we don't get to tag along with some dear friends to Dallas for SALT weekend.  Praying for you guys and so excited to hear some refreshing stories when you get back!  As for us Queckers ;)...we are heading to the ranch in a few hours to spend the weekend with my Momma and Dad...so we actually get to have a late Christmas celebration with them, Yippee!!  Ryan is stoked to hunt; he hasn't been yet this deer season so I am hoping that we leave Sunday with an ice chest filled with venison!  I'll update our blog again once we get back :)  Wishing all of you a happy new year and hoping it is filled with lots of love and God filled stories and memories!  Thank you, Jesus for another year to serve you and serve each other.

Sunday Night Lights...

Christmas time always brings back some precious memories for mine and Ryan's relationship.  For some of you who don't know our story, we waited about a year to start dating after we first met.  (This being my decision, not Ryan's;  he was thankful we waited though!)  When we finally became a couple it was December 1st, so we got to jump start our relationship with holiday cheer! OK, that was cheesy....but Christmas of 2009 brings back some great memories. Our first date as a couple we made a gingerbread house together.  Trying to keep this a "Queck" tradition, we made an attempt to do a homemade gingerbread house this year.  After leaving the cookies to cool on the baking sheet...OVERNIGHT, they crumbled as I pried them off the pan the next morning.  Attempt #2 will be this weekend since we still have the ingredients.  Here is a snapshot of our first date and our fist gingerbread house we crafted together :)

The past week has been super full: we had a couple Christmas parties that we attended, a graduation party, and  last night we had dinner at Ryan's employee's house.  It was so gracious of his family to have us over for dinner.  They're a family originally from Mexico and served us some tasty tortillas, rice and goat...good cookin'! I have never been more honored in someone else's home --they served us in such humility.

After a busy week, we decided to spend this Sunday resting around the house....and that is EXACTLY what we did -- we got home from church and took a 2 hour nap.  After resting up, we went out for some yummy Mediterranean food at Pasha (excellent restaurant and incredibly reasonable prices!)  To wrap up an amazing Sabbath, we took a drive to Windcrest, off 410 and 35, to look at Christmas lights. Here are some pictures from our adventure to the Lights at Windcrest!

1 John 3:17

 "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" 1 John 3:17

I went to the World Visions Donation website this afternoon because I want Ryan and I to start donating animals to a family every year around the holidays.  When I landed on the website, I felt myself getting overwhelmed with the needs that need to be met; and even feeling guilty for not getting on board with this sooner. Here is the link if you feel nudged to give a gift that will multiply. 

http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10680&section2=11020

Here are some faces that might encourage you to go, give, or pray this holiday season.  Don't under estimate the power of praying and intercession. You have been given that authority, use the gift!

Living With Simplicity

I'm thinking about how we came up with the title to our blog and laughing...it is so us.   I originally had our blog titled as "The Queck's:  Living With Passion and Love",  I know that sounds incredibly too romantic but that wasn't the heart of it, I promise!  Ryan took one glance at the title that I had spent at least fifteen minutes mustering up and says, "Can we just call it The Queck Life?"  That is so him- Simple.  I instantly liked his idea better than mine.  Short and sweet is better, I agree :)  I am always one to look farther into things than needed, my sweet husband has taught me the beauty of simplicity, in the material world and in our demeanor.  This is a virtue that I'm beginning to adopt....and a way that the Lord has been calling me to live for a long time.  I'm thankful that he hand picked the perfect man on earth to teach me how to do so; grateful.

So Ryan and I are going on our fourteenth month of marriage....bliss!  I have been taking note of things that are more fun now that we are married. The simple things become sweet memories when sharing them with the one you have committed yourself to.  Here are a handful of these simple treasures:

1.  Enjoying hot tea and ginger snaps together in the evening.

2.  Date nights, even if it is just to a local coffee shop.

3.  Hiking around any park we can find.

4. Searching for authentic restaurants.

5.  Listening to music together.

6. Grocery shopping....I enjoy this more than Ryan.

7. Walking our puppy, Bella.

This list goes on but I'll stop at seven.  Tonight we enjoyed some hot tortilla soup (a fun recipe for this dreary weather)  and cuddled on the couch...that could have made the list also ;) I'm looking forward to filling this blog up with memories, thoughts, pictures, recipes, and other things that our sweet Lord is showing me! Thanks for following me on here my  friends!  I promise to post more detailed blogs from now on...and lots of pictures to illustrate! This is going to be fun for me, I'm excited!

Here is the recipe for the tortilla soup I made tonight..and last week.  It's a favorite!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-tortilla-soup-i/