Sunday, September 17, 2006

Other Muskegon & TFC Conference Information

There is another blogger at the TFC conference this week, Doris High. You can follow her blog at this link.
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You can see the site of our conference at the Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conference facility's site.
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the official Muskegon, Michigan website is here.
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In His Name,
Chaplain Sam

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Muskegon, MI Saturday, 9/16

We had a l-o-o-o-n-g day today.
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Linda & Chaplain Tom Kramer, Margaret at BWI airport 6:45 a.m. waiting to check our bags.

Where is our plane?
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Margaret napping while we wait for our plane at BWI airport.

At last, we're boarded for the flight to Detroit!

The first leg of the trip was to leave about 9:00 a.m. to take us to Detroit, MI where we switch to our commuter flight from Detroit to Muskegon, MI. That first plane was late arriving at BWI. We finally left BWI 35 minutes late cutting our layover time in Detroit from 60 minutes to only 25 minutes. The connecting flight in Detroit is in a different terminal than our arrival plus we are supposed to be onboard that flight 20 minutes before departure. This does not look promising!


As expected, we missed the flight to Muskegon. Chaplain Jeff DeShaw's inbound flight to Detroit had also been delayed so now there were five of us stuck until the next flight which was not until 3:15 p.m. so it was back to the main terminal for lunch.

Back in the commuter terminal killing time by sorting the name badges for the conference.

Jeff was able to get a seat on the 3:15 p.m. flight but the rest of us were on standby. That flight was full so we were stuck until the 7:30 p.m. flight!

The four of us finally got to the conference center in Muskegon just before 9:00 p.m. Margaret and I had gotten up at 5:30 a.m. this morning! It has been a long day and I was too tired to take any pictures of the conference center tonight.

There is WiFi in our room so I will be able to post pictures of the facility and our activities during our free times.

Thank you for your prayers!

Friday, September 15, 2006

Off To Muskegon, MI

We are on our way to Muskegon, MI for the annual TFC staff conference. This afternoon we drove to Baltimore to spend the night in Chaplain Tom & Linda Kramer's "guest bedroom" shown above. Tomorrow morning the four of us go to the BWI airport to begin our flight to Michigan. Tom and Linda let us park our car at their house while we are gone. They live only a few minutes from the airport. We do not return until next Friday.
The conference center where we will be has a WiFi hot spot so I should be able to post pictures during the time we are there.
Please keep all of the TFC staff who are traveling today and tomorrow in prayer for traveling mercies and for God's leading during our conference.
In His Name,
Chaplain Sam

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Family Reunion 8/6/06

Margaret and I attended the Bostick family reunion on Sunday, 8/6/06. Bostick was my mother's maiden name.
Pictured above is my great aunt Ruth and her husband Ben. Ruth was on our prayer list a while back after she was hospitalized with heart trouble.


Margaret created a lot of interest at the reunion. She brought a couple of boxes of old family photographs hoping the folks at the reunion could help her identify some of the people in the photos.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Ordination, 7/15/06


In 1992 I was called to preach and teach the Bible. At first I served as a Certified Lay Preacher. Later I became a Licensed Minister through American Evangelical Christian Churches (AECC). On Saturday, July 15, 2006 I was ordained while attending the AECC North East Regional Conference in Waverly, NY. I have posted a PhotoShow of pictures from the ordination service.
Pastor Norman Kaufman, who was at the Regional Conference has also posted his photos. Thank you Norm!
In His Name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Monday, July 17, 2006

Sister Trudy

Margaret and I recently visited Margaret's sister Trudy who lives in Edinburg, VA with her husband Dick. Dick was out of town when I was taking these pictures.

Trudy & Dick are gracious hosts allowing us to stay with them anytime we are in that part of Virginia. Trudy is also a good cook and breakfast the following morning is always a treat.


Their home.


Trudy & Dick both put a lot of work into their flower and vegetable gardens.



"Bandit" has his own bed on the carport from which he can keep an eye on everything.


"Thelma" is the other resident member of the family.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Granddaughter 4th Birthday


Check out the PhotoShow of our granddaughter Anna Marie Houchins' 4th birthday party! Anna is the daughter of our son Sam II and his wife Liane who live in Fredericksburg, VA.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

June 13, 2006 Gardening Update

Our long time friend David joined Margaret today for some serious gardening chores.
One chore was taming the sand cherry trees on the north end of the house. They were blocking sunlight to the hostas as well as rubbing on the siding. On the left is "before" and on the right is "after".

The result was a pile of brush. Good thing today is trash collection day!


Margaret got a good deal on 5 arborvitae trees but they did not come with holes. That's where David helps out! (The tomato plants in the back right belong to our neighbor.)

A pot of pretty petunias.


This is one of my favorite flowers, a Stella de Oro day Lilly


The red maple tree surrounded by beautiful "wave" petunias.


Finally, a gorgeous white bloom on a barrel cactus in the front window sill. Margaret really has a green thumb.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Grandson Patrick Sean's Birthday


Margaret recently went to visit our daughter outside of Woodstock, VA for our youngest grandson's 8th birthday party. That is him, Patrick Sean, in the center opening presents. (Boy, when our youngest grandson is 8 years-old that makes us realize how old we are!)

Of course, while she was there she had to get some pictures of the four kittens.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Margaret Has The Car Back!


Praise the Lord! God is good...all the time!
Tears of joy while telling our daughter that we are leaving now to pickup her car!

"Doesn't it look great?"

"PTL! I have a/c again."

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Yard Photos - Part 2 (5/30/06)

Yesterday afternoon we went to a local Amish garden center and got a few more plants. Margaret was outside again early this morning to plant them. Afterward she made a not so subtle hint that I should post new pictures to show the recent additions. "I don't want folks to think it was going to stay the way it was yesterday" was her reasoning!
She added some color to the red maple.

And moved the nursery around to the front of the house onto a mulched bed.


Plus mulched around the baby red maple.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Recent Photos

Margaret got up early this morning to do some gardening before it got too hot outside. Later in the morning I went out to see what she had done with the plants we got yesterday at a local garden center. In the above picture she is mulching around the corkscrew willow tree in our front yard. The screen is to protect the tree from the rabbits who love to eat the new leaves.

Sand Cherry trees and hostas along the west end of our house.

Petunia's that Margaret planted this morning around a baby red maple tree.
The screen is to protect the tree from the rabbits.

Part of Margaret's plant "nursery"

.More of the nursery

This morning (5/28/06) Margaret planted celosia in the flower boxes at the entrance.

A close up of one of the flower boxes.

Margaret mulching our corkscrew willow tree.

This is a maple tree that Margaret planted a couple of years ago.

Margaret took this picture of a sunset at Rehobeth Beach while there witha women's retreat.