Jaguars

~Posted by Josiah

 

Hello! I hope you will like this post! I was wanting to talk about Jaguars. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. J

 

About it: The Jaguar is the third largest wildcat in the world! Jaguars also have the strongest jaws and teeth of all cats.

 

Hunter: Jaguars hunt everything from fish and lizards, to birds and small alligators!!!!!!!! They really like fish. J Jaguars’ strong jaws pierce the skulls of their larger victims.

 

I hope you liked the post! I’m excited to do the next one!

Birthday Photo Shoot

Since our birthdays are clustered close together, I ended up owing all of my siblings birthday photos. So we decided to go out on one big shoot together last weekend! It was being lots of fun, and we explored a bunch of new locations together!

We found an abandoned section of a dirt road back in the woods. It made for a great, traffic-free background!

I can’t believe that my little brother is a young man already! When did that happen?

Gotta love old barns and fences.

Josiah will soon pass me in height. But don’t tell him I said that. ;-)

Quite handsome.

As we drove, we stumbled upon an old cemetery. Some of the graves dated back to the 1870’s! We had so much fun exploring, and some of the old trees made for great portrait spots.

Roma and Ruby are becoming quite fashionable.

They have truly grown into young ladies.

Best friends!

I love spending time with my siblings! Combining that with photography makes for a near-perfect morning. J

Things Above

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Col. 3:2

~ posted by Betsy

Our Rite of Passage

~Posted by Roma

Bianca had her Rite of Passage when she was 13, a long time ago. Ben had his Rite of Passage when he was 14, a few years ago. Last Saturday, May 17^th, was a very exciting day: Rubia and I had our Rite of Passage Ceremony!

A Rite Of Passage Ceremony happens for us when Mom and Dad recognize that we are growing older and they want to celebrate that we are going through a doorway—a passage way—from childhood to adulthood. Age doesn’t matter so much—it’s more about maturity. So, before our birthday, we celebrated with 12 other ladies (including our Mom, Bianca, and our Abuela) at our church! It was small and simple; the way we liked it. J

We arrived at the church and found the most gorgeous decorations all over the upstairs youth room made by our sweet friend, Mrs. H! There was a table with all the food and blue, yellow, and violet plastic table wear, (we LOVE those colors) and there were two huge fancy chocolate cakes with rich white frosting! There were beautiful cookies, a table with punch, tables and chairs set up in front of the podium where the speaking was done, and a table full of gifts. We were showered and spoiled! J

My Mom made a speech in the beginning. Dad came up, read his letter to us, and showed Ruby and I the video he had made for us on the big screen. It was a wonderful gift from him. J After the video Mom spoke some more, and then Ruby and I stepped up to the podium and shared our testimonies. Then a few other ladies including my Grandma and Mom read their letters to us. We each received a binder filled with letters of affirmation from Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, and even Haiti!

After the reading of the letters, Ruby and I stepped up in front of the ladies, and we had the Passing of Blessings. The ladies each read a blessing over us that was written on cards for us to keep. That was special! Then everyone gathered around us, and we were prayed over. We then enjoyed a fellowship meal together and the men and boys joined us.

We had a big layered Company Salad, (Ruby and I adore salad) deviled eggs, Chick-fil-A chicken, pistachio salad, crackers with hummus and mockamole (like guacamole), cake, punch, and cookies. Ruby and I have loved opening the gifts, reading the letters from all over, and enjoying the new books, journals, music, gift cards, jewelry, etc

It was so wonderful—we felt so, so special, and blessed! We had celebrated our birthday for days. A few days before all this, we were taken to a very special restaurant for dinner and given purity rings by our Dad, then we had this ceremony, then on our actual birthday, Abuela made her amazing Puerto-Rican cooking…I could go on and on! We had a wonderful ceremony, birthday, and wonderful time with family. Praise be to the Lord for His abundant blessings!

Rite of Passage Preview

This past weekend, Rubia and Roma celebrated a very special milestone: their Rite of Passage ceremony! Much preparation went into the event, and it turned out beautifully. Come back on Friday to hear more about it!

Spring's Here! Part 2

~Posted by Rubia

I love May, especially! I think in Texas, I like it most because it is hot but not scorching hot. Although most of the flowers I had shown to y’all last month are already gone, there is still in the great outdoors the promise of rich green fulfilled, and also exciting events that usually only happen around this time of year.

What are some more of my favorite things about this time of year? Some recent pictures as well as old ones reveal my answer:

 



Baby animals!



It’s time to get outside more!

We also had opportunities some years to go on a trip….



….and spend time with long lost family.

Most years we will have beloved family over to visit.

….I also had to add…if you all don’t mind, I love having a Spring birthday with my sister! J As goofy as we can be. (We twins back in 2007.)



And there’s probably much more that I love about this time of year. Does anyone else out there in the cold north favor Spring too? J What is your favorite thing about it?

 

 

Wishing y’all a blessed (and hopefully warm) Spring season.

 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”~Ecclesiastes 3:11 

Gardening

I am so excited! It has been 2 years since I nurtured a plant. Today I was out shopping and decided to buy some herbs to pot. While I still know almost nothing about Texas growing seasons, I figured if they were selling them it was a good time of year to plant them and that they should survive. J So I purchased pots, plates, potting soil, basil, spearmint, chocolate mint, Fernleaf dill, and flat leaf Italian parsley! It’s not a lot, but it’s a start! Hopefully my herb collection will grow into a garden next year!

Open

“The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.”

Deuteronomy 28:12

2012: An Epic Year

~Posted by Ben

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I was going to post today. At the very last minute--with my sister needing the post--I still couldn’t think of what I wanted to do. So I started looking through pictures, particularly pictures from 2012. I’ve always called 2012 the “twelve month rollercoaster.” For some odd reason, more events and more change in our family took place in 2012 than in any other years of our lives. I could tell you all about it, but instead I will take you through that year chronologically and show you just what took place in our lives during that busy year.



Ironically, the most busy year of our lives started off very uneventfully. Almost nothing major happened for the first 4 months. In mid-April our extended family went on a week-long Royal Caribbean Cruise.

Although we don’t have many pictures from after the cruise until July, several things happened. In May our Pastor announced that he was moving to Houston, Texas; I attended a week long leadership summit (National Youth Leadership Training or NYLT); our church did VBS; and we attended the funeral of my late great-uncle R. The above picture is our Haiti mission team. We were in Haiti from July 22-29. This was perhaps the most significant thing that happened during that summer. Our lives and perspectives of global poverty were absolutely transformed during the week we got to serve in Haiti.

I might also add that before our Haiti trip our family gathered in the living room for a very serious discussion. My dad announced that he was prayerfully considering leaving his 18 year career and pursuing an engineering job at a smaller company. At that time he was in job negotiations with companies in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas. But he was still undecided whether or not to leave his current job.



My Dad and I at the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado.

In late August, my Dad and I attended Vision Forum’s annual Father/Son retreat in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Many great memories were made during this special time with my Dad. I’m so grateful we had the opportunity to do this together!

In September my Dad officially accepted the job in Texas and resigned from his current job. He moved down here in mid October while the rest of us stayed in Michigan waiting for the house to sell.



Our home sold in 40 days! We were so grateful that it did not take too long.

Our stuff leading the way!

During our last days in Michigan, we got to see A LOT of people to say our last goodbyes. Here are some pictures:

Our “Framily” (Friends/family) the B’s.



Some more “Framily,” the M’s.

The Bright Lights group.

And so many more great friends…..

Our dear friends and fellow homeschoolers, the R’s.



Our friends from church, Mr. C and Mr. R.

Our wonderful youth director from church, Mr. K.



Our assistant youth director, Mr. J.

Our Worship Pastor, S.

And then early one morning……

All aboard!!!

And we’re off!

And so we embarked on a journey, and that journey would lead us….



Home.

Christmas 2012.

 

And so our journey came to an end, as 2012 was gone and 2013 had come. Not everything in 2012 was good; our grandparents' health continued to deteriorate until their deaths in January and February of the following year. Our church in Michigan went through some difficult times in the summer and spring. And as often happens in the course of life, we had to say goodbye to some friends and family who had been ushered into eternity. Overall, 2012 was a big year of change. But through it all, God was with us. The year 2012 is no doubt a year that will be remembered by our family forever. God taught us so many things, and we made so many long-lasting friendships. I wouldn’t ever take back one moment lived during that epic year of our lives!

Cinco de Mayo Celebration

This past weekend, we had the opportunity celebrate Cinco de Mayo! As many of you already know, we “adopted” two local college students at the beginning of the school year. One of the boys is involved in the Spanish club at the school, and they were putting on a free celebration for the public on the 4^th. So we decided to go!

When we arrived, we walked around to see the different booths. We played a few games while Josiah jumped in the bounce house. Several of us rode the mechanical bull and enjoyed popcorn.

Photo Credit: Roma.

K and Roma.

They had various contests and raffles going on throughout the night. One of them was a very-lengthy chip and salsa eating contest! J

Photo Credit: Roma.

They served a nice dinner with tortillas and various meat fillings, rice, beans, and plenty of chips and salsa. It was good! While we ate, they had a live mariachi band play. It was lively and fun!

They had more entertainment following the dinner. Josiah got to help the clown perform a few magic tricks! Then they had some wonderful Flamenco dancers perform.

Photo Credit: Roma.

It was a really fun way to spend an evening! With the end of the semester coming, it was also great to spend some extra time with our students. We will miss them when they leave in a couple of weeks!