Merry Christmas!

My how time flies! We can hardly believe Christmas is already here and the year 2014 is drawing to a close. We apologize for things being so quiet here on the blog. Life has been full as Dad started his new job in Oklahoma and the rest of us have kept busy with school and showing our house. We continue to pray that God brings the right buyer to our house and shows us the right home up in Oklahoma. We’ve had some illness go through the house this winter, but at the moment, everyone is enjoying good health for Christmas! J

We pray this Christmas that you would be reminded of the greatest gift ever given: Jesus Christ. He was born to ransom us from our sins, and this time of year we celebrate that incredible gift! Merry Christmas and may God bless you and yours in the New Year!

~Bianca for the family

Okie House Hunting

~Posted by Roma

 

Thank you all for your prayers ever since our family posted the Big Changes blog post. I’m excited to tell you that my Dad found a job in Pryor, Oklahoma, only a few hours from our home here in TX! Praise the Lord! He has already started his new job at American Castings and it’s going great. Please pray that our home in TX will sell quickly!

 

Recently, when church was over, our family piled into the minivan and drove up to OK for a few nights to do some house hunting. Dad drove us past the plant the night we got there. It was big, and really cool! We checked into the hotel and settled in for the night.

 

The next day was house hunting day. We toured through three houses, and drove past another one, and have kept tabs on realtor.com ever since the trip!J I try to look on the bright side of things, but I’ll admit it was draining for all 7 of us because we didn’t quite find what we were looking for. The first house, which we nicknamed “the Bob House”(because it reminds us of someone’s house back in Michigan) is a possibility, but we still want to look for more options. Dad will also be looking for a church, shopping, entertainment, activities, etc. There’s a lot to think about!

 

When we got back home, we had tons of funny “Okie stories” to share with our youth group. J There were a lot of funny things about Oklahoma—like a pizza place called: “Sam and Ella’s” pizza, which if you say it all together fast, sounds like the bacteria! “We are never eating there, kids.” My Mom was saying in the car. J A realtor from there told us, “Well, I heard someone died there--but it’s still good!” This is just one of the many crazy stories we have. Bianca even got to enjoy riding in the realtor’s Mid-Life-Crisis-bright-yellow-“ain’t misbeehavin’-jeep!!

 

I’m going to miss TX. badly, and still don’t really want to leave, but…I heard we won’t be too far from the Voice of the Martyrs headquarters! Yay! I can see future volunteering opportunities there. J

 

All for now!

 

P.S-After our house-hunting trip, we watched Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! We loved it! Haha! The movie even takes place right where we might live!

No Greater Love

~Posted by Rubia

 

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose….

 

….Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~Romans 8:28, 35-39

 

A good friend of mine shared these verses with me in an email this past week. What an encouragement from the Lord through her! They have always been wonderful for me to meditate on.

 

The scripture passages surrounding these verses all seem to be very fitting for the present time. Paul talks about our present sufferings vs. the future glory yet to be revealed to us (Rom. 8:18-25), then about how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will when we pray (verses 26-27); about how God works all things out for the good of those who love Him, about His sovereignty, and His all- powerful love for us (verses 28-39). So then, I quote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Trouble? Persecution? Danger? Our past? Present? Life? Death? Anything?

 

…..”nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

Words cannot express God’s powerful love for us. I challenge myself today, “Do I believe that and trust in that as absolute truth with all my heart? Now I can declare that even in the hardest of my days, I believe!

 

My friends, may God’s word here speak to your hearts and encourage you to praise Him for what He has done, and to worship Him! I believe Christ’s death and resurrection truly changes everything for us! Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ! He is God!

 

Big Changes

When we get comfortable in life, it seems that God brings about big changes to shake things up. He has done that in our family recently . . .

On September 29^th, my Dad was in a group of people that got laid off at his company. Due to financial hardships, they laid off 35+ people in 2 weeks. The news was pretty shocking to us kids. We haven't even lived in Texas for 2 years, and our Dad has never been laid off before. We were really expecting—and hoping—to stay right here in Texas until he retired.

So quite suddenly, we are living on a week-to-week basis. He has been talking with head hunters/recruiters and is already interviewing for several jobs! The very sad part is that more than likely, we will have to move. The chances of us moving out of Texas are pretty high too. Which most of us find pretty heartbreaking. </3

Right now we don't really know where we'll be moving or when. We are constantly reminded to trust in God’s provision for our family’s needs. Please be in prayer for us as we navigate this process and seek God’s direction for our family!

Blue Belt Test

~ Posted by Josiah

 

About a week ago, I took my 6^th gup blue belt test for Tae Kwon Do. This was my goal for 2014. So now, I am halfway to 1^st degree black. J

 

The first part of the test was kicks.

I’m on the right in this photo doing a kick.

 

There are 14 different kinds of kicks that I did. After that, we did blocks and stances. There are 4 stances and 12 blocks.

Doing a block.

 

Next we did forms. I know 5 forms. Their names were: Kebon-1, Chonji, Tan-Gun, Peon-1, and Won-Hyo. Then we went over our vocabulary, starting all the way back from Gold Belt.

 

Next came self-defense. We had to escape from a front-choke, wrist-grab, headlock, back-choke, bear hug, and full nelson. Then came one-steps. These included two basics and three advanced. Finally, we got to the sparring!!!!

 

Sparring “Biggy.” J

We sparred a lot of rounds. I even sparred two at once!

 

I enjoyed the test (well . . . kind of. It was a good one most of the time.) The tests usually end at about 10:45 p.m., but this one ended before 9:00 p.m. That gave my family and me time to go out for ice cream afterward! J

 

I love Tae-Kwon-Do, and am working hard for the next belt!

After the belt test with my blue belt!

 

 

 

 

 

My "Jonah Day"

 

 

~ Posted by Ben

 

I don’t normally believe in using social media for ranting. But I’ve decided to document a not-so-happy day I experienced recently in hopes that through it, I may encourage and provide comic relief to those of you who may experiencing a “Jonah day” today! J

 

This story has a background that includes a college conference; potential food poisoning thereof; an Eagle Scout project proposal; a deadline, and a nasty habit of procrastination on my part. This story then has a main plot that includes missed deadlines, chasing people around town for signatures, waiting for phone calls that never came, transportation issues, stress-related health issues (we won’t go into details :/), red ants, forgetfulness, and getting lost. And the end….well, let me walk ya through. J

 

CPE3

 

Bianca participates in an online college program known as “College Plus.” College Plus, or “CP,” is a Christian collegiate organization that works in partnership with several colleges and universities, to provide a fully accredited Bachelor’s degree for half the cost, in half the time, and with twice the flexibility. Bianca has been working towards a BA in International Studies with this program since January. I’m planning on enrolling in College Plus as well, so recently Bianca and I decided to attend “CPE3,” a large, week-long event hosted by CP in San Antonio. We had an EXCELLENT week! I enjoyed myself immensely, but knew that when I got back, I would have to work hard on finishing my Eagle Scout Project proposal that was due several days after I returned.

 

Eagle Project proposal

 

After I returned from CPE3, I got right to work on my Eagle Project proposal. I finished it, but somehow missed seeing that I needed some very important signatures before submitting my proposal (face palm). Naturally, I discovered this Monday night…and I needed 3 signatures by the next night. L

 

“BEN JUDAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! GET OUT OF BED!” This was my Tuesday morning wake-up call. Somehow I overslept my alarm, it was 9 o’clock, and I had a deadline!! I leaped up and began discussing strategy with my mom. After a quick grooming and breakfast, my sister drove me all the way to church (about 25 minutes away) to obtain my first signature (the church is the beneficiary of the project). Here’s where the fun began. Our Lead Pastor could not sign it without first reviewing and understanding the project proposal, and getting consensus from the staff.

 

So we left the proposal, promising to return later that afternoon, and Bianca and I ran over to DPS to sign me up for a driving license test (that’s a story for another time) and then we went home. I was actually able to do some school work before dashing back to church to pick up my project binder, and then heading to the BSA Court of Honor that evening that I, as Senior Patrol Leader, had to preside over.

 

This is one part of the story that is actually quite happy. That evening would be my last Court of Honor as SPL, as my 6-month term was ending. At this Court of Honor, I was presented with 4 merit badges, an SPL award, and an Honor Camper award for the year. I also received many compliments from parents on my leadership over the last 6 months. I was truly humbled by their recognition.

 

However, after the Court of Honor I was informed by my project coach that there was a whole other packet of paperwork I needed to do. Thankfully, he was able to obtain a 24-hour deadline extension from the District Advancement Coordinator. I was also able to get 2 of the 3 signatures I needed for the proposal, at the Court of Honor. But I had a lot of work ahead of me…

 

Early the next morning, Mom drove me back to church, where I dropped the proposal off AGAIN (they didn’t have sufficient time to look over it on Tuesday), and then came home and plowed away at the extra paperwork given to me by my project coach. I was able to finish it shortly before heading BACK to church with my siblings for youth group that evening.

 

This is where the story really gets crazy. I get to church, and it turns out my proposal isn’t there. It’s with one of the associate pastors who went into town. Our Lead pastor rushes out to find him, gets the binder, and comes back. We then have a long discussion that results in some major changes of plans for the landscaping I am proposing to do. Drawings are changed; a landscape extraordinaire is consulted; and I get the final signature I need.

 

So I’m standing outside, talking with a guy who did a project there earlier this year, about the location of the sprinkler systems in the area where I will be working. In my mind, I’m thinking, “What a lousy 2 days I’ve had! This is the hardest signature I’ve ever tried to get. How could things get any WOOOOORRRSSSEE--AAAAAGGGGHHH!!!!!” Sudden pain shoots up my legs. I look down, and I am standing on a massive red ant hill.! I broke into what from a distance, probably looked like a white boy’s lousy attempt at break-dancing, as I furiously swatted at my legs, knocking dozens of red ants to the ground.

 

In the midst of this, my sister comes out of the church, ready to drive me to the house where I would be dropping off the proposal documents. I’m pretty sure she was trying not to laugh at my predicament…but she was also in a hurry since she’s supposed to be upstairs to help with youth group in 15 minutes. We drive, and are literally turning onto the street where the district advancement coordinator lives, when I groaned and grabbed my already-throbbing head. I realized that I forgot to add the extra paperwork I had completed that day to my binder.

 

Bianca turns around and heads all the way back to the church, while I resist the urge to slam my noggin on the dashboard. Through all of this, I am continually slapping at my legs to kill yet another red ant (they stick with you for a while). My stomach was churning, as I’d been suffering from a bit of, *ahem,* discomfort the last couple of days (not going to go into too much detail there, but there was an accidental food poisoning incident at the event Bianca and I attended. I had been feeling a bit iffy since returning, and it wasn’t being helped by all this stress.)

 

So we get back to church, where my sister needs to go help with junior high youth, so my Dad swings by from the office to take me back to the DAC’s house now that we have ALL the papers. As I’m walking up his driveway I’m thinking; “Walk slowly, don’t want to trip and die, because that would happen with the day I’ve been having!” But I successfully dropped off the completed documents. YEEESSS!

 

The rest of the evening went off quite normally…except for tripping over my sister’s ankle at bedtime and face-planting in our living room. But I finished the day with my objective met, and without serious injuries sustained. Needless to say, I showered very carefully that night so as not to wipe out and suffer a head concussion. Haha! J

 

At the end of the day, I’d learned some important lessons:

 

#1 Never procrastinate.

#2 Always take others’ schedules into consideration when working with people.

#3 Always plan for the worst so that you can deal with it when it happens!

 

I figure that as long as I’ve learned my lessons, I will be better prepared to meet life’s challenges ahead.

 

If you are currently suffering a “Jonah day,” I hope that this post and its ending provided at least some encouragement, if not some comic relief! May God, in His grace, bring you through whatever suffering you’re going through. Nothing in your life is capable of surprising Him. Keep up the fight!

 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

Guatemala Mission Trip

~posted by Roma

Back in July, I had the wonderful opportunity to take my second mission trip! It was refreshing to be back on the mission field again, after 2 years. (In 2012 our family went to Haiti.) Our whole family didn’t go on this trip; just Bianca and I. Bianca went for an internship with other interns for 3.5 weeks, then the last week our youth pastor here in Texas led a team from our church. And I wanted to go! So after having a garage sale here with the help of my family, raising all the funds, packing my bags, putting my pigtails in my hair and grabbing my jacket, I was ready! It took a step of faith to commit to going even if I didn’t know where the funds would come from, and traveling without my family was different, but at least I had a team with me. J

The night our team got there, Bianca came up behind me, swung me around in the air, and squeezed me! It was great to be with her again after a few weeks. Her Birthday had been celebrated in Guat. over and over again, and in this picture we are having one of her celebrations.

Our team. There were lots of other dear people to me that are not in this picture—our translators, the missionaries, the fellowship Guatemala team, and the interns—but this is the team I came down with.

Guatemala was a great experience as all mission trips can be, and this blog post may end up being shorter than I’d like just because trying to share every detail could take so long. All the words and pictures can’t even do it justice. I would encourage you to go to Guatemala yourself. It’s eye-opening to drive past zone 3 (there are 25 zones in Guat.) where no one goes in, and no one goes out, because of the drug cartels. It’s eye-opening to walk along a train track where the people are living in absolute squalor and kids come running up to you to hug you even though you don’t know them and they don’t know you. We went through dirty places, smelly places, and big wealthy houses with sugar cane fields. (We went through a variety of places in 7 days.) There was poverty, and people were broken.

But on a happier note, Guatemala was also a wonderful place to experience Hispanic culture. I will always adore Hispanic culture, being half Puerto-Rican myself. Getting up late in the morning…drinking strong black coffee with cane sugar…never being in a rush…always being on “Guatemalan time” (which is really late)…going to bed at 2:00 a.m. so slap-happy and exhausted; your stomach hurts to death from laughing! Hispanic people coming to the mission house to visit you even though you don’t know them. They’re all smiles talking with you even though there’s a language barrier…it’s AWESOME! And when I got home, it was hard to do the “Texan routine” instead of the “Guat. Routine.” This trip also had plenty of inside jokes and funny memories that make the mission trip even more memorable. J

The things we did during the week were going door to door evangelizing, visiting different churches and a hotel with a church in it, and VBS with kids in zone 25. (pictured above.) VBS was awesome! Everyone took turns teaching every night, (including me J) we got our faces painted, and DANCED.

All these girls in the above picture are precious new friends of mine and sisters in the Lord! Two of them, S and M, have already visited my home in TX. All these girls are great. I’ll be seeing them again for sure.

Some of my favorite memories of Guatemala were: riding on the huge, colorful bus with blasting music on the way to touristy Antigua; shopping in the market for souvenirs for the family; getting a semi-permanent blue and black braid in my hair; panicking for a minute when two Guatemalan Police came up to me and I thought I was getting arrested. But they just wanted me to have my braid done outside of the town square. J So guess what--I was escorted outside the square!

In Antigua, with Mt. Agua in the background. Pastor D has climbed it! I want to climb it! J

Me with the missionaries Pastor D and his wife O. They are an incredible couple!

The most impacting part for me was the first day that we were going to zone 25 to evangelize. We arrived at pastor O’s church and everyone got silent when going inside because a prayer warrior was kneeling at the stage praying. I never learned this woman’s name or anything about her. I just know she was praying, singing over and over again “Gracias Cristo.” It makes me want to be more thankful. Looking around the room, I noticed that an American wouldn’t think there’s much to be thankful for. Pastor O’s church consists of a room, plastic chairs, a stage, and a bathroom that I won’t even get into. But this lady was absolutely grateful. She faithfully prays for her community every day. You can start praying for “the prayer warrior in Guatemala”, and pray God would hear her prayers and do miracles in her community.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures and captions, and Bianca will probably post more on her 3-1/2 week internship later. I hope I go to Guatemala again--maybe for June 2015!

Summer Flashback

~Posted by Rubia

These September days have been full of “Fall chatter” because everyone, including myself are excited about them!! However, you blog readers missed nearly all of our summer, so I’m giving you a sneak peek into a fun weekend we had at the beginning of August this year.

Our family has been developing a relationship with some neat friends from church, and we have found our families to be similar in some ways. They have two boys, 18 and 16, that my siblings and I have had the privilege of spending more time with outside of youth group.

One Friday in early August we decided to try a Mexican ice cream shop in town that most of us had heard about. It turned out to be delicious! I found the ice cream to be rich and creamy, especially the vanilla and chocolate flavors! They had other treats there too, including frozen chocolate-covered bananas and strawberries.

After we ate our treats, we needed to do something else. J So after buying a few groceries for our parents, we went to the park. (Yes, teenagers at the park. Why not?:-)

This park has huge monkey bars, swings, a climbing rock, and a walking trail.

We found a water hole to play in….and get wet in.

We ended up inviting the boys to come over for dinner, so they joined us for our traditional Friday-pizza-movie-night. THEN their Dad must’ve thought, “We might as well invite them out to the lake tomorrow,” so that’s what he did! Yay! J

The next day was a beautiful afternoon for swimming, tubing, and water skiing! Some of the experiences were new for me, like tubing, and I’m thankful that my first time could be with my family and these friends!

Roma and Mrs. B enjoying the beach.

Roma and Ben on the boat.

Beautiful lake day.

Dad up on the water skis.

Thanks so much to the B family for this memorable weekend of our summer!

We're Back!

Hello readers! We hope you’ve had a marvelous summer. Ours was very full and very fun. J We are getting back into our fall schedules of school, work, and extracurricular activities, but we will begin to post here once a week now. You will probably see a mix of posts over the next couple of weeks. These will include recaps of our summer and what we’re up to now!

 

*What did you do this summer? We’d love to know! Leave us a comment!*

Summer Hiatus

It’s hard to believe that June is nearly over! Time flies so quickly. Our family has been busy with birthdays, graduations, starting summer work schedules, and more. I am taking my last college exam as a freshman this week, and will be leaving next week for a 3.5 week internship in Guatemala! It’s a very exciting time in our family! J

With that, we have decided that we need to take a blogging break for awhile. I will try to post from Guatemala at least once or twice while I’m gone. You can check my blog at www.biancalifeingeneral.blogspot.com We will resume posting here later on in the summer! Enjoy July and August!

Cooking in Our Family

~Posted by Roma

 

The art of cooking is wonderful!!! It’s so much better to enjoy a good big homemade dinner than to always go out or eat fast food. Nothing is wrong with that, but I just love to enjoy a homemade meal! It’s wonderful to see how God “gives us our daily bread” when working with all kinds of colorful foods He made! I wanted to share with you a little more of what happens in our family when it comes to cooking in the kitchen.



Me cooking in our Mi kitchen over 3 years ago!

Most of the time, my Mom is the one cooking dinner. But Thursday nights Bianca gets to cook, and Tuesday nights Ruby and I cook. My Mom wanted us girls to have more experience cooking--not just baking brownies and cookies all the time. (Which is a problem for me-I love baking but I need to get experience with actual cooking.)

 

Most all of our meals have turned out to be pretty successful and the family loves what we’re able to put together. We’re known for our Tomato Basil Pie J…but you have to LOVE asiago cheese in order to eat this pie. Just sayin’. J

 

 

Ruby and I find that most of the time we use a cookbook called: “5 Ingredients or Less.” It’s a perfect book for beginner cooks like us.

 

We also love a new cookbook we received for our Rite of Passage ceremony from our dear Abuela: “The Daniel Plan Cookbook”. It has some healthy wonderful gelato, soup, salad, paninis, chicken kabobs, etc. The picture on the cover of this book is the chicken kabobs which Ruby and I grilled recently! They are delish!

 

Ruby and I enjoy cooking dinner and dessert every Tuesday. It’s hard work sometimes but worth it. Here are some other recipes we’ve done the past few months:

 

Tomato Basil Pie. We also enjoy making Pecan Crusted Chicken J but I couldn’t find a picture of that. L

 

We’re crazy about salad!

The BEST dessert recipe in this family is my Mom’s FAMOUS double chocolate ring CAKE! It will always be the favorite.

So as you can see, these are a few different foods we enjoy making. But if you ever want any MORE recipes, just go to our recipe page and you’ll find everything from appetizers, to meat, to cakes and cookies and more. God Bless y’all, and have a great day!

First Paid Photo Shoot!

Recently, I had my very first paid photo shoot! I had done a little advertising, because I have been trying to raise money for my summer internship in Guatemala City. A friend from church—who is also a mentor of mine—asked me to photograph her kids and agreed to pay me.

So one Sunday afternoon when I was babysitting them, I took them out for a shoot!

I told them we would go to three locations, and when they were all done we would go to Dairy Queen. J They are very photogenic and proved to be excellent subjects.

Shooting at our favorite cemetery. When we were finished, they noticed 3 baby armadillos playing around. They had lots of fun watching them for a few minutes.

Love his red hair and blue eyes!

Such a sweet little girl!

I love using fences in portraits.

I was very pleased with how well the shoot went! I love doing portraits and hope to have more opportunities to do them in the future! J

The Door

Cappella Sistina, Rome, Italy. May 2014

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

 

Rev. 3:20

 

~ posted by Betsy