Celebrating Ben and the Twins

~Posted by Roma

I recently told you about our Mom and Josiah’s birthdays all the way back in January and March, and now we are jumping forward to… this past May and June, when we celebrated Rubia’s and my birthday, and Ben’s birthday!

Ruby’s and my birthday was kept very simple, as all special occasions have been kept pretty simple this year. Dad and Bianca did not celebrate with us on our actual birthday, because Dad was working in OK, and Bianca was in Ecuador on a mission trip. But later, during Memorial Day weekend, we went to OK to visit Dad, pick Bianca up from the airport, and do more celebrating!

On our actual birthday, Mom invited two friends of ours from church to join us for dinner, cake and gifts. In the picture above, Ben is showing Jessie the architectural drawings that our Grandpa drew many years ago—really good drawings! Jessie enjoyed that. After a wonderful dinner and a beautiful sunflower cake, Josiah did a Tae Kwon Do show for all of us in the living room and Ruby and I opened a couple of gifts. We would open more in OK with Dad and Bianca later.

For dinner Mom made meatloaf, with sour cream or ketchup to dip it in, potato fries, peas, cucumbers and tomatoes, and the sunflower cake to finish it off. Daddy also called both of us on the phone that night to wish us happy birthday and talk to us. :-) It was a nice day and fun to spend it with friends as well.

Later in OK, Dad and Mom took us on a surprise birthday trip and we ended up at…the Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequah OK! It was neat to explore the village, have an Indian give us a tour and teach us to say: “Wado”, and tour the museum. Afterwards, we went to dinner at a restaurant called “The Grille,” and explored the downtown area. We also drove past our new house (which we had not yet closed on at the time). Unfortunately I have no pictures of all this, but it was a sweet birthday for Ruby and me!

After Bianca returned from Ecuador and we were back in Texas, she took all of us out on a birthday photo shoot! We needed new pictures of not only Ben and us twins, but new pictures of Josiah too. We love doing photo shoots and here are just a few photos of us:

Now we switch gears and talk about Ben. J Ben’s birthday was actually spent in Guatemala! He opened a few gifts before the mission trip, and then during our mission trip in Guatemala with our church, we celebrated his birthday, and another lady’s birthday from our team. The Guatemalans surprised Ben and our friend with candy, flowers for Mrs. H, cake for them both, and singing! It was definitely something memorable for Ben and Mrs. H!

Ben and Mrs. H at the mission house in Guatemala with their birthday cake!!! It was SO yummy with Oreos on top.

So, that wraps up a few more birthdays in the family! Still to come…Dad’s and Bianca’s  birthdays, and then we’re done for the year! J

Our Traditional Resurrection Celebration

~Posted by Rubia

This year was the 11^th year that our WHOLE family (all 7 of us) celebrated Easter together. That is, counting all the years since Josiah was born! J We were blessed to have a very traditional celebration, even in our current circumstances…hence the title of my post. J. Dad has visited us from OK every two weekends and planned to come the weekend of Easter. It was so fun to see such a full church on Sunday morning!

Prior to that, we experienced our first Good Friday service in a long time. What a wonderful time—especially since the quiet, solemn service was contrasted with a high-energy worship service on Sunday morning! I was reminded that we rejoice because the resurrection is what changes everything.

On Easter Sunday, we awoke extra early because we young adults and teens still hunt for colorful plastic eggs. J And the only thing we’re likely to be on the hunt for every year is whopper robin’s eggs! Mom and Dad have enjoyed hiding those yearly to help us celebrate--especially after many of us gave up sweets for the season of Lent.

We also like to wake up in time to have a non-rushed big breakfast together before going to church. This year we enjoyed cheesy bacon strata. We also had fruit, orange juice, and toast with orange marmalade. (The marmalade has become more popular since the movie “Paddington” came out, apparently.J)

Our Pastor preached an in-depth sermon from 1 Corinthians 15, and explained how the resurrection had to happen, and really did happen. There are some amazing evidences that back up the truth that Christ really did die, and that He really rose. His body was not stolen. One thing I remember Pastor G pointing out last year was that it has been recorded that women were the first to see Jesus after He rose. If the disciples had concocted a lie about the resurrection, they would have said that men saw Him first. This is because women were of little importance in that culture, and their testimony carried little credibility, so who would have believed them? Thus, this is one evidence that screams that the resurrection was not made up.

Creationist and speaker Ken Ham likes to say, “Christianity definitely requires faith, but it is not a blind faith.” He says this when talking about creation versus evolution, and then points out that the faith of the evolutionist (or atheist) is indeed blind. They ask how we believe what we do, but I ask, how do they believe what they do?

Totally switching gears again, we all appreciate having Dad come often and on Easter, we all enjoyed a day of rest. Living all the way down here in Texas, we are *physically* far from extended family, so there was not present the excitement and adrenaline of a big family gathering…..however, having simply our own immediate family present for board games, visiting, a movie, and late lunch was a great blessing! Daddy headed back to his “other home” after we had lunch, with the promise that we could come to visit him soon.

To explain the food pictures J...we had honey-roasted ham with pineapple, baked redskin potatoes, peas with mint jelly, dinner rolls, Jello beans with whipped cream, and “grasshopper” pie. (This pie has a layer of crushed thin mints, covered with minty green frozen cream, and drizzled with chocolate sauce on top. J)

In closing, I would like to share from 1 Corinthians 15:16-22 as well as verses 55-57, (NASB). These verses assure us that because of the resurrection, lives are changed, and people become completely different when they believe! May these verses be an encouragement to you!

“For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Birthdays!

~Posted by Roma

Well, hello again, blog readers! As Bianca mentioned in her post, things have been a bit crazy J. Our Texas home is back on the market (after we thought we had sold it) and just recently, we bought a new home in Oklahoma. We’re hoping to be packing boxes and moving very soon now! It’s a bittersweet feeling…continue to pray for us.

The first half of the year is filled with birthdays in our family, so I thought that I would give you a very brief sum-up of the first couple…my Mom and Josiah’s birthdays! It might be hard to keep this blog post short, but I’ll do the best I can!

Mom’s birthday was actually all the way back in January. I wanted to really surprise her and do something that she would always remember. So, I asked her parents (whom we affectionately call “Bio” and “Bia” ) to fly down to Texas for her birthday. They flew down, all the way from Ohio! (They are the best!) Bianca pretended to go to work but instead picked them up at the airport in Dallas, and an hour later they came walking into the kitchen. My Mom was so surprised she started sobbing. J Then my Dad came from Oklahoma later that weekend to join us for her celebration. We had turtle cake, went out to restaurants more than one night in a row; laughed, fellowshipped, Bio sang Psalm 121 to her in Spanish, our adopted brothers K and O came to see her as well… it was a wonderful week to celebrate our Mommy!

My Mom and her Mom playing a board game called: ‘Ticket to Ride’ back in January.

We kids did what we do every year and tiptoed down the stairs very early in the morning on her birthday, to make Mom breakfast in bed. This year it was crepes--one with a cream cheese filling and another with Nutella in it.

Mom opening presents with the whole family!

March rolled around, and…Josiah’s birthday! Believe it or not, Texas had an ice storm that day! Our plans changed, since we couldn’t leave the house, so instead, all seven of us went outside and had an awesome snowball fight! Afterward, we played board games, popped popcorn and made hot chocolate, watched movies, ate chocolate birthday cake, and Josiah opened gifts. It was a more simple celebration, and because of the bad weather, we postponed his birthday trip until April…

Out in the snow on Josiah’s b-day. It. Was. Cold.

And here he is—birthday boy opening presents.

April came around fast and Mom and Dad took us on a surprise birthday trip for Josiah! We all piled up in the minivan and ended up at…the Perot Science Museum in Dallas! There were four different floors to explore, with plenty of wonderful information on astronomy, biology, geology, the human body, life, hands-on things to do, and a 3D movie about the deep sea challenger!

Ben standing in the Perot Science Museum looking over Dallas during Josiah’s birthday trip.

After enjoying the Perot Museum, we went to Papasitos cantina for dinner. They came out and sang for Josiah and gave him ice cream and a sombrero. J

Josiah at the Mexican restaurant, being, well, himself. Happy Birthday, buddy!

So, we’ve been keeping ourselves busy celebrating more birthdays, doing fun things, and spending a few more precious weeks with our Texan friends before many good-byes will have to be said. But Lord willing, we will be moving soon and finally making that transition after waiting for so long…

All for now!