Bianca is Married!

~Posted by Roma

Left to Right: Josiah, Ben, Betsy, Bianca, Jessie, Mark, Rubia, Roma.

So many exciting things happened for our family in 2017—college graduation, high school graduations, big birthdays, great basketball seasons—and one of the greatest events was my sister Bianca’s marriage to Jessie, her beau of three years! It was the greatest blessing to watch this couples’ relationship mature and blossom, and now to watch them become one—wonderful! Praise God!

The marriage of my sister is a good enough excuse for a blogpost to be longer than normal, and she’s also not here to limit me on how many pictures I use--ha! So make yourself comfortable! 😊

Bianca was the most laid-back bride I have ever known. She was determined to be, and to prove that the whole “bridezilla” thing does not have to be a thing at all. In the short five months of her engagement, she was always on top of things, and I know that the wedding coordinator and others loved that about her. It was challenging to plan a wedding in TX when we live in OK, but she has always been a hard worker, and not worried. She did much of the planning herself, up in her room with laptop and phone, but then the times came when we could do fun things together—like shopping for a wedding dress!

We girls and Mom went with Bianca to two places, in two different states. At place number two she found the dress she wanted. Many wedding tasks including this one went so smoothly and I am very grateful to say that I really could do it all over again. Through prayer and others praying for us, it was a smooth enjoyable process, the way it should be.

When the final few days before the wedding came, well, that’s when the fun started happening! 😊 Relatives flying in. A bridesmaid coming over to our house to travel with us down to TX, where the ceremony was to be. Luggage and people and suits and jackets and dresses and shoes everywhere; caravanning in three cars. I personally think this is the fun part! Arriving to the hotel where many rooms where blocked off in advance, and reuniting with so many distant relatives and friends! There were guests from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, and Arkansas. All our different circles of friends, all meeting one another. What a beautiful thing!

The day before the wedding, everyone came together with their different talents to decorate and get things ready. We made it fun! We had friends who knew how to do the flowers; others who got creative with burlap and pearls and wood and details. A relative of Jessie’s made an incredible wedding cake and grooms cake. Another friend was the pianist; still others ran the music and technical booth, and the photographers were friends who already attended that church. Everyone came together and everything was beautiful!

Trail mix for guest favors.

Ready for cake!

The wedding cake, with a wooden topper made by Jessie. That is Bianca and Jessie’s silhouette.

Nacho Libre fans will appreciate the Grooms Cake! 😊

A truly Texan reception plan!

While all this preparation was going on, Jessie (the groom) and his groomsmen, and the dads and brothers, as well as uncles and cousins all went to a gun range to shoot. 😊 We kick the boys out while the women decorate! 😉

Jessie’s parents did an amazing job planning a beautiful rehearsal dinner that night with barbeque catered in, live music, and Jessie’s Dad and our Dad speaking. (And getting a little choked up.)

The tables were all nicely decorated with pictures of Bianca and Jessie when they were little!

Then the bride and groom got up and spoke. After all that, everyone said goodbye to each other (until tomorrow!) and went back to the hotel.

We “tried” to get to bed early, but actually while Bianca slept, we did some last-minute things that included borrowing or lending nail polish for everyone who waited to do nails, stuffing 72+ balloons in an elevator for a planned prank, trying to squeeze them into a car but then putting them in someone’s room instead, and other fun things.

The next morning was a whirlwind of fun and memorable moments…Bianca leaving first to have the pastor’s wife do her hair and makeup, and the rest of us moving slower. We go down to the lobby…and we know everyone there. When Mom and Ruby and I were ready we try to walk out the doors but the paparazzi of Grandparents and Uncles and Aunts and Cousins and best friends and their parents all had to pull out their phones and cameras. Haha!! We make it to the church and head straight for the bridal party room; the girls chilling and getting ready and hanging out before the photographers arrive; the boys getting ready downstairs. Trying to sneak Bianca downstairs for pictures without Jessie seeing her.

Getting Ready

The beautiful bride, with maids of honor Roma and Rubia, and her three bridesmaids J, A, and H.

Bianca and the Mother of the Bride!

Mother of the Groom helping him get ready.

The Groom with his 5 groomsmen: Josiah, Ben, J, A, and J, our 7 ushers, and the ring bearer in the center.

Bianca and Jessie wrote letters to each other that each was to read the morning of their wedding day. I didn’t even know this would be happening and it was precious!

I must spend a moment on Bianca’s First Look she did with our Dad, because this was so special! She wanted Dad to turn around on the balcony at our church and look at her in her dress for the first time. When he did…he cried. That’s NOT something my Dad does very often. Bianca teared up too, and he had a handkerchief all ready for her. Every time I see the pictures of this moment that Gingersnap studios captured, it gets to me every time.

Skipping ahead now, to the moment when we line up behind the sanctuary doors and are quiet. Hearts are thumping, Bianca is hiding with Dad behind the fireplace, and we are ready. The doors open…

A walk to remember always.

Jessie and Bianca had a very Christ-centered ceremony. It was beautiful! They had the traditional vows—but made sure the Pastor spoke on why we need vows—the vows exist because sin is real. Pastor N did an amazing job of focusing this entire ceremony on Jesus—how this marriage would be a picture of how much Jesus loves His bride, the church. During the ceremony, Bianca and Jessie took their first communion together as husband and wife, and spent time praying over each other and the congregation, and we spent a few minutes praying over them and asking everyone to pray for their marriage.

 Jessie and Bianca did something unique: they wanted to braid three cords together as a picture of Ecclesiastes 4:12: A cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Their first kiss that they shared together was beautiful as well! They saved it for their wedding day. To be honest, in my mind I was wondering if my sister was ever stressing out about this at all, but now, I really cannot think of any time that she was worried about this or any other details, and I so admire her for it. Here’s what I think is the key—this marriage was so focused on JESUS. And may it always be! We see in secular weddings that the kiss is oftentimes the main event. But it is not. Christ was the main event of this ceremony, and proclaiming His glory. Nevertheless, when Bianca and Jessie kissed for the first time, it was such a special moment! Everyone applauded!

And oh my, did we party afterwards! Bianca created an awesome Spotify playlist with quite a variety of music. We had a Father of the Bride and Bride dance, a Mother of the Groom and Groom dance, and Father-daughter dance for everyone. Then we opened the floor to everyone, and that got crazy fun!

Featuring: Bridesmaid, A, is ready to party! 😉 Along with Jessie and Bianca, J, Rubia and I.

One of the flower girls having so much fun!

Abuelo and Mom.

Abuela and Josiah.

While all this festiveness was going on, I grabbed some people from the wedding party and we ran out to Jessie’s mustang to…decorate it! A lot of people came out to help/watch when they noticed what we were doing. I had prepared some tin cans and we tied them to the trunk. (Note: It was raining really hard later when the Bride and Groom drove away, and we found out that the lovebirds got soaked trying to remove these cans. Hehe.) We wrote on the windows, stuffed the car with tons of balloons, and then Mom had a basket full of road trip goodies to put in the back, for them to take along on their honeymoon road trip to Colorado.

Friends and wedding party going out to ruin *clear throat* --I mean—make the car nice.

Back inside, when the dancing died down, and everyone had finished eating and fellowshipping and taking pictures, we were ready to grab the rose petals and send the Bride and Groom off. This was beautiful, and also hard. ☹

They drove off, in the rain, on to their honeymoon. I missed them already!

Several families stayed late to help us clean up. Afterward, we went back to the hotel and celebrated some more with our out-of-town friends and relatives.

We are all adjusting to (and enjoying) this new season of life. We’ve been so blessed to (thus far) to have seen them several times since then. We have been to TX and they have been here to OK to visit us.

What an amazing wedding! The Lord is good! So good!

Some Exciting News . . .

Hello everyone! The blog has been quiet lately, but our family has been busy as ever! Pop on over to Bianca's blog for some exciting news! 

Long Overdue Update

Yes, we are still alive! I can’t believe it has been so many months since we updated. That definitely falls on me as the main moderator of this blog. So I owe all of you an apology! Rather than make excuses about why I haven’t updated, I will give you an update on each of us. Then perhaps you’ll understand why we haven’t had many opportunities to post these days.;-) (I’ll give you a hint: we’re living a day-to-day adventure basically, and we never quite know what the next day will bring.)

Mark—Back in November, Dad started working his new job in Oklahoma. We have had a lot of drama involved with attempting to sell our house here in Texas. That drama has involved switching agencies, the District Attorney’s office, and other legal wrangles. Dad has been enjoying his new job, but wishes we could all live together. He had a surgery done on his torn meniscus in February, and unfortunately looks like he will need to have it done again. He is working on cleaning up our new home in the central/eastern part of Oklahoma so that we can hopefully all move in at the end of July.

Betsy—Mom has been a trooper the past seven months! She has continued to work to homeschool the four younger kids. It has taken a lot of patience on her part to deal with the frequent interruptions to show our home and still maintain a sense of order around here. It also takes a lot to keep up with 5 kids single-handedly!

Bianca—I have had a very challenging school year. I struggled to keep up with my classes last fall while I battled a 6-week illness (sinusitis followed by the flu and lots of misdiagnosis and issues with medicines along the way.) I worked as the assistant to our new student/college pastor from November until May. That was a stretching but very beneficial working experience. I was able to catch up on school, and now am only 3 credits away from being a junior. I spent 10 days in Ecuador in May, and 8 days in Guatemala with my family in June, doing missions work. In July, I will start working part-time at a local soda fountain. My dog Tex—a blue mountain cur that I acquired back in December--has kept me very busy with the various scrapes he gets into. Generally, he finds a skunk once a month.

I’ve had another big event this past year. ;-D You can read all about my courtship over here!

Ben—Ben worked very hard this fall and spring to wrap up his Eagle Scout project (landscaping several areas at our church.) Thankfully he completed the project before Texas turned into a swamp! Many people came to celebrate his Eagle Scout Court of Honor with us despite the monsoon-type rains we had that day. He is still finishing up his high school math and chemistry, and should graduate at the end of this year. He has been very busy keeping up house maintenance.

Rubia—Ruby has continued to be diligent with her school work this year! She has been a great help with taking care of our growing menagerie of pets (plus a few neighbor dogs that need a little TLC.) She is faithful to run with Roma and work out three times a week. She also keeps our refrigerator free of spoiled food so that those of us with poorer senses of smell don’t accidentally eat something bad. ;-P Rubia was ecstatic to go on a mission trip to Guatemala for the first time this year.

Roma—Roma continues to keep us all focused on the bright side of life. She has been very helpful and positive over the past several months. Like Ruby, she has been diligent in her school work, but also finds time to make treats in the kitchen for the rest of us to enjoy. She has been the most interested in continuing to blog, and you may see her start to take over some things here in the future as my life continues to get busier. ;-) Roma loved going back to Guatemala this year! She also went on a missions road trip through several large cities in Texas over Spring Break, along with Rubia, Ben, and me.

Josiah—Josiah has been busy this school year! He gets the majority of Mom’s homeschooling time since the older kids are mostly independent. He has also been hard at work in Tae Kwon Do. He may be able to test for his first brown belt before the summer is over! He has absolutely flown through the belt levels and receives lots of praise from his instructor. He had a blast on his first missions trip (our trip to Guatemala in June.) This week, he is enjoying sports camp at our church!

So there’s a small update on the family! Hopefully we’ll be able to post a bit more frequently here over the summer. Thank y’all for sticking with us during this busy season of our lives!

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

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!

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!

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

Busy Times

Hello readers! I am so sorry for the lack of posts around here this past week. We have been busy with graduations, birthdays, a garage sale, babysitting, and more. Hopefully later this week we'll get some posts up. Thanks for your patience! :-)

Sunset Photo Shoot

Tonight I had the opportunity to go out on a sunset photo shoot! I just love the “golden hour.”

Heads of grain in a nearby field.

It’s not “knee-high-by-the-4^th-of-July” here in Texas. No, this corn is almost 6 feet tall and it’s only June 4^th! J

Greenery.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I love Texas.

A beautiful, wild Texas rose.