2016: A Year in Review

(A note from Roma: for many years, my sister Bianca was the one who ran our family blog. But she has moved on to the college and adult stage of life. So I have been asked to take over. Let’s see if I remember everything she taught me about how to launch a post! J)

2016 really was a great year. There were unplanned adventures for some of us, uneventful days for others, and plenty of going about the usual mundane routine around the house. Which is not a bad thing. Sometimes the day-to-day things seem small and insignificant, but God can use those times to teach you lessons, give you peace and rest, or whatever you need. The days are long but the years are so short! Which is why I hope and pray that we all “fix our eyes on the things that are unseen, because what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18.)

We siblings kicked off 2016 by ice skating with Bianca’s special man, Jessie. What a fun way to start off year! Winter was spent driving around doing photo shoots (our favorite thing to do around here); a surprise trip to Texas for us girls; hanging out with friends; hosting a really sweet missionary family from Ethiopia (another thing our family likes to do as often as possible—we love missionaries!) and celebrating our Mom’s birthday. And Josiah was playing a lot of basketball as well. (And still enjoys it today! A post about that will be coming up soon!)

Bianca and Jessie on a cold photo shoot I took them on. But worth it!

Going to Texas to reunite with friends was the best Christmas present from sissy ever. Thank you Bianca!

SPRING TIME came, which meant joining a large homeschool coop for the first time in a long time. This coop has come in handy for doing fun classes and educational classes (so that if we cover those subjects there, we don’t have to cover them at home!) We’ve made new friends, gone on fun field trips, and have done other fun activities such as bonfires and barn dances. It’s a very neat group with lots of God-fearing home school families. We celebrated Easter and Josiah’s birthday, and for spring break, my Mom’s parents came for a nice long visit. We watched the amazing film: RISEN. (Joseph Fiennes.) If you haven’t seen this film, it’s a must. Then came Ruby and my birthday, and what our recent blog post was about—the awesome road trip U.S.A to Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee, and…I’m pretty sure we hit other states too. That was a highlight this past year, seeing and meeting relatives and friends. Read about that here.

Barn dancing with homeschool kids and parents. We got lots more people to come out on the floor later—don’t let the picture fool you! J

This was Easter Sunday. What you don’t know is that I had to walk across the street, climb a big ladder, (first carry the big ladder up and down our super long curvy driveway) and cut this branch from a high tree to capture this photo. The things I go through to get the perfect picture that says SPRING. J

SUMMER TIME! Sports camp at our church; Bianca going to Colorado with her man and his entire family on vacation; and Ben doing ministry in Guatemala for a whole month! Life changing for him. Halfway through his internship, I Face-Timed him and showed him my passport. I was going to join him for one week! It was unexpected—I went with our old church in TX, replacing someone who couldn’t go, so I went for free. I was thrilled! Other summer activities included more photo shoots just for fun, and splashing in the sun at a water park. We experienced crazy weather and having to take shelter in a public building as soon as we had finished swimming; a 4-day power outage in the heat of July; and car problems multiple times, including when we were all dressed up for a photo shoot. But it was still a fun summer. We even got to visit the people who now live in our old house in TX and saw the house again!

Ben and I at the top of Cerro de la Cruz in Antigua, Guatemala, Sacatepequez. My most favorite part of 2016!

Josiah, Mom, and Rubia cooling off one warm July day. Perfect weather. Right before the weather drastically changed and we took shelter at the drug company Bianca works at because of tornado warnings, some serious strong wind and rain. J

FALL TIME brought us enough left-over vacation days to head to Ohio in September to spend time with the Puerto-Rican relatives. It included a day in Amish Country, a wonderful stage production, good food, a cute market and hiking. Still very hot weather at this point, and not very many fall colors yet, but that’s okay. In October, we had our Third Annual Cobbler party at our house and it was delightful! Perfect. Our favorite outreach that we do every year. It included over 80 guests, a tree swing, two piñatas, cobbler and ice cream and fellowship. I pray that the Lord uses these events for His glory! For Thanksgiving, we had all the relatives come and see us again just like last Thanksgiving! So fun to have all these people in the house, reflecting on the goodness of God and Jesus Christ.

Cobbler party fun—breaking into the piñatas!

“Bio” (Abuelo) and Rubia enjoying guitar together over Thanksgiving break when all the relatives flew down. Mikey is enjoying a snooze.

And now I will just skip over to Christmas vacation in Ohio with the relatives, amazing Puerto Rican food, (are you starting to see a pattern here?) chocolate, lights, music, laughter, my teenage cousin doing that weird dance he used to do as a toddler, and singing and candlelight service and telling the story of the birth of Christ…I didn’t want it to end, but it did and we just got back recently and have unpacked and are doing a lot of laundry!

Everyone in Abuelo and Abuela’s living room after presents had been opened.

So, that was 2016! I realize most of our blog readers have probably read a lot of these things in the beautiful Christmas letter my Mom composed and mailed to all y’all, so this post is mainly for people who don’t get our letter, and also to just sum up this past year.

To close, I will share with y’all my personal goal for 2017. I want to write down on blank sheet calendars for 365 days, 12 months, 52 weeks—what I am thankful for. I am learning how thankfulness can fight so many sins—anxiety, worry, jealousy, covetousness, selfishness, etc. It can also humble me, as I realize how much God provides, protects, and blesses in one single day. It helps me to not focus on what I don’t have, but on what I do have: this peaceful, 10-acre lot with cats and a dog, chickens and roosters, lots of wooded areas, gorgeous sunsets, my parents, four best friends, and friends coming to visit soon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, and I hope 2017 is filled with blessings, life changing moments, adventures, hope, peace, love, and joy, and a deeper relationship with God.

~Roma (and the rest of the clan)

Birthdays and Spring Break

~Posted by: Roma

I hope everyone reading this finds themselves well! Life has been very busy, exciting, and full, and our calendar is filling up fast. Here is some of what we’ve been up to…

Last time we posted was around the New Year. Later at the end of January, we celebrated our wonderful Mother’s birthday! (And I’m sure she would rather I not mention how old she is now—I mean [clearing throat]—how young she is now.) J We kids did the very special thing we’ve been doing for 9 years now—got up while it was still dark, decorated the whole house with strings and balloons, and made Mom breakfast in bed! She loved it, as she does every year. We went through the whole day playing her favorite jazz CD’s, and later that evening she opened her gifts. She wanted orange marmalade cake so we enjoyed that as well. (Delicious!)

Relaxing in the living room, digging into the orange marmalade cake.

Early in March, another special person needed to be celebrated: Josiah! He brings joy and life and energy to this family—being the youngest—and was definitely a happy gift to my parents from God! He asked for a day off of school just to relax, play basketball and watch movies or play games, and he wanted Hot Fudge Sundae cake this year! (Yummy choice.) For his birthday dinner, he requested grilled garlic-lime chicken, our Mom’s wonderful garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and rolls.

Later that week, all seven of us got into the car and went on a surprise birthday trip! We ended up at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium! It was really fun and educational. Afterward, we all enjoyed great food and service at Carrabbas Italian Grill. When we lived in Texas, we usually ended up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area on surprise birthday trips. Now that we live in a new state, there are so many new places to explore and look at for future birthday trips!

Hot Fudge Sundae cake for Josiah’s birthday.

Opening gifts. He loves his Star Wars glow-in-the-dark T-shirt!

All of us kids pose in front of the MD-80 donated by American Airlines, at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.

The celebrating continued…a few days later, we went to the airport to pick up my Mom’s parents—“Bio” and “Bia”—who flew in from Ohio to spend a week with us!!! I put together a big ‘Welcome!’ banner to hold up at the airport, and after they arrived, off to Panera bread we went, in the pouring rain. (We had a lot of rain during their visit, but nice warm temperatures and a couple of sunny days mixed in.) What a blessing to have them with us! They are amazing. When Abuelo and Abuela were here, everyone enjoyed a spring break from school, sleeping in, drinking Puerto Rican coffee, and spending time together as familia. Later that week, Bianca’s man, Jessie J came for a couple of days too.

Josiah with Bio and Bia. They brought gifts for him to open the first night. Then everyone wanted to exchange spring break gifts to each other. Bia gave all of us clothes, and we gave both Bio and Bia T-shirts with quotes on them: Bio’s T-shirt said something he always says: “The best is yet to come!” and Bia’s something she always says: “You make my heart sing.” They were tickled to get T-shirts with their famous quotes on them.” J

Spring break was a time for rest and relaxation, family time, and reflection.

Mom made so many healthy nutritious meals for us that week, since everyone has been trying to eat healthier. Some of us enjoyed lots of evening walks too.

Then one day, after church, we went unhealthy. J Jimmy’s Egg is good.

Most of the time we just stayed at home chilling. But one day we decided to go out to the movies and watch “Risen.” What a powerful movie. A must see! From left to right: Jessie, Bianca, Josiah, Bia (Abuela), Mom, Rubia, and Bio (Abuelo.) Ben and Dad both had to work that day, and I’m taking the picture.

Bio and Josiah play basketball.

Jessie and Bianca walking, while I’m on chaperone duty taking pictures. J)

Saying goodbye to all our guests we host in our home never gets easier. We are already looking forward to the day they can come back. We thank the Lord for the blessing of getting to be a blessing to others by opening our new Oklahoma home to them! We had a wonderful spring break!

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!

Easter Weekend

Our family had a very enjoyable Easter weekend! On Friday, we had one of our monthly movie nights with friends.

Spring flowers decorating our island.

The weather was great for eating outside!

After we watched our movie, we played a fun game of Capture the Flag. It was pretty tiring since our territory was all 5 acres of our property!

On Sunday, we went to church. I actually went early because I was playing on the worship team. The rest of them carried out the Easter egg hunt tradition at home. J We all served 1^st hour and then worshipped together 2^nd hour. Then we brought one of our adopted college students home to spend the afternoon with us. We had a light lunch and spent the afternoon napping and studying.

That evening, we prepared our Easter dinner. Just as we were about to sit down, we were surprised by our other college student! He arrived back home just in time for dinner. J

We had ham, rolls, minted peas, garlic mashed potatoes, and jello beans with homemade whipped cream. Then we had grasshopper pie for dessert. It was delicious!

Enjoying dinner as a family.

We are so grateful for the grace God has poured out into our lives. We don’t deserve anything He has given us, especially the price He paid for us on the cross. Praise God that Christ is Risen!

St. Patrick's Day

On St. Patrick’s Day, our family got to host Life Group at our house! We normally don’t do much to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but since we were having guests, Mom made a special menu plan for dinner.

Everything was green! From our clothes, to the decorations, to the food!

We had green punch, pistachio salad, salad with Green Goddess dressing, tortellini with basil pesto, kiwi, and crackers with mockamoli. For dessert, we had delicious mint brownies (not pictured.)

It was a fun way to celebrate! We also encourage you to look up the story of St. Patrick if you haven’t. What an incredible man of God!

Movie Night

Last Friday we had our monthly movie night with friends. It’s a little funny; our “movie” night ends up being one third movie and two thirds something else! J

This time we watched “Johnny English: Reborn” with our pizza. Afterwards, since the weather was good, we had a bonfire complete with marshmallows and guitars.

Enjoying the fire.

Our little movie group. J

We had lots of fun playing the guitar, talking, and playing games in the dark. It was a pretty late night (as usual ;-)) but so much fun. We love having our friends over!

Spontaneous Evening Photo Shoot

The weather was exceptionally good here in Texas on Monday and Tuesday. We had something going on Monday night, but I couldn’t resist the good weather on Tuesday. I wanted to do some night photography since the temperatures were warmer!

A couple of friends of ours don’t live far away, and one of them just got started in photography in December. Since they were on Spring Break, I texted them early that morning to see if they wanted to come over and shoot that evening. They said yes!

After dinner, the boys arrived. It wasn’t dark out yet, so we took some sunset shots.

The sky was really orange! This picture hasn’t been edited, but it does exaggerate the colors a bit.

Waiting for dark to fall is more fun with friends. J

As soon as the sun went down, the temperatures dropped and the wind kicked up. Unfortunately it was a little dangerous for steel wool because of all the wind. That’s why Ben is spinning in the above picture; to try to escape the sparks!

Me, spinning the steel wool with the wind on my back.

We switched over to light painting for awhile since that was safer. J

After about an hour, we couldn’t take the cold anymore. We called it a night and went inside to play cards for awhile. It was a fun way to spend an evening!

Friday Night Fun

Back on the 21^st, we had one of our monthly movie nights with some of our friends from youth group! Every month, our group seems to grow just a little bit. J This time, we were thankful that we finally had our TV and sound system in the living room fixed. No more squishing into our den! J

This month we watched “The Penny.” I think everyone enjoyed it.

Everybody after the movie.

I think the highlight of the evening was what came after the movie: night photography! My friend J is just getting into photography, and our friend C is much more experienced than we are. We wanted him to teach us how to do steel wool photography and light painting.

The steel wool was really fun! Admittedly, we set the grass on fire quite a few times. But who cares when you live in the country? ;-)

Some of the boys went crazy with the steel wool!

We had lots of fun light painting! We painted each other and also did words.

We stayed up quite late, but it was so much fun! I can’t think of too many better ways to spend a Friday night than enjoying a movie with friends, pizza, and photography!

One Last "Hurrah"

My Aunt’s last day in Texas was last Monday. We decided to have some fun, despite the unpredictable weather we’ve been having. My Aunt had never seen the movie “Frozen,” and some of us *cough, cough* wanted to see it again. J So we piled into the minivan that afternoon and headed over to the theater!

Getting ready to enjoy the movie!

Afterwards, we met up with Daddy at one of our favorite BBQ places for dinner!

This place doesn’t look like much, but the food is incredible! Some of the best pulled pork I’ve ever had!

One neat “décor” item in this restaurant is the signed dollar bills taped on the ceiling. Our family joined the ranks of dollar-bill-signers. J

Sadly, my Aunt had to leave on Tuesday. But we are so grateful she had the opportunity to come visit us! We hope we’ll get to see her again soon!

When Weather Changes Your Sunday

Last Sunday morning started quite early for me. I was up at 5:30 a.m. because I needed to be at church for worship team practice. We had learned the night before that there would be some bad weather, but things seemed fine for me to go ahead. Ben went with me, just in case I needed a man’s help. J

We made it to church just fine. But just as we were about to start rehearsal, my cell phone rang. It was Dad. The weather had turned worse at home, and he was afraid we wouldn’t make it back home if we stayed through service. So we hurriedly had to apologize to our worship Pastor, and then head straight home.

Although I was disappointed that I couldn’t play, the decision to come home was wise. The freezing rain and snow just got worse as the afternoon wore on.

Some of the ice accumulation on our birdfeeder.

Ice, ice, ice.

It’s snowing!

We stayed home with my Aunt Debbie and had fun playing “Settlers of Catan” in front of the fire instead!

We had our own little church service at home, studying a few passages in the book of Joshua and singing some songs with the piano and guitar.

Later that afternoon, our attention turned towards preparing food for the Super Bowl!

Our spread! This year it included barbeque chicken wings, pepperoni bread (recipe coming soon!), Texas caviar with chips, stuffed meatloaf balls, bacon cheese puffs, fruit, raw veggies, apples with caramel dip sweet tea, juice, milk, Coca Cola Cake, and chocolate chip cookies!

We had lots of fun watching the game together. Despite the fact that our plans got changed, we still had an enjoyable day!

To be continued . . .