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!

Christmas & New Year's

~ posted by Rubia

I would agree with my family that we had an especially sweet holiday season this year, mostly because we were all together, and were able to celebrate as we traditionally would! Last year, our immediate family was together for Christmas, but we had moving in mind, which made it a little hard…Dad was already moved, and we were unable to travel to see extended family. New Year’s was an adventure as well, with our family being in three separate locations that New Years Eve! We apparently didn’t have it in mind to take many pictures then—now however, we have pictures to share from this year!

Merry Christmas!!...From maybe some half-awake folks. J

“I’m awake now!!!” (Josiah gets Star Wars Legos.)

Josiah is a festive Texan that got into the Christmas spirit. J He did this next to his bed.

Zack and Zinnia like getting treats for Christmas too.

Early in December some of us kids did the Garden of Lights 5k race! We later drove back when it was darker to drive through the park. There were some beautiful lights!

Josiah’s Sunday school class sang Christmas carols at the church’s Christmas program.

Our family Christmas day was about a week earlier than the 25^th, as usual, because we would be traveling “Home to Ohio” for “the real Christmas”! J After early-morning gifts and hot drinks, we prepared our traditional French toast casserole for breakfast. That was accompanied by fruit and eggnog/or orange juice. Then we did our advent activity, where we lit the central white candle, representing Christ Jesus. We sang “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.” The best part of such a joyous morning of the year is the Reason for it!!

The rest of the day we did both relaxed and exercised! While enjoying gifts and treats, we curled up and watched a new movie we received that morning: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” It’s a funny and creative Ben Stiller movie, and I would recommend it for those who appreciate art/photography, and adventure. I enjoyed cuddling with my new panda pillow pet—probably my favorite gift! J Ben gave it to me. Later we took advantage of the beautiful day outside and went walking. That evening we ate Christmas dinner as a family, feasting on ham, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans almondine, green jello salad, herbed corn, crackers with artichoke dip, and Christmas cookies.

A couple of days later it was time to hit the road! We still manage in our little mini-van, even for long road trips. We also stayed safe, even through some serious flooding.

It’s so good to have coffee with Abuela!

We always eat so good at Abuela and Abuelo’s! And these boys are growing up! This year E will be 13, Josiah 12, and J, 8.

Look at this beautiful family! (And Josiah. J) L to R Cousin J, Josiah, cousin E, Uncle Joe, and Aunt Cindy.

Papo’s mouth wide open when he opens his new TV! Great Kodak moment! Mama and Papo’s old TV is 45 years old. It is a beautiful TV that they’ve had since my Mom was 7. It stopped working this past Christmas, but it will be kept at the house! It actually looks nice serving as a stand for the new TV.

The cousins! L to R in the back: Roma, E, Bianca, Ben. Front: J, Josiah, and Rubia. We’re so big we block the tree. (Notice to the right the new TV on top of the old one.)

On the way back home, the highway was a lake! We ended up taking a different route entirely due to lots of flooding problems.

Bianca and Jessie couldn’t see each other over Christmas, but afterward there were still several times they could visit before school started again. Jessie came up from Texas for New Year’s! Here they’re exchanging gifts. J

Pictionary on New Year’s Eve! We also enjoyed nice and hot chicken chowder with English muffin bread for dinner, chocolate cake for dessert, and watching “Beyond the Mask.”

The New Year’s day ice skaters included Josiah, Bianca, Jessie, Rubia, and Roma-who-took-the-picture.

I’ll end my post with this gorgeous picture Roma took on the kids’ photo shoot. A beautiful sunset wrapping up a great winter break for us. What awesome memories with family and friends we had over Christmas and New Year’s!

Why We Celebrate Christmas

~ Posted by Roma

“This is a very old picture of us kids in Michigan back when we were really small in 2006!” J

It has come to my attention, especially this past year, that there are a number of Christians who actually do not celebrate Christmas. Some Christians celebrate parts of Christmas, but may not do all the things other Americans love doing—such as a tree, Santa, presents, etc. Some Christians really emphasize Thanksgiving (which is good—Thanksgiving is wonderful!) because they know they will not be doing any celebrating in December. Other Christians love Christmas time (like our family J) and then there are some Christians that really don’t celebrate it at all and they have reasons why they don’t. In this blog post, I would like to take a look at the origins of Christmas and then try to explain why our family still celebrates it.

Before I begin…one thing I love about this free country we live in is that you have the freedom to not celebrate Christmas if you don’t want to. In writing this blog post, I am not trying to force anyone to celebrate Christmas. I simply want to share why we do. And I will be very open with you…we love Christmas time! We love Jesus. We love celebrating His birth. We go all out with Christmas tree (s) PLURAL in our home. We have so many ornaments full of memories. We exchange gifts, eat a lot, have a tiny little nativity scene in the corner of the living room, have advent activities and readings with candles at night, listen to Christmas music—Christmas is a favorite in this family.

Some Christians believe Christmas has pagan origins. And they are right. Here is what Hank Hanegraaff says in his book, The Complete Bible Answer Book:

“December 25^th was indeed a pagan festival commemorating the birthday of a false god. While this is historical fact, what is frequently overlooked is that the church’s choice of December 25^th was intentional. Instead of Christianizing a pagan festival, the church established a rival celebration. While the world has all but forgotten the Greco-Roman gods of antiquity, they are annually reminded that two thousand years ago Christ invaded time and space.”

So what Hanegraaff is saying is that Christians in the early Church decided to establish a rival holiday instead of celebrating the pagan one. They wanted to point people to Christ at Christmas. Most people know that we don’t really know exactly when Jesus was born. He probably wasn’t even born in December at all. But think about this: What if you adopted a child from…Haiti. He or she has no birth certificate. You know around the time he might have been born but you don’t know exactly when. Do you decide to pick a day to celebrate his birthday, or do you just decide to never recognize his birth and celebrate your biological children’s birthdays only? No! You would pick a day to celebrate that child’s birth because you love that child that you’ve brought home from Haiti! How much more, then, should Jesus Christ the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Master of the universe, be celebrated! I believe He deserves to be celebrated. He didn’t have to leave earth at all to save us wretched sinners. But God decided to not even withhold His one and only Son from us.

Some Christians argue that He should be celebrated every day. I absolutely agree. But even though your parents celebrate every day that you are their child, they still set aside an even more special day to remember that you have been with them another year. Angels in heaven celebrate Jesus every minute of every day. But at Christmas time, they took the time to come down to earth, mingle with people, and sing “Glory to God in the Highest!!!” To the angels, it was a VERY special occasion. As Christians, our Lord and Savior is celebrated by us every day. But we also put aside an even more special day to remember His birth—His first coming--and to remind us to love, and remind us to give.

What about Christmas trees? I mean—aren’t those really pagan? Here is the passage from the Bible that Christians sometimes point to: Jeremiah 10:2-4. At first glance, this scripture does seem to be condemning Christmas trees. Let’s take a look at it:

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them. For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree from the woods in the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.’

Hmm. Interesting. Do we use hammers and nails in a Christmas tree? No. Do we shape our Christmas trees with chisels? Usually not. Jeremiah was not talking about Christmas trees. He was talking about wooden idols, that people in his day would fasten with hammer and nails and shape with chisels, and bow down to and worship. In fact, Hank Hanegraaff says something very interesting in his book, regarding Christmas trees:

“Christmas trees originated in Christian Germany two thousand years after Jeremiah’s condemnation of manmade idols. They evolved over time from two Christian traditions. One was a ‘paradise tree’ hung with apples as a reminder of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. The other was a triangular shelf holding Christmas figurines decorated by a star.”

In our house, we love to put up Christmas trees; first, because it reminded Christians long ago--and reminds us--of the tree of life that one day we will eat from in Heaven; and second, because Jesus would later die on a tree to save us from our sins. As for our ornaments, we put those up simply because they are all so special to us in different ways. One ornament has a buck and a doe, inscribed with the year my Mom and Dad got married, and it says: “Our first Christmas together.” J Another ornament in our house has a picture of us kids with one of our adopted college student brothers, O. Other ornaments on our tree are ones that we made, ones that family and friends gave us, etc.

Then there is Santa Claus. What do we do with him? Actually, he is far from being a dangerous fairy tale. “Santa Claus” is an Anglicized form of the Dutch name “Sinter Klaas” which in turn is a reference to Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas can be celebrated as a genuine hero of the faith, just like Luther, or Calvin, or Spurgeon, or any of those other great men of God. He was an historic 4^th –century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor, who had a reputation for secret gift-giving. He lavished gifts on needy children, and valiantly supported the doctrine of the Trinity at the Council of Nicea in AD 325.

Of course, our world has taken that story and completed secularized it and changed it up. I will be honest with you…my parents allowed us kids to believe in Santa Claus when we were really little, and we loved it. We loved the idea that he was watching us in a snow ball, seeing if we were good or naughty. ;) We loved the idea that he was the one that left the gifts, came down the chimney, ate our milk and cookies, and left us a note. (Back in the day when we didn’t know what our Dad’s handwriting looked like). But when we all reached an appropriate age, my Mom would pull us aside and talk to us about the real Saint Nicholas. To this day, even though we all know the truth, my parents still label half of the gifts “from Santa” just for the fun of it. Whether or not you allow your kids to believe in Santa for awhile is up to you, but we loved it as little kids. Just like we loved the tooth fairy. J

In the end, I believe that this is all a heart issue. I believe that if your heart is in the right place, and you do not worship the Christmas trees nor Santa nor anything else on earth, and you know the reason for the season—CHRISTmas, than I think it is okay to put up a tree and give gifts and hang lights and remember the life of Saint Nicholas, and remember what JESUS has done to save you.

For us, Christmas is about how much God loved the world, that He sent his one and only Son. Christmas is about love; about giving; because God gave the best gift ever by giving us His Son, to be born and live and grow, and one day shed his blood on the cross for our sins, so that now we have a way to be with God in heaven when we die. Ask Jesus to forgive you for your sins and trust Him with your life, if you have not done so yet.

“Christmas 2011 at Abuela and Abuelo’s house in Ohio.”

In conclusion, we celebrate Christmas because it is first and foremost about Christ, after whom it is named. We put up a tree, because Christ would later die on a tree. We give gifts because God gave the greatest gift to us. by giving His one and only Son. We put up lights because we as Christians are the light of the world; a city on a hill. Jesus is the light of the world and He lives in us. Our red bows remind us how Christ came to this earth to shed His blood for us on the cross. We put up round wreaths because God is eternal, He has no end. He has always been there. He made us. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The evergreen is also a symbol of everlasting (eternal) life! We eat—and share--candy canes, which are shaped like shepherd staffs and remind us that shepherds were one of the first ones to hear about Jesus! These candies are red and white because the blood of Jesus Christ can wash you clean of sin and make you white as snow. We sing Christmas carols that celebrate and honor Jesus Christ. Everything points to Christ at Christmas and we can take this holiday and USE it as a great witnessing opportunity. I love Christmas! HE is the reason for the season! MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone!

Thanksgiving

~Posted by Josiah

This past Thanksgiving, we had family come visit us in Oklahoma. My Bia and Bio, and my Uncle and Aunt and cousins all flew in from Ohio on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and they stayed until Saturday! We had plenty of time to spend with them. So us kids and our cousins got to play all kinds of games together, build a fort in the woods, practice for a Christmas play, and my 12-year-old cousin E and I ran from my 7-year-old cousin J when he and my Dad drove the giant John Deere tractor right in our direction!

Out of the way, everybody!

On Thanksgiving Day, we had a huge meal! We also did our tradition of writing some things we’re thankful for on little colored paper leaves, and then hanging them up on a big paper tree my sister Roma made.

We five siblings also sang some Thanksgiving Bible verses set to music, and then cousin E gave a speech about the theological error of eating fried chicken! (You kind of had to be there!) J

Our table set for many J

Lots to be thankful for!

Thankful tree filling up with leaves

On Friday, our friends the B’s drove up from Texas to spend the day with us. Their two boys, the two cousins, and we five kids all played one BIG game of hide-and-go-seek. The grown-ups visited, drank hot chocolate, played board games, and put together a big puzzle.

Saturday morning we ate donuts and watched some of the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. At lunchtime, we drove our relatives back to the airport to catch their flight home. It was hard to see them go, but we’re not sad because we’re going to see them again at Christmas! We can hardly wait!

Our airport goodbyes…for now!

"Business By the Book" Book Review

~Posted by Ben

As assigned reading for school, I have been reading “Business by the Book” by the late Christian economist, Larry Burkett. Since Business is one of my main career interests (politics being the other) I was really looking forward to reading this book! It was published in 1990, right on the heels of a time in business known as “the greedy eighties.” This term used in business circles describes a time of economic prosperity following Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts on the wealthy in the early 80’s. These tax cuts caused a resurgence in small business investment that sparked an unprecedented interest in entrepreneurism and “climbing the corporate ladder.” This effect was the backbone of the “Reagan recovery” from stagflation.

Such changes had both positive and negative consequences on American culture, especially the culture of American Business. Although the 80’s were a time of great economic growth, blue collar cities like Detroit and Flint experienced a grave economic downturn due to disinvestment and deindustrialization. Sadly, many businesses came to the harmful conclusion, “profits over people.”

It was at the pinnacle of this time period that Burkett wrote “Business by the Book.” In it, he presents the “radical” idea that it is entirely possible to conduct Business in such a way that is profitable, productive, and Biblical. He cites the reconstruction of Japan after World War II as his prime example. When General Douglas was appointed by President Truman as the military governor of Japan, he instituted laws for business largely based off Biblical truths. This, combined with the Japanese inherit respect for authority, as well as their strong unity and national pride, propelled them beyond their teacher to become one of the largest economies in the modern world. Burkett also gives a variety of positive examples of Christian businesses in the US that have based their business plan off of the scriptures and have experienced great profit for it.

In this book, Burkett deals with a lot of required decisions in modern business, including decisions on hiring, firing, borrowing, lending, management selection, employee pay, discounting, and many others. He also, using scripture, provides answers to many questions common among Christian businesses; questions such as, “Should I hire women to be in management over men?” “Should Christian businesses hire non-Christians?” “Is it acceptable for Christian businesses to borrow money?” “Can Christians sue people and/or other businesses for money?” “What do I do about an insubordinate employee?” When addressing all these questions, Burkett constantly goes back to scripture when giving his final answer on the subject.

I would highly encourage anyone interested in business and entrepreneurship to read this incredible book! My dad and I are now doing it as a weekly study, as many of its principles apply to everyday situations we both experience at work. I’m so grateful for Larry Burkett and all the wisdom he was able to share over the course of his life!

Youth Group

~ posted by Rubia

Roma and I were first involved in a church youth group as 8^th graders, back at Legacy Bible Church in Texas. Under the leadership of 2 youth Pastors, plus other assistants, we were fed with sound teaching, fellowship, good friends, and fun activities through 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th grade.

It was especially a blessing to us to count on that one day a week as an evening to mingle with other students our age. Unlike Roma, I consider myself more introverted. So at first, I was very quiet and a little drawn back, since it was all pretty new. Yet that does not change how much I enjoyed my experiences. Roma eventually “came out of her shell” and got very comfortable chatting with friends and being herself. I am also quite comfortable with who I am….as the quieter one. J Maybe slower to make friends...yet able to cherish truly sweet relationships and memories in and with our Texan youth group. (Which could be a whole other blog post!) We do miss them!

Since moving to Oklahoma and getting involved at Grace Baptist, Roma and I have attended their youth group that meets both Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. We are excited to continue getting involved! Most of the kids have expressed undeserved interest in us, and extended warm friendship so quickly. I feel thankful and blessed.

Our youth group adventures have included taking an evangelism course on Wednesday nights, studying creation and evidence for God on Sunday mornings, watching “War Room” the movie, having a cookout on the river (canoeing and kayaking involved), a girls pajama party, and a road trip to Lincoln, Arkansas to go rock climbing. J Roma and I have had so much fun, and unfortunately may not even be able to keep up with everything this group does!

Grace Baptist Church

A nice time was spent with church friends on the Illinois River!

Mikaya and Noel get covered in sticky notes at the girls’ pajama party for being the “little girls.” :p

A beautiful spot on Lake Lincoln. The fall colors were great!

This is Kaitlyn and me J

The dangers of bouldering (featuring Kaitlyn, Kara, and the brave Maddie. J)

I was pretty scared! Roma and I each made it to the top with a little boost from our belayer. J We climbed about 50 feet.

The Past 10 Weeks of Being Okies

~posted by Roma

We have lived in northeast Oklahoma for almost 10 weeks now. I don’t know about the rest of my family, but I know I have days when I still miss Texas so badly. I’m having a lot of fun here in OK, making friends and making great memories already. But sometimes I have days where it would be amazing to wake up in my old bedroom, and look out the window to see an incredible Texas sunrise peeking up from behind the pecan trees. To go to our old church on Sunday, and hug people because you know them. To see familiar faces and sights. But we serve a great God who has provided for all our needs. Our Dad, Bianca, and Ben all have jobs now and all three of them work for Christians. Ruby and I are learning really well how to drive cars. Josiah has a basketball game coming up soon. And on and on.

This is a blog post that will go over all the fun highlights we’ve had here the past 10 weeks and what we’ve done. Enjoy!

So, I should start with some pictures of the moving process…

This van looked really familiar to us. It may look familiar to you too. The van that had just moved us 32 months prior (from MI to TX) was now moving us again! The funny part is they could never bring it up our narrow driveway so they always needed a shuttle. These guys worked hard! 

Great place to play hide and go seek!

Lots of neighbors and people from church came over to say goodbye, bring us Starbucks, give us gift baskets, or take away our basketball hoop. J (We didn’t need it.) I took some last TX sunset pictures that were gorgeous, and wrote about this whole journey in my journal.

The next morning we had cereal but no milk, so I ate cereal with vanilla ice cream. J The boys took one car full of stuff, Ruby and Bianca took one car full of stuff and the two dogs in the back, and Mom and I took one car full of stuff and the tranquilized, terrified cats. I took a video with my camera of us driving away. Ben was in New Mexico hiking 100+ miles with the Boy Scouts at Philmont, so he missed the whole moving process!

And then in just 3.5 or so hours, we were there!

The house is beautiful. It has a lodge/cabin/dark lodge-y kind of feel, with 10 acres, a pond, and woods with a small trail going through them. (The dogs were--and still are-- having the time of their lives!) The front porch is really wide and has been a great place for morning devotions. The driveway is super steep and crazy to bike or roller race down. We live on a big hill, so going down the hill is amazing and going up is a physical challenge.

One thing we’ve had to adjust to is all of us kids having our bedrooms on the first floor. (Except Bianca, who is on the loft on the second floor.) But now the boys and Ruby and I share a Jack & Jill bath attached to our rooms which has been nice! There are pros and cons about every house, but overall, we really like it here! We have pretty much unpacked every box now and cleaned up, so come visit us! J

Alright, some fun things we’ve done here the past 10 weeks…

…Found a Christian soda fountain and a job for Bianca on the same day….

…Visited with missionary friends that we’ve known for a whole decade now…

Bianca got a visit from her man J and we celebrated his birthday. We went tubing down the Illinois River one day, had a picnic by the river, went out to dinner, and explored the town. I’m thinking it’s about time to go on another photo shoot in this cute town soon!

Josiah’s got this. He doesn’t need help. J

We’ve been trying different restaurants, going for evening walks, visiting coffee shops, and more. There are a lot of festivals that go on here, with lots of activities. So after we ate we enjoyed the different tents set up outside—one tent had knives, so the boys were drawn to that tent right away. J

Just beyond the tents, two guys were playing  with fire—literally!

We look forward to the other festivals that our different towns here in Okie will have in the future!

Lots of families from our new church have so graciously invited us to their homes, or to different restaurants with them to eat lunch together after church! That has really helped us get to know the families better and we’ve enjoyed the fellowship so much! This home above is the R family’s home. Mr. R is a deacon at our church and while Mom and Dad were enjoying talking to them, Ruby and I talked with their grown-up son S and his wife M for probably an hour, about different hobbies, Lord of the Rings, and more!

Then there was that one time we went with our youth group to watch the movie “War Room.” If you have not seen this film yet, it is a MUST SEE.

Ruby and I went camping in our front yard one night; then a couple days later we started school, which hasn’t been bad so far. I enjoy doing and learning new things and so far it’s not crazy or hectic--it’s pretty relaxing. We also went back to the Illinois River a few weeks ago for a church picnic! We used our Youth Pastor’s canoes and kayaks, went swimming, and had hot dogs, homemade chips, and oatmeal cream pies. Bianca and Ben were at a college conference in TX, but the rest of us enjoyed that picnic! Recently, Ruby and I went to a girl’s pajama party with our youth group girls and we had fun doing that too!

So hopefully that kind of sums up EVERYTHING. Any questions? Just kidding. J