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!

Virginia 2016

~Posted by: Roma

We recently got back from a really awesome vacation! It was a much needed one. J I am so thankful we were able to finally return to Virginia after six years. If you have been reading our blog for a really long time, you may remember that we all went to VA in the spring of 2010. We spent one whole week visiting family (many were relatives we kids had never met before) and exploring Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown, and then another week in Washington D.C seeing all the sights. Since then, we often talked about going back to Virginia, but hadn’t been able to for various reasons. Well, six years later, we were finally able to pack our bags and take a road trip! Praise God!

This time we did not go to D.C at all, nor Williamsburg or Jamestown. This time, the main goal was to see our dear Aunt Gladys, who is now 91 years old, and there were also lots of other relatives and friends we wanted to make sure we would see! Most of this trip was time spent in the car driving—from OK to MO, from MO to TN, from TN to VA, driving from town to town in VA (because the relatives are spread out) and then driving from VA to TN, then TN to HOME! (Yes—a lot of driving. In a minivan with exactly seven seats and a trailer hitched to the back. But we made it! t’s a good thing we love each other because we needed to be squished together for days--ha!

Our first stop was…Branson Missouri! For awhile now, we have been wanting to go to the Sight and Sound Theater in Branson to see the production of “Moses.” Sight and Sound is incredible—they have a theater in Branson and in Lancaster PA, with Christian actors and actresses who do a fantastic job bringing the Bible to life! Our good friends, the S family from Texas, wanted to see Moses as well, and so we road-tripped up there with them to see the production, and hang out together afterwards. We had so much fun with the S family, we are determined to make this a tradition! J After the show, we all went out for BBQ together, and then since we were all staying in the same hotel, we hung out in the lobby late into the night playing a card game. So much fun!

The next day, the S family headed back to TX and we hit the road again and headed to TN for one night, and then on to Virginia.

The first stop in VA was Danville. We went to my Dad’s cousin Bill’s house to have dinner with him, his wife Becky, their daughter Monica, Monica’s three girls Kayla, Bethany, and Hannah, and Kayla’s daughter Logan. Lots of family! J We hadn’t seen Cousin Bill since our Grandma Ruby’s funeral and so it was a happy reunion to see him again. As for everyone else, it had been six years and so everyone has grown so much!

We had a yummy cookout that night and caught up on all the news. Next morning, we all went to Cousin Bill and Becky’s church and then out to lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant.

After saying our goodbyes to Cousin Bill, we headed over to see Aunt Gladys. When we got to her house, however, we saw a note taped on the door. “I’ve been waiting to see you all since noon. It is now 4. I am at ______ restaurant if you want to meet me there.” Apparently, there had been a miscommunication, and while we were still hanging out with Cousin Bill, poor Aunt Gladys was all ready and waiting for us! (Southern people are very patient.) So Dad found the restaurant on his GPS and we were off to chase down Aunt Gladys, LOL! We found her and her daughter Patsy and our Cousin Cynthia all at the restaurant. So we sat down and ate, and afterward we all went back to the house to visit.

This is a blurry picture, but it is precious. Aunt Gladys is one special lady! All of her siblings, including our Grandma, have all passed on, and she is the only one left in that generation. She is strong-spirited, candid, southern, and full of spunk. And we love her! She still drives her own car, lives alone, walks around with no cane or walker or anything, and when I started to feel nauseous that evening and was sipping water, she came marching into the room and declared, “She shouldn’t be drinking water! Diet Pepsi will help!” So she gave me some and sure enough I felt much better! How did she know Pepsi would help? J I miss chatting with her and Patsy and Cynthia about politics, religion, family, and memories already.

On Monday—Memorial Day—it was time to go see cousin Em! We checked out of our hotel in Danville and started driving towards Richmond. Last time we came to VA to see Em, his wife Lois was still with us. Cousin Lois passed away a few years ago, but Cousin Em recently remarried, to a wonderful woman named Irma, and he moved out of his home into Irma’s condo. So we were reunited with Em and met Irma for the first time. We love her! She is a very pleasant lady with a neat background so we enjoyed talking with her. After dinner at Cracker Barrel, we took a tour of their beautiful home and landscape outside, and spent some time just visiting. Then goodbyes were said.

Ruby trying to get near the baby goose at Cracker Barrel. I don’t think mama goose appreciated that as much so she and Ruby are making eye-contact right now. J There were also lots of ducks there that cousin Em and we kids enjoyed watching while relaxing on the rocking chairs!

And that wraps up Dad’s side of the family. Now it was time to go to bed and get ready to meet our friends the W family the next day!

Enjoying time with the W family in the living room—here Bianca and Rubia are with Alexis, Kimber, Cassilyn, and Lydia. They were the sweetest girls!

Dad and Bianca met Mr. W and Alexis at a Father-Daughter Retreat in Georgia many years ago, and we kept up with their family through social media for many years, but it was so wonderful to finally meet them all in person! They homeschool like us and we are similar in many ways. My parents really enjoyed talking with Mr. and Mrs. W, Caleb got to hang out with Ben, and Josiah loved playing with their son Josiah!!! J They showed us their rabbits, cats, dog, chickens, and cows—we took a walk together to a horse farm and back, and enjoyed lots of fellowship. I hope we see their family again!

We have gained lots of new friends. J

And last but not least, the next day we drove to Quantico to see some of Mom’s side of the family. After 6 years, 5 months, and 5 days (YES—I figured out exactly how long it had been) we got to see Mom’s Marine cousin Matt and his family again! We love our cousin Matt and we were very excited. We went to their house and saw Matt, his wife Courtney, and their kids—sweet little Cross and precious baby Charlie. Cousin Mark (Matt’s brother) was also there with a friend, and our Titi Wanda, Matt and Mark’s Mom, lives there as well.

Besides Matt and Courtney’s house, we also toured Titi Wanda’s apartment next door, saw the chickens and horses, and then all went out to eat at Golden Corral. Afterward we came back to the house to visit for a while.

Our time with all our relatives was definitely too short. L But I am still so thankful we got to see so many of them. (Despite the fact that Josiah and I sat in Urgicare during this vacation due to bad coughs and congestion, and I struggled with motion sickness on Day One of the trip. But God is still good! We made it through the whole road trip A-Okay and had lots of fun.)

We also turned the road trip home into a fun occasion! Driving out of VA, we stopped for a tour of Michie’s Tavern, which was fascinating! Next we stopped in the music city for a whole day of family fun! Our day in Nashville included: getting a tour of the Carnton Plantation, owned by the wealthy McGavock family during the civil war; eating lunch at a delicious local bbq place; exploring a toy store with over 20,000 toys in it, and relaxing outside over refreshments at a very hipster coffee shop.

When we got back to our suite, we all jumped into the outdoor pool and hot tub and then got into an intense volleyball game in the water—just the seven of us! It was so nice! That day made me very grateful for the family God has put me in. I love all of them!

This GPS (Maggie) really came in handy during our road trip. If you look closely, my Dad turned the little car on it into an airplane. That is the inner private-pilot coming out in him. J

So, after 10 days, thousands of miles, 6 hotels, family, friends, laughter, lots of food, and making new memories—our road trip came to an end. We have so many other GREAT pictures I would post here, but it would make this blog post way too long. I hope we get to see all those people again soon, Lord-willing, and it was great to just be able to get away from normal life for awhile and do something different! And, to combine Ben’s, Rubia’s and my birthday trip all into one trip. What a great vacation.

Spring Activities

~ by Rubia

We have been enjoying a beautiful and active spring this year in Oklahoma! It’s hard to believe we’re less than a month away from our end-of-school vacation to Virginia! It’s also hard to believe we’ve only been here for 9 months, yet have done so much, made many great friends, and are making good memories. We feel very blessed!

This post contains pictures from Roma’s camera roll, so these activities were ones that involved her and me; however there were things that the others recently did without us that I do not have pictures from. For example, Dad went on a business trip to Minneapolis, and Bianca and Ben went on a trip to Texas. Perhaps y’all will see posts from them soon about what they’ve been up to. J

This is a picture from Easter Sunday. Roma dyed these eggs.

The siblings on Easter Sunday. We enjoyed a breakfast fellowship at our church called the “Love Feast” with communion and worship.

A few weeks later Roma and I were invited to a birthday party by a friend from youth group. She turned 13, and is a very sweet girl with a very creative family that threw what Roma and I called, “A pinterest type of party.” J They had a perfect back porch and yard with adorable decorations and *really incredible* homemade chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. We enjoyed seeing other friends from church there and playing fun games that afternoon.

The dessert table.

Look at the cute décor and bright colors! The birthday girl is in the blue shirt closest to the camera.

We learned “The trash can game” at youth group and have had fun with it. J You gather with your friends around a trash can, and then try to pull each other to touch the can and get each other out. The last person to touch the can wins.

Y’all, guess what?!! We finally built a chicken coop and purchased 6 chicks!!

Dad and Josiah worked on the coop together. Now we have an adorable bright red chicken coop!

Next Dad will build a run for them. Right now our 2-week-old chicks are in the garage and doing well! We did have to return 2 that died and one injured, sadly. We’re not sure why they died. They were replaced at no charge. We love having our 2 Black Australorps, 2 Silver Wyandottes, and 2 Buff Orpingtons to cuddle with every day. J This family of egg-eaters is excited for future eggs as well!

Had to put in a property picture. We’ve so enjoyed the recent gorgeous days and our property out here.

Roma and I have had the privilege of serving a couple of times in the kid’s ministry at church. We look forward to continued involvement! We love working with kids. This class has kids about 4-6 years of age. Miss Shawna is the teacher and does an amazing job with them! 

Bianca and Ben have been enjoying their involvement in the college ministry at church. Since our church is in a college town, they’ve had the opportunity to make lots of new friends. A few Sundays ago some of them came to hang out and play basketball at our house. Of course Josiah joined them.

There’s hardly ever a lack of adventure around here. This big tree looked healthy on the outside, but was actually rotted inside and took us by surprise when it fell over the driveway one windy morning. Thankfully, it came down moments before Bianca and Ben were driving there on their way to work…and just before Roma and I returned from our run. God is good! Everyone was safe and no damage was done to anything—the tree just missed the cottage workshop, and the chicken coop.

Now you get to hear about the HEARTS homeschool co-op! It had been years since we were involved in a homeschool group, and never had we tried a co-op before. But Oklahoma is a very homeschool-friendly state with lots of opportunities for homeschoolers. The HEARTS co-op meets weekly during most of the school year at a church close to us. They offer classes that are mostly fun, extra-curricular types, with opportunities to fellowship with other homeschool families. I am so glad we joined for the Spring semester. We loved it so much and look forward to next school year! Josiah especially had a blast and will get to be a part of it for years to come, Lord willing! Since he graduated from 6^th grade this Spring, he got to be part of the graduation ceremony!

I did an art class with these sweet girls and painted my first gourd. There were some awesome creations! The class was unique because while painting was a part of it, perhaps the bigger part was talking with each other, getting to know one another and sharing lots of stories! 

This class of little ones does the Five-In-a-Row curriculum. Roma loved working with these kids over the last semester! 

Roma and I participated in the drama class and had a lot of fun! We had a big, all-girls class with lots of silliness and laughs! On the last day of co-op, we did a short, funny play. Here Roma (as Katie Lean) is interviewing a mermaid.

I was more than just Elsie the cow from Jack and the Beanstalk…I was a Chick-fil-A cow!! J (That was, at this moment, an unhappy protestor.)

On the weekend before the last co-op meeting, the co-op’s secretary and her family hosted their annual end-of-the-year party at their barn & ranch! This was our first time going out there and we had a blast!

The Barn at Gooseneck Bend.

Bianca and Ben were in Texas during this event, so it was Mom and Dad and the rest of us kids. (We were the only ones involved in the co-op anyway.) Pictured here are my lovely parents. Dad enjoyed sitting near the John Deere tractor! J

They had a great barn with a dance floor. I thought the Daddy-Daughter dancing to the left was cute. J

Later, after eating barbecue for dinner, one of the girls asked me, “Do you like dancing?” To which I responded, “Well yes, I did ballet for a couple of years.” But she actually meant barn dancing. I need to do that more! I remember doing it once in our barn in Texas with some friends. I was glad at this moment that I had already learned the Virginia Reel!

Getting started! I was learning slowly…but had a great time! It got way better with the Virginia Reel. I believe here we’re trying to do Cotton-Eye-Joe. It had been awhile since I’d done that one. 

While those were two of the “barn dances” we did, we also stopped at one point for an 80’s throwback and did YMCA. J

Part of our drama class had to get a dramatic picture. (Or two or three.) 

Huge bonfire to end the party!

The next weekend was the graduation ceremony at co-op for the graduating kindergarteners, 6^th graders, and seniors!

The band was youth-led by the praise and worship class! We’ve got some musical talent amongst these homeschoolers.

Our 6^th grade graduate with Mom! (Dad was in Minneapolis.) So proud of Josiah and excited to see how God will use him in the future as he continues to learn and develop his skills. 7^th grade, here we come! 

The siblings.

The next weekend (coming now the end of April) we drove about two miles down our road to the church where Josiah’s basketball coach preaches. They hosted their annual Echo Knights basketball banquet to celebrate the end of the season. Awards and basketball cards with each player’s picture were also given out. The Echo Knights sure had an amazing season! The middle school boys (Josiah’s team) finished undefeated this season for the first time in Echo Knights history. So thankful that JoJo had this opportunity to be a part of it and make great friends and memories.

Josiah and his buddies holding up their basketball cards.

Roma and I spent the next day (Saturday) babysitting our adorable neighbor kids for a second time. We had a wonderful day with Z and L! Josiah was also helpful because he is close to Z’s age and could come play with him. They’ve become good friends since we’ve moved here.

Helping L skate on the driveway.

And that wraps up the highlights of April! So thankful for the milestones, moments, and memories all in just this past month. God bless y’all!