Since Imanuel turned 4 months (July 4th, 2006), we began mixing rice
cereal into his bottle for one meal a day.  We did that for about
3 weeks and then decided it was time to add another meal.  We did
that for a couple days and quickly found out that the baby was getting
seriously constipated.  So, a couple days ago, on July 29th, we
started the baby on 1 meal vegetable and 1 meal rice cereal.  It’s
worked out great. 
The baby loves eating food from a spoon!  The only times he gets upset is when I don’t feed him quickly enough!  I’ll try to post more pictures later, but here’s one to enjoy:

As for the rest of our lives, God is blessing also.  I’ve picked up part-time work with CAMPUS and GYC as their “administrative assistant”.  Believe it or not, that’s been fun.  I bring the baby along with me wherever I go and he’s been adjusting well.  I enjoy multi-tasking (being a teacher and all…) and so it works out great.  We’ve rearranged the entire CAMPUS office and we’ve also set up a GYC office in one of the rooms.  You guys will have to come see it sometime.  Very exciting.  🙂
On another note, today, for the first time in my life, colporteurs came to my door!!!!  Actually, it was kinda set up, but it was still exciting!  I was taking my jog/walk around my neighborhood with the baby & puppy when I see Teddy pull up next to me.  He’s the magabook leader for the group that’s in Ann Arbor this summer.  They were doing our territory so I told him to have some students stop by and I’d buy some books.  Sure enough, 2 of them came later that evening.  It was Alexandra and another boy.  They apparently were the highest sellers so they got to come canvass our house.  🙂  I got the 3 magabooks that I didn’t have (“Angels Among Us”, “Plants that Heal”, and “Foods that Heal”) and gave them both a donation.  It was so super-hot and humid that their shirts were like soaked through with sweat!  Poor kids.  They are working so hard that I didn’t even ask them to canvass me.    I’m so glad we got a magabook program in Ann Arbor.  Last year, Israel and I had prayed that God would give us an opportunity to minister to our neighborhood.  We’re so thankful that they came!
Well, I’d better hit the sack.  Israel left for ASi today (in Dallas, TX) so for the next few days, I’ll be taking on the baby, the zoo, and the house…oh yeah, and work!    But, God will get me through it…He always does.  (I think I’ll ask my mom to come over…)

This past month has been perhaps the most eventful in our lives,
particularly, because the baby has changed SOOO much!  It’s
amazing how you can see such personality and character in a little baby
that’s only 4 months old!  Anyhow, here are some of the
highlights: 
1) the baby has started teething (drools like Niagara as Uncle Justin K. likes to put it) 
2) he can now play in his saucer and jumper–and he LOVES it 
3)  he “holds” the bottle when he’s eating  and pulls it to his mouth if you’re not quick enough
4)  he is starting to grab anything close enough to him — so no
more holding baby on lap while eating — and he’s taken quite a liking
to Bentley’s ears and nose as he squeals with glee (Bentley doesn’t
seem to mind, in fact, I think he likes it!! 🙂 
5)  my parents have finally given him his Korean name — it’s
pronounced “Sun-oo” which is roughly translated “good samaritan”
And the most exciting of all…*drumroll*…
6)  the baby has learned to roll over!  The sad part is that
we never saw him do it.  Two times when we put him down on his
tummy and when we checked on him, he was on his back!  Hopefully
we’ll get to witness it sometime soon.

It is crazy to watch how Imanuel’s brain is soaking up
everything.  Physically and mentally he is developing at such a
rapid pace.  He is about 27 inches and weighs over 18lbs. 
Just 4 months ago, he was 21 inches and 7lbs 3oz.  His vision,
hand-eye coordination, voice, and even feet/leg movement have really
come a super-duper long way. 
But despite the importance of these things, our prayers have always
been focused on his spirituality.   I wonder to what extent
our morning and evening worships are affecting little Imanuel’s
heart.  I believe the greatest fear that a mother can have is her
children not making it to the kingdom.  But, by faith, and through
God’s mercy and strength, even a baby raised completely dependent upon
humans can learn to love and accept God as his personal Savior! 
What a miracle…God is so good to us!

Imanuel Alexander at 4 months

Aroe and baby’s feet playing together

Baby has “discovered” his tongue.  He likes to play with it during his free time.

Using the “cold carrot technique” to aleviate baby’s gums…(or so he can play with it).

IA chillin’ in his jumper.  He can literally hang out in there for an hour with no complaints!

Analyzing his toys on his saucer.

“I am having so much fun!”

Baby sporting a Tim Brown jersey which has been passed down from his
big cousin, Jacob.  He doesn’t look too happy and I wouldn’t mind
it a bit if he stayed away from football…he’s going to play tennis
like his mommy.  🙂

God bless you all! 

Yesterday, our family came back from a two week vacation* to
California.  We had so much fun and we were reluctant to
leave!  The first weekend, we went to Justin McNeilus and
Stephanie Jaeger’s wedding up by Sacramento.  It was very
beautiful and all of the Adventist super stars were there.  Israel
kept asking me to take pictures while he made funny faces behind them,
but I resisted.  It was really weird because we left the baby with
Israel’s parents and we had never been away from the baby that
long!  I took along my trusty pump and took the 7-8 hour road trip
both ways.  It was a nice time for Israel and me to be alone and
spend time together.  It had been a while.  Four months to be
precise.   We hung out with Chester, Dr. Mike, the Parkers,
and Dr. Pipim.  Remind Israel to tell you guys about the “short”
Sabbath hike with Mike…
After that weekend, we made a few trips to Loma Linda and were able to
visit with my bro and sis, my cousins Angie & Ted, and it was also
a nice surprise to see my cousin Julius and his family.  They were
visiting southern Cal.  Most of the time, we just chilled at
Israel’s parents’ house. 
Something Exciting Happened on the Afternoon of July 9th, 2006!!
We were hanging out at the house…I was sorting papers, Israel was
checking email (taking a break from watching Emeril Live), Israel’s mom
was outside holding the baby…when we felt an EARTHQUAKE!!  It
was my first time (and obviously the baby’s too)!  At first, I
thought someone had dropped something really heavy on the ground- (I
don’t know, like a refridgerator, for instance).  The whole house
just shook!  Evelyn said it was like a 3.5 on the richter
scale.  That was pretty exciting.
Anyhow, here are some pictures that we took with the family.  There are more that I’ll try to post later.

*This vacation was made possible by the kindness, generosity, and
patience of Alanna Knapp who so willingly watched our zoo back
home.  Thanks so much, Alanna!!!

The baby has found his thumb and sucks away until he falls asleep…

Imanuel Alexander met Abuelo for the first time!  Can you see the excitement?!

Dinner with the Nams & Namms (& Ramoses).   Yum, Thai food.

Baby and Tio Juan

Three generations – Ramoses

Farewell breakfast cooked and prepared by the crazy girl with the
omelette hanging out her mouth.  Israel and his bro stare in
disbelief…

Baby loves Abuelo!

153 hours of sleep lost

721 diapers changed

397 songs sung

1,329 prayers lifted

1,436,708 kisses

“My daddy has earned the right to be honored today!”

Happy Father’s Day to one devoted father who has a very lucky son.

Silly

Bashful

Sleepy

Serious

Happy

Dreamy

Curious

Groggy

Stunned

Helpless

And last but not least…

Embarrassed!

On June 12th, 2006, Imanuel Alexander became 100 days old.  In Korean,
it is called “Baek-il” and it is a traditional celebration.  Back in
the day in the motherland, the survival rate for infants was very low,
however, if the baby reached the 100 day mark, the chances that the
baby would survive dramatically increased.  So, Koreans celebrate this
landmark in a baby’s life, traditionally to give thanks to false gods
and pray for wealth and luck, but nowadays it’s an excuse to have a
party!  We did neither. 

We just chilled with the family and took pictures.  We’ll save the party for his 1 year…

 
“I’m 100 days old.”

Flower-child

Halbuhgee, Halmuhnee, and baby

The pictures were taken in my parents’ backyard.

Imanuel Alexander’s outfit (and most of his wardrobe):  courtesy of Owen Kim 
“Thanks, Owee!!”

This past Wednesday was my last day of teaching.  For the next few
days after that, I finished up all of my grading and filling out report
cards…AND cleaning out my classroom.  Teaching has been such an
eye opening experience for me.  It has been  so influential
in shaping who I am as a person and as a Christian.  Although
teaching at Ann Arbor Adventist Elm was pretty rough, (as some of you
know), I’m so grateful for my time there.  It was an emotional
rollercoaster from day one.  It was my first exposure to the “real
world”.  And, at times, it wasn’t pretty.  Through it all
though, I have come out a better, stronger person, by God’s
grace.  But, He is beginning another chapter in my life
story.  I’m still going to be a teacher, but I’ll have only one
student.  And he can’t even talk yet.  You’d think this would
be a little easier, yeah? 

“The child’s first teacher is the mother.  During the period of
greatest susceptibility and most rapid development his education is to
a great degree in her hands.  To her first is given opportunity to
mold the character for good or for evil.”  (Child Guidance, 63)

The best things that happened this month were that the baby…

1)  has learned how to keep the binky in his mouth,
2)  really smiles…not just as a reflex…and expresses himself more,
3)  coos and tries to talk to you,
4)  was able to spend his first Mothers’ Day with his mom and his “Mr. Mom”,
5)  has begun to grab objects that are in front of him and hold them,
and last but definitely not least~
6)  SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!! 

Well, since he was born, at night he would always go every 4 hours
between feedings (you are supposed to count from the beginning of
feeding to beginning of next feeding).  His magical time to wake
up was at 3am.  Without fail, he would always wake up at 3am
whether we put him down last at 10pm or 1am.  The past month, he
extended that time to waking up at 4am when we’d put him down between
9-10pm. 
Anyhow, for the past few days, his final feeding has been at 9pm and we
put him down at 10pm and he wakes up at around 6:30am!!  God truly
hears and answers prayers!  I’m thinking that after a couple
weeks, we’ll try to ease his bedtime up to 8pm and his wake up time to
7am. 
IA has grown in more ways than one.  At our last doctor’s visit
(for his 2 month check-up), the baby weighed 15lbs 4oz and was 25.75
inches!  To give you an idea of how large that is, his weight is
in the 95th percentile and his height is in the 90th.  He has
grown a lot (as you can imagine) and he is getting stronger too. 
Anyway, here are some pictures of the baby.  He is changing so
much and it almost makes me sad when I think that I can never have my
newborn baby back! 

He smiles a lot…especially after he eats.  Go figure.

The baby sporting his truck sweatshirt.  His one and only time wearing it because it’s getting too small.

Wearing one of his many PJs and laying in his crib. 

Picture with his daddy.  (The baby is wishing his daddy would have shaved before holding him so close.)

Hope you all have a relaxing Memorial Day weekend! 

This past Sabbath was the baby’s first time in Cradle Roll
class.  Man, Sabbath School at Ann Arbor Church is so
awesome.  It’s so different from Sabbath School at DKAY, where all
I remember doing in Cradle Roll was ringing the little jingle
bells or waving the rainbow flag and singing the “Sah-keh-yo-yah”
song with motions.  (DKAY, you know what I’m talkin’ about.) 

Anyhow, it was a lot of fun learning about the farm and how we
“like to go to the farm where the cows moo
moo…”.  Apparently the entire quarter is about the
farm.  It’s great, though.  If any of you come and visit
on a weekend, you’re all more than welcome to come sit in
with us.  And now here are some pictures
from Imanuel Alexander’s first day of school!!  (Sabbath
School, that is.)

The baby was shy since it was his first day so he opted not to participate until next Sabbath.     

Between both of these pictures, Israel and I look half decent.  haha  

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to this
Sabbath.  We hope and pray that the baby will learn to love the
Sabbath, and even as he gets older, call it a delight.  Have a
happy Sabbath!  -jr

The Ramos Family just celebrated Judy’s (and Israel’s) first Mother’s Day.  The craziest thing of the day was the humility that Israel showed: he’s been Mr. Mom for a long time, yet he took a supporting role and allowed Judy to get all the credit of Motherhood.  Oh, that there were more Israelites (in the truest sense of the word) in this world. 
On top of that…
Daniel Mendez, Ramos Family Photographer of the Year (but he’s so busy that it takes a year to get the proofs) and close friend of the family came up with a great idea.  He calls me up and shoots out the idea of having a pre-Mother’s Day celebration.  Why hold off on something that you can do today, right?
So here’s what we did:

We made a special SURPRISE! dinner for them celebrating Judy and Kerri’s first Mother’s Day: Falafel, Salad, Split Pea Soup, and Cilantro & Sundried Tomato Pasta.
Imanuel is trying to pose like the people back in the James White days. 

On the actual MOTHER’S DAY, we had our own little thing going on at home.  Jen Song (but she likes to be called Moo-moo for short…it may be a Korean thing) was over and she’s a teacher.  And if teachers are parents, and she’s a teacher…hey, why not celebrate Mother’s Day also…

According to some sources, all women have a “Maternal Desire”–the crazy thing is that they had this interview with some women, Moo-moo being one of them, and the researcher said she had one deep down inside.  I don’t know, though.

Back to the story…
On Sunday, we celebrated MD with a special SURPRISE! pancake breakfast prepared by yours…true…ly.

We had pictures of that event but I can’t find the camera to download them.  But don’t worry, most of them are of Judy sleeping.  And Jen just waking up.  Maybe next time.

On a more serious note…
I am very grateful for the two mothers who’ve impacted my life the greatest: my mom and my jude.

Marriage is a funny thing.  When you get into it, you feel as though trying your best is the key to its success.  But after a short time of being in one, I’ve realized that no amount of human power can keep one together.  It’s been quite humbling trying to be the best husband/father I can be yet still fall short of what my family needs.  I thank God for His strength, and Judy for her patience, encouragement, and love.

Judy, you are better than all that I could ever have asked for or imagined!

Happy Mother’s Day.