This past weekend, we took a little road trip to Chicago for Campus Catalyst, a training conference for public campus ministry sponsored by the NAD and hosted by North Shore Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was great to spend time with old friends and to make new ones too. It is such a blessing to be involved in ministry.
During most of the meetings, I hung out with the kids and Bentley. It was Bentley’s first time in Chicago. He loved the squirrels the best. We walked to a park nearby to help the kids release some energy. On Saturday, we wanted to do something special for the kids so we ordered Chicago pizza from Pequods while they swam in the hotel pool. No joke people – it was the most disgusting pizza I’ve ever had in my life. The crust was thick, dry, crumbly, and stale. There was hardly any cheese. The tomato sauce was watery and bland. And the edges of the crust were burned black. It made Pizza Hut taste like a Michelin 3 starred restaurant. Worse yet, each pie cost over $20! We each managed to scrap off the top layer of one piece, but we couldn’t do much more than that. We called to get our money back. We’re going to have to give Chicago pizza another go next time…definitely at a different pizza place. Pequods, you let us down!
We were able to spend time with Jukes & Aileen and the kids while we were there. It was nice that they were only a few miles away from the conference! We enjoyed talking and catching up. On Sunday, we ate at Native Foods, an amazing vegan restaurant. Here, Chicago redeemed itself after our Pequods incident. I had the best vegan sandwich I’ve ever eaten. It was the crispy chicken, bacon and avocado sandwich. Amazing! Then we spent our final hours there at the Shedd Aquarium.
Making fishy faces with cousins in front of the fishes!
We had a great weekend and hope we can come back again soon!
I don’t do as much as I should for Judy. She never misses an important day, anniversary, special moment. She plans ahead with incredible detail for weeks and months in advance when people are coming over or when we are hosting a special event.
When it comes to family, she’s even more meticulous in her preparation.
I knew that when our tenth-year anniversary rolled around, I wanted to do something special. It had to be more meaningful than spending a lot of money to show how much I appreciate her and all that she’s done for our relationship.
At first, the plan I had was to take a trip to Tahiti–where we had our honeymoon and fell in love all over again. I saved up years of air miles to ensure free tickets. However, in the fall of last year, we were surprised to find out that another baby boy was joining the Ramos Family! Unfortunately, to our dismay, we lost him.
We were devastated and this proved to be one of the most difficult journeys we’ve traveled together. But God is faithful.
Already committed to staying in the US during our anniversary, I had to plan something different for the girl who has been the biggest blessing in my life. Since we’d been married for 10 years, I decided on preparing 10 meaningful moments together. Here are a few of them (the rest are none of your business):
Torino was voted as the 2014 Detroit restaurant of the year by the Detroit Free Press. Calling them ahead of time, they agreed to prepare a nine-course vegetarian meal for me and my special date while Auntie Kimmy took care of the boys for the evening.
I think that Judy gets prettier with each passing year
The meal included a non-alcoholic beverage service. The whole experience was great and the food bordered between delicious and sometimes, incredible.
The staff made the night extra special by providing a menu for us that wished us a happy anniversary. Their customer service was very good!
After enjoying a great meal, we drove to Judy’s old stomping grounds — the home where she grew up. We drove through her neighborhood and checked out places where she played and made a lot of childhood memories.
I arranged a special bouquet of flowers for her — the three lilies symbolizing Manu, Micah, and Ty. Lilies are biblical flowers and I think they are the most beautiful flowers ever.
The next day was the day of our actual anniversary — 7/11. Since we’ve been married for 10 years, I thought it’d be great to renew our vows. What better place to recommit our lives to each other than Grace Orchard — our home.
In our backyard, we have a lovely little gazebo that I thought was perfect for this kind of event. So the boys and I planned out a service together. Manu was my best man and Micah and Ty walked their mom down the aisle.
Renewing our vows
For the ceremony, the boys got new dress gear from Gap.
They were able to serve as witnesses to their parents’ commitment to each other. Following the wedding ceremony, we all participated in a wedding reception. The highlights of our reception included a wedding cake from Meijer, fruit-by-the-foot favors from Judy, chocolate, and old pictures and items from our wedding ten years back.
We looked at old pictures and letters and told the boys stories of way back. Their constant giggles were a strong indication of how much they enjoyed listening to them.
They came prepared to be guests of honor, bringing loads of gifts. Each gift was more valuable. First they gave us an envelop full of pennies. By the end, they gave us their treasured 2-dollar bills!
The last ten years have brought many experiences. To have a partner that genuinely loves and accepts me for who I am even though they are thoroughly aware of my weaknesses and insufficiencies is as incredible as grace itself. The one person who has every reason not to love me is also my best friend — what a thought. It reminds me of Someone else — a Person she points me to and teaches me about every day of our lives together. Thanks, Judy!
Squash three ways: pickled, blossoms, and in a special foam sauce.Frozen apricot salad with pea sauce frozen in liquid nitrogen.Sou Vide Asparagus with chocolate (mole-type) sauce and butter which was turned into a powder using lecithin.One of my favorite dishes: Sou Vide tomatoes with eggplant and english peas. Incredible.Best tasting tofu — originally this dish was fish but they exchanged it with tofu in the veggie menu. Their best — wish they made more of this for us!Potatoes and turnips. Forgot what the green sauce was but it was very deep and complex. Great balance.Melon and Cucumber sorbet. Refreshing.Modern strawberry shortcake — basically.Housemade chocolate and caramel with sea salt.
Reading 1 Corinthians 13 for us.At Grace Orchard. Wedding 2.0If I don’t teach em how, who will?They love their mamma
Getting ready for the Turkey Trot Lansing 2013 run. A good way to start Thanksgiving
Mama pulls the boys while Daddy runs the race soloMile 2 and Mama is wondering whether the idea is good or bad. The weather was a lot colder than anticipated!
After surviving the race, the CAMPUS Residents came over for our Thanksgiving mealAtole de pinole — a traditional Mexican hot drink infused with Saffron from a previous trip to DubaiThe traditional wing — with mushroom gravy potatoes and carrots and an edible flower for garnishKorean barbecue wings on thinly sliced Chayote and garnished with radish and thymePomegranate glazed wing served with Mole Sauce on a homemade tostada and topped with Jicama Kimchi and a radishThe trio of wings instead of turkey —Dinner with the CAMPUS Residents and Ariel
On July 14, 2013 in Muncie, Indiana, Manu and Micah ran their first Team Revolution Mission Race of the season. A Mission Race is one that is specifically designated to raising funds for team members to go to the Amazon mission trip by our Mission Sponsor: Amazon Lifesavers.
More than 75 kids participated in Manu and Micah’s age division of the Muncie ToughKids Triathlon. Mom and Dad drove the athletes three hours from Lansing to Muncie accompanied by Auntie Sikhu and Bentley! We arrived to the hotel on Saturday night and work up early the nextmorning to register for the event. After being misdirected by the GPS, we finally found the event’s location.
Micah was assigned lucky #7 and Manu was given #102. After picking up their packets, getting their body markings, and setting up transitions, the boys got a brief rundown of agood race strategy: Micah was going to do it all by himself even though his age category allowed for parental assistance, and Manu was going to push hard on the difficult swim, recover on the bike’s second of three laps (the bike is his strongest element), and go all out on the run.
Micah was first. Even though most of the kids were assisted in some capacity by the parents, Micah completed the whole race by himself. He was as happy as ever. At the end of therace, he caught up to the girl in front of him, but refused to pass her – I was a proud parent! In the end, Micah completed the 25-meter swim (2:06), ½ Mile bike ride (3:02), and 100yd run(0:50) with a 2:04 Transition 1 and a 0:27 Transition 2. His total race time was 8:27.
By far, Manu’s greatest accomplishment was his ability to swim 100 meters – that’s like swimming back and forth on a pool at the Olympics! After finishing the swim, Manu rode his bike averaging nearly 10 mph, finishing his race by running well under a 10-minute mile pace. Unfortunately,the race directors misjudged the running portion of his race and led him to finish the run before completing the necessary distance. After discovering that the race directors had made a mistake, Manu ran the course again, but without the timing chip. We were thus unable to get an accurate finish time, but suspect that he finished in about 19:25. His split times were as follow:
Swim: 4:1
T1: 1:28
Bike: 9:54
T2: 0:36
Run: Finished, time unknown
The boys showed true sportsmanship and bravery. Although Manu was fairly nervous about swimming such a long distance, he pressed through with mental toughness and determination. He also ran more than the necessary distance due to someone else’s error. Micah was able to do the entire race all by himself with Dad encouraging him as he raced.
We could not be prouder of our boys! They sported the best kits in the race and proudly represented Team Revolution – racing for a cause greater than themselves. We especially want to give a big “thank you” to all the sponsors who supported these boys. You are making their dreams come true and we could not be more excited to know that our sons desire to be missionaries. Thank you for your love and support!
If you would like to learn more about their mission and how you can support, here is a LINK to their TR website.
During most of the meetings, I hung out with the kids and Bentley. It was Bentley’s first time in Chicago. He loved the squirrels the best. We walked to a park nearby to help the kids release some energy. 
On Saturday, we wanted to do something special for the kids so we ordered Chicago pizza from Pequods while they swam in the hotel pool. No joke people – it was the most disgusting pizza I’ve ever had in my life. The crust was thick, dry, crumbly, and stale. There was hardly any cheese. The tomato sauce was watery and bland. And the edges of the crust were burned black. It made Pizza Hut taste like a Michelin 3 starred restaurant. Worse yet, each pie cost over $20! We each managed to scrap off the top layer of one piece, but we couldn’t do much more than that. We called to get our money back. We’re going to have to give Chicago pizza another go next time…definitely at a different pizza place. Pequods, you let us down!
We were able to spend time with Jukes & Aileen and the kids while we were there. It was nice that they were only a few miles away from the conference! We enjoyed talking and catching up. On Sunday, we ate at Native Foods, an amazing vegan restaurant. Here, Chicago redeemed itself after our Pequods incident. I had the best vegan sandwich I’ve ever eaten. It was the crispy chicken, bacon and avocado sandwich. Amazing! Then we spent our final hours there at the Shedd Aquarium.
Making fishy faces with cousins in front of the fishes!
