We took our first dive together…
in the islands of Tahiti.
Because we said we do.
Seven years later, life has only gotten better.
(But I do miss Tahiti.)
I remember when the Gulf War broke out. I was in 4th grade and my teacher had a friend who was engaged to a U.S. Air Force captain, Stephen Phillis. He was deployed to Saudi Arabia. So, as a school assignment, we became pen pals with this captain and corresponded by handwritten letters. We got to know him as a real person as he faithfully wrote each one of us and answered the questions we 4th graders had for him.
A few months later, on February 15, 1991, Captain Phillis was flying an A10 “Warthog” and it was shot down over northwestern Kuwait. We received the shocking news that he was MIA. Our attention turned to his fiancee, Sharon, and we began writing her letters of encouragement, letting her know that we were praying for Steve. Weeks went by. Then we got the dreaded news that his body had been found. He had been killed. The war all of a sudden became so real.
Our class had a special ceremony honoring our brave hero and we planted a tree in front of our school. His fiancee, Sharon, was there and I just remember her and my teacher just crying and crying and crying. She brought his purple heart medal and we were able to see and touch it. I will never forget that day. That was 20 years ago.
I felt it was time to share this memory with my boys. It hits me much deeper now than ever before. As a 9 year old, I recall memories of the war being limited to phrases such as: Operation Desert Storm, scud missiles, stealth bombers, and Stormin’ Norman. But what really matters are that countless soldiers have lost their lives in order to preserve our freedom and rights. That means countless family members and loved ones have been devastated by a traumatic loss.
We typically spend Memorial Day as just another day off, but today I wanted honor the day for what it’s meant to be…a day to remember our fallen soldiers. It was totally unplanned, but a friend from Saudi Arabia came over and cooked Saudi food for dinner. I thought that was so fitting. Before eating, I gave a little mini-lesson to my boys about what Memorial Day symbolizes and shared about my special pen pal. I read one of his letters. Then, we listened to a recording of “Taps” and we remembered Captain Phillis and his family for a moment. I figured it was due time that I truly appreciated the ultimate sacrifice that he made for our country.
Being patriotic by making flags for dessert.
A letter from his fiance written while Steve was MIA and a letter from him that I have kept.
Sometimes I crack myself up. LOL. *SIGH*
Okay so, to get him back for every wrong he’s done towards me, I just signed Israel Ramos up for a salsa-making contest that will take place at the public library on Cinco de Mayo. He is so not the type that would want to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at a U.P. public library with a crowd of yooper strangers. HAHAHA! But, I think he’ll do it. He may not be excited to do it, but he’ll do it because he loves me. I’m hoping that he will be able to represent his people (including his 3 boys) and take home the title of winning salsa. Who knows, maybe this will be the tipping point for all of his culinary endeavors! It may start with a corner salsa stand, then grow to a store front. For all we know, he may become known as the U.P. Salsa Grand Master….
But in all seriousness, I’m hoping it will be a fun & special family memory and that it will instill in our boys the importance of Cinco de Mayo, and that contrary to popular belief, it is not synonymous to Mexican Independence Day. 
All our local yoopie friends should come too!
http://www.pldl.org/2011/04/cinco-de-mayo-salsa-contest/
By faith, I will only have good things to report on Thursday evening…
PS: This is what happens when Israel leaves me for a few days. (He’s downstate for CAMPUS meetings.) Too much time on my hands! 🙂
We wanted to let you know what we’ve been up to here at home. The good news is that the weather has warmed up and we’ve been having sunny, clear blue skies. The only downfall is that the earth is quite wet and muddy due to the thaw and whenever Bentley comes back in, he leaves a trail of mud around the house. Mama isn’t too happy about that one.
On Friday, we were pleasantly surprised to find that Bentley’s arch-enemies have returned..
…the DEER! Lots of them have been visiting us in our backyard. The crows are back as well.
Bentley hasn’t been to happy about that. Check out that action shot!
We’ve been playing with our cars and other motor vehicles. We made a really long train that was almost as long as the kitchen! We each play with a dinosaur. Micah gets the white one from church and Manu plays with the big, green one.
Ty has been a little more adventurous and trying to reach things from the tables and desks. Here, he is trying to get a little leverage from your boating Crocs.
We decorated our Relay for Life luminaries with lots of fun spring stickers and Auntie Jeanette will bring them to the race for us.
For church this morning, we decided to go with our retro neck ties that used to be Uncle Jukes’s.
We’ve been eating lots of processed foods like (Big Franks and frozen waffles) since Mama hasn’t felt like cooking much. It’s been yummy! But she still makes us eat fresh fruits and vegetables.
Here we are playing our homemade trumpets before leaving for church.
We were super-late for Sabbath School, but we were still able to hear a Bible story from Grandma Karen. Kaelan even sat next to us on the beach mat!
During church, they asked Micah to collect offering! He went up with Rachel and he did a great job. Well, tomorrow we are going to pick you up! We can’t wait! Miss you very much and we love you.
Love, Manu, Micah, Ty, and Mama
It was going to be an exciting day. Karen invited us to go watch the Copper Country Skating Academy ice show at MacInnes and we gladly said yes. Well, not Israel. He’s too manly to enjoy the art of figure skating. He agreed to stay home with Ty. Our friend Tammy and the two older kids wanted to come as well so it was official. We were going to see our first figure skating show! None of us, save Karen, had ever seen figure skating in real-life so we were in for a treat. My boys had never even seen an ice arena so I knew they would be thrilled. There was a little confusion because the boys thought they were going to ice skate. Once that was cleared up, they seemed enthusiastic about the idea of watching other kids skate. Yes, it was going to be an exciting day.
I decide to squeeze in a run before the show so I go to the SDC early and hit the “dreadmill” as Lynda DuPreez likes to call it. 🙂 I have about 5 more minutes to run when I get a phone call from the IR. The car won’t start. Israel seems to always have this sort of luck…particularly when he is with the boys. He is supposed to meet up with Karen and Tammy at the church at 1:30pm and then drive together over to the ice rink and drop them off. For 30 minutes he’s unable to get the car started. Finally at 1:25 it somehow starts and they are on their way. Because of the delay, I decide to purchase all of the tickets so we could just go in and find a seat.
At the ticket counter, I realize that kids ages 5 and under are free. What a STEAL! I think to myself. Both of my boys can watch for free! They all arrive and we head over to find seats. We sit down towards the front and then we anxiously wait for the program to begin.
After about the third act, Micah begins to get antsy. There are a total of 31 acts. From this moment, I knew we were doomed. For the duration of the program, I ended up doing the following:
– taking the boys to the bathroom twice during the show
– picking up Micah’s gloves that kept falling down (-or more like was being dropped)
– literally saving Micah from toppling down over the seats in front of us
– running up and down the hallway with the kids during intermission
– bumming candy off of my pregnant friend, Tammy, to give to them
– asking them to sit down over and over
– sitting Micah on my lap
– and shushing him nearly a hundred times
All the while, Micah kept asking loudly, “Why are they skating so long? Can we go home? I want to go home. I want to go to Daddy! I’m hungry. I have to go to the bathroom.” Not in that particular order, but you get the idea. I was foolish enough to threaten him by saying, “Micah, if you continue to act this way, we won’t ever come to shows like this again.” To which Micah honestly replied, “Okay. Can we go home now?” It was at this point when two things dawned on me. Now I know why kids ages 5 and under are free. If they charged them, parents would be upset demanding that they get their money back! The second revelation was that maybe my boys aren’t and won’t be as into watching figure skating as I am.
And so, it would have been an anti-exciting day save one thing. There was one thing that caused my boys to sit still for about 7 minutes and for their eyes to really light up. The Zamboni. I guess it’s something I should have known but never guessed. So, here’s to our first and last figure skating outing. It was nice for the first couple of acts. I’m beginning to feel my first twinge of loneliness being the only Ramos girl.
For a pastor’s kid, being dedicated can be a little tricky. Typically pastors prefer not to dedicate their own children so it requires finding someone else to come and do it. Being a U.P. pastor’s kid makes being dedicated extra tricky. The closest pastor around is hours away and it’s difficult to ask them to come on a Sabbath when they already have 3 churches in their district.
Now, who would want to travel to the Great White North to dedicate a winter baby?? Ty was really pushing his luck. So, you can imagine our gratefulness and relief that today, on Titus’s 15 month birthday, he was finally dedicated to the Lord at our church. And of all people, we were blessed to have his African grandfather perform the dedication. He has now dedicated our 2 Kwames – Imanuel and Titus. Grandpa Pipim braved the cold, which is completely contrary to his genetic tendency, and spent the Sabbath with us. We were all thrilled and blessed by his presence and by the message he shared with us.
The Lord spoke to me today saying,
Take this child away, nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages. Exodus 2:9
I accepted the responsibility and the honor in prayer.
Last picture with Grandpa Pipim before he had to take off.
Dear Manu,
Happy 5th Birthday! You are growing up so fast! We’re so thankful that you are a special part of our family. You have made us so proud already and your sweet disposition has been such a blessing to us. You are the best big brother anyone could have asked for. Micah and Ty love you so much and look up to you. Continue to be patient, understanding, and kind as you play with and teach them. Keep Jesus first in your life and remember that to be like Him is our ultimate goal. We love you so much and our prayer will always be that you remain faithful to God throughout eternity.
Love,
Mama
For a few months now, the boys have been taking tubs together. No matter how much the two older ones bicker about who’s hogging up too much space in our tiny bathtub, they insist on taking a bath altogether. Ty has really been enjoying the company too. He loves splashing his brothers, scrubbing their shampoo-covered hair, and touching their soapy skin. They have lots of fun together, but the only thing is that I wish we had a sliding bathtub door!
