Tag Archives: life stories

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A Beary Special Treat

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Yesterday, I awakened to Israel frantically calling for me saying, “Judy! Judy! Come over here quick! There’s a bear!” It was the quickest I had gotten out of bed in a long time but it was well worth it. There was a black bear wandering around in our backyard! It was so cute and I felt like running out there to give it a hug or to help it find some food, but my better judgment helped me refrain. Manu really enjoyed watching it too. We got some pictures although it was pretty far away. I have been wanting to see a bear in the U.P. since we moved and I’m thankful that God granted me this little joy…even if it was almost 3 years later. Now the only thing left on my list is a pack of wolves…

bear2
Searching for food after a long hibernation.

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Israel was whistling at it so it looked at us.

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A Rough Week for Micah

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This week, Micah has gone through so much.  I feel so sorry for him.  I will not go into details, but he had a very traumatic experience, he’s had to go to the hospital twice, he’s on antibiotics, he had to get a lead/iron test and 6 vaccines (in the same visit – 1 on each arm and 2 on each thigh), he has diarrhea (-I think from the medication), and this all happened without his daddy and brother around.  Lucky me. 

I felt so sorry for him on the way home from his doctor’s appointment today so I took him out to eat at Quiznos.  I thought I’d officially make it a “first date” tradition.  (I wrote a post on my first date with Manu way back before Micah was born.  It was actually at about the same age.  We went to Quiznos.)  It was nice.  He only wanted to eat the Baked Lays and the cookie…oh, and lots of juice.  He was so giddy off of the raspberry lemonade that he would just look at the other customers and giggle.  Anyway, he just looks so pathetic.  But he is holding up strong. 

We have one bit of good news.  His height percentile has surpassed his weight percentile!  He is no longer “overweight”!  🙂  His height is 75% and weight is 60%.  I think walking has really slimmed him down.  Yay for Micah!! 

He is starting to talk a lot more and really express himself.  His fav sentence by far is “More, Mama.”  He’ll repeat this over and over to anyone who has something he wants.  Well, he’s obviously talking to me, but he wants me to give him whatever that person has.  He likes to pretend he’s talking on the phone (with any object that he can put to his ear).  He’ll babble and then say, “Buh-Bye!”  He enjoys telling Bentley “No” or “Down” when he is trying to steal his food.  Then he gives in and feeds him some anyway.  Oh, and his new favorite instrument during Sabbath worship is the kazoo.  With Micah on the kazoo and Manu on the harmonica, worships can get quite lively…with me singing solo.  It’s lots of fun, though.  Micah is super-silly.  We thought Manu was silly…but Micah far surpasses him, particularly with is cheesy laugh and fake babble.  And of course, he is a monkey and copies everything his brother does. 

As I speak, Israel, Manu and Uncle Daniel are on their way home from the CAMPUS year-end meeting.  It has been 3 days since they left us.  Micah and I have truly bonded these past few days.  I’m thankful for the quality time we were able to have together.  I’m also glad that the Lord watched over us and kept us safe.  He always seems to give me strength in due season.  Well, the weather is warming up and in a funny way, I feel as though a new chapter of our lives is beginning.  At the same time, I feel like I have no idea what I’m writing about.  Anyway, that’s all I want to share.  I think I need a nap… 


Micah after I buzzed his hair for the first time.  🙂             

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The Scavenger Hunt (after Easter)

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So, I’ve been known to be cheap.  Maybe I should rephrase that.  I’ve been known to only buy things that are on sale (and thus cheap)…and I relish in the fact that I am getting a great deal.  Now I don’t think I was born like this.  I was raised to be quite frugal, but I’ve had a couple of crucial key experiences in my life that have caused me to be as I am…  

DKAY – (Detroit Korean Adventist Youth – the original “KAY” as far as I’m concerned) was at one time filled with like-minded individuals.  We always had annual Christmas Gift Exchanges.  I think we still do in fact.  Anyway, as opposed to everyone get the gifts anytime/anywhere, on the day after Thanksgiving – aka Black Friday – we would ALL go to the Birch Run Outlets to get our gifts.  Meaning we got gifts 1)from outlets and 2)on sale.  You cannot get a better deal than that.  You can imagine just how far the $15-$20 could go with items being up to 75% off!  I think one year we actually waited until after X-mas day (to have it joint with New Years) so we got some really killer sales then too.  So, thank you, all of you DKAY “OG”s!  I wouldn’t be the way I am without you!  

GODIVA CHOCOLATIERS TWELVE OAKS was my first job when I was in high school.  It was a wonderful job…low stress, decent pay, and lots of yummy benefits.  Holidays were the busiest times – particularly Valentines, Christmas, and Easter.  The price of our chocolates back then was $31 per pound.  Now (-I just looked on their website) it is up to $40 per pound!  Anyway, people would easily spend $60+ for gift baskets on special occasions.  However, the day after, all holiday items would be marked 50% off.  That combined with my employee discount, it was an absolute steal!  Now, to me, it just doesn’t make any sense how someone could buy something paying twice the amount just to give a gift “on time”.  In fact, after the first time Israel bought me some Godiva chocolates, I told him about the day after half-off sales. So, every time after that, he always waited until the day after.  If your boyfriend did that to you, perhaps you’d think it was pretty low and ghetto.  But, I didn’t mind one bit! 

So, with all of that said, I will share my final experience (today) that may continue on as a Ramos Family Tradition.  Israel was gone for the past week for conference and GYC meetings.  He came home late last night and since today is Monday, he took the day off.  So, we thought of the perfect, fun, family activity.  Yesterday was Easter and today was the day after.  We went to Walmart and everything “Eastery” was 50-75% off.  So, we got some “Eastery” things there and planned a Scavenger Hunt for the boys.    Using about $6, we had everything that we needed – easter eggs, easter baskets, and easter goodies among other goodies.    


Green basket for Imanuel, Blue basket for Micah.  75 cents each.

I think we had around 20 decorative and sports-themed eggs that I filled and hid around the house.  Imanuel not understanding that they are supposed to look like “eggs” made this comment about their shapes:  “Mama, basketballs and baseballs aren’t like this, only footballs are like this!”

Bentley helped me hide the eggs…NOT.  More like tried to steal them and sneak off with them!  That’s why we’re still missing one now.  The game is not over yet!

What a wonderful surprise inside!!  An individually-wrapped PRUNE!  Don’t worry, they weren’t all filled with prunes.  (Although Imanuel thought they were yummy too!)  Others had fruit snacks and candies too. 

Imanuel stuffing a prune in his mouth.  He was very happy today.  And he learned how to be a good egg/ball hunter!

Daddy helped Micah find the eggs so he technically cheated.  But he had fun getting them and putting them in his little blue basket.  🙂  Eating the goodies was obviously his favorite part.

Until next time bunny basket…

Well, that was the story of today.  I hope all of you are inspired to take advantage of “day-after” sales.  Hallmark and other stores (like Walmart) make business by pressuring us into spending tons of money to celebrate a “day”.  I say, take advantage of the “after holidays”!  We could start a revolution.

“When you’re getting a great deal, things are always more fun and exciting”!  – Judy R. Ramos        

Good night, all.

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My Mouse Problem

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This morning, there was a dead mouse in the boys’ bedroom. 

First, I wanted to get the boys out of that room without them seeing it.  I got them out, then my mind began racing with different thoughts: 

Was it Chance or Aroe?  Did the murder take place during the night in the presence of the kids?  All of the bacteria/parasites that were on the mouse have probably dispersed all over the carpet/toys/clothes…that room is contaminated!  I should get the vacuum.  Bentley was lingering in the room…maybe he was the one who had transported the poor thing from wherever the cats did the deed to the bedroom.  I could see teeth marks on the body of the mouse.  How it must have suffered because of a member of my family!  I should be happy that my cats are controlling the mouse problem!  Who can be happy with death?  I was a little annoyed.  Annoyed that Israel had to be gone TODAY out of all days (-and for the week for that matter).  This isn’t the first time I had to take care of a dead mouse.  And he knows how I feel about animals and how I’d probably be in mourning for the next month thinking about the possibility that that mouse was somebody’s mother.  If he were here, he’d take care of it no problem and forget about it.  I could call Alanna…but she is in class…and why would I bother her and have her come all the way here when I can just do it?  A church member?  JUDY, GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF.  (But if we still lived in Ypsi, I could just ask Greg, our neighbor.  Wait, he’s probably at work.  I could have waited til he gets home from work…) 

I had to take care of the situation whether I liked it or not. 

I went into the room and looked by the heater.  The mouse was GONE.  I knew Bentley wasn’t in the room and so I angrily called, “AROE” and began looking under the crib.  Chance, for sure, wasn’t in the room.  I was not about to fight my cat for the disposal of a mouse.  There was no Aroe.  But the dead mouse was under Micah’s crib.  I was on my hands and knees trying to figure out how in the world the dead mouse moved from the heater to under the crib…when all of a sudden, the mouse hobbled a few steps.  I could not believe it.  The dead mouse was alive!  But badly injured.  It was hobbling around with its eyes closed.  I then could not believe that I was going to have to somehow take care of this half-dead mouse.  I was not feeling too fond of my cruel cats at this moment.  So I waited and it hobbled around some more but it was getting closer to some of the kids’ toys.  I went over there to move them and the mouse hopped into Imanuel’s house slipper (-the one he got for his birthday).  As I came closer, the mouse opened its eyes very widely.  This made me feel mixed emotions.  He appeared not as hurt as I thought.  I was glad I wouldn’t need to face the dilemna of whether or not I should take it out of its misery…or if I should let the cats finish their work.  It would survive (for now)!  But I started freaking out because how was I supposed to transport a living mouse to the outdoors?!  I emptied the boys’ trash bin quickly and came back.  The mouse was still in Imanuel’s house slipper. 

I gained courage (believe it or not) thinking of Ralph S. Mouse – one of my favorite childhood books.  He was nice.  And people have pet mice all the time!  This is just a nice animal…that one of my cats almost killed…that is wild…and may carry some horrible disease…

I managed to stick the slipper with the mouse into the trash bin and slowly took it outside.  I wasn’t sure where to let him go.  I went out the front because the cats usually hang out by the deck in the back.  But there was no shelter in the front.  And it is still cold with snow on the ground and it probably wouldn’t survive with its injuries.  So, I ended up walking around all the way to the back and finally letting him go under our deck. 

I keep going back and forth on this.  I appreciate the fact that my cats help keep the mouse population in the house down, but when I see a mouse in danger with hope of living, I can’t help but want to save it.  (This isn’t the first mouse that I have “saved” from my cats.) 

I recounted this story (without so much inner details) to Imanuel.  I explained to him for the first time that our cats kill mice.  He seemed a bit shocked.  I recalled the story, “When God Washed the World” which talks about how animals and people turned wicked after sin.  Then he exclaimed, “But tigers don’t kill turtles…they’re friends!”  I have no idea where that came from.  Anyway, he just doesn’t understand the concept of death.  But what I do want him to understand is that no matter how common and “natural” death is (-particularly in nature), that’s not how it’s supposed to be.  Namely, I shouldn’t be struggling with whether I’d like my cats to eliminate our mice problem or if I don’t want the mice to suffer and die! 

This world is so “naturally” filled with competition, aggression, indifference, fear, rotting, and death.  I trust that in this sin-sickened world, the way that the Lord allows nature to play out in the “circle of life” is the best way.  But I don’t think we should ever forget the way it is supposed to be.  I want to instill in my kids to love and appreciate nature, and to always be reminded that death (even of animals and plants) is a sad result of sin.  But that should motivate us to live faithfully to hasten His soon return. 

What an experience!  Not pleasant at all.  Just another reason why I don’t like Israel being away! 

   
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At the Kleinsters’ Place…

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 So, it was such a nice reunion at the Kleins’.

Three women, wives, mothers, & friends.  All members of Ann Arbor Seventh-day Adventist Church (at one point).  All teachers (at one point) at Ann Arbor Adventist Elementary.  All pregnant at the same time (almost twice)!!  All quit teaching to be at home with their kids.  All aspiring violin players.  All healthy-eaters (or at least wannabe).  All “Little House” fans.  All Carob-Crunchy fans.  All wishing we could start a mini-school where we could team-teach our kids.  (It’d be the absolute BEST school ever.)  All planning a LONG vacation to the U.P. so they can spend time with the Ramoses who left them almost 3 years ago, right?!     

Julie & John, Kerri & Daniel, Judy, & all the children!  (Minus Israel.  )   


Chomping on haystacks & smoothies!  It was YUMMY!

Partying for a belated birthday bash for Manu. 

Julie & Kerri posing with pretty smiles.

Playing games!  Their house is like toy-heaven.

Playing with Lincoln Logs (or maybe more like demolishing!)

Scrabbling. 

Smiling Jessica – Julie’s brown-eyed baby!

Judy reading and the rest of the kids listening.  (Judy is 6 years old and is reading “Little House” books already…she is a child genius!  And maybe a teacher in the making?!)

The kids chilling.

Thanks, Kleins, for hosting us!  Thanks Daniel (& Kerri too) for taking the pics!  The next party will be at our place this summer.  We miss you all!  

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Our Little Miracle

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This past Friday, the Lord gave us a little miracle. 

It was a crazy day because I was frantically trying to clean our house, cook dinner, and get us ready for the Sabbath, in general.  A turn of events found us in the boys’ bedroom where I was changing Micah’s diaper and Imanuel was crying because he just had a little accident where he hurt his leg.  It felt better as we were walking out of the room, but as I swung the door shut, I didn’t realize that Imanuel had his fingers in the crack of the door where the hinges are.  I literally heard a crunch.  I immediately swung the door open and pulled his finger out.  He had never cried like this before.  It was one of those silent cries where he didn’t breathe for about a minute but his face was contorted to form the most pitiful, pained look.  I tried hugging him, but his body was frozen and stiff.  Needless to say, he was in some serious pain and I felt so terrible.  After about 5 minutes of crying and whimpering, he calmed down enough to let me know that his finger hurt.  Then he went on to ask, “Why did you close the door and hurt me?”  And then he started balling again.  Yes, I felt horrible.  Anyway, I explained that it was an accident and he knew that.  His finger was blue and majorly dented where the edge of the door pinched his finger against the wall.  He was sitting on our green couch when he looked at me and said,

“Mama, I want to pray and ask Jesus to heal me.” 

I told him that that was a GREAT idea.  So, I asked him to pray and he did.  It went something to this effect: 

“Dear God, Please help my finger to feel better and heal me.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen”. 

I had wrapped a little bandage around it, but right after we prayed, I decided to take that off and I asked him if he wanted a bandaid.  I took off the bandage and looked at his finger (-it was primarily his pointer finger that got pinched).  Then I momentarily got confused because I didn’t see the bruise or the dent.  So, I got his other hand and looked at that finger.  Manu was like,

“It was this finger.  It doesn’t hurt anymore.” 

He started wiggling it and moving it around.  I touched it and asked if it hurt and he said “no”.  I think I was more shocked than him.  Anyway, I kept looking at his finger over and over again and touching and pressing here and there in disbelief.  I was so surprised and said, “Your finger is better!!”  Then Imanuel exclaimed, “I want to pray again and say ‘Thank You’ to Jesus!”  I agreed that that would be a good idea.  He prayed and thanked Jesus and said that He was “so nice” to heal his finger! 

I must admit that after this whole ordeal, I began to doubt this miracle.  I was rationalizing. 

Babies and little kids have super-quick and efficient immune systems.  Little cuts and bruises heal so quickly!  Maybe that’s why it went away so fast…etc.etc  But I’m so glad that Imanuel thinks it was Jesus!

As if God was trying to prove Himself, Imanuel got hurt a couple hours later.  He bit himself on his fingernail.  He was crying and crying again.  It was a little red.  I immediately suggest that we pray since that worked last time.  So, I prayed for his little finger.  After I said, “Amen”, I asked if his finger felt better.  He said, “no” and continued to say that it still hurts and that he needs a bandaid.  It hurt for the next 10 minutes and he wouldn’t stop whining about it. 

Sometimes I believe God must get so frustrated with my unbelief and hypocrisy.  He knew that often when I pray with my kids to “help” them with a problem, (or even to thank Him for that matter!) it is more of a lesson to teach this “good habit” as opposed to really believing that even at this young age, God could truly answer any petition we ask Him and that He is our Lord who is beyond worthy of our worship.   

I’m so thankful for this experience for my son & for myself.  There is no doubt in my mind that Imanuel believes with his whole heart that Jesus healed his finger because He is “so nice” AND that He is able and willing to help us.  And now I believe it too.  I was so rebuked by this experience.  God truly does care.  He wants to reveal Himself to us.  He is just asking for a simple, child-like faith. 

Prayer is such a privilege and I hope to never take it for granted again.

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Micah’s Cracker Binge

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This morning, Micah called us surprisingly early.  The boys have gotten into a routine where after one wakes up, they wake up their brother and play together for around half an hour.  Then after a while, Micah starts getting thirsty/hungry and so he calls for me.  Very similar to how it was with Imanuel:
“mama…maaaa-ma…Maa-Ma….MAAAA MA!”

Well, this morning, it started off a little differently.  It was about 8:00am (-and since we haven’t adjusted yet to daylight savings, it really was 7:00am – they usually wake up at 8:30am which would now be 9:30am).  I heard movement in their room a little earlier, but not much talking.  Then, for the first time in history, Micah called “da-da….da-da…da-da”  And after about 5 minutes with no response, he finally resorted to “ma-ma”.  I went in there with a cup of soymilk.

I handed him the cup and he started gulping down very rapidly.  And that’s when I saw the crackers.  A bag of Kashi TLC crackers were emptied into Micah’s crib and he had eaten them all except for a few that were under his blankets.  There were crumbs everywhere!  That’s when I remember the box being up on the drawers next to Micah’s crib.  He must have manuevered his stuffed animals to bring the box closer within reach.  Imanuel was still in bed sucking his thumb so I knew he wasn’t the cuprit. 

Needless to say, Micah was thirsty.  Very thirsty.  After drinking that cup of soymilk, he continued on to drink 2 more cups of water. 

*MORAL of the STORY*:  Don’t leave food unattended within Micah’s reach.  He will eat it…all!

Last time I weighed him on our scale, he was pushing 28lbs.  He is such a big eater that this morning Israel and I both agreed that Micah may eat more than Imanuel.  The good news is that Micah is beginning to walk more and more.  He took close to 8 steps this morning to Israel.  This means soon he will be able to run around and burn off those extra calories!  🙂 

He is also beginning to talk more.  Here are some new words/phrases:
– “I love youuuu”
– “Gracias”
– “De nada”
– “Mas”
– “Thank you”
– “Please” – (sign)
– “ka-ka” (crackers)
– “down” (spoken to Bentley at the dinner table)

He loves to talk to the pets…in a very high pitch voice:
– “Awww….puppers!” (talking to Bentley)
– “Awww…..Aroe!” (talking to both cats)

He is turning into quite a silly boy too (-like Imanuel).  Micah has his serious moments still, but he now tries to do funny things to make us laugh!  He really has a sense of humor at such a young age.  He has a little stubborn side too (which has been an object of prayer), but I’m glad that Imanuel has been so patient and easy-going about it.  That has helped to minimize conflict between the two of them. 

More recently I’ve witnessed the both of them playing little games together (initiated by Imanuel).  Usually Imanuel is pretending to be a shepherd with a staff, Micah is his sheep (since he crawls around already) and he follows Imanuel around.  Actually, Imanuel does a lot of trying to get his lamb to follow him too.  But that game can sometimes get dangerous when a robber wolf* “appears” and Imanuel finds it his duty to use his “staff” to “wack and thwack the robber wolf” to scare it away and protect his little lamb.  Othertimes, Imanuel crawls with Micah and they are both wolves, or dogs, or cows etc. etc.  And they just romp around the house together and make each other laugh by doing silly things.     

*From My Bible Friends, “Jabel the Shepherd”.

The boys are growing up too fast.  Their personalities are so different (-almost opposite) that I hope this helps them become best friends as opposed to competitive rivals.  I’m finding that I need Jesus to help me be more patient and to also refocus my life to be in tune with His.  As this world becomes more and more secular and indifferent to spiritual things, I want my sons to be different;  to be solid and bold in the Word;  to binge on the Bread of Life and then quench their thirst on the Water of Life.  And the only way that can happen is if it starts with me.  What a miracle it would take for all of us to make it to the Kingdom.  And Praise the Lord, Jesus was and is that Miracle.    

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A Day of Showing Love

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This Valentine’s Day, I’m glad it fell on a Sabbath. 

While we (Israel and I) have never done much for Valentine’s Day, I decided that we could use this opportunity to express our love for our church members.  Imanuel and I wrote and passed out little Christian Valentines to all of his friends, the ladies, and the widows of the church.  They were very simple, but the message was the same – “God is Love” and they are all very special and loved by us. 

I also began thinking of those in our church whose loved ones (spouses) passed away.  Many of them have been living alone for years.  Holidays such as these must be very difficult for them.  We wrote special notes for those who were widows.  Israel delivered the ones to L’Anse church and he told me how touched one lady was.  She told him that it had been YEARS since she had received a Valentine and she was so thankful.  While I’m not a big fan of this holiday, I do want to say that it is a wonderful opportunity to reach out to those who need to feel loved – especially those who have lost their spouses. 


We gave away 32 cards, stickers and candies.


Manu hand-delivered the ones at church and we mailed out the rest. 

Hope you felt loved on Valentine’s Day!  If not, we love you and Jesus loves you more!   

**  We wanted to also wish our sister, Julie, a special, happy birthday today!  May God bless and guide you even more this upcoming year!  ** 

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Two “Firsts” for Micah

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This weekend was quite eventful.  Micah’s 5th tooth emerged from his upper gums, we went to church, came home, Israel left to go downstate for a meeting on Sunday, students came over to watch “Gifted Hands” and I’ve been chilling with the boys.  Israel comes back tomorrow so I’ve been doing all I can to take advantage of his absence – throwing a party, doing things to the boys that I’ve always wanted to do (ie. cut Micah’s hair!!)…umm….


Pictures were taken before Daddy left for the airport yesterday. 

We miss you, Daddy! 

The first “first” was last night when for supper I decided to sort of initiate Micah into Adventist lifestyle and diet. 

His very first popcorn & smoothie dinner.

Later that evening, I had the students over for more popcorn and we watched “Gifted Hands”.  The kids went to bed, but at least they got to eat the popcorn!  😀

This picture was taken this morning. 

In the afternoon, I gave the boys a bath.  That is one of their favorite things to do.

Micah and his beautiful Mexican skin.

Soaking in some sun before…

I did this while Israel was away in Lansing for a meeting.  Hope he doesn’t find out!  🙂

After. 

It wasn’t the most even job, but I did my best. 

Also, I made a few mental notes: 1)  Don’t try to use food as a distraction for child to hold still.  I’m sure Micah ingested quite a few hairs along with the tortilla chips.  2)  Don’t give the bath before the cut, save it for after…or you’ll end up doing it twice, like me. 

So, what do you all think?