Family

Happy Birthday to the Dearest Mother

~ Bianca ~ Leave a comment

Although it seems funny to post two posts, one after another, Mama’s birthday immediately follows their anniversary.

Blessings to you on your birthday, Mama

And may you have a wonderful new year!

We love you and are thankful for all the little things you do for us.

So often we forget to thank you for your love and all the little things you do for us.

Mothers are one of the things that are often taken for granted until they aren’t around. 

They’re just always there doing everything that needs to be done.

Personally, I want to be more thankful for my dear Mama.

Thank you, Mama, for being there when we need you.

Yesenia, Bianca, Edgar, Imelda, Samuel, Elfrieda, and Leandro.

Happy 18th Anniversary to the Sweetest Couple on Earth

~ Bianca ~ 1 Comment

Do I need to say anything more?

They are celebrating their 18th Anniversary today.

And they are definitely the sweetest, dearest, wonderful couple that I will ever know of.

DSCF0199 DSCF9714 DSC_0119

Thank you, Mama and Daddy, for being both,

A wonderful example of submission and authority in their proper places,

And the best parents in the world.

May God bless you as you continue serving Him together.

Blessings from yours,

Edgar, Samuel, Leandro,

Yesenia, Bianca, Imelda, and Elfrieda.

P.S. They are enjoying a special date, just the two of them, this evening.

Family

~ Bianca ~ 3 Comments

This past Wednesday, 16 years passed since I joined this wonderful family. Of course it was just me and Mama and Daddy, but that was the beginning. The more time we spend together, the more I come to realize how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family. The following poem, although written in past tense, is so true to me:

Our Family Tree

We may have had our ups and downs, but always found a way to mend our fences and call a day, a day.

We weren’t picture perfect, There were times we even fought; When I look back I see we were much closer than I thought.

For all the test and trials, I would never trade those years, I learned so much because of them, The laughter and the tears.

So I’ve come to appreciate my unique family tree, and I am blessed and thankful for the one God gave to me.

~Alda Maria~

When I think of the 3-year-old girl whose tracks led her family to the dugout, where she fell in and drowned, or the boy who died during the night after complaining of chest pain to his parents and being sent back to bed, and of our dear cousin Caleb, who has spent 2 years in heaven, I become even more thankful for our complete family.

We have made so many happy memories together.

I sometimes wonder if we are exceptional in being so close to each other, but I found the words of Becky Mcgurrin so true. In her book, From Streetlights to Stars, (a very good read), she says, “Anyone who has had experience with homeschoolers knows that we tend to be pretty attached to each other, and we tend to most things as a family.”

I think homeschooling is one of the reasons that we are so close. We enjoy it and wouldn’t have it any other way. (Especially when you can finish at the end of April)

I have been very busy working on the last of my grade 10 schoolwork, which is one of the reasons that this blog hasn’t gotten more attention.

BTW, I’m writing this blog post on a brand new Macbook Pro. I am enjoying it immensely. Our old computer was sooooo slow after 6 years of use.

Family Time in God’s Great World

~ Bianca ~ Leave a comment

We wanted to spend some time enjoying nature and each other on Good Friday, so we went to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump.

This site is located about 20 km. from Fort Macleod so we had a two hour drive to get there. The interpretive centre is very informative and interesting, but the outdoors with its clear sunshine and beautiful scenery, had a far greater appeal. In fact, our experience far exceeded our expectations, and we thank God for it.

We girls enjoyed photographing nature and each other, so here is a sample of our photography.

Alberta’s Wide Prairies with their Wonderful Views. (Can you see the hint of the rockies?)

DSCF0178DSCF0179 DSCF0192DSCF0202 DSCF0195 DSCF0206 DSCF0208 DSCF0209 DSCF0212 DSCF0211

Spring for Southern Alberta

~ Bianca ~ 1 Comment
March 1st
March 1st, 2013

We children always enjoy working with the ice that accumulates in front of our house.

March 20
March 20th, 2013

The youngest two have been learning to rollerblade. (Thanks to some faithful big sisters {Bianca and Imelda})

1
March 20th, 2013

And now, after some beautiful spring days, we received some snow.

DSCF0136
Our Tulips
DSCF0137
And our Daffodils.

DSCF0139 DSCF0142 DSCF0144

A Visit from Groszmama Part III

~ Bianca ~ 1 Comment

Early Monday morning, Daddy left to go to World of Concrete in Las Vegas. Horizon Contractors decided to take their guys there this year. We sorely missed him.

We decided to do somethings special when Daddy was gone, so on Tuesday we went to Grandma’s. All of Daddy’s family from around here came for the afternoon we had supper together. We children enjoyed playing Bump outside without sweaters.

On Wednesday, after piano lessons, we went to Janice’s. We got a big stack of new books from her bookstore. This happens about twice in a school year so it was very special. We also got our bunnies. Caster and Trixie, as the bunnies are named, settled into their new home remarkably well. Grandpa built a beautiful,vinyl rabbit hutch for us a few months ago and we are glad to have it occupied.

Our bunnies got so much attention the first few days (in fact they still do), that Mama was fear for their death. But as far as we can tell, they are healthy and well and helped pass a week without Daddy.

Daddy got home at around 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning. I made pancakes for breakfast and we spent a lot of time around the table listening to his stories.

On the 12th of February we went shopping with Groszmama. We spent quite a bit of time in the fabric store and the second-hand store. 🙂

On Thursday, we children stayed home with Groszmama while Mama and Daddy went to Lethbridge. Since we children had stayed home so often and would stay home again the next day, Mama and Daddy brought us a gift. After a few guesses (the last one successful of course) Mama presented the Perplexus Original and the Perplexus Epic. How exciting! We had been wanting one ever since on of our little friends borrowed his Perplexus Rookie to us. Thank you, Isaiah.

By way of explanation, Perplexus created a series of mazes in a ball. There is a small marble in the ball that must be guided along a track, through holes, along tightropes, etc. Visit perplexus.net for more details.

On Friday of that week, the boys, Elfrieda, and I stayed home while the rest went to Calgary. They got Groszmama’s passport and picked up a load of rubber shingles. We went to the library again, which was enjoyable.

On Saturday, we had an Unger breakfast in Grandma and Grandpa’s garage. The breakfast disco was scrumptious and the pancakes with homemade syrup were ‘finger-licken’ good. Ironically, Grandma and Grandpa weren’t even home. We got together to practice a song to sing at the Ordination. My Uncle Adolf was elected minister at Tween Valley Christian Fellowship and the Ordination was on Sunday evening.

Mama and Bianca took Groszmama to Vauxhall right after they finished their breakfast. Mama’s nephew and his wife that live in Vauxhall, took Groszmama the rest of the way. Our cousin and her little boys were flying to Mexico, and Groszmama flew with them.

It was sad to see Groszmama go, knowing that this could very well be the last time we will see her on this earth. Being humans, we cling to the hope that she’s healthy and will live a long time yet, but she is eighty-two, and getting older every day.

DSCF0109

Yet I felt that it was just the right time for her to leave. We want to spend a lot of time with her, and yet, I was glad that we could be together as a family. Just us, and no one else. Through many good times and the bad ones as well, I’ve developed a friendship with my family, that I wouldn’t trade for anything, or anyone, else. We enjoy each other’s company so much. At times, we wish for friends near by. Bianca and I cleaned up our refrigerator this week and it was full. I told Mama that we had too many friends, but the problem is, they all live far away or they’re relatives. Not that we don’t enjoy being with our relatives, we love being with them, especially Janice and Nacho.

Sometimes we feel like Elijah, are we the only ones that believe like we do? Or will everyone leave us eventually like Jesus asked. Not that I doubt God’s leading in our lives. Mama and I were discussing it yesterday, and I told her, “There’s got to be something divine about this. Why else would our house not sell, our dream acreage get sold to someone else, and a pile of unusual circumstances come our way? I think God’s hand is in all of this.” one day we’ll look back and think, “So that’s why God did it the way He did. That’s why we didn’t feel led to do what everyone else did and thought we should do and vice versa.”

Thankful for the Divine Hand that guides, Yesenia.

P.S. I was going to edit this post before I published this, now here I looked and it was posted.

Did God want you to read this without the editing?

A Visit from Groszmama Part II

~ Bianca ~ Leave a comment

After leaving Cheyenne, we headed back on the I-25. It was a sunny day and since it wasn’t very cold, it reminded us of Mexico. Everything was brown and leafless so the ice on the few ponds looked out of place. Actually the only ‘leaflessness’ we saw was in the dried up riverbeds where a few trees manage to survive.

This scenery changed drastically as soon as we hit the I-90. It brought us the first falling snow we had seen. Just after we had transferred to the I-90, we stopped for lunch in Sheridan. Our waitress was the opposite of ‘a meek and quiet spirit’ and we found her a bit difficult. We were almost done eating when Edgar wanted a refill. She promised to bring him one but she didn’t bring it. Just as Edgar was about to repeat his request she remembered. “Oh, I forgot your drink, didn’t I. I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached to my shoulders.” She gave us some fun. 🙂

Between Sheridan and Billings we had snow which turned into slush when it hit the road. But this didn’t slow us down too much. We reached Great Falls at around nine o’clock in the evening.

After a good night’s rest, we set out to do our monthly shopping. We like to do it in Great Falls once in a while because the pricing is so much better in the States. Since Groszmama can’t walk very fast and Mama wanted to spend time with her, the responsibility of shopping fell on me. I am not used to that so I got very tired that day. Needless to say, I was glad to head home.

Groszmama enjoyed watching the snow that fell on the first day that she was here. Obviously there’s not much snow in Texas.

We children stayed home on Friday when Mama and Daddy took Groszmama to Calgary. They went to make Groszmama’s passport. We enjoyed cleaning the house to surprise Mama and going  to the library.