Let the Festivities Begin...

Well... This year the start to my holiday season was a little different... After much badgering by a great friend, Casey and I signed up for what may become a new tradition for us....

At around 7am on Thanksgiving morning my alarm sounds.... I of course hit snooze (a few times)... 7:30am rolls around and I finally decide if this is gonna happen I'm gonna have to actually get up (UGH!)... So, begrudgingly,  I crawl out of the warmth of my cozy bed and head to attempt to wake myself up enough for what's ahead of me. Casey, eventually gets up too and we get all suited up for our journey.  We walk outside into the 30 degree weather and immediately begin regretting our decision, but we've already made the commitment... So, we push on... We arrive at our friend Colin's house and attach the last part of our uniforms. Head back out into the cold and walk a few blocks downtown where we are surrounded by chipper faces and ridiculous costumes... We take our positions and the buzzer sounds... 29 minutes and 25 seconds later my sweet friend, Tensy, and I arrive to our destination... Aka the finish line!  Yep.... You guessed it.... Casey and I started out our Thanksgiving morning running our first race (with friends of course)! Granted it was only a 5k, we were still pretty excited.  I have to tell you this though, out of 1500 people who ran the race my awesome husband finished in the top 100!! For his first race!! I was proud to say the least. :)

Casey and Colin Getting Ready

Done and Still Smiling

After starting off the morning with a "workout," we felt like we had justification to stuff our faces full of Thanksgiving grub.... And we did just that. Being a newly married couple, the navigation and logistics of holidays can be quite tricky. Never wanting to hurt feelings, and wanting to spend time with everyone in both families is a hard battle.... But one we always face head on... This Thanksgiving we ate with Casey's Mom and Dad and a few of their friends... Eating with them is always a treat, because as much as Casey's mom will NEVER admit.... She is a great cook and a wonderful hostess! We ate our share of Turkey Day grub, hung out for a bit, and then it was off to the next destination...

The next stop was my Uncle Tom and Aunt Terry's house. They had already eaten. So, we just relaxed and chatted about anything and everything. Holidays on my side of the family, however, are a little different than most... You see, my dad passed away just over 4 years ago... So, you could imagine how hard this season of the year is on us, but especially my mom. There were many years since his passing that she wouldn't even consider celebrating a holiday.... But her heart is softening and she is slowly... very slowly coming around :) She came over to my Aunt and Uncle's house without any sort of fight and I cannot tell you how amazing this is!  It's been a huge challenge to figure out how to be joyful and thankful during the holiday seasons, but also be sensitive to her broken heart.... But God is so good and she is healing... Slowly, but there is healing there. Thank you for this, Lord. If you are a prayer, I would ask you to pray for my mom. Pray for the softening of her heart to continue and for her eyes to open to the God who loves her and so desperately wants her to turn to Him.

Thanksgiving came to an end, and our heads hit the pillow once again.  Next thing I knew... it was 3:16am and my stinkin alarm was going off again.... That darn friend who talked me into running on a holiday also talked me into waking up before the crack of dawn to go.... shopping.... Ugh.... I've always worked Black Fridays, but never had the opportunity to experience the madness from the consumer's point of view... This year that changed. I was in line at Cabela's at 4:30am with literally thousands of other people... The doors opened and the craziness began.... People were running all around to get their hands on that one thing they woke up so early to buy... It was pretty funny really... I heard one girl say she had been camped out since 2:30am!! 2:30am!! The store didn't open 'til 5! So, we shopped all morning... (but don't worry Jamie... we didn't have any fun!! ;)) I was back in bed by 11am... Pretty weird day really... Not sure if I'll do it again, but it was actually a pretty good time! I do love the deals!!

Tensy and I waiting in line at Cabela's

This time of year always makes me look beyond the tradition to what really matters and what I'm oh so grateful for... It makes me realize how truly blessed I am... This is a pretty common thought for most people around the holidays... I mean we see Thanksgiving and Joy plastered everywhere we look... So, how can we not be reminded to be thankful...  But I've really felt challenged by all this and I read the other day... Should we only be this thankful around the Holidays.... When we're reminded to be thankful?  Our Lord is blessing us daily... regardless of the time of year... He doesn't wait for the holiday season to love us... He doesn't wait 'til the day when it's "appropriate" to send Christmas cards out to bless us...  He loves us, blesses us, and cherishes us ALL year! Even when the Christmas tree dies and you have to throw it out... He still chooses to loves us and be thankful for us.... But what about our thankfulness towards Him??? We wait until the lights and tinsel are up, and the pies are in the oven to count our blessings.... Or even if we are thankful year round, we can't help but be more thankful around this time of year.... I don't know about you.... but I feel so challenged, even convicted, by not expressing this "magnitude" of thankfulness ALL year.... Lord, forgive me for my selfish heart and help me to be THIS thankful ALL year....

C+A is now C+A+Junior....

So, most of you know this, but there may be a few of you out there that don't know... Casey and I have moved.... and in doing so have inherited a roommate. You see I have a heaping pile of student loan debt that we have been trying to pay off.... But if we follow the "wonderful" plan of repayment that the lenders give us, we will be paying for at least 10 years!! Oh and not to mention paying thousands of dollars in interest!!  This just made Casey and I sick.... We really didn't want this hanging over our heads for the next 10+ years....

After much prayer and consideration, we decided we had to do something to try and pay this off sooner... This is where the "roommate" talk comes into play.... We started contemplating different options, and one day while discussing this with one of our good friends, we received an offer "Why don't you live with me?" At first, Casey and I didn't want to burden this friend of ours, but after a few more times of him offering we decided it was a great idea... You see... our super generous friend offered to let us live in his basement... for free! Thus allowing us to pay my student loans down in just over a year!! How could we not say yes?!

So... this is how C+A became C+A+Junior....

Normally after a year or so of marriage, most couples would introduce you to their new puppy or their new baby..... but for us.... well..... let me introduce you to the newest addition to our little family.... AJ Blain (we refer to him as Junior).

Most of you know AJ, but if you don't... you need to get to know him! He's a self-proclaimed rancher, a pilot, an oil man, loves cows, loves Diet Coke and LOVES making deals.

When you hang with Junior, you will most likely do something crazy like one of the following: fly someplace like Red Lodge for lunch or dinner while doing barrel rolls, rip around on an oversized four-wheeler wrangling cows into a trailer, go to some sort of auction, eat a buffalo chicken sandwich from the Brew Pub, take a boat out on the river or lake and likely break something, or watch a Chick Flick (mostly the one found on Lifetime or Encore Love).

He's just been so great to us and we are soooo incredibly grateful for this sacrifice he is making for us welcoming us into his home! He did not "require" any sort of payment from us, but we've decided to provide him with cable (including numerous movie channels) and a fridge full of food.... So, really it's a great deal all around and Junior is ALL about the deals!

You see... Junior and Casey are best buds (I think that's how guys refer to it... Ladies it's our equivalent to BFFs) so everyday is an adventure to say the least! Whether it's movie nights, Casey and AJ  punching each other for fun, lighting stuff on fire in the back yard (sorry Flidge), baking cookies, or just sitting around with Tensy and Jamie while AJ asks "What else?".... There's always something happening in the combined Blain/Ramage household....

Casey teaching Junior how to use his new iPhone.

I'm not sure how long we'll live with Junior, but we will make sure to enjoy it while it lasts!!  I will leave you with some recent Junior quotes.... (I will be throwing these in periodically in the blog.... which has now been referred to by Junior as the "house blog")....

• "Oh.... that just reminded me, I got in a wreck today..."--Junior
• "Did you get kicked by any cows today?"--Me "Yeah.... three."--Junior
• "You think it's weird when people touch your nipples?"-- Junior asks Casey.  Casey immediately makes fun of him.... Junior's rebuttal to Casey making fun of him... "Well... your new name is Nipple Boy!"

That is all for today.... 

Running.... A constant struggle...

Running..... Why is running for so many people, including myself, such a struggle? We know we should do it... We know it's really good for us... We all know the benefits of running. We know it's good on us both physically and mentally, yet we don't do it. OR when we do run, we run for maybe a mile and call it good OR we run twice a week for a few weeks then winter comes and we tell ourselves "it's too cold out" or summer comes and "it's too hot out." There's always an excuse not to run...

For me, running is truly a love/hate relationship. First finding the motivation to run is the hardest part... Then when I find the motivation, pushing past the first mile becomes excruciating..... Then comes the boredom.... The boredom of running can become tormenting (at least for me).... But no matter the negativity "running" through my head, something inside of me tells me to keep going... Then I am all of a sudden on mile 2.5 and feeling pretty good.... My breathing becomes more regular, my heart rate definitely faster but steading as well, my head starts to clear and all most out of no where, I can focus my thoughts. I find myself thinking of things like: "Wow, what an incredible sunset.... Look at those fall leaves, amazing..... The human body is so crazy...... God is so good to me... Too good to me... Thank You, Lord."  And what started as such a struggle strangely becomes such a powerful moment of worship....

I had told Casey earlier in the week that I'm starting to think running is a really powerful way to worship God for me, but running is still sooo hard.... As I was running last night, I really began to think about this; to ponder this relationship I have with running. And it was like one of those slap in the face moments where God really reveals something to you.

You see, I love God... I do... but when it comes to spending time with Him in His Word, I find myself making excuses a lot.... "I'll read my Bible after I do the laundry... Once the dishes are done I will DEFINITELY sit down with God.... It's so nice outside, I will catch up with God after I play in the sun for a little bit....." Last night (while running), God really said to me my "spending time with Him" was slowly resembling (you guessed it) my relationship with running.....

Like running, I know spending time with God is really good for me.... Like running, I know all the benefits of spending time with God.... Like running, I know that spending time with God is good on me both physically and mentally, yet I don't do it as often as I should... Ugh.... what a convicting feeling....

Am I really going to sit back and let my relationship with God be like my relationship with running: inconsistent, filled with complaints and a constant struggle? OR am I going to push passed the second mile through all the cramps, shallow breaths, and pain to receive the known benefits??

How humbling to be running and realize that even when I think things are great and I am doing well and have things together, God knows better, knows I can do better,  and wants better for me.  See... Jesus never told us that this being a Christian thing was going to be easy, yet we expect it to be.... BUT we all know running will NEVER be easy, and we NEVER expect it to be easy.... So why then, WHY do we expect spending time getting to know Jesus and becoming a better Christ follower to be easy??

Running takes pushing past the pain and the discomfort to receive the benefits..... Is it so weird that loving Jesus better takes pushing past the pain of living differently and all the discomforts of changing who we once were to become who Jesus wants us to be?

In that moment of conviction last night, I chose the latter.... I want my relationship with Jesus to resemble that of a "trained runner." A runner who knows that sometimes running will be easier than other times, but will most likely be hard most of the time.... But they are always able to remind themselves of  how beneficial the run will be. A runner who has the heart and discipline for the sport to always strive for improvement.... I want to love Christ like this, with the knowledge it may not always be easy, but it will always be worth it.... It will most likely be hard, but will always be rewarding in the end.

Lord, please forgive me for my inconsistencies with You. Forgive me for my ignorance in thinking that knowing You better and becoming more like You should be easy. Thank You for humbling me to examine my time spent with You and making sure I'm always pushing forward.  Lord, give me Your strength to to get better.... Thank you for your modern day parables that You use to sharpen me... Thank You, Lord, even for conviction.... Help me to become a better, more disciplined runner.... Both in the literal and spiritual sense.... I also pray for those reading this.... That they will want better for themselves in order to better represent You.... Give us all YOUR strength.... Amen.

Arieanna

Here it goes again...

So, I tried this whole blog thing back last January... Wrote a post... Never finished the layout... Because of this.... Or laziness (we won't spend too much time figuring this one out), but either way... it never got published. HOWEVER.... I was re-inspired this week to try again. So, here we go...

Well, I work at a church called Harvest as most of you know (haha "most of you" as if there is anyone reading this yet)... Anywho... one of our core values at Harvest is "Fun Required." So, today our staff spent the day at our GoKart track.... Having required fun. We began the day with some grilled grub, then geared up and hit the track. We formed teams of four, and spent the majority of the time running into each other doing whatever it took to win.... We are a competitive bunch.

Results of the day:
1) I may or may not have almost killed my boss, Vern.
2) My team took 2nd!
3) My husband seriously almost died by flipping his go cart. 

In the words of Casey: "Just another day at the office...."