Saturday Morning Praises...

It's Saturday morning.... I just read over Psalm 57... this is where David is hiding from Saul in a cave and is scared and unsure of his future... but the one thing he is sure of is that his God is faithful and he will sing Him praises no matter what his situation is... Psalm 57: 8-9 says this, "Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."   David is awaken from his sleep not because it's dawn and the sun is rising or because he's frightened by his situation, but rather because his praises "call forth the dawn." He's alone in a dark cave, being tracked down by a scary king who wants him dead and yet he is still awaken by his need, want, and desire to praise his God.... Wow...

How often am I awaken to the day singing praises to my God?........ Most mornings I wake up and hit the snooze 5 times and say to myself "just five more minutes... that's all I need." And I am NO WHERE near being trapped in a cave as someone hunts me down to kill me... I am safe in my warm bed...  Hmmmm..... Just a little convicting?? Well, thank You, Lord, for this convicting me this morning and let me grow because of it!!

This morning I think I can learn something from David.... This morning I will sing praises to my Lord for all the faithfulness He has shown me... A short list of this morning's praises:

• It has rained for the last two days bringing us the moisture we desperately needed... 
• It's sunny today as we head to lay sod at the water park our church is about to bless/gift our city with (an over 10 year project)... Hallelujah!
• My hot City Brew coffee sitting next to me...  
• The fact that each weekend God comes through to make Lockwood Kids Ministry happen... This is solely because God's hand is in this ministry! 
• My wonderful husband...
• The amazing friends God has blessed me with...
• His Bible.
• His Son.
• Saving me from the pit I should most certainly spend eternity in...
• A great job at a great Church...

Awake, my soul, O Lord!!! Thank You for Your unfailing faithfulness!! May I always sing Your praises each and every morining!

Travels and Conferences...

Ok... once again this is LONG overdue... For that I apologize... But cannot promise I will get much better at this blogging thing, but I will sure try ;)

So, it's been an exciting few months for us... in the beginning of March, Casey and I got to take a pretty amazing adventure together! We flew into New York, NY and stayed there for 3 nights... We had only planned on staying 2 nights, but a month or so before we were to fly out there, we found out that Mutemath (one of Casey's Fave bands) was playing the night we were supposed to leave.... So... of course we booked another nights stay in NY in order to see the show... However, our first hotel was booked solid so we had to stay in a different hotel...... That had "communal" bathrooms at the end of each hall... Oh well... We just needed sleeping quarters!!

We saw all the sights, got turned around on the subway, rolled our suit cases to our 2nd hotel 20 or so blocks away (while rolling over peoples' toes every few minutes), ate some pretty amazing food, saw a Broadway show, and learned that NY is not the place for us!  As fun as it was to visit, we definitely were reaffirmed in our love for Montana and so pleased with our home state's slower pace of life and welcoming atmosphere.

At the Statue of Liberty w/NY skyline in background (Building right above my head is the new WTC)

Central Park

At Sister Act on Broadway and snuck a picture in b/c there was no photography allowed :P

At the 9/11 memorial

New WTC

At Mutemath... AMAZING

Seriously... Best show I've ever seen!!

The next morning we woke up bright and early and jumped on a bus that took us to our nation's capital... we spent that day checking out some of the sights, but after 3 days of non-stop walking in NY, our feet were a little tired to say the least..... So, we didn't get to see as much in DC as we would have liked! That night in DC we had some amazing Thai food and incredible ice cream!!

The view from our hotel in DC

One of the few DC sights we saw ;)

The next morning we picked up our Mazda 3 that we had rented and headed South.... 540 miles and only ONE tank of gas later... We arrived in Charleston, SC to visit our sweet friends the Wallers (click here to see their blog).  We arrived to some fun gifts and smiling faces! It was soooo great to see them and so fun to see their life down south!

In the Mazda 3

Silly Boys....

Such a pretty Steph Waller (+1)

SC Grub

The BEACH

All in all our trip was so great! Unfortunately, I had a head cold the first 3 days and then Casey caught it on the end of the trip... But it was sooo great to get away with just each other and make new memories, explore together, and travel hundreds and hundreds of miles to see wonderful, old friends!!

****

And just a few weeks ago, Casey and I got to go back down to the LA area with a big group of our coworkers and attend Catalyst West... It's a creative, church leadership conference held every year in a few different locations.... This year's theme was Be Present.... We heard a lot of amazing speakers laying their hearts out before us the importance of being present in our relationships, in our ministries, with our families, with God... It was a convicting, worshipful experience....

A few nuggets from the conference:

"Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone."-- Andy Stanley

"When we feel entitled, we don't show honor."-- Craig Groechel

"Authenticity trumps cool every time." -- Craig Groechel

There's something about being surrounded by thousands of other people who are trying their hardest to live their lives for Jesus.... Overwhelming, encouraging, convicting...

Being in ministry is NOT easy and can be very taxing at times... At Catalyst we were in a building packed full of people admitting this to one another and all agreeing that even though it's tough many times... It's sooo worth it!! BUT our relationships with our spouses, families, friends, and ultimately God should not suffer because of it... We need to Be Present among the people around us! God told us to love each other... How can we do that if we are too caught up doing projects/tasks? People over Projects should be our way of thinking... Loving people as Christ first loved us... But too often we throw people to the side in order to squeeze in one more "project." I challenge you all to examine your lives and figure out if you are truly Present in your relationships... Put down your phone, computer, iPad, etc down and have a face-to-face conversation with someone you care about WITHOUT allowing your mind to wander to work or your next task.... Enjoy being present with them... Unfortunately, it's a lot harder than you would think.... Good Luck!

Love you all!

Trip down memory lane...

Ok.... So, it's been too long since I've updated this... Probably why I will never make a living as a blogger!  Let me try to fill you all in on the past few months...

First off I'd like to thank all of you who said you'd pray for my mom!! What a gift that was from you guys... So, thank you... I'd also like to tell you she celebrated both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and even seemed joyful during it. God is so good.

Christmas and New years were great... Super busy, but so wonderful! All Ramage siblings were reunited and home for Christmas, which was such a blessing... We spent a lot of time laughing at things of the past.... Childhood "couldn't live without's" mainly:

The Beloved Teddy Ruxpin

The All Consuming Sega Genesis

Okay, Okay.... I was a terrible house wife this year and didn't get our Christmas cards out.... I hope you can all forgive me... But if not here is one just for you!

Merry Christmas from the Blain/Ramage household!

Casey and I had a week off between Christmas and New years and had the chance to go visit our great friends Mimi, Andy and Franky Salonen.... Which so happen to live in Longmont, CO where Casey grew up.... We got to tour all of his old stomping grounds and had such a fun, busy, semi-relaxing, much-needed away time! Thanks for hosting us Salonens.... But now that we're thinking of old stomping grounds, I'd like us all to travel back to where it all began.....

So, I told my father-in-law a long time ago I would include this in here.... (So, this is for you Aaron)... A few weeks after Thanksgiving, the in-laws, the husband, and myself piled into the mini van and headed towards Miles City to celebrate my grandmother-in-law's birthday. Being a new part of this family, I have heard a lot about this infamous little town, but had never gotten the chance to experience it myself. This tiny town holds so many memories for the Ramage family and we planned to take a stroll down "memory lane"... Or where "everything all began."  You see, my in-laws have one of those high school sweetheart's, fairytale type of stories that you think only happens in the movies... One that kind of makes you furious because they rarely happen in "real life"... Yes.... This is their story...

 Let me take you down Ramage memory lane for a minute...

There once was a young blonde beauty that all the boys adored, but one boy in particular had his eye on her. He was determined to make her his girl, but there was slight problem... He was a high school jock like all the girls wanted, but not the kind of jock you're thinking of... He was strong as all get out, but was not a football player... He was even a complete handyman, able to fix a number of car problems by his high school years... But there was that one small detail that couldn't be forgotten.... He was a male gymnast...

 He knew he was a total catch, but he had to convince the beautiful blonde that he was. So, the chase began.  Cruisin' around the tiny town of Miles City in his sweet ride hoping she'd view him as more than just a friend, stopping in at the local DQ where she worked to get a blizzard (not cuz he loves ice cream, but just to catch a glimpse of her), and even hanging by the city lake in the summer to impress her with his water skiing skills. (Sounds like a scene right out of Grease).

Finally, he was able to win her over, she was able to put aside the fact that he was a male gymnast ;) and she let him take her out on a date... By this time they lived literrally right across the street from each other. So, he'd hop in his car, flip a U at the end of the block, pull up in front of her house to pick her up and off they went.... The young man thought the chase was over and that he won her heart, but then there was the water balloon [said in a slow motion type of effect]....

One sunny day, him and his cronies were out causing trouble, cruising around the town, and tossing water balloons whenever the time felt right. He saw his blonde babe driving towards them and his "boy brain" automatically switched to "impress girl" mode... So, she drove by him, she waved, and he tossed the balloon ever-so-perfectly.... And immediately he began to panic... It was a hot summer day, so of course her window was down enjoying the breeze... Next thing they knew she was smacked in the face, and soaking wet, with shock and anger all over her face.... Surely his chances with her were over after such a juvenile mistake like that...

But some how she forgave him and he won the battle and got the girl... They married, had 3 beautiful babies, and bought a video camera... The rest of the story can be found in the Ramage's basement in boxes full of home videos... literrally tons and tons of hours of footage! I'm not sure if they ever turned the thing off!! But I sure am grateful for that and getting to relive experiences and memories with them.

It was such a blast to see "where it all began" over 30 years ago. To hear them reminisce, and laugh at old, but never forgotten times in their lives. What a great story of boy meets girl, and then drenches her with a water balloon, but still manages to win her over!! Thanks for sharing Aaron and Noni!!

The Gymnast and his Blonde Beauty