#SweetAveryJane

Most of you know on April 16th, 2014 at 9:36am our sweet Avery Jane entered our lives.

What many of you may not know about Avery Jane is how long we waited for her arrival. You see, Casey and I have been married 4 years now... We knew we wanted to start a family pretty early in our marriage and we figured we'd "pull the goalie" and be pregnant in no time... That's how it seemed to be going for all our friends anyways. 

Well, we did just that and started trying for a baby in the summer of 2011... A few months went by and we still weren't pregnant. I told my doctor that we were trying for a baby and she warned us that it may take awhile for my body to regulate and to keep trying. We trusted her.... But then an entire year of us trying rolled around and there was still no baby, no pregnancy. We were becoming more and more discouraged and it seemed as if EVERYONE we knew was pregnant or getting pregnant with ease. I can remember at one low point counting 12 people within my semi-immediate circle that were pregnant and being so disheartened. We just wanted so badly a family of our own and were not being given it. 

Casey and I had been praying about a baby this whole time, but we decided that we needed to cry out to God on this issue because we were not accomplishing anything on our own... So, we put it in God's hands and agreed to pray everyday together about it. Every night before bed we asked God for a baby. We prayed every night for another year.

We were living with our friend AJ during a good portion of this and he was so excited for us to start a family. He would always talk about our future kids and say things like "this would make a great nursery huh?" while we would have our nightly family time in his basement. He knew better than most our struggle with trying for a baby. Eventually he stopped bringing it up... In fact, most of us stopped talking about it...

And then our sweet friend, AJ, died on July 16th, 2013. We were sad beyond comfort (and still are at times), but God provided some very unexpected joy in the midst of our immense sadness....  On August 25th, we found out that I was pregnant! Pregnant! After trying for so long, crying so many tears, questioning God so many times..... I was pregnant. Pregnant in the middle of being so incredibly sad. We went to the doctor and they had told us that I was already 8 weeks pregnant.... This placed the date of conception just after Junior left us. We were amazed, baffled, even confused as to how this was possible. To get pregnant during such a stressful time... It didn't make sense... But then the nurse told us our due date: April 8th... Just days after AJ's birthday and then we knew... Knew AJ had worked us a deal.

Never once was that guy thinking of himself... ALWAYS thinking of others and how he could help a friend out. Ok... maybe he did think of himself at least once... but this time we know AJ wasn't thinking of himself, but thinking of some close friends he left behind. We're not sure on the theology of it all... In fact, there most likely isn't any, but we are convinced that Junior sat down with The Lord and wheeled and dealed on our behalf's with Him until God agreed to give his pals' a baby.

This was and has been so healing to our hurting souls. All along God knew what He was doing in having us wait so long for the baby we so desperately wanted. He knew there'd be a time that Casey and I would need joy... Need something to look forward to... Something to help us hold our heads high and keep on putting one foot in front of the other.

Well, fast forward 9 months... It was April and I was VERY, VERY pregnant. April 1st was AJ's birthday and we had all (his family included) been pulling for our sweet baby to be born on Junior's birthday. Well, the 1st came and left and there was no baby born yet.. Then came our due date... and then there went our due date... This baby was proving to be very stubborn. A week after our due date, we went to the doctor for what we hoped to be a final checkup. We scheduled to be induced on April 17th... Two days away. We hoped by giving this baby a few more days, it would finally decide to enter the world.

That night (April 15th) we crawled into bed just before 11pm to be jolted out of bed from a popping sensation that I thought was my water breaking and contractions that followed immediately. After fixing our fridge that had apparently been leaking for who knows how long (great timing!), we made our way to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital just before 1am on April 16th and we got settled in.... Ha kidding I was having contractions.. There was NO settling in!

After my labor had went to my back, I decided it was epidural time... Around 3:30-4:00am, I got an epidural and then the calm before the storm happened... SO wonderful! We then actually settled in and napped until the delivery crew came in around 7:30am and told us it was time to have this baby! I started pushing and then a short two hours later Casey said "It's a girl!" And I knew sweet Avery Jane was born!

April 16th, 2014... 9:36am. Our beautiful, healthy daughter is placed in my arms.... So long did we wait to lay our eyes on such a precious baby. Time stood still as they say.... And I can remember, through tears, thanking God (and AJ) for such an amazing gift.

It wasn't until later that day when our friend, Tucker, came by and pointed out the significance of when Avery Jane was born... You see our beautiful Avery Jane was born exactly 9 months to the day, almost to the minute, of our dear AJ's death. Again time stood still.... God, like He always does, made such beauty from such ugly, heart-wrenching ashes. Again we were astonished, baffled, confused.... But so thankful. So very thankful!

Such a happy, little family.

Beauty Baby.

Happy Heart.

Proud Papa.

Sweet Girl.

Readers make leaders.

Smiley Baby.

Such a joy.

Just hanging and having a convo with Dad.

Thank you, God, for the amazing gift you've given us in this tiny, little human. Thank you for answering all of our prayers. Thank you for continuing to heal our broken hearts. You are an amazing God!

PS... Say hi to AJ for us. 

This last year... With it's ups and downs..

Well... I have officially failed at this blog thing... It's been well over a year since I've last thought about updating this thing... For that I apologize! BUT how exciting to be back together again via the world wide web!! Let me fill you in on the last year... It's been a crazy year.

God decided to bless the world with a beautiful, little creature on April 17th, 2012... Later on June 24th, 2012 he was added to our little family and given the name Little Barry Ellis (named after the man who we bought him from as a joke that our dear friend AJ thought would be so funny...) He now goes by the name Barry or Barrold.. He has been such a joy to our lives and we absolutely adore this little mutt.

Barry comes home with ecstatic mom and not-so-sure dad...
Barry quickly won over Casey's heart!

Barry and his beloved Raccoon...
The raccoon lasted approximately 3 months before it was completely shredded... 

Barry's days at work are sooo difficult...

Barry's first road trip...  

Barry's not the best at cuddling...

Happy first birthday Barry Dog!!!

So, as you can tell... We have become those annoying people that only care about their dog.... We are possibly what you would define as "obsessed." We'll leave that for the psychologists to determine...

What else have you missed out on since I haven't been connected to the blog world... Oh yes... I have a new "role" at the church (which actually isn't so new now... It's been about a year :\)... I am now the Kid's Ministry Director at our Lockwood Campus... This became official the end of July-ish last year... I can say I honestly LOVE my job... Yes, it's very stressful... Yes, some days I get overwhelmed... Yes, sometimes I think "what have I gotten myself into??" But more often than not I am absolutely humbled that God would allow me to have such a big role in His story... I get to have fun with kids and volunteers while loving Jesus... Pretty awesome...

This last March, Casey and I made a big step into adulthood... We bought our first house! We thought it would be a really great idea to gut the kitchen and start over... Some idea.. That turned into basically redoing the main floor! I will post (I really will try to post) an update on the house that has before and after pictures, but below is at least a picture of the front of our cute little home.

Home Sweet Home

In June, Casey and I celebrated 3 years of marriage! How the time has just flown by... We went down to Longmont, CO to see our close friends Mimi and Andy Salonen, went to Six Flags, went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park AND saw Hillsong United at Redrocks!! It was quite the anniversary trip! Love you husband!

Hillsong United @ Redrocks.

This July, however, has been a complete 180ª for us. You see, one of our very best friends was taken from us last month. On July 16th, 2013 around 10:00am, AJ Blain was tragically killed in a helicopter accident. (It's hard for me to even type this because it makes it that much more real.)

You guys may remember AJ from an earlier post titled C+A is now C+A+Junior.... (If you haven't read that post and would like to know a little bit more about our dear friend and the time we spent with him you can read it here.)

Our hearts are literally crushed. We miss our friend. Simple as that. We know that he is flying high and safely with the Lord right now and that brings some comfort, but there is still a dull (and sometimes intense) ache that may never go away fully until we get to see our sweet friend again.

At the time of AJ's death, he had it all. He really packed more life (and Baja Blast) into 27 years than any 80 year old ever could. He had just married the love of his life, Carly, who he referred to as "Miss Wonderful" on May 18th, 2013... He had cows, he had the sweet helicopter he wanted so bad, he had a house, he had a pile of friends and now he had the girl. We had never seem him so happy.

Why the Lord chose to bring AJ home so early we may never know.... What we do know though, is that AJ loved Jesus with all that he was. He truly talked the talk, but more so he walked the walk. He loved people better than anyone I know. He had close friends from all walks of life (literally... There were over 1300 people at his memorial service to pay respects to him). He was able to bridge the gap between any set of people. Casey and I now have some very great, lifelong friends that would not be in our lives if AJ wouldn't have lived this so well.

In the days and weeks after Junior's passing, Casey and I have had a lot of time to think and pray and question God... We still don't have many answers yet (none really at all actually), but I do know I want to live better. I want to love better. I want to give more generously... I want to be more like AJ. I don't want AJ's death in my life to be in vain... I want it to change me. Most off, I want to be like Christ and if I can be more like AJ, I will be pretty dang close.

Our hearts absolutely ache for his family and his beautiful bride. We are at a loss on how to help, but we will continue to help however we can. AJ would count on us to do so. His family is our family. We love them like our own.

My words don't do justice to the man AJ was... If you didn't know him how I wish you could have! He was extraordinary. Truly the light of the world. Please read a beautiful description of his life that his sister and family put together here.

Here are some pictures of one of our best pal.

Jr doing what he absolutely loved. Flying.

Casey and AJ at our wedding.

AJ was so sad to lose his friend, Casey, to me... Little did he know he was actually just gaining ME!

Christmas 2011 at the combined Blain/Ramage household.

His infamous grin.

What a guy.

Junior and his best friend #61.

"Deals never sleep."

He certainly had a way with outdoors equipment... And breaking it.

Happiest day of his life.

Him and his Mrs. Wonderful. The love just radiated off them.

Our hearts are hurting. We are confused. We will continue to put one foot in front of the other. We will honor the life you lived. We loved and love you more than you will know and we are so eternally grateful for your friendship.

Junior, we miss you pal.

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....