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.

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!!

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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!