Up from the ashes...

Here is the link to John Mark McMillan's song "Ashes and Flames" (and a bunch of his other music, all equally as awesome)

And here are the lyrics... amazing.

You and I meet
On the shores of the broken
You swallow the ocean
I Swallow my pride
Only to see
The way that I need you
Is more than I knew
I ever could

In between the ashes and the flames
Is a cry an awkward silence
Could never contain
And the falling of my hammers
And the writhing of my pain
Is just not as real as the way
That your calling my name

I cant help thinking
That the way that you want me
And the ghost that haunts me
Are one and the same
Cause you stand at my window
At night while I'm sleeping
There's not a promise I'm keeping
That could ever repay you

In between the ashes and the flames
There's a song that burns brighter
Than Radio waves
Bout the remnants of my Idols
And the shadow of my shame
And how they scatter like the rain
And I can't stop crying
Cause you wont stop calling my name
Calling my name up from the ashes

I Love This

Its freedom... from ourselves... from self-importance... please, God, make it all about YOU and not about me!

Its Official...

Ramey baby number four is on the way!!! woo-hoo!!! Its time to start getting really crazy! I am about 8 weeks along and am due in mid-September... the polls are now open to see what everyone thinks this little one is gonna be :)

Tap dancing...

Here is Eli tap dancing (looks more like river dancing, right?)... and Judah later joins in with his exercises...

...

This is the classic Eli face... shower cap or not.

hugs...

big hugs between brothers... hugs/wrestling... thats whats really happening. And Canaan, such a trooper, just hanging on for the ride...

Ahhh, summer...

We are all really missing summer... Eli asked if we could just brave the 30 degree weather outside and go swimming... He finally decided that the hot tub would do...

3 Boys...

Here are pictures of all 3 boys at roughly the same age (Canaan-5 mo, Judah-4 mo, Eli-6 mo) in roughly the same outfit... random post, I know, but why not? They are such shmoopies, I had to share.

Fly like an Eagle...

This is just a random eagle we saw flying over our truck around our lake... it was being chased away by some crazy big ol' black birds. I took this picture while hanging out of the window of our truck as Johnny was driving, hence, not the best quality. This actually makes eagle sighting #2, but I didn't have my camera ready for the first one...

Canaan's New Game

So, I randomly put a matchbox car (actually, it was Lightning McQueen, i'm sure Eli would correct me if he could read this)on Canaan's high chair table so that he could chew on it (since, you know, thats what he does) and he figured out a new game!!! so cute...

Christmas 2009... this is how we do it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! And I hope everyone got our Christmas card... If you didn't get one, please let me know. It means I didn't have your address, so please email me with it! Here are some outtakes of our picture we took. It was absolutely ridiculous trying to get a picture where we are all looking at the camera, let alone smiling. Enjoy looking at these Ramey bloopers...

Our Christmas was wonderful!!! It started out with a blizzard on the 23rd that kept us shut in until Christmas day... which was actually pretty nice! On Christmas Eve the boys got to open one present each (new jammers, same every year, but they haven't caught on yet) and they were exploding with excitement, as you can see:

Immediately following the excitement came a bit of reality, as noted here:

We told them to calm down and not get too crazy or someone would get hurt... and what do you know? A big bonk on the edge of the coffee table... but he got over it quickly... the band aid is such a miracle worker:

The next morning was Christmas and it was so relaxing. we just got to hang out and open presents and just be together. It was such a good time.









Around 3:00 in the afternoon we got in the truck, said a prayer, and attempted to drive up the driveway 3 times before actually making it, and got to town about an hour later (a drive that normally takes 30 minutes). We ate some fantastic food and took some family pictures... here are a few, including one of the 5 generations: Granpa Howard, Papaw Wendell, Traci, Johnny, and Eli.

I think there were about 30 people celebrating all together including our friends. And there were six children all ages 3 and under with 2 more due in a couple of months. So it was alot of chaotic fun! Everyone was running wild and none of the babies could figure out why it was ok to be out of control on this day and not on any other day! Kind of funny... but probably confusing to the poor kiddos. ah well, it was worth it :)

The snow from the blizzard stayed (for about 2 weeks, it never got above freezing) so for the next few days we got in plenty of snowball fights, snow football games, and 4wheeler sledding. Eli and Judah also had their first homemade hot chocolate to warm up after all of the outdoor activities... I think they liked that more than any of their presents (mental note for next year).

I guess I better wrap up this entirely too long post. I'll try to keep up with this blog a little better this year, but thats definitely not one of my resolutions, so don't hold me to that :) BLESSINGS!