Small Beginnings

Years ago now..16 to be exact...B was preparing to come on staff at his home church in Valrico, Florida.  He would spend his days working on everything from leading worship...to small groups...to outreach.  The position was a big deal for 2 very young, newly married, Bible School Students and this church in particular was a place we really wanted to be...under a Pastor we had a great deal of admiration for.


Elizabeth Joy had recently rocked entered our world and although I was passionate (and busy) with both motherhood and ministry, I still felt led to pray for my own niche - which I hoped would fall outside the realm of baby diapers and church.


Having been a Performance Music Major, my mother-in-law gave me the family piano and I tossed around the idea of teaching.  My across-the-street neighbor was a sweet, kindly music teacher with more than 20 years experience and on occassion we'd find ourselves chatting about the subject.


I remember clearly the day I decided that I would begin teaching piano lessons.  I said to B, "Well, if I'm going to do this, I need to advertise.  God's not just going to drop students in my lap."  About an hour later, my neighbor knocked on our back door (those are still in use in the South) and said, "Here is the name and number of a mom who would like piano lessons.  I can't take anymore students in my schedule so, I thought of you.  Infact, why don't I recommend you to people who call me from now on."  I guess God can do whatever He wants to do.

Thus began a little cottage industry where I would teach music while Elizabeth Joy played on a baby blanket on the floor and B was out saving the world (so to speak).

Over the years, I continued to teach private music lessons while expanding my abilities -- teaching classroom music in schools of all types and becoming a liscensed Kindermusik Educator.


16 years in and I'm ready to take on the expanded role of mentor and encourager to  young teachers, just like me, looking to make the world a better place and instill a love of music in young students in Colorado Springs.

This coming year, my studio, Creative Music Concepts will be expanding to offer private lessons in more than one location in our city.  We will once again be offering Kindermusik classes to children and their parents/caregivers ages 3 months - 5 years old.  We've hired teachers, wonderful musicians in their own right, and the kind of young people you really want your kids to be around.

Now, will you help us by spreading the word?  You and your friends can "like" us on Facebook by searching Creative Music Concepts.  Also, feel free to pass along our information should you come across anyone needing private piano lessons or might be interested in Kindermusik classes.


We are grateful for the rich place God has brought us too, in our family, in ministry and in business.  We look forward to the next 16 years and living life well with many of you.


Blessings,
Shanna and Billy Ramsdell 719-290-2449

Excessive Parental Boasting

Warning...this blog is filled to the brim with sheer and utter "braggy"ness...if you have a problem with excessive parental boasting...please stop now....

Tonight, Elizabeth is helping to lead the charge at the DSM prayer meeting.  She knows prayer is a valuable way to spend her time.  She is beautiful and wonderful and I can hardly believe she belongs to me.  Actually, she belongs to God and I've always known that.  Consecrated.  Set apart.  And the fact that God loaned her to me is a sign of His goodness.  These days our home is filled with talk of College, Cars, Jobs, Future, Future, Future...and I'm gonna miss her like crazy when I don't get to see her everyday.

Hosanna is praying too.  She's also kicking academic butt in one of the best schools in the nation!  From the moment God put the very thought of her in my mind, I knew she would be someone special.  She's beautiful and wonderful and tonight before DSM -- she paused her busy schedule to cook dinner for the family. I love her willingness to serve and the fact that she's just as comfortable behind the scenes as she is on stage.  I think she's pretty amazing.

Benjamin is working hard to please his parents -- and admittedly we are sometimes hard to please.  He claims he'll go to cotillion if I want him too, although he thinks fancy manners are useless.  I'm convinced he's growing in wisdom -- allbeit S.L.O.W.L.Y.  I think he is destined to follow in his father's footsteps...to defend the fatherless...to love his family like crazy...to be kind...intense...and care about the things God cares about.  I'm crazy about him really.

Victoria is sitting at the piano.  She's playing...singing... worshiping.  Her favorite past times.  I love that I only taught her to play a chord chart 5 minutes ago.  I love the way she loves...how she gives her whole heart to something.  I love that she is sensitive to words -- and she knows for her this is a good thing -- and a hard thing.  Victory comes easily for her...and she is our sunshine on a cloudy day.

Eli is whining.  It's annoying really.  Regardless -- these past 2 years he's proved himself brave...and he's becoming filled with true joy.  Amazing.  I love him to death.

So there ya have it.  The RamFam clan at it's finest...at least for today.  Great days don't happen all the time.  At least they don't for the 7 of us.  This day in fact began with grumpiness (I didn't sleep well)...and boredom (I didn't want to do the list of things I H.A.D. to do...much less those things that keep our household functioning...like dishes and laundry).  But, my friend Valerie likes to encourage people to choose the color of their day.  Gray?  No.  I'm not really a gray girl.  How's about RED...or ORANGE AND PINK or GREEN AND BLUE!  Even if I liked Gray...I'd want something Red hanging on the wall in front of it.  So...looking through THAT lens...we ended up with a GREAT day.  And, I'm so thankful.

Blessings and more blessings to you and yours!

Shanna

Great weekends are much appreciated

We had a great weekend. It started with an email response from an old friend. You see, I am "somewhat organized". This leaves plenty of room for "somewhat disorganized". I like my kitchen counters cleared off, for instance, but if you open my "junk drawer" -- well lets just say it looks like a good old fashioned junk drawer. IAM JUST FINE WITH THIS.

Still, I sent one of my oldest and best friends, Ginny Thomas, a long email (it probably took her 4 hours to read) lamenting my need to re-organize virtually every area of my large life. She graciously responded with the kind of response only someone who really knows you can give...Shanna, you know what needs to be done...you just need to actually DO what needs to be done. Yes.

It takes a long time to become "old friends". It's worth it.

Billy and I have decided to make 2012 "our year". Ya know it goes like this, "No, we are not taking the 5 of you. Only me and dad are going out to dinner". And, "No, we aren't all staying the weekend in Breckenridge - only dad and I". It's only January 8th and our kids are already notably confused by this. So...what do you do when you need a cheap date? Friday night we piled sleeping bags in front of the TV, ate popcorn, watched the World's Worst movie, and listened to the 80's station. For parents of 5 children, this was almost like being in the spa. Almost.

Saturday, we drove 2 hours to Limon, Colorado where our youngest daughter, Victoria's worship band class had the opportunity to run through a real rehearsal and lead an hour worship session. They did a fantastic job thanks to a lot of hard work and a great teacher/leader. After a week of "Celebrity Wife Swap" and Facebook conversations about pastors on "Dr. Phil", I am especially grateful for humble, Godly men, like Victoria's teacher, Gary Trobee, who are willing to serve God in quiet places without any fanfare. My heroes I tell ya.

Besides having a great time with our daughter and her friends, we were able to have dinner with too new friends, Valerie and Ron Lumsden. Valerie brought me my first birthday gift and let's just say we are planning on the Lumsden Family becoming old friends.

Today, after a very enjoyable church service we had CHRISTMAS DINNER compliments of my sweet in-laws. Yes, Christmas Dinner on Jan 8th and it tasted just as good. Not to mention that AMAZING win by the Broncos.

Here are a few misc pics for your viewing pleasure!

Blessings!!!

Back to blogging

Looking forward to blogging more in 2012 (thanks to my new iPad). We decided to take a winter hike shortly after Christmas. At one point, Elizabeth froze and said, "Dad, are you growling at me?". Well, that's never good...although we never saw any other animal capable of growling....thank the Lord! Here are a few pics from the day.

FALL 2011 - lots of news

Catch Up: >>> It has been months since our last post, mostly due to a crazy amount of activity and little time to think and share. Eli has been growing in so many ways in recent months. I will jump around, but share what details I can remember for now.

Summer: >>>> Over the summer Eli traveled thousands of miles to Denver and back for Church, Elitch Gardens and other fun. He went from no-rides to roller-coaster-rides and loved everything about Elitch. He became famous and loved at our Summer Church in Denver, referred to as "the Denver Church". The teens loved him and asked to hang with him all the time. He loved to sing, dance, play and run around with the youth group. Another thing that was cool about this summer was how intimate Eli became with the other kids. He and Benjamin spent time together and Victoria really helped take care of him alot. Elizabeth and Hosanna also really connected with him. His cousin, Jeffrey, moved to Colorado and has taken a liken to him, which is a great surprise. Another summer change was Eli's love for skateboards. He began playing on a skateboard nearly everyday. Between a scooter and skateboard, that kid lived on wheels.

Fall: >>>> Last night we went to a concert with Steven Curtis Champman and other artist in support of ShowHope, an organization that gave us a grant for his adoption. While hanging out with the ShowHope staff person, who was sort of a road manager for SCC. He found out that Eli was about to turn 5 yrs old and kindly surprised Eli with a $5 dollar bill. Later while talking about school and school buses, this man, David, offered to take Eli to his bus. Eli doesn't understand, but of the 1200+ people at the concert, I'm sure few got to go onto SCC's travel bus like Eli. Another Fall surprise for Eli was an early snow. We had 5 inches of snow in early October and he went outside with Benjamin and Victoria all day to play in the snow.

School: >>>> Last year Eli had Mrs. Lynn and a team of D20 special teachers to learn from. He loved school, the bus and everything having to do with school. His language, sight and speech all get special attention. The ladies giving him this help fell in love with him and love teaching him. We decided to move to Denver for Church Ministry and left this preschool with much sadness. However, over the summer it was decided to reconsider the move. After months of prayer and waiting, circumstances unfolded that would leave us in the Springs and Eli back in the D20 preschool. Last week we went to an assessment with that team of teachers to review the plan for Eli and they once again expressed their love for Eli and commitment to his growth. They are working on his vision, speech and learning ability. They understand Eli and have taken special steps to make sure he learns all he can. One teacher said she would go to whatever D20 school we move to for Kindergarten to have the ability to work with Eli. We are so thankful and can't explain with words how special this team of teachers are to us and to Eli.

Eyesight and Glasses: >>>> Eli has been doing well with his vision, considering. We have an amazing doctor who gives Eli lots of attention and favor, once again, we are so thankful. One eye just is not working anymore. The other eye has 2200 to 2400 vision, which is legally blind. However, the kids runs around like he has great vision and is fearless on the playground, house and sidewalk. When we brought him home from China, he could barely walk, would not play on the smallest of playgrounds and could not walk from one floor texture/color without stopping to check each step. Now, the kids runs like crazy, and wears his glasses 24/7. We went to get new glasses recently and he wanted blue frames, so bless God, he gets blue frames. We are thankful that he thrives under the care of so many helpful people.

Friends and Fame: >>> Eli has girlfriends at Church and the Neighborhood. He loves to hang out with a few girls from the community and has special love for a little girl named Ansley from church. It has been great to see so many people become a friend to Eli. Even friends of Elizabeth and Hosanna love Eli and come to visit. They talk directly to him and he considers them all his friends. His full personality is alive and kicking, which has made him into a regular socialite....

Eli is a huge blessing..he loves for me to "tuck him in" every night and has stopped asking if we are coming back to get him. He still asks about where he will eat sometimes, but so does my other kids. He seems to love his home, family, church and friends. He has started asking about China, which has been good so far. He seems to love the fact that we call him SON, and that he has a mom and dad. And....make no doubt about it...WE LOVE HIM.....He has changed our life in so many ways....Bless God....

CROWN

This is a busy season. Crazy busy for the RamFam. But -- I can't hide the fact -- that we love it.

We are apart of a large production at our home church called The Crown. It all began 6 years ago when I was on staff at New Life. That year, about 5 weeks before Easter, our children's pastor announced that we needed to come up with a kid friendly production to go along with The Thorn. We all thought he was crazy. He was crazy. 5 weeks isn't much time and that year the whole thing was painful. Truthfully, I figured if I had to be miserable, I might as well have my whole family miserable and make them participate with me (Besides there weren't that many people too participate that first year!). To my utter shock, it stuck. And 6 years later, we can't imagine Easter time without all this craziness.



We've been demons, angels, disciples, townspeople, and makeup artists. We've had 3 trips to the emergency room due to Crown injuries and we've spent countless hours with Crown friends only to cry the next morning when we are too tired to get up for school/work. (Eventually, our fatigue takes over and we just start dragging in later and later to school. Schools love that btw. Not.) About the time we think we have a Crown hangover, performances begin (this year 8 total) and we get a renewed burst of energy, passion and a sense of God's crazy love for children and families.




We expect God to stir the hearts of over 1,000 kids and adults this year. We expect hundreds of people to be drawn to God's crazy love for them...just like we were. As we prepare for this -- I get the priveledge of serving with dozens of teens, kids and their parents who love Jesus...who love worship...who are passionate about prayer...and love one another.



That's right...I witness weekly DOZENS of TEENAGERS and CHILDREN who really do love Jesus and church -- who spontaneously gather around and lay hands, praying over a sick team mate....who pray for God's love to reach others in the hallways during the Cruxifiction scence...who pray over each other...and pray over all the people who will come to see the productions -- usually with no adult prompting. I watch adults instruct and train, "Boys and Girls lift your hands and let's pray"..."Boys and girls, worship starts in 5 minutes. Be there." "Guys, this kid is sick//that kid was injured...let's pray now for them." "I see you're feeling discouraged, I'm going to pray for you."



I watch CROWN parents pull kids out of other activities and forgo school assignments for a time -- because THIS is simply more important....moms - up early, cooking and packing dinner, costumes for kids AND for themselves, etc. Directors make 5:45am runs to Starbux to make sure volunteers make it through the morning. I watch kids spend HOURS perfecting their parts, working out, praying, listening, watching for what God is doing...and when instructing these kids, there is no talk amongst those working on the production about the "short" attention span of children...no expectation that the teenagers don't want to participate in spiritual things. On the contrary, there is an expectation that THIS YOUNG GENERATION is called to change the world -- and we are called to instruct and train them...and it's a joy to do so.

People work hard...but more importantly they expect God to change lives and do what only He can do. There's alot of joy and freedom in that.

So...the RamFam is tired. And very satisfied. And very expectant about this upcoming week...along with alot of other great families we've come to really love!

Here's to Crown season!



Loving the world, hating the dark

Shanna

Vacation Planning

We love vacation! I even love vacation planning! One vacation just makes me want to plan the next one. Seriously, a vacation every other month would be fine by me! For the FALL...we are considering this....



Makes me happy!