THE ONE WITH THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE

We had a GREAT 4th of July weekend! This is the first year since I was a kid that I've been in Murfreesboro for the fireworks. I usually LOVE going downtown Nashville, but the wall-to-wall people just didn't leave much space for Mady to be Mady. So we decided to try out the "Celebration Under the Stars" at Sports*Com. We'll probably change the way we did some of it for next year, but overall it was a pretty successful experience. We had a blast hanging out with the Coomes family, Lashlee & David, and my parents and brother - quite the random group. We just collected people who were going to be there, and it was so nice!

At church on Sunday morning, we sang the usual collection of patriotic songs (though not "America the Beautiful," like Darin was hoping). New Vision always does a fantastic job of creating an environment for deep, meaningful worship. I often feel like their worship leaders prompt me to think about things from a unique perspective. Actually, I'm sure it's God's prompting, but I'm grateful for these musicians who allow God to prompt through them. Anyway, you probably wouldn't be surprised to know that we sang "God Bless America" this week. I wasn't either, but I was surprised by the things that stood out to me...

     God bless America,
     Land that I love.
     Stand beside her, and guide her
     Through the night with a light from above.
     From the mountains, to the prairies,
     To the oceans, white with foam
     God bless America, My home sweet home.

#1 - What must it have been like for this country to be so connected protestant views? I'm horrible at anything historical, so please disregard any of my ignorance when I write about things like this. But it had to be kind of nice for religion to play a bigger part in government. I'm not talking about wanting our current "church and state" to be combined (let's not even go there for now), I just often think about what it must have been like before there was much separation. What if you lived in a country where your beliefs were shared and implemented into the government daily? People of different religions experience this in other countries, right? My thoughts on this go quite a bit deeper, but I can tell I don't know how to put them into words that sound very educated, so I'll just leave it at that!

#2 - Irving Berlin's words are beautiful perfect. His prayer is for God to "stand beside" and "guide" our country "through the night with a light from above." Through the night - the darkness, the shadows, the not so-bright-spots that definitely exist in this nation. Berlin wrote these words while serving in the Army. Does it get much darker than the battlefield? (Actually, his original words were to the right, but he changed them later. Maybe he saw something that changed him?) With a light from above - for God to put his divine presence over us, a light that is brighter than any other. I pray that God truly does stand beside and guide us with his perfect knowledge through the things we can't even fathom getting through. I pray this for our nation and for my own personal life.

Just some thoughts.

THE ONE WITH BABY GRAVES

Last week I had the unbelievably amazing chance to visit Laura and Rusty in California. Laura and I are friends from waaaay back in the day. We met at First Church of God when I was 9 and my family first moved to Murfreesboro. We spent time bossing around our brothers, spent money on American Girl Dolls, spent a year together at FRCS, and eventually spent every Friday night together (until I moved into the MTSU dorms and she wasn't allowed!). We both ended up going out-of-state to college in the fall of 2004 and experienced our first taste of long-distance friendship. We still shared quite a bit. She and I (and Leah!) were even married the same summer. After the weddings, Darin and I established our (short-lived) home in Illinois, and Laura and Rusty began their life in California. Woah. It's a long way out there! I've been to Colorado, South Dakota, and Texas, but that's about the extent of my travels west of the Mississippi. I have been craving a trip to see Laura in Cali, especially now that she is preggo. And that's just what Mady gave me for mother's day!

I flew into LAX on Wednesday (after carefully picking my seat based on which part of the LOST crew survived), so we spent the day seeing Hollywood...

the Santa Monica Pier,

and Venice Beach (which, amazingly, I do not have a picture of). I found that Laura and I were made to be tourists together. We saw SO much so quickly in one day yet were completely satified with everything we saw. It was awesome! I was only disappointed in one thing: the famous HOLLYWOOD sign. Call it the magic of the movies or call it the un-reality of "The Bachelorette," but I had no clue it was so difficult to see! I wanted a foot picture with it, but it looked silly so far away and surrounded by so much deadness. Boo. But, everything else = SO much fun!

Thursday was spent recovering from our whirlwind tour of LA and hanging out in Laura and Rusty's super-cute home in Exeter. Friday was a big day - not only was it Leah's birthday(!), but it was also the day that Laura found out she was having a GIRL! It was such a special time to get to be out there. (Thanks for sharing, Rusty!) We celebrated with Toy Story 3-D, a yummy lunch, and "Hostess" cupcakes from "The Frosted Muffin."

Saturday, Laura and I headed to San Francisco. I LOVED SAN FRANCISCO. Loved it. It felt like Chicago to me, even though the two are very different. But the city and the water and the pier... it was all so perfect. And, again, Laura was the perfect travel buddy. We had all the same goals and opinions. I am so glad we decided to make the drive there!

My absolute favorite part was riding the cable cars! I don't really know why, but I LOVED it!

And the curvy road!

On Sunday, I got to visit Laura and Rusty's church. I really enjoyed their service and getting to see where Rusty serves as youth pastor. We had a delicous lunch with an awesome family from their church and just hung out for the day. I love witnessing life. Sunday and Monday were days for experiencing what they experience daily, and I like getting to do that. Now I can picture them in their town, church, and house!

Tuesday, Laura and I ventured into the Sequoia National Park. It was a grand God-picture and quite breathtaking. We hiked quite a bit for the two of us! And we were rewarded with the view. After a week of spending time together like we had never been apart, it was time to return to my husband and baby girl. I missed both of them SO much, and it's good to be home. I LOVE SUMMER! I'll leave you with some pictures of God's majesty...

I LOVE SUMMER.

As a teacher, I guess that's easy for me to say. Those of you with "real" jobs probably roll your eyes when I profess my endless devotion to this sunny season, but there's more to it than just not having to clock-in at work. Summer means not taking my Mady to the sitter. (No offense, Nicole - we love you!) Summer means I can do all my home projects without feeling like I should be grading papers. Summer means looking back on the past year of teaching and having time to create new ideas. Summer means traveling to see those I love and miss so much. Summer means reorganizing and reinventing. Summer might even mean blogging!
For me, summer is what the rest of the working world probably feels at New Year's. I don't stop at New Year's and take time to reflect and reinvent. I'm pretty sure I don't even stop to BREATHE until school lets out in May. (In fact, there are friends I barely even talk to if it's not June or July!) But I'm ready. I'm ready to focus on reinventing a few things within myself. I'm ready for summer.
So maybe I'll keep up with this blog. It's something I'd like to do, but not something that's high on my list of priorities, so we'll see! In the meantime, here are a few pictures of my Mady since you've last been updated...

MacKay Family Vacation 2009

My family LOVES to vacation at Seabrook Island, SC. We've been going there since I was in the 5th grade (not every year, but several), and we absolutely love it. Seabrook (which you might recognize from "The Notebook!") is a private island off the coast of Charleston. We love the quiet beaches and commercial-free location. But we also go in to the city a few times, which has become one of my favorites. If you've never been to Charleston, I highly recommend it. SOON. :) It's a great town.

This year my older brother, Matt, and his wife and daughter (Janelle and Addison) drove down from New York to join us for the week. My younger brother, Justin, and his girlfriend, Jami, came with us, as well as my parents. We had a blast...

Why can't we be friends?

We've been waiting for a long time to see how Charlie would react to having a baby around the house. Charlie is a good dog - he really is. He's rowdy with other dogs, but extremely calm alone. He just lays around the house being lazy. He likes to curl up right next to me most of the time. So my only fear was that he would feel replaced and act out because of it.

Mady has been home 17 days now. Charlie was at my parents' for the first few days. So the two of them have been in the house together for 14 days. He's pretty curious... checking her out and licking her feet or hands when he gets the chance. But he's also been very careful, which is good. We've caught him a couple of times sitting under her bassinet or swing when she starts to wake up or cry. He even sits on the bed with her while I get ready in the mornings. I watched him one morning scoot from the other side of the bed... getting closer and closer very slowly and carefully - it was funny to watch. I thought they were becoming good buddies.

HOWEVER. This morning Mady, Charlie, and I were hanging out in bed watching the Today show. I took Mady in her room to change her diaper. When I returned, I found a demolished pacifier and Charlie, sitting in his cage. I could not have been gone more than a few minutes and he absolutely destroyed that plastic. My favorite little pink one, too! Charlie is not a chewer. The only time he has ever torn up anything was when I left him out of his cage alone for too long and he ate my couch pillow. He was way too stressed. So what does this mangled pacifier mean? Is it a desperate cry for attention? Or was he just really curious as to what was so great about sticking that thing in your mouth?

I have to over-analyze things and find new entertainment now that I'm not working. :)

Introducing... Mady!

Madelyn Jane finally made her first appearance (3.5 weeks early) on March 25th. After a 9-day run in the NICU, she is home. And she is AMAZING. Darin and I are having a great time just hanging out with her.

I will post pictures later, but for now I wanted you to see a sneak peek at some special ones. We have some great friends, Kevin and Emily, who just moved to Nashville. Fortunately for us, Emily is an awesome photographer! They came over on Sunday, and we had a blast taking pictures. Check out her website for a few examples: http://emjphotography.blogspot.com/

Chocolate Chunk 4 LIFE

I LOVE Pillsbury Chocolate Chunk brownies. I truly believe that these specific brownies are the best to be found - no exceptions. I also love to make desserts with brownies as a base, and no other brownie base will do. You can imagine my frustration when these delectable goodies disappeared from the Kroger shelves almost a year ago.

Devastated. You think I'm kidding. Not even close. I have been to Food Lion, Publix, Wal-Mart, Target, on and on... no one was carrying this specific type anymore.

So now imagine my surprise when we came home after our childbirth class tonight and I found this...

Darin found them. Searched all over Middle Tennessee and finally called Pillsbury. They, in fact, do still exist (thank goodness) and are carried at SuperTarget.

I love this man. May sound silly, but this was a big deal to me today. It's been a rough week and he knew how to do something special.

Oh. and I love SuperTarget. How fantastic.

Dessert anyone?