God Bless America

Before I start my blogging, I want to say a quick thank you to all of you for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. We will miss Dan's mom greatly and are heartbroken that she is no longer with us. However, we know she is in a better place now, and that gives us comfort. Again, thank you.

I titled this God Bless America for pretty obvious reasons. I watched the inauguration yesterday, and just felt overwhelmed and blessed that I live in such a great country where we can elect our leaders freely. What a historic moment it was to watch the transition of power, to see an African American as President, where just decades ago they lacked the basic civil rights. Our country does not get enough credit--look how far we have come in such little time. Of course, the country is not perfect, we have a lot of problems and challenges, but truly-would you want to live anywhere else in the world??? Everyone around me knows I was a huge McCain supporter, but I will pray for and support President Obama as he is our President and as an American, that is what we should do. I REFUSE to be a hater (like the many Bush haters our there).

I also am moved to say thank you to President Bush. Thank you for keeping us safe since 9/11. Thank you for giving us a good economy for 7 of the 8 years (after being handed a recession and 9/11). Thank you for being such a staunch supporter of Africa and her people (you have done more for Africa than anyone on earth). Thank you for freeing millions from evil dictatorship in Iraq and Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Thank you for holding to your principles and values, for not making decisions based on political expediency, but based on principle. Thank you for being faithful and prayerful to God-and for being outspoken about it.

God Bless America!

Happy New Years!!!

Well it is the Monday after the holidays and things are getting back to normal-of course, except sleeping hours...we are all on a really late schedule and are sleeping late in the morning, and that is going to hit us hard when preschool starts back up on Wednesday!!! Anyway, although I love the holidays, I am glad to have the Christmas stuff put away, the toys reorganized and put away, and everything a bit back to normal! (Not to mention, I finally broke down and threw away all of the leftover candies and sweets left from Christmas-no more temptation!!!)

We had a great Christmas and New Years. For Christmas we got to spend time with family, friends (Angie and Rich were in town, they got to help us break our new Wii in!!!), and of course we were all very spoiled by Santa and others. I got Dan the Wii (and subtly myself the Wii Fit-it was a packaged deal, I promise!!! I love ebay...). Dan got me a new laptop (yeah!!!) and the girls got a ton of great things-movies, barbies, clothes and countless other toys and girlie things. 8 )

On Christmas Eve we have a family tradition that while we are at church, Santa comes to Grandma and Grandpa Mackins and brings the grandkids pajamas. They are sooo cute! Mallory loves hers so much that this morning, she got hers out and (with her whine since she can't talk yet) begged me to put them on her. So, for most of the morning, she had 2 pairs of pajamas on at the same time. 8 ) Too funny.

For New Years, we went to a party at the Cox's, ate too much food, played some games, and barely made it to midnight. It was a fun time had by all!

Saturday was Keaton's 5th birthday-can you believe it!!! We had her party at the YMCA this year, and her and a bunch of her little friends had a blast in the maze and arcade area. Grammons came back for the party, which was great! It is always nice to see them, even if just for a short time! We got to end the day at a game night with our Adult Couple Bible Study group. Again, ate too much food, and played a mean game of Pictionary and a game of 10 point pitch, where (in pitch) the girls beat the boys! (I wasn't so lucky at Pictionary) 8 )

So, now that life is back to normal, I have 2 goals-one to get us all back to a somewhat normal sleep schedule and two, to keep using the Wii fit (and even the other games-I love that they are interactive and require movement!)-maybe this will be my tool to actually lose those last 5 baby pounds and get in better shape!!!

I hope that you all had a blessed holiday season, and while (like the rest of the year) I missed my dad greatly I remember that he is actually in the presence of the man we are celebrating-Jesus. Even Keaton reminds me that "grandpa is with Jesus" and while my smart little 5 year old most likely does not comprehend all of that yet, I am glad I have her to remind me of that. So, I hope you all had a chance to count your blessings this holiday season. We are not guaranteed anything, and I too often catch myself taking my blessings for granted. God be with you all this new year.