One Magnificent Obsession

Loving this song right now. I hope it is everyone's prayer for the New Year. Definitely mine.

One Pure and Holy Passion

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me on magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You

To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your dicsiple in your truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you, my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you
Lead me on and I will run after you

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after you
To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your disciple in the truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you

Lord to know and follow hard after you
And to grow as your disciple in your truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you
Lead me on and I will run after you
Lead me on and I will run after you 

New Year, New Hobbies, New Resolution

OK. So the last blog I posted was back in September. Lots has happened since then.

First of all, I got a job. I now am employed at the BWI Corporate office. It's great. =)

I moved into my own apartment. That's also great. And conveniently located a quarter of a mile from my work (that is being generous) and it is in the same neighborhood as Ryan. My gas bill has dropped drastically.

I have several new hobbies. One is sewing and making cute shirts. Like these.

And headbands. Although, I've only made this one and have lots to work on before they are perfected.

I am currently waiting for a sewing machine from one of my grandmothers. I can't wait to get them seeing as how I discovered the discount fabric bin at Hobby Lobby.


I have also learned how to knit. I am currently working on a scarf (or so I think this is what it will be, I just started knitting)

The really cool thing about this is that these are the same needles my Grandmother learned to knit on. 

This is my Granddaddy and Grandmother. <3 them!

(both over 80 and still kicking like crazy)

My New Year's Resolution is to

1. Read more

2. Blog more

3. Work on my hobbies.

My book list for 2011 is:

1. Jane Eyre (I've read it before, but there is a movie coming out that looks actually good, so I've got to reread it)

2. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (Just loved reading Fly Boys andFlags of our Fathers. This book reminded me of those two and I want to read it.)

3. The Kennedy Detail by Gerald Blaine (It just looks interesting.)

4. The Zoo Keeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman (I've had this book for a year. I now have no college textbooks to read, therefore, it is time!)

5. Crazy Love by Francis Chan. (Because I want to be "overwhelmed by a relentless God.")

I know I have a gazillion more books on my bookshelf that I need to read. A lot of them are history books. (Yes, I realize I am a nerd.) 

As far as blogging more, I really would like to blog two or three times a week. Sadly, I don't see that happening as my life is rather boring. But perhaps if I work on goal #3 I'll have something to blog about. Once I get my sewing machine here, I hope to be able to create lots of cute things to sell. 

America

 I love my country. From the “purple mountains majesty” to the “amber waves of grain.”  I love what is stands for and hopefully will continue to stand for. I love that we are free to go to football games on Friday night. I love that at the beginning of each NASCAR race someone says a prayer, and not a moment of silence. I love that I am free to worship in my church every Sunday morning without fear. I love the history of our nation. I love that for over 200 years, we have fought for our freedoms and what we believed and still believe in. I love to see the Stars and Stripes wave in the wind. I love the words to our national anthem. I love that upon hearing them and singing them, I cry. I love patriotic songs. “My Country Tis Of Thee” , “American the Beautiful” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” are some of my favorites. And yes, I cry when I sing them also. I love that after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, our country was bursting with national pride, that I’m sure can be argued we haven’t seen since the days of World War II. I love the war memorials in Washington D.C.. And yes, I cried walking through them too. I cried walking through Arlington National Cemetery.  So much sacrifice and love for fellow country men has been laid to rest there.

Nine years. I can still remember it clearly. I was in 8^th grade in my science class. My teacher came running in telling us a plane hit the World Trade Centers. I had never even heard of the World Trade Centers. I remember watching in horror every time they showed the clips, but also not being able to watch anything else. I was not directly affected by the event. I did not lose anyone. Still, the events of September 11, 2001 reminded me that our  nation is vulnerable.

I often wonder how much our nation really understands self-sacrifice these days. As I reflect on the events of nine years ago, I am reminded that some do. Who could forget the hundreds of firefighters, policemen and EMTs that rushed into the inferno that was collapsing. Anytime I hear “Let’s Roll” I think of  Todd Beamer who, together with others, managed to thwart the terrorists in the fourth plane, and instead of crashing into another highly populated area, crashed in a random Pennsylvania field. I think of the brave men and women at the Pentagon, who were already serving their country.  And of course the men and women who are in our armed services.

O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life

Nothing irks me more, than selfish people who, for whatever reason, do not agree on military things. Whether you support the decisions or not, you should NEVER criticize our service members who are volunteering to fight and die for you!

While our country is obviously in a desperate state, I reflect on the past. I also remember that God said “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, turning from their evil ways, then I will hear their prayers and heal their lands.” I know I’m a little rusty on the verse but it is 2 Chronicles 7:14.

As many of us watch replays of the events of September 11, I pray that we remember the emotions we felt that day. That we turn to God as we did that day. That we remember our nations rich heritage of Godliness and virtuous decisions. That we return to the path that our forefathers set out for us when they “brought forth on this continent a new nation.” Despite all the conspiracy theories that our founding fathers were devil-worshipping freemasons, I know they believe in God. And therefore established a nation whose foundation was God.

I encourage you to remember our nation’s heritage and history. Read over some patriotic songs and really comprehend the words and meanings they hold.

I’ll leave you with the last verse of “My Country Tis of Thee” and “America the Beautiful.” Think about these words. They mean so much more that just the words to the song.

Our father’s God to Thee
Author of Liberty
To Thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light
Protect us by Thy might
Great God our King.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears

18 Hours and Two Heart Attacks Later...

This past weekend I went with Ryan and his family to a US Super Trucks race in Nashville. We left Thursday at 4 p.m. and rolled into Nashville somewhere around 1:30, I think. (I was asleep at this point and don't remember any of it. Apparently I fell asleep in the elevator on the way to the room.) On Friday it was practice day. Ryan did great and I got to practice taking pictures of racing. =) So exciting! Here are a few of my favorites from Friday.

While I was in Nashville, a very special girl had a birthday. We sent her a Happy Birthday message. I got a call later that night asking if the "Mackenzie" car won. =)

After qualifying, Ryan and his dad had to go fix the clutch, so I went to eat with my sister at Ruby Tuesdays. I have no pictures of that, though. =( I need to be better at taking them...

Saturday, we were up and at the track early as we had more practice and qualifying. I again got to practice my photography skills. (And I got better!) My sister and her husband got to come out to the races and I was so excited to get to see them again!

This is my favorite. 

The pit crew.

The cars had to come in after 25 laps for gas. Before the race, Ryan asked his dad where he needed to pit at and his dad said he'd come out and wave his hat at him. He did. 

Passing for position. 

My two heart attacks came after the first 25 laps. The first time, I have no pictures of but the footage will be on racinboys.com  sometime this week. Ryan was racing with two other cars and got loose with one car on the inside and one on his bumper. (He lost the air and spun around.) Thankfully he didn't hit anything, but I still almost had a heart attack.

The second-near heart attack happened as he was coming to the white flag. I saw sparks (I had threatened if he caught on fire I would never speak to him again) and then he started spinning. He went into the grass, then came back up to the wall, slid across the finish line and finally came to a rest right in front of where I was sitting. Again, he did not hit the wall. But I was shaking! Turns out he had most likely flat-spotted his tires when he spun before and his left rear blew out. 

Here is Ryan finally stopped in front of where I was sitting, Notice he is in the grass, not on asphalt where he SHOULD be. =)

You know the saying, leave it all on the track (or field)? Well, he left it. His tire tread sitting in the grass. 

We headed back to Texas at 10 p.m. and rolled into town at 6:30 a.m. It was a great trip and Ryan had a blast, even with the two spins. I'm still speaking to him as well. =) Oh and he finished 6th out of 13. Even with two spins. My man is good. =) His next race is in two weeks in Milwaukee. Yeah, not going to that one, but hoping and praying for good results there to!

Girls Night and Lots of Ice Cream

Last night me and my friend Lauren went out for girls night to celebrate her first day of school in a new place. Had a blast! We went to Roadhouse to eat, then got pedicures. After that we went to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. I ordered a large plastic cup of ice cream, so I'm thinking I'm going to get something that looks like this.

Instead, I got this.

Yes, that is a large DRINK cup full of ice cream. Needless to say I didn't eat it all. 

Header

I just made the header on my blog. I kind of like it. We shall see how long it stays. Looks a little primitive though...graphics aren't that great.

Wow, I'm bad at this...

Ok, so it's been quite sometime since my last post. I will say that it is hard to blog a lot when you don't have Internet on a regular basis. That being said, summer is almost gone and I have said nothing about it.

The past month has been super busy. My dad's parents will be celebrating 60 years of marriage at the beginning of September. We had a party for them this past weekend. It was awesome. We had over 70 family members show up and about 50 of their friends. It was also the first time in a long time that all her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids were all together at once. (We were missing two husbands and my brother's family, although he was there.) Here are some pictures from the party.

These are my grandparents. They got married when my grandma was only 15! The cake topper was on their original wedding cake.

2010

1950

This is our entire family. Four generations. 

Here are my Grandma's pride and joy. The four great-grandchildren. 

My sister also got to come down from Nashville for it. It was great getting to see her. I really miss her! We even got to stay up late one night giggling, just like sisters should. We did miss Kyle though! He had to stay in Nashville because he was playing with Chuck Wicks! 

Do we look alike?

I am blessed with a large family. Sometimes it is crazy, but I still love them all!

Still looking for a job, but have had some nibbles. Still working on that patience.