Breathing more easily

We are all breathing more easily these days.  Yes, school is out!

Elizabeth continues to love work, both her co-workers and the work tasks.  She has begun her on-line Psychology of Women college course and diligently spends time each day on the readings, lectures, and writing assignments.  She is familiar with a lot of the background material already, due to her high school sociology course (and having a social psychologist as a mom, ha ha); in fact, she informed me that the only thing she has actually learned thus far is the term outgroup homogeneity!  Wow, that daughter of mine sure does know a lot about gender studies and the history of women's suffrage!

Michael's AAU travel basketball team has found their synergy. 
Two weekends ago, we travelled to Atlanta, where his team went undefeated, winning the entire tournament! 

Last weekend they competed in a Louisville tournament and won first in the silver bracket (they lost only one game over the three days).  I'm telling you, don't mess with Basketball Michael.  He will take you on.  And you will lose.  He is amazing to watch.  Angie opened up her home to eight of us - the four McKenzies, Michael's friend Aaron, and the three stooges [our dogs] - what a gracious host.  I love spending time with Angie and so appreciated her attending every single one of his games that weekend.  Rosemary went to most of them as well.  Michael has been working a children's basketball camp at the high school all week, then goes to high school practice in the afternoon, followed by AAU practice during the evenings.  Michael's JV team starts competing this weekend.  As you can see, we never have too much basketball.

Elizabeth wanted to go (well, we made her go) to the Atlanta tournament.  She and I snuck off to Agnes Scott College in between games and went on a self-tour of the all-female, private, small, liberal arts campus.  One of our favorite parts of the beautiful campus was the enormous sign that read "smart women sweat."  Although it was referring to women in sports, Elizabeth and I felt super smart because it was really humid, so we were certainly sweating.  I loved spending time with her talking about college life and was so happy the four of us were together for the whole weekend.

Speaking of college, Austin graduated summa cum laude from Eastern Kentucky University last month.  Steven was able to attend the ceremony and spend the afternoon and evening with his family.  I can imagine how everyone had many poignant thoughts of David during the festivities.  How proud he was of  Austin for so many reasons, certainly one of which was Austin's academic achievements.

My sabbatical has officially ended! The last 2 activities I completed during the semester include a presentation and a proposal.  I presented at a ministry festival, my topic was how faculty combine their spiritual beliefs with their academic calling.  The other final task was collaborating with my two brilliant sisters on our cross-cultural research project conference proposal.  We submitted it last night for the November 

conference.  We will officially be notified by August as to whether our proposal was accepted, but I'm telling you on June 1st that it will definitely be accepted.  We rocked that research project!  I am thankful for sabbatical for many reasons, including I got to have many lunches and get togethers with friends around the state!  I even caught up with LBJ one week and Carolyn Ludwig another. Last weekend my UK mentor Monica, UK peer Mark, and I got together in Lexington. 

Steven continues to be the family rock.  Pretty much everything the man does is for his family, including arriving at work before 5 each morning so he can leave by 2:30 and be with us.  He cooks, cleans, makes every call related to finances, and takes care of all the landscaping and yard work.  He drives  Michael to his many, many practices and events.  He continues researching colleges for Elizabeth.  He keeps me even-keeled with his calm demeanor.  And of course, we love our evening walks with the three stooges. Again, the man is our rock.

Love and miss you all!  Can't wait for the California trip!!!

The girl who never dresses up

Elizabeth has never enjoyed dressing up.  The first time she willingly wore a dress as a child was when she was 4 and Aunt Laura sent her a lederhosen dress.  After that, we didn't really see another dress that was voluntarily chosen by her for at least ten years.

Enter the transformation of Elizabeth, who agreed to go to prom earlier this month with a group of friends.  As she says, "People I know who are in relationships make stupid decisions."  That's one wise daughter we have!

Dress shopping with Elizabeth was awesome.  She is very decisive ("no way would I ever wear that") and knew just what she wanted.

Her thick hair was simply beautiful.  Here's half of it curled - the other half is pulled to the front of her shirt, awaiting the straightener (ironic name, yes?).

She was breath-taking.


More importantly, she had a fabulous time!  First, the group of 8 went to Spindletop (UK's club) for photos and dinner, then to prom.  She even danced!!!  The school sponsored a midnight breakfast from 11-3, which somewhat disappointed E and her friends because the advertised mini-chicken biscuits were not to be found.  But that was the only downside.  After the biscuit-less breakfast, most of the group spent the night at a friend's house.  Who says slumber parties only happen during middle school?!

Happy Spring

Elizabeth continues her quest to fight injustice and improve the lives of those who suffer through little or no fault of their own.  For example, she bought 150 chapsticks and attached labels with information on human trafficking survivor resources.  The chapsticks are placed in hotels, motels, and other areas heavily traveled by victims of human trafficking in the hopes the victims will find them and seek help in order to leave the industry.  We joined the Lexington Women's March in January.  She wrote emails to our council members expressing her support for a proposed Fairness Ordinance, which would make discrimination based on one's sexual orientation illegal.  She recently attended the college's Take Back the Night program and is waiting on Stop the Violence wristbands to distribute at her high school.  We are so proud of her awareness of human frailty and suffering and her strong desire to actually do something about it, in whatever small way she can.

And she got a job!  She submitted her resume to Raising Cane's one night.  Received a call from the manager the next day.  Was interviewed the following day.  And hired as soon as her background check was returned.  If only most people's hiring process were so easy!  Because the restaurant was still under construction when she was interviewed, she met the manager at a hotel conference center - and on her way out of the interview, the hotel manager asked her if she would be interested in working for the hotel!  Elizabeth absolutely loves her job.  She picks up extra shifts, stays late to close, forgets to take her scheduled breaks (isn't that illegal?), and is eagerly awaiting her first paycheck.  The manager is so complimentary about her and she loves (almost) all of her colleagues.  We are so proud to see her in this new role of employee, so responsible and competent and energized.

One of Michael's recent English assignments was to write an original poem and perform it in front of his class.  The performance had to be at least 2 minutes long and include a variety of literary devices, like alliteration, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, simile, etc.  He decided to write about the different personalities of the three dogs: The Wise One, the Depressed One, and the Crazy One.  Can you guess which is which?  We had fun as a family watching Michael practice and practice, acting out the words and imitating the dogs.  He was proud to tell us his poem and performance were selected by his peers as one of the top three in his class, which allowed him to perform it again the next week.


Michael continues his basketball amazingness (not a word, but it should be).  He astounds me with all his points and his moves and his ball playing abilities.  I never grow tired of watching him play.  I never mind reading in my car until the next game begins!  He is on the select team Prodigy.  Another select team recruited him hard and he played with them two weekends he didn't have Prodigy commitments - they won 2nd place with Michael on their team; lost by about 60 each game the next weekend without him.  Michael pretty much outscores everyone and never loses those nerves of steel.  If you ever want to see a few hundred clips of his feats, let me know.  I leave them on my phone, just in case someone asks.

I saw GC alum Katie Columbus a couple of weeks ago.  She and her girlfriend Erin were moving Erin from NYC to Denver, where Katie lives.  They swung through Kentucky so I could see them both.  Oh how E and M loved Katie when they were younger - every time Katie was in Ky she would come over and play with them.  This happened multiple times each year for at least 10 years.  What joy she has brought our family.

My sabbatical is going well.  The three sisters have collected our data from the US and the Germany students.  Mary hired Elizabeth to be our research assistant and help us with data scoring and coding.  We will know our results soon.  Last month, Lisa Eddy and I presented at a teaching conference and loved our distraction-free time together.  Meanwhile, I have read many academic books this semester, yet most days I still find time for some quality Dateline or Forensic Files episodes.  Keep your doors locked.

Steven continues to devote most of his free time to his family.  Specifically, he mentors Michael in basketball ... and conditioning.  They go to the college gym and work out.  Sometimes they practice on our back yard court.  Steven spends hours each week researching colleges that emphasize social justice and diversity.  Then he and Elizabeth talk about the benefits of each and continue narrowing down her college choices.  As always, Steven is constantly improving our home.  This week he constructed shoe racks for Michael, painted the laundry room shelves, and designed a fence for the backyard.  I love his creativity and conscientiousness.  And our evening walks with the three dogs.  Sometimes he's even drawn into those Dateline episodes.  :)

So that's life in a nut shell.  Hope you are all well.  We love you.

The Relatives Came

One of the kids' favorite books growing up was The Relatives Came, given to us by Laura. The storyline captures how much happiness stems from getting together with relatives from far away. Such was the case when Aaron, Kate, and Mary visited last week for five days.

One day we went to The Pavillion, where brave and daring Kate and Aaron jumped off the diving board, zoomed around the water slide, and climbed to the top of the pool’s rock wall.  Michael played basketball on the nearby courts.  Elizabeth, Mary, Steven, and I were impressed spectators, alternating our attention between the court and the pool.

The next day we went to the Explorium, Lexington's children’s museum.  The kids made big bubbles, created shadows, climbed a non-water rock wall, and presided over a mock court.  Elizabeth and Kate wished peace upon everyone.

On Monday, Elizabeth, Mary, and I went to the Dr. MLK, Jr. Day march and program downtown.  As usual, Elizabeth quickly found people she knew and left Mary and me.  But I spied her with my little eye during the march.

We ate at Galvin’s – of course that was my idea! – on its last day in its original location, before it moves to a different location with 70 additional seats.

The rest of the time, we hung out at or around our house.  Kate and

Steven gave Sami a bath.  Mary and I went on walks; Kate joined us to walk Sami.  All four children watched movies together, Aaron and Michael played wii, and Kate and Elizabeth apparently had an animated canine photo shoot upstairs.  It was just so very happy being with all of them.  We were struck by the kindness shown and interesting stories told by Aaron and Kate.

And then there were the dogs, who were constantly carried, pet, loved, held, followed, and brought on dog bed rides by Aaron and Kate.  Even reserved and sometimes growly Sami jumped up right next to Aaron throughout the weekend.  The day after Mary, Kate, and Aaron left, Zoe did not eat.  We knew she was suffering from depression caused by the absence of all the love and affection Kate and Aaron showed them. 

The rest of us ate full meals, but we were also sad that they left, although we continue to remember and share stories that happened during their visit so we keep laughing.

Closing out 2016

The time has come to say good bye to 2016.  It was full of joy and sadness, and we look forward to what 2017 brings to our family and friends.  Hopefully just joy, of course.


Elizabeth and I made our annual trek to The Nutcracker ballet.  I treasure that time with her.  The dancers were good, of course, but Elizabeth was the most lovely person I saw that day.



Michael continues to impress with basketball.  His freshman team has lost only once, his JV team only twice this season.  Michael easily holds his own competing against JV teams comprised of sophomores and juniors.  He has much to be proud of.


A couple of months ago, Angie said she didn't want to host any get togethers during the winter holidays because it would be too painful without David.  About a month ago, she had a change of heart and said she wanted to have Christmas at her house.  She prepared a huge meal (I have been informed by my children that I need to make the chicken casserole dish she prepared "at least twice a week."), we hung out the whole day as a family, and even had time to complete a 500 piece puzzle.  It was a beautiful day, and I admire Angie's unrelenting strength so very much.

Steven decided the dogs needed to dress up for the Christmas gathering at Angie's.  I can't believe we have turned into "those people", ones who buy clothing for their pets.  I make myself feel better by believing it is only because they need to be warm during the sub-freezing evening walks.

After at least a 16-year hiatus, Michael revived our Christmas village!  It really adds festive cheer upstairs.  And seeing it makes me realize it's been so worth it, having Steven lug all the pieces around to the five houses we have lived in since originally buying most of them.

We spent Christmas Day as a family of four.  Well, we spent the afternoon together.  At 1:00 p.m., I finally woke up Michael so we could open gifts.  He was well rested after his 15 hours of sleep.  Maybe it's genetic, as Elizabeth slept 16 hours the day before.  They must have some mighty comfortable mattresses.  We have three trees each year, and my favorite by 100% is the one decorated with the children's photos through the years and the glass hummingbirds.  Sometimes I just stand in front of it for long stretches of time and reminisce about their childhood and about my Dad.

The day after Christmas, Terry and Linda brought us all to Cattleman's, the steakhouse that just opened in Georgetown.  Afterward, everyone came to our house for dessert and gifts.

Steven and the children have another week before returning to work and school.  My sabbatical begins then as well.  I hope 2017 is the best year for all of us.  Sending you much love.

The past 4 months

It's been a while since our last post.  We've been grieving the loss of David, who died unexpectedly on August 04th.  Sometimes we intentionally think of him and reflect on times we have had with him.  More often, though, something will happen that will trigger a memory and the pain is jarring.  Our hearts are broken for Angie, Matthew, and Austin in particular.  We have become closer to them all since his death.  A shame that's what it took to be more involved with one another's lives.  But we are thankful, nonetheless.  The last photo we have of him is from our January holiday get together earlier this year.  He was always smiling.  We miss him.

On August 02nd we flew to NC.  We toured Duke and stopped by my mentor Rick Hoyle's office on campus (he was attending a conference out of state).  That evening we eagerly arrived at Blockade Runner and promptly embraced the sun and the beach.  It began pouring the next day, as we made plans to leave.

School began.  Jobs continued.  We got to go to Toyota Day at Kings Island.  Elizabeth invited her friend-since-age-3, Emily.  Michael invited former teammate Gabe.

Elizabeth had an in-depth biology project that involved collecting 50 different species of leaves and labeling them.  Rosemary and Angie brought her to Frankfort's Salado Wildlife Preservation where they have an impressive range of already-labeled trees.  Perfect!  Elizabeth meticulously created her project notebook and earned 275 of 250 points for her extra efforts.

The four of us attended a fairness event downtown.  We are working to pass a sexual orientation non-discrimination law in Georgetown.  We knew several of the speakers and support them all.

We celebrated Steven's birthday in Frankfort.  Soon after, we grieved the presidential election results.  We still do.  To try to cope, we continue to boycott much of the political news.  Still not sure what happened.

On the other hand, Steven and I were ridiculously proud when Elizabeth co-presented two presentations during GC's sexual assault awareness and prevention symposium.  Steven attended.  I continue to hear words of praise from colleagues even now, two and a half weeks later.  Those who didn't recognize her assumed she was a poised psychology major.  Shocked to discover she's a 16 year old junior.  She is so confident and such a gifted speaker.  Again, so proud!

Mary and I attended the Lilly conference on Miami University's Oxford, Ohio campus.  We had much interest in our poster during our presentation session.  Our topic related to teaching strategies that effectively reduce students' hindsight bias in the classroom.  Our poster won Best Poster of all the posters at the entire conference!  We managed to drop by LBJ's as well.

Elizabeth passed her driving test so she can now drive alone!  The next morning she dropped off and picked up Michael from practice, because Steven and I were both at work.  Michael's first game of the season is Tuesday.  Last week was a scrimmage.  I worked concessions and spotted a rat under the sink.  The other volunteers ran away screaming.  I continued selling candy and drinks.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Huffs.  Rosemary hosted for the first time.  She began with a heart felt prayer about David. It was our first holiday without him.  We managed to laugh and be thankful as the meal progressed.  Matthew's girlfriend Kristin was at their home, preparing a full meal for her family that evening.  Austin's girlfriend Ally was with us, although she and Austin left to attend Ally's family's dinner meal.  We stayed long enough to complete a 500 piece puzzle and get exercise competing on the wii.

The next day Mom visited us for a couple of hours.  Here Elizabeth is opening one of the gifts Mom brought, a lego piano.  We won’t see Mom during the Christmas holidays because she’ll be spending a couple of weeks in Nevada and California with Mary and Bennett’s families.  Lucky!


We are heading into the home stretch regarding the semester (for me) and nine weeks (for E&M).  Steven has been relaxing at times this holiday weekend with his three buddies.  Most of the time, though, he is completing his list of things to do that I create.  And continue to add to.  Christmas letters are addressed and ready to go, our holiday decorations are complete, and our mums finally lost their luster and are ready for pick up.

We hope all is well with you.