Author: jason

We are a young couple in love and ready to start a family. We have been married since 2006 and are ready to take on the joys and challenges of parenthood after spending three years becoming best friends. This blog is to keep track of our journey together---conception, pregnancy, parenting----and life in general.
About Us

Introducing Baby Liam {Video}

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(Editor’s note: Jason is the “author” of this post, but Kate is actually dictating what Jason is typing.)

Good morning, everyone. First of all, thank you so much for your faithful and fervent prayers yesterday. I know that when Kate feels up to it, she will blog about all of the details, but until then, please know that yesterday was the craziest, most surreal day of our lives. But through it all, we felt peace. And that peace is a direct result of your powerful prayers, so thank you so much.

The doctors and nurses are so excited about how Liam is doing. He is breathing pretty well on his own, and he is only receiving a minimal amount of support from a nasal CPAP machine. His heart rate and blood pressure and oxygenation are looking great.

I (Kate) had a great day yesterday. I am recovering well from the c-section, and I am able to move around in my bed without too much discomfort. The pain medications are allowing me to sleep comfortably, and I am over-the-moon-in-love with our son.

(Jason will now dictate to himself.) Jason also had a great day yesterday. He woke up and had some banana bread and then became a dad. Great day. He got to spend some good time in the NICU letting Liam squeeze his hand and watching him fuss and cry and sleep and open his eyes. Great day.

Jason took this video yesterday evening, about 10.5 hours after Liam was born. (If you listen closely, you can even hear Liam talking.) (Not really talking talking.)

 

Enjoy!

About Us

More Movies

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Since I think we knocked it out of the park with our last movie post, here are my thoughts on some upcoming movies…(Watch the trailers here: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/hdtrailers.html)

  • The Way Back: Colin Farrell. Ed Harris. Good Storyline. Tough to mess that up.
  • The Tree of Life: Brad Pitt. Sean Penn. Looks like it could be really good. Interesting trailer. Plot description on Wikipedia makes it sound pretty deep. A thinker.
  • Hannah: Unsure?
  • Kill The Irishman: I’m liking this Ray Stevenson guy. If I had to lean one way or the other, I’d lean towards it being dece. More thumbs up than thumbs down. On the plus side, it has Walken. On the plus and minus side, it has Fat Kilmer.
  • Real Steel: The idea sounded really dumb, but I saw Hugh Jackman, so I gave the trailer a shot. Looks like it might be entertaining on an IMAX screen. Also has Evangeline Lilly, and a black dude that I really like from other movies. (This just in: the black dude is Anthony Mackie. Love him. And Kevin Durand is also in it. Love him too. But not more than Hugh.)
  • PotC: Johnny.
  • Hop: When are animated movies ever bad?
  • Rio: See Hop. Plus it has Jesse Eisenberg’s voice. Love him. In a different way than Hugh.
  • Drive Angry: OK, so I saw the picture with Nic Cage driving a car, and I saw the title with Drive in it, and I immediately had a Gone in 60 Seconds flashback. I know it’s weird, but I LOVE Nic Cage. Maybe more than Hugh. I know he’s a terrible actor, but I still like him. So I’m imaginging a pretty entertaining chase movie, and here’s what I get…”Milton, a hardened felon has broken out of hell for one last chance at redemption. Intent on stopping a vicious cult who murdered his daughter, he has three days to stop them before they sacrifice her baby beneath a full moon. He’s joined by Piper – a young, sexy waitress who liberates her ex-boyfriend’s cherry-red muscle car in order to help Milton. Now, the two of them are hot on the trail of the deadly leader of the cult, Jonah King, who believes it is his destiny to use the baby to unleash hell on earth. But the bloodthirsty cult is the least of Milton’s problems. The police are after him too. And worse, an enigmatic killer known only as “The Accountant” – who has been sent by the Devil to retrieve Milton and deliver him back to hell. With wicked cunning and hypnotic savagery, the Accountant will relentlessly pursue Milton at high speed across the country until his mission is accomplished. Fueled by high octane and pure rage, Milton must use his anger to go beyond all human limits to avenge his daughter’s murder, before his last chance at redemption is revoked.” Oh wow.
  • I Am: Oh no.
  • Cedar Rapids: Actually looks pretty funny. Ed Helms. John C. Reilly. And it’s about insurance agents! (Have to check it out when it gets closer to the theaters because it looks like it might be a little too dirty.)
  • Hood to Coast: It’s about running. And the PNW. Heck yes.
  • Biutiful: Looks incredibly powerful, and Javier Bardem looks like he does an amazing job, but it looks a little too dirty for my tastes.
  • Made in Dagenham: As a staunch feminist, this movie is right up my alley. =) But seriously, it does look like it will be pretty good.
  • Son of Babylon: Looks powerful.
  • The Legend of Pale Male: C’mon, it’s about a bird. And yet, aside from some of the weird people they show in the trailer, I really want to see it.

 

*As always, my opinions are not necessarily the opinions of the people at mcmiracle.com. Kate and I are always looking for good new movies, so let us know if you know of anything worth checking out.

(In related news, saw True Grit last night. Well done. Definitely worth seeing.)

Awesome God, Mars Hill, My Jesus

Worship

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“If you start to see everything in your life as worship, you’ll approach it differently.”

I just listened to Mark Driscoll’s sermon on Worship, and it made me realize something…

I have a worship problem.

All the problems that I thought I had are really just symptoms of the real problem that I have. I worship the wrong gods. Sports. Food. Comfort. Pleasure. Myself. It’s not a matter of “fixing” these “issues” that I have, it’s a matter of shifting the focus of my worship. I used to think that Romans 1:25 (because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!) applied to people who actually sacrificed and actually bowed down to created idols. Well, I just learned something…I actually sacrifice and actually bow down to created idols. For me, my worship almost always goes to my pleasure and my comfort. If I want to eat, I eat. If I want to relax, I relax. If I want to watch tv, I watch tv. If something pops into my head that I know I should do, but I don’t want to do it because it’s hard or uncomfortable, I usually don’t do it. And a lot of times I come to the end of my day, and I wonder what I really accomplished that day. What did I do that REALLY mattered?

I really want to encourage everyone to listen to this sermon. It’s awesome, and I really think that it will impact everyone who listens to it. After you listen to it, let us know what you think. I’d love to hear how it affects everyone.

Reading through the Bible

Read Through Update

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Most of you (okay, probably none of you) have probably been asking yourself, “I wonder when Jason is finally going to post about his progress on reading through the Bible.” Well, the wait is over!

Cody and I are officially 4 weeks into our plan, and I’m excited to announce that we are both on track. I’ll be honest and say that there have been a number of stretches where I’ve dropped behind a few days and then caught up, but as of today I’m completely up to date. So far, we have covered most of Genesis and all of Job (we’re doing a chronological plan, so we’re not following the “normal” order of the Bible), and it’s been really cool going through everything with Cody. Even though I’ve already read all of these chapters before, it’s great to discuss them with Cody and notice things that I’ve never noticed before. It’s so true that the Bible is “living and active.” –Hebrew 4:12

Well, that’s really it. I don’t really have anything deep or interesting to say, I just wanted to update everyone on the progress.

Jason's Sports Stuff

“There Goes Joy”

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The Seattle Mariners lost their Voice yesterday. I know that line might sound cheesy, but it’s true. Dave Niehaus, one of the greatest baseball announcers of all time, died yesterday of a heart-attack.

Dave was the Voice of the Mariners since their inception in 1977. For me, this means that Dave was the voice that I listened to during every Mariners game for my entire life. I still get goosebumps listening to many of his calls (see the entire 1995 season), and it’s hard to imagine Mariners baseball without him. For those who have followed the Mariners or heard Dave call a game, you know what I’m talking about. And for those who never heard a Mariners game or a Niehaus call, I wish you could have.

One of the little “inside jokes” that Kate and I have is my emotion surrounding the 1995 Mariners season. She thinks it’s cute that I still get goosebumps hearing/seeing some of the clips from that season. She loves hearing me talk about it, but try as she might, she can’t experience what I experienced because she didn’t go through it like I did. My greatest sports memory ever happened that season, and they played that clip on the radio today while Kate was driving to the airport. Here’s the text I got from her…

“They just played Martinez’s double on the radio w Niehaus and I started to cry! :(“

Thanks for the memories, Dave.

About Us

Gentlemen, start your…

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November 9, 2010.

Cody McKenzie (my brother) and Jason McKenzie embark on a profound journey….

We are going to read through the Bible.

This will be my 4th or 5th or 6th attempt at trying to read through the Bible. (Previous attempts have not been successful.) I’m not sure what it is, but I’ve always had a problem with following through on big plans that I make. I have great intentions, and I really want to follow through, but it usually doesn’t happen. This time I’m attempting the journey with someone else. (see Proverbs 27:17)

Full disclosure: Kate and I had agreed to read through earlier this year, but we didn’t really establish a formal plan, and I have quickly faded into her rearview.

So here we go. For those keeping score at home, today’s “chunk” is Genesis 1-3.

Check back for future updates…

About Us

28 Going On 30

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The last few weeks have brought about a subtle yet profound shift in the way I think about myself…

I’m not as close to “college-age” as I like to think.

In fact, I’m a whole lot closer to 30 than I am to 20. Even though I’ve been here for a while (just learned that the single word “awhile” is incorrect in this sentence), I don’t think it really hit me until I started getting closer to this 28th birthday. It’s a little weird when you realize that you have turned a page in your life…

About Us, Awesome God, My Jesus

Sanctification

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I have an old copy of My Utmost for His Highest on my desk at work, and I finally decided to dust it off and look inside the other day. Maybe it was a random coincidence (me thinkest not), but what I read seemed to be directed right at me…

 

Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not.  (underline added by yours truly) Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.  

All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.

This is the will of God, your sanctification . . . —1 Thessalonians 4:3

 

The reason this struck me is because this is not me. The whole part about agonizing repentance? Yeah right. My idea of repentance involves ease, not agony. My idea of “being real” with people is to share what I want to share and nothing else. Oh sure, I’ll sprinkle in a little vulnerability and a little honesty, but I would never show my whole hand. No way. The thought of complete honesty and agonizing repentance terrifies the crap out of me. In fact, for most of my life I’ve allowed that terror to cripple me when it comes to repentance. My M.O. has always been to try to wait until I’ve started to get things back on track or until enough time has passed, and then I can go ahead and be honest with people about something I did “in the past.” I always thought that if something was in the past and I was doing well in that area now, then people would view me in a different light, and I wouldn’t have to be as embarrassed or ashamed. The Problem (capitalized because there are multiple problems) with this way of thinking is that it involves secrecy and isolation and doing things on my own, apart from God. I knew that it wasn’t good to handle things on my own and keep them to myself, but I was so afraid of what people would think that I chose what I knew was wrong because it was safer. I chose to give in to my fear of man rather than my fear of God. I knew that God was calling me to be honest and to be open, but I didn’t trust that He would take care of me when I took those steps. I was afraid that if I was honest with Kate about where I had fallen short, she would get pissed and be hurt. (And probably rightly so.) I was afraid that if I told friends about my struggles and temptations, then they would look down on me and make me feel bad about what I had done. I knew this wouldn’t be the case, and I knew that even if people did respond in a way that I didn’t like, I knew that God would take care of me because He wanted me to be honest and repentant. I knew these things. I just didn’t believe them. I didn’t trust God. I trusted my own comfort and my own way of handling things. I figured that I could control my sins and protect the people around me by fixing everything myself and keeping the broken areas a secret.

After listening to Pastor Mark talk yesterday about “religion”, I realize now that my half-hearted repentance and my method of controlling things was really my own form of religion. I had placed my trust in Jason’s religion, rather than in the unconditional love and redemption of my true Savior. That’s why it really hit me when I read the line, ” ‘Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.’ No, you are not.” I knew he was right that I wasn’t really longing to be sanctified. I wanted to become a better person, and I wanted to be the one to control how that happened. It would be comfortable and it would be smooth and it would pain-free. It wouldn’t require honesty or confession or anything messy. And the worst part of all…it wouldn’t require Jesus. The only result of my religion was an endless cycle of spinning my wheels and putting up more and more walls between me and Jesus. No matter how hard I tried or how many verses I memorized or how many new plans I came up with, it never seemed to work.

 So my new plan is Jesus.

 

That’s all.

 

I have a good feeling about this…

 

 

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Now by this I’ll overcome—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Now by this I’ll reach my home—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 

About Us, Awesome God, My Jesus

“Success”

jason

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Surgery is done! Dr. D said everything went incredibly well, and recovery should be pretty quick since she wasn’t out very long. He showed us some pictures and threw out a few medical terms, but I was pretty lost the whole time. All I heard was “really good” and “fast.” More to come when Kate and Betty explain everything to me. Thank you for all the prayers!