July '23 Newsletter

Welcome to our new format for keeping you up to date on all things MacKays! Before we dive into what we've been up to this summer, I'd like to give you a heads up on how we're hoping to move forward with our communication. Our newsletters will now be from the perspective of the person writing, so you'll see a lot more "I", "me", "my" instead of "Caleb this" or "Rachel that". With the nature of Caleb's job and my flexibility in my schedule, I do most of our communication anyway, and this allows for a more personal touch in our communication. We are also hoping to post more often here than when we used Mailchimp or just sent emails. Our hope is to continue to give you updates on what we are doing, but to also provide posts that focus on what God is teaching us, what we're reading, and the like. So, with that out of the way, let's dive into the summer!

The school year officially came to an end on June 2nd and Caleb's classroom was looking pretty bare. As he will be teaching Grade 5 this upcoming school year, he is moving to another classroom (he hasn't started the moving in process yet). During the last week of school, Paul and I joined Caleb's class party and enjoyed snacks and watching VeggieTales. It's sweet to see how excited the students get to see Paul - even Caleb's students from previous years get excited! On the last day of the school year, seniors will walk through the hallways and "pick up" all of the younger classes, leading them to the flagpole in the middle of campus. There is then an end of year ceremony and graduation follows shortly after. Caleb was able to wish the senior soccer players well and the three of us enjoyed dinner with our "batch mates" after graduation. This was the third year we were able to get a family photo together in front of the high school building. We've made additions to the group each year - first with Paul and this year, our friends' baby Myla! Who will join next year's photo?

Having Caleb home this summer has been such a gift as we have been able to spend so much time together as a family. Caleb had a goal this summer to go to lots of different malls around us that we have never been before but, somehow it's mid-July and we've only gone to two of them. I took a photo of Caleb and Paul at the first mall we checked off our list and had the fun idea to do this at each new mall but whoops! maybe another time. That isn't to say that we haven't done anything this summer! Paul has been enjoying playing in his pool in the backyard, Caleb has been working hard on housework that he put off during the school year, and I've been able to go out by myself to meet with friends for coffee. We've enjoyed having picnics on Faith's campus, playing on the playground, going to the pool, and we even played mini golf (a rare find here in the Philippines).

On Father's Day, Caleb did the most "Caleb thing" I think he could have done and volunteered to help some of our friends move into their new house. Their subdivision is very flat and quiet which we enjoyed, getting to walk and explore with Paul. Caleb and I also both celebrated our birthdays these past two months (June 25 and July 12) -- we're 26!! Next Saturday we are celebrating 6 years of marriage which is blowing my mind to think it's been that long but also that it's only been 6 years. During this time we also took the step to join a connect group through our church and have been so blessed by the relationships we have already been able to form with the other members of the group. Our most recent success has been transitioning Paul into a toddler bed which surprisingly went really well. Paul is starting to drop his morning nap but is finally sleeping in a bit more in the mornings (this morning we went in to his room around 7am instead of 5:30am.. praise Jesus!!). I added a photo of Paul's first night in his toddler bed as it's just too cute not to; he spent most of the night sleeping in his rocking chair.

As always, thanks for being on this journey with us. I'm excited for what God is going to do in this next season as we begin to share more of the faith side of our lives. For me personally, the past few months have been months of transformation and freedom! I hope to write about it on here soon but, if you're interested in hearing about it before then, please reach out. I'd love to chat! For now, we love you and pray God makes Himself more real to you today than ever.