A congregation rejoices as history is made

<p>In a small room at the Presbyterian Church of the Roses in Santa Rosa more than two dozen elderly white parishioners gathered Tuesday morning to watch a large flat-screen TV mounted on a wall.</p><p>Their excitement, though tempered by age, every now and then filled the room with applause and cheers. One woman pumped her fist to a cadence of “Hooh, hooh, hooh!”</p><p>They were happy and even a little giddy, as if delivered a gift they thought was reserved for future generations of Americans.</p><p>“I’m just so very grateful that I lived long enough to see this very day,” said Jeanne MacDonald, the associate organist.</p><p>Parishioners offered prayers during the special service celebrating the inauguration, the first time such an event had been organized by the church, said Pastor John Cushman.</p><p>As CNN showed Barack Obama’s two young daughters make their way to the steps of the the nation’s Capitol, they sang “God Bless America.”</p><p>Halfway through the new president’s address, Christine Williams, whose daughter attends the church preschool, hurriedly walked into the small room, carrying her infant daughter in a car seat carrier.</p><p>Her child, sleeping at first, soon awoke and filled the room with faint wails of hunger. As President Obama spoke of future generations looking back on today’s challenges, 7-week-old Annie Williams was calmed by her mother’s breast.</p><p>“It’s amazing how one person has managed to solidify a nation across religious and racial lines,” said Williams. “I’m very excited about what’s beginning. It’s only got to get better from here.”</p>