4th of July

I got really emotional when singing Battle Hymn of the Republic before Memorial Day. Then again during the Star Spangled Banner this past week. What can I say, it's emotional to think about the divine inspiration that played a part (a huge part!) in the foundation of this Country. Unfortunately, it seems like more and more people fail to recognize the hand of God in our country's establishment. It's also emotional to think of those who gave so much to establish a free nation, those who've fought to protect it and those who continue to fight for our rights. I wonder how many of us really take the time to reflect on the history of our country and the sacrifices that were offered up. Songs are a good reminder for me and then I cry.

For the 4th, we cleaned during the day. Jason was so excited. My house is slowly getting back into order. I cried when I told Clara about the founding fathers, gave her a brief recap of why we celebrate the 4th and explained why it's considered "America's birthday" as she kept calling it. I want to do a better job about teaching her what it means to be an American. I want her to sing those songs and feel the Spirit like I did so she knows what it took to establish this great nation. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but it also took more than man had to give.

That night we bbq'd and swam at Ryan and Kathryn's. Clint kept everyone entertained by throwing Clara and Lucy in the air and across the pool. They kept coming back for more, despite some pretty hard belly flops. We had fireworks. My favorites, as usual, were the sparklers. Thanks to Karen and Dan for sharing their big sparklers. The bigger the better, no doubt. I'm considering starting a tradition of doing a sparkler party to celebrate the 4th. That was my plan this year but I didn't plan all that well. The good thing is, I still got some awesome sparkler pictures, which is the main reason I like sparklers, so I was happy.


After that, we moved the party to our house and played Mexican Train with Karen, Dan, Angela and Clint and ate homemade mint ice cream and homemade brownies. It was a great day.

Oh yeah, let me not forget to mention the weather. The weather was incredible! I might even consider going to watch an actual public firework show in the future if we could have a repeat of this weather.