We sang all the patriotic hymns and ended with the National Anthem. I was tearing up at the swelling of the first verse and was choking back the sobs when we got to the Last verse...my favorite!
"Oh thus be it ever, when free men shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation! Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then Conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: "In God is our Trust!" And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"
Truly how blessed we are to live in this great nation. A land preserved by the hand of God for a place of safety and refuge from persecution. I hope we will always, as individuals, families, and a nation, be worthy of the sacrifice of SO many for these wonderful blessings. I am at this time of year SO grateful to those that still sacrifice today to preserve our safety. THANK YOU TO ALL THE ARMED FORCES WHO ARE SO FAR FROM HOME and to those who are doing their duty here as well! I am also so grateful to my mother and mother in law...they are such examples of patriotism to me...We are so blessed to have such wonderful examples for our children of how to honor and be proud of this wonderful country we belong to! Thanks to both of our Moms...you're the best...oh and Dad's too you're really patriotic too!!
Truly how blessed we are to live in this great nation. A land preserved by the hand of God for a place of safety and refuge from persecution. I hope we will always, as individuals, families, and a nation, be worthy of the sacrifice of SO many for these wonderful blessings. I am at this time of year SO grateful to those that still sacrifice today to preserve our safety. THANK YOU TO ALL THE ARMED FORCES WHO ARE SO FAR FROM HOME and to those who are doing their duty here as well! I am also so grateful to my mother and mother in law...they are such examples of patriotism to me...We are so blessed to have such wonderful examples for our children of how to honor and be proud of this wonderful country we belong to! Thanks to both of our Moms...you're the best...oh and Dad's too you're really patriotic too!!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!
Eleanor at the Fourth at Ft. Meigs...she was PERFECT...as usual!
The next event on the Calendar was the Annual Town Celebration at Ft. Meigs (An old army fort on the Maumee River in Perrysburg) on July 3rd. We meet up with some friends from town and headed over to enjoy the town Party! It was so fun...Parking was crazy but thanks to my AMAZING husband...we found a PERFECT spot (a $FREE$ spot) squished between a No Parking sign and a minivan that thought they were buying them selves some loading space...no no no...nice work Steve...and it wasn't even too tight...we wiggled right in..I tell you, my babe can handle a Minivan!
On our way to the Maumee/Perrysburg Fireworks...It's a fun little rivalry...Maumee is on the other side of the river from Perrysburg (Sorta like the Belmont/Watertown Rivalry) Every year they have a big 4th of July Carnival and Fireworks (not like the 4th at Waveny Park...but good) launched from the river so both towns settle on the slopes of the river to see the show!!
This is the best shot of the whole family together...Gordon Sported his Pirate hat (thanks Grandma Munns) for EVERY 4th celebration...he some how has it in his head that pirates and the 4th of July go together...oh Gordon!
Gordon did not have time to wait around for pictures...he was there with a million kids to play with...heaven for him...Oscar loved all the kids but was not prone to follow others to their family spots!
We got home from the Fireworks at about 11:00ish and definitely decided that we would be going to BBQ for the 4th and should try to invite some people over...a gamble I know since the 4th was in about 1 hour but I was sure we could entice some people to come...little did we know how many!!
Gordon holding his sparklers....if you know Gordon can you imagine he did next?? We had a sparkler safety talk before ignition...we explained that the burning part is SO hot...don't touch it...it will burn you...apparently Gordon thought he was excluded from this condition....because this is what his fingers look like today...07.07.08
See the blisters on his index finger and thumb...ouch!
Eleanor at the Fourth at Ft. Meigs...she was PERFECT...as usual!
On our way to the Maumee/Perrysburg Fireworks...It's a fun little rivalry...Maumee is on the other side of the river from Perrysburg (Sorta like the Belmont/Watertown Rivalry) Every year they have a big 4th of July Carnival and Fireworks (not like the 4th at Waveny Park...but good) launched from the river so both towns settle on the slopes of the river to see the show!!
This is the best shot of the whole family together...Gordon Sported his Pirate hat (thanks Grandma Munns) for EVERY 4th celebration...he some how has it in his head that pirates and the 4th of July go together...oh Gordon!
Gordon did not have time to wait around for pictures...he was there with a million kids to play with...heaven for him...Oscar loved all the kids but was not prone to follow others to their family spots!
We got home from the Fireworks at about 11:00ish and definitely decided that we would be going to BBQ for the 4th and should try to invite some people over...a gamble I know since the 4th was in about 1 hour but I was sure we could entice some people to come...little did we know how many!!
So when I woke up on Friday July 4th at 8:00ish (my sweet husband let me sleep in and was up doing some chores and stuff before I even rolled over) I got out my phone book and started dialing up some people we wanted to invite...our guests included The Luces (2 adults 4 kids), The Dworzycks (1 adult...Emily threw out her back the night before so KJ brought all 4 of their kids alone!) The Brandts (2 adults, 3 kids) The Torres (2 adults, 3 kids) The Wilkinsons ( 2 adults, 2 kids) The missionaries who stopped by during tracking and us...Totaling 13 adults & 19 kids!! So needless to say we had a lot of people...a lot of kids! But it went great we had TONS of food, TONS of soda, some water balloons, some cheap fireworks (we'll discuss that later!), and lots of fun! It was only later when I was asked by someone if we had been planing this for some time (they apparently thought they were the only ones who received a last minute charity invitation). When I replied saying that it was a spur of the moment thing someone else piped up...yeah we were all losers who didn't have plans! It never dawned on me like that!! I think is still like the idea of the spontaneous BBQ!!
Gordon holding his sparklers....if you know Gordon can you imagine he did next?? We had a sparkler safety talk before ignition...we explained that the burning part is SO hot...don't touch it...it will burn you...apparently Gordon thought he was excluded from this condition....because this is what his fingers look like today...07.07.08
See the blisters on his index finger and thumb...ouch!
2 comments:
Great pictures...very patriotic!
I think all of my kids have 4th of july blisters!
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