This week, my thoughts turn to celebrations of our nations birth and of the high price we've paid for freedom, both then and in the time up until now. Freedom is never free. It comes at a price.
I'm thankful that we live in a country that respects and protects freedom.
I'm thankful for the freedom to worship as we choose.
For the freedom to educate our children as each family deems best.
For the freedom to assemble.
For the freedom to speak our minds.
I'm thankful for organizations like
Alliance Defense Fund and others that work to make sure that these freedoms we enjoy are protected and sustained.
I thank God for my Opa, his father and my Grandpa. They, along with countless others sacrificed to keep our country safe thru their military service.
I'm thankful for reminders of that sacrifice as the flag that covered my great-grandfathers casket is passed down to my boys. He was the oldest survivor of the
Bataan Death March during World War II. I had the opportunity to type up his memoirs from this experience and will never be the same again...
I'm thankful that my boys will grow up knowing of those who have gone before them.
I'm thankful for time to reflect and to celebrate! A day full of blessings:
Enjoying the preparations as a form of celebrating!
The blessing of anticipation! YUM!
Watching young excitement.
(and getting to borrow a daughter for a few days!)
Respite from the heat!
Experiencing some 'sparkles' of our own before watching BIG ones!
Gifts 320-336
Great post, Heather! And I love the pictures. What did you do with the memoirs? What an awesome (and I'm sure humbling) thing to read.
ReplyDeleteMy dad wanted a copy that he could work with and share more. We only have photocopies of the original typed version that he pecked out on a typewriter when he returned from the war.
ReplyDeleteI just met a young christian lawyer from the Philippines who has encouraged me to send his memoirs to a special organization in the philippines whose goal is to honor and remember those who suffered for them.
ReplyDeleteWould like to read the memoirs. Remember learning about it in school plus reading books about it. Then of course my dad had a set of books on the WWII which we all read & talked about with dad.
ReplyDeleteSuch a cool cake! And beautiful children!
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