Independence Day

Last night we were invited to hang out with some friends to watch our towns "Spectacular" fireworks display and light some of our own.  So we got together and lit off a few sparklers and tanks and such. The kids thought it was great and I was ever so thankful that my new friend was gracious enough to share with my kids.  She was constantly lighting sparklers and yelling at the kids to stop chasing each other with them.
A great time was had by all of us!
Here's a photo collage of the events.

Don't Grand Duchess and Princess Monkey Eyes look wonderful in their new digs? I think so.

Over the past few days I have been thinking a lot about our country and how it was founded. I came across someone telling the story behind the writing of our national anthem. Apparently Frances Scott key was a lawyer in MD and was asked to go and be the liason between the colonies and Brittain in facilitating the exchange of POW's. After coming to an agreement of exchanging POW's on a 1 to 1 ratio, Key went down below deck to tell his comrades that they were free men. He then went above deck and the Admiral told him that while they would honor the agreement, it wouldn't matter come the morning. See, lining the horizon were hundreds of dots (the Brittish Naval Fleet) and they were ordered to destroy Ft. McHenry if the flag was not lowered to show their willingness to succumb to the Mother Nation (Brittain). However, once the flag was lowered, all firing would cease and the men, women & children who lived at and around the fort would be spared.

Key went downstairs and told the men of the plan.  2 hours later, at dusk, the fleet arrived and began their merciless attack. Key continued to report to the men of the goings on from his point of view and all they cared about is where that flag stood. Hours went by and still the flag waved. The Brittish were baffled at how that flag still stood after so many hits. They ordered the complete armada to aim at that rampart that held the flag and fire until it fell.

The bombs flew unrelentingly and continued to light up the night sky. All Frances Scott Key could hear, aside from the explosions, were the men below praying to God that the flag would remain where they last saw it. 3 more hours went by and as the sun began to rise on the horizon, there - tattered and barely recognizable, the flag waved atop an askew pole.

Frances Scott Key went ashore to the Fort to see for himself the damage. During the night the pole had fallen. And the men fighting knew what it would mean for that to happen. So they went and lifted the flag back to its position. And when those men died, more men would come and hold it up. And the cycle continued. Frances Scott Key saw the pile of men's bodies supporting the flagpole.

And hence, "The Star Spangled Banner" was born.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power 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!

Those are the sacrifices we celebrate today. Those lives and the lives of every single soldier since then to preserve our rights and our freedoms and our conveniences and our comforts. We celebrate them and honor them and thank them for the independence of our country.

May God continue to bless this great nation!

I hope you all had a safe and wonderful 4th of July.