We're Wishing You

A Star-Spangled

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Fire-Cracking

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Cake-Eating

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Anthem-Belting

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Small-town Lovin'

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High-Flying

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Bluegrass-Listening

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Cook-out filled

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Patriotism-soused

INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!

"My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!" ~Thomas Jefferson 

The Land of The Free and the Home of the Brave

Happy Independence Day!

Freedom's natal day is here.
Fire the guns and shout for freedom,
See the flag above unfurled!
Hail the stars and stripes forever,
Dearest flag in all the world.
~Florence A. Jones

This, then, is the state of the union:  free and restless, growing and full of hope.  So it was in the beginning.  So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith.  ~Lyndon B. Johnson
 

My G--!  How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!  ~Thomas Jefferson

I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth all the means. This is our day of deliverance.

John Adams (1735–1826)

There, I guess King George will be able to read that.
John Hancock (1737–1793)

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine! 

-America the Beautiful

Williamsburg!!!!

Hey y'all! :) This post is composed of a Plan B. Yep. Saturday our whole family had been planning on going to a reenactment for the day. But alas, the weather has been so wet, that the land it was held on was a mess, and they had to close down the whole event that day. :( The sad thing was, it was the only visitor's day there is to be had this year. But, as the great parents that they are, Mom and Dad decided that we needed to do something fun, despite our disappointment; and they concocted a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, complete with a ride across the James on the ferry! :) Sounds good to me!

So here it goes!

The Governor's Palace

A building beside the magazine

Another one of the palace and the green

Aww! And this was *not* posed at all! =D

Abby was a tad too happy about this punishment :P

This little boy was exhausted by the end of the day. :)

Anna and I

Grace contemplating something serious...;)

This place was such an *amazing* store!!!! If you ever get a chance, you've gotta visit this store sometime!

Everything Scotland---Rachel (especially) was pumped when she saw this store-front

"Swoon--swoon in his arms!" ;) Her ideal hero......kinda. =P

Not a good picture at all.....but we enjoyed trying on authentic tams! :D

Really like this one. :) A view of the wall surrounding  Bruton Parish graveyard. :)

This sweetie was really blessed when Dad bought her a pink lollipop from the Wythe Candy Shop! :)

Taken while waiting for the ferry. It was very gray on Saturday, and thankfully the rain held off for the whole outing! :) (oh, and on a side-note....*several* of these seagulls had only 1 leg...:=\ )

 There you go! :) I hope you enjoyed this post. Oh--please vote on my poll to the right of you! :) Thanks!

~Sarah

 p.s. our family went very "techy" today...Rachel got a cell-phone!!!!! And our Gentleman? Take a peek at this: Here it is

Our Family Trip to Jamestown

Hey guys! :) We have some company in town, so yesterday we...*blush*..skipped church and went on a day-trip! We left the house around 9:00 and ate breakfast at the VA diner. Good place, that! :D Then, we drove on down the the Jamestown-Scotland ferry. (The closest I've ever been to Scotland! I stare hard at the reddish cliffs covered in green vines at a certain point, and pretend it it Scotland! :P) There are three ferries that take cars across the river, 24-7. On the way over, we got the Pocahontas, which is the biggest of the three! She has a second deck, that we stood on the whole way over! I love it! On the way over, we had a stellar view of Jamestown itself. That's what I love about the ferry: literally, you see the historic sight. The original church-tower all that. I don't believe I will ever (happily) cease to be thrilled by the knowledge that I am looking upon the very same things John Smith dwelt in. The state slogan is "Virginia is for Lovers". I'm loving the bumper sticker I've seen: "Virginia is for history lovers!" :D Anyway, once across, we drove over the Jamestown visitor's center. Last year we looked through the gift shop, and at a couple of posters, before driving the Colonial parkway. We did't quite have the margin to pay 10 dollars a person just to see the real stuff! :) But it was a huge blessing because the 14th and 15th, (yesterday) of this month, was Free National Park admission! So all of us got to go to the actual historic site! YAY! I was super excited! So we hopped onto the end of a tour and listened! We stood inside the very walls of the original Jamestown fort, and we walked through the very church tower made by the settlers, and we sat in the church too! :) The tour guide was....ahem...very animated to say the least. Think "DEATH COMES UNEXPECTEDLY!" from Pollyanna, and you'll get him just about right. But add a squeaky voice and a NY accent to it! :) Then we went in a building with 1000's of artifacts! Very cool! Anyway, by the time that was all over, it was 2 o'clock and we hadn't eaten lunch, so we drove along the Colonial Parkway, and stopped to eat lunch and wade at a nice little beach. Only, ahem.....we had to look straight out in front of us to avoid seeing quite a few ladies in "zucchinis". That wasn't so great. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we only left when the tide started coming in from behind us! Like on Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang! Scary! :O
We learned that the art of chivalry is not dead. At least among young men trying to impress their gals! ;) Abigail (5) and Mr. Mark (our company) were carrying a cooler between them, and then this Mr. Macho-young-guy came up and said, "I'll take that for you!" Mr. Mark said, "Why?" and then the guy said, "Do you have to owe something to get something?" and he proceeded to carry the cooler on one shoulder, the very picture of chivalrous generosity. ;) He set it down near the van and said, "I just got here so I still had some energy! I thought I'd help someone out!" and then he went back his little merry way to the lassie at their beach towels. I do not mean to sound cynical. He could have just been being a gentleman, like I always wish people to do! So sorry Mr. Strong-man if you were simply being genteel! :D
Anyway! It was a great day, and a blessing since we've been so busy! -Rachel
p.s. Sarah will post some pictures later!

Post-4th of July-Thoughts

"A toast- to high treason...that's what these men were committing when they signed the Declaration of Independence.....So here's to the men who did what was considered wrong, in order to do what they knew was right. What they knew was right!"

-National Treasure

I love that quote! The movie, "National Treasure" gets some things wrong, but it has some slamming quotes! :) Independence Day for me, gets me thinking all about the Colonial era, and the great, looming choice the Founding Fathers were facing. Should they go to War against their mother country? Was that really what the Lord was leading them to do? I am sure it was a very confusing time. Nowadays, we do not stop to think whether it was a good thing that America rebelled. We take it for granted, that it was always such an easy choice. I don't want to be a "red, white, and blue" American- I mean, the kind of patriot who is one only on the surface- I want to remember the real historical facts, and learn lessons from the men who made this huge decision. It must have been an intense time. I mean, I can only imagine in our church fellowship the unrest caused by someone saying we should emancipate ourselves from our governing country. I am sure not everyone would agree on the wisest course to take! But I believe the Lord blessed the men who guided our country on a quest to become their own. I am SO grateful for the wisdom the Lord gave these men in making our founding documents! I am proud to be an American, but not because "at least I know I'm free". I am proud to be an American because of our freedom, yes, but more importantly, because I know my heritage as an American. Really, the American Revolution was entirely uncoventional. And as Christians, we are called to lead unconventional lives! Our whole country was founded on Christian principles, and they have served us well! Now that we as a country are slipping away from our base though, I encourage us to learn the facts for ourselves! Not just trust whatever sort of "shot heard `round the world" history we happened to remember from our history book! :) People are forgetting the facts in lieu of legends, or missinformation- for instance, Sarah and I were laughing during the fireworks last night as we listened to a grown man musing: "Just think about in Colonial times, that all this noise would have been shots of guns! Man, I wouldn't be fightin' out in front! I'd run the other way and climb a tree and start sniping people!" What that man doesn't realize is that really, his "great idea" of hiding and guerilla-ish warfare was exactly what the Americans did! The British, very accomplished in open-war-field strategies, were at a loss when they couldn't even see the Americans hiding in the forest. Anyway, that man's remarks were just a reminder of how the facts are slowly being forgotten. Everyone sort of imagines pitched battle in a sunny field, with calvary, and formations. Indeed, there was some of that, but we Americans had learned our new land, and the benefits of fighting as the natives do.

This is sort of a rambling post, but it is "Post-Fourth of July-Musings" that were tumbling around my brain this week! Hope I didn't bore you! :) -Rachel