Thankful for Freedom! 4th of July 2012

The 4th of July is a great reminder of how thankful we are for freedom. There are so many freedoms that are a blessing from a worldly perspective. But what we really tried to grasp today as a family, was how thankful we are for the freedom to worship. To worship a God who is worthy of ALL praise from ALL peoples and ALL nations! To worship the one TRUE God and for that we are so grateful. We know we will never fully grasp the gravity of that, but it is good for the heart to consider what it would be like to live in a country where you do not possess that freedom.

To continue our tradition from the girls 1st Independence Day, we headed out for an early morning breakfast at Cracker Barrel. What a difference a year makes. Last year we lugged in 2 car seats with itty bitty babes who couldn't sit in a high chair. Fast forward to this year and we toted in 2 little girls-one who could hold our hand and walk in herself and plopped them straight into high chairs to play with the wooden peg game and to color. Wow! Can hardly believe the difference! We had the absolute BEST time together as a family and we definitely will mark this down as one of the girls best behaved restaurant meals to date! They had a blast playing in the rocking chairs and trying to get the pegs in the right hole (nice entertainment-might consider buying one for other meals, ha!) We will definitely, Lord willing, carry on this tradition for years to come!

The rest of the afternoon, we spent time as a family just playing with the girls. We decided to attempt taking the girls to see fireworks, even though it would be WAY past their usual bedtime. The day went perfect as far as eating later breakfasts and lunches and later naps. That helped tremendously and we had such a fun time going with friends to Homewood Park to see the fireworks. We brought some watermelon along with us and the girls absolutely LOVED it! Perfect summertime treat! ALL in ALL, a fun-filled family day and we couldn't have enjoyed it more! Lots of laughter and memories made! Happy 4th of July!!!