I am long overdue on a post. Actually, I have a ton of pictures to upload and I'm excited to do that. We've had a wonderful weekend! I LOVE the 4th of July here in Missouri! So unlike the west! People light fireworks every night throughout the week preceding the 4th and then the actual 4th is fantastic with big fireworks displays. So fun!!
I just read an article on Yahoo!'s news reel about the best landmarks and natural wonders of America. I was disappointed that there were only about ten mentioned. My thought upon finishing the list was: But there's so much more!!!! And there is! I often think about all the places I want to see in the world, and then realize that I could spend my entire life just visiting neat places in my own country. I long to take my family to the places I went to while I was young: Yosemite, the Redwoods, Crater Lake, Marble Mountains, Emigrant Wilderness, the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, the Pacific Ocean, The Golden Gate Bridge, Yellowstone, Washington D.C., and the list goes on. Then there's the list of places I haven't been to: Mt. Rushmore, Maine in the fall, D.C. in the spring, Banff Nat'l Park(yes, I know that is in Canada), Glacier Nat'l Park, the Gulf of Mexico, Niagara Falls, ALASKA!!! What a beautiful country. I would have loved to have been with early explores and discovered first hand the beauties of this land. I hope to fulfill my travel dream, at least in part, someday!
On Sunday our Relief Society lesson was on the blessings of womanhood and motherhood. A rhetorical question was asked at the beginning, "What are our feelings toward both womanhood and motherhood?" My first thought was EXCITED! What an adventure life is! I am so grateful to be a woman! To have been given the blessings and opportunities that come with being a woman. I am grateful for my women-friends who lift me up when I'm down and laugh with me when I am up. I am so grateful to share my mothering abilities to not only my children but to all children, both young and old! I am so grateful to the "mothers" in my ward who love me and guide me like my own mother would if she could be here -- and I know that my mother and mother-in-law are grateful for this as well. I am in awe of being a daughter of my Heavenly Father, who values women more than anyone, and has given me the opportunity to prove myself worthy of godhood and eternity with Him.
Sunday night we had Family Home Evening and talked about what Independence Day means. Jorja yelled out, "Fireworks!" Jillian and Logan had a better idea of how it came to be and why we do the fireworks. I truly believe that one can not understand the greatness of this country until he or she leaves it. I do know that other countries have their benefits, etc. but I am so very grateful to have been raised in the "land of the free." What a wonderful blessing! To know freedom and what it means, to understand that not everybody enjoys not only the standard of living we have, but, more importantly, the opportunities that this country gives us. We certainly have our set of problems and there are many, many wicked people either leading our country or that have great influence upon those leaders. However, I am very grateful for the freedom that has been fought and won by those presently and who have gone before me. We talked about all the people in our family who have served in the military -- where and when -- and I realized what a great heritage of service I have! Thank you! I only hope I can do my part to preserve what we have.
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