Happy Fourth!

Yesterday and today have been wonderful and emotional for me.  Today was Charlotte and Atticus's first Independence Day.  They can both now say that they are American citizens.  They will reap the benefits in their future of being an American-- the freedoms, the opportunities, unlike that of any other country.

Most importantly they are FREE in another way... free of the cribs, of the bars that held them in for so long, of any injustice and mistreatment, of being looked at as second class citizens.  They have been given a new life, a life beyond all that, where they can be respected as human beings, as individuals, as children of God.

I am so thankful today for our country and its freedoms.  I am thankful for all those who have given their lives-- both in death and in service-- so that these freedoms may be preserved.  I pray for our leaders, for the choices that are being made, and for the decisions that will affect us all in the future.  I hope that others pray for them as well, whether they agree with them or not.  They need prayer.

I am grateful today for my children, that they get to grow up in this great country.  That they don't hunger for anything, that they have a home, that their daddy has a job so that he may provide for them, that they have both a mother and father who love them and are together in the home to nurture and protect them.  I am grateful that we have the freedom of religion, to worship as we wish and the opportunity to raise our children to love the Lord without fear of persecution.

I was blessed today by a comment from another woman as we got into our car after watching our local town parade.  She complimented me as a mother, and my children for their good behavior, and told me how lucky and blessed I was to have ALL of them... a large family.  She told me how she wished it had been her, and how grateful I should be that my husband agreed to a large family, because if her husband had agreed she would have had many children too.  Her compliments and encouragement through our conversation together reminded me just how blessed I am, and that I shouldn't ever take it for granted.  Even on the stressful days, I should always be thankful, because there are others out there who would love to have the life that I do.

So on this Fourth, I am reminded to contemplate all these blessings.  I pray that your lives are blessed, that you never take your freedoms for granted, and that you USE those freedoms to work at doing good in this world.  And always remember those who helped us get to where we are.... from the Declaration of Independence onward, freedom has never been free.