O beautiful for spacious skies for ambered waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.

How often we take for granted the spacious skies, the purple mountain majesties, and the fruited plains which we enjoy here in the United States. It is but by the grace of God shed upon our country and His undeserving mercy that has allowed  us the privilege of experiencing peace and liberty from sea to shining sea these last 233 years. What a blessing from the hand of Providence it is to live in this Great Country.

On Independence Day we call to remembrance those who gave their lives for our inalienable, God given rights as described in our Nation’s Declaration of Independence. It is to be a day of celebration and contemplation.

Our family had the joy of celebrating July 4th with each other. The day started out bright and early as we made our way to the farm for some exhilarating work all together. Planting, weeding, mowing, mulching, & enjoying the blessings of family relationships or as was said in the Declaration of Independence, the blessings of liberty secured to ourselves and our posterity.

Catching a quick break on top of the hay Unloading hay for the garden

Lining up oriental grass in a straight line - go Daniel Planting more rasberry plants... Good job Mark - another thistle has met its end!

Planting a maple tree The site of our morning operations

Spreading the hay Delivering the hay

After a morning and early afternoon of good hard work, we headed home for an evening of family fun! Whether baking in the kitchen, shucking corn outside, grilling the hot dogs & hamburgers, or preparing something to share about Independence Day, joy abounded and memories were made.

Cooking away Leveling out sand

Uh-oh! Sarah & Princess

A meaningful part of the day was gathering together for the delicious meal which almost everyone Ready for a bite of $0.10 an ear corn - yum!helped contribute to under Mom’s guidance. While eating, different ones shared of the importance behind this day. We were exhorted by the writings of William Bradford & the Mayflower Compact as these were fundamental to the birth of our nation. We heard a biography on Clayton Braxton, one of 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Also read was a powerful summary of the Declaration of Independence from the Heritage Foundation.

Three of the cooks  Just finished shucking the corn

The day ended with the watching of an amazing recorded re-enactmen
t of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. We went to bed that night inspired, recognizing the amazing miracle God wrought in the formation of the United States of America.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Family News, On the Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.