Happy Fourth of July!

Here we are, another 4th of July upon us once again. Wasn't it just here? The time just flies by! First, I have to say Happy birthday to my baby sister and my niece! When my sister was little, we would tell her that the fireworks were for her birthday...she turns 30 tomorrow and I think she still thinks that! haha I love you sis!! And happy birthday to my niece who is growing up into a beautiful young woman! I love you adorable niece!

Lately I have been talking a lot about patriotism. I can never express my gratitude enough to God and to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms and also to those that fight to protect them every single day. Freedom isn't free for sure. I guess the older I get the more I get it. It isn't just the sacrifice of a life either. It is the sacrifice of time with family, of living a normal life, of bodily harm and of mental health. It is the sacrifice that is made by the families of these people that fight for us every day. And it isn't just soldiers, sailors and airmen either. It is police officers that fight in our streets every day to protect us all from those that break the very laws that are set to protect our freedoms.

I got to thinking about the National Anthem this morning. We all sing it and we are moved by the beautiful music and what it stands for, but do we really know what it means? Have we thought about the words? I looked up the history of our National Anthem. It was a poem that was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 called Defense of Fort McHenry. It was set to the tune of John Stafford Smith's song The Anacreontic Song, modified some and renamed the Star Spangled Banner. Congress declared the Star Spangled Banner the U. S. National Anthem in 1931. The first paragraph is what we know to the be The National Anthem. The rest is the poem that was written by Francis Scott Key. I love it...it represents the patriotism that we all feel about our country and the sacrifices made to protect it. Enjoy!

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilights last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so galantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!