Independence Day

Our family went to the Baker/Bailey/Schuhknecht 'compound' to watch the fireworks display on Saturday night... as usual, it was stunning! We are so blessed to have such a terrific school as ASU Mountain Home in our community... it is a really good institution with a lot of really good people working there so that our citizens can get a great higher education at a really affordable cost.... and we are undeservedly blessed to have friends like the Bakers and Baileys and Schuhknechts!

But each year on the Saturday before the 4th of July, ASUMH hosts a Red, White and Blue Day which culminates in an unbelievable fireworks display put on by the Heenan family.... and this year's show was spectacular!

I do love this time of year... picnics and pools and lake outings and bike rides and fireflies at night (by the way, Lucy the Wonderdog has developed the evening ritual of chasing and eating fireflies... truly, I did not know Basset Hounds had an appetite for lightning bugs!)... anyhow, summers in the Ozarks are wonderful!

While we experienced the dramatic fireworks display three nights ago, I thought to myself: perhaps the best part or this whole thing is reflecting on the sacrifices which are represented by each 'boom' and the gifts given by every flash in the sky. People who don't know me are, right now today, standing a post with a weapon to defend my freedom.... and people who I will never get to meet have, over the decades, given their life so I could - today - have liberty.

I love the commercial that's running right now... the one set in an airport... people just sitting and waiting for their flight to be called, and a group of soldiers - in camouflage gear - walk through the airport (either on their way to or returning from the field of battle)... one by one, each person in the terminal begins to clap until the entire airport is offering a very emotional standing ovation... I get teary-eyed just writing about it now...

This week, please think of those women and men who don the uniform of our armed forces every day and stand between you and harm. Say a prayer right now for the safe return of these husbands and daughters and wives and grandsons... each of them are missed terribly by their families.

And if you are blessed enough to actually know one of these heroes... give them a hug or give them a call and thank them for what they do for you and our country!

Happy Independence Day!

God Bless!