Pops!

Brianna~
Michael & Mamalilly
Justin
Paton
Sarah Grace
Brianna & I


Last week our family went to a place called Pops. It was a gas station, a little restaurant, and a gift shop all in one. On display was over 500 soft drinks. They had a some that were cold that you buy. Of course, we had to try some! It was so much fun! My grandmother ( aka Mamalilly) was in town so she came with us.

A Homemade Picnic Table

On the morning of July 4th, Daddy and Michael worked together to build a child-size picnic table.
It turned out great! That night we ate outside, and the little ones used the table. Here are some pictures:

Measuring...

It's done!
Sarah enjoying it.

The Fourth of July: Looking Forward

A prayer for our nation~

"That our sons may be as the plants growing up in their youth, and our daughters as the cornerstones , graven after the similitude of a palace:
That our corners may be full and abounding with divers sorts, and that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousand in our streets.
That our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be none invasion, nor going out, nor no crying in our streets,
Blessed are the people, that be so, yea blessed are the people whose God is the Lord."

Psalm 144:12-15

The Fourth of July: Looking Back

There is a beautiful poem I would like to share with my readers today. It is a poem about the lady who, with her needle and thread, sewed our country's first standard: The American Battle Flag.
So here, my dear readers, is
Betsy's Battle Flag
By Minna Irving

From dusk to dawn the livelong night
She kept the tallow dips alight,
And fast her nimble fingers flew
To sew the stars upon the blue.
With weary eyes and aching head
She stitched the stripes of white and red,
And when the day came up the stair
Complete across a carven chair
Hung Betsy's battle-flag.

Like shadows in the evening gray
The Continentals filed away,
With broken boots and ragged coats,
But hoarse defiance in their throats;
They bore the marks of want and cold,
And some were lame and some were old,
And some wounds untended bled,
But floating bravely overhead
Was Betsy's battle-flag

Then fell the battle's leaden rain,
The soldier hushed his moans of pain
And raised his dying head to see
King George's troopers turn and flee.
Their charging column reeled and broke,
And vanished in the rolling smoke,
Before the glory of the stars,
The snowy stripes, and scarlet bars
Of Betsy's battle-flag

The simple stone of Betsy Ross
Is covered now with mold and moss,
But still her deathless banner flies,
And keeps the color of the skies.
A nation thrills, a nation bleeds,
A nation follows where it leads,
And every man is proud to yield
His life upon a crimson field
For Betsy's battle-flag!

Taken from: Verses of Virtue

A Sleepy Cowboy