I have spent Memorial Day attending various picnics over the years. I have to say that of all the ones that I have attended, none of them made our veterans the focus. That changed yesterday! What an amazing call we were given by the veterans that spoke to us in the big huge tent. Seeing this nation going as it has sometimes gets me pretty depressed. But I think yesterdays speeches gave me a renewal of hope. Not hope because things look better than I thought, as that is not the case. But hope that hundreds in attendance who were hearing the same thing, being encouraged to fight for our country. One younger veteran spoke of how we have the opportunity that soldiers do not....and that is we are HOME with our children to train them in the ways of the Lord. We should not take that lightly! He told us that many soldiers family's fall apart in many ways due to the nature of a soldiers job. And how many of them and their families are not believers. Our freedom has come at a cost and we should be grateful for it and use it wisely.
I had been hoping to go to this picnic the past couple of years. Our other church held its own picnic each Memorial Day so it wasn't able to happen. I am very thankful to get a chance to attend (and be more involved in it as we are the church sponsoring the event). Jeremiah was able to meet Doug Phillips, president of the Vision Forum Ministries (www.visionforum.com). They have a lot of resources that you just won't find anywhere else. They hold to the Biblical truths of the nature of families. It is very inspiring. Mr. Phillips had two great speeches that he gave yesterday. Talk about rethinking how we have been doing things here in our home! Granted our thoughts have changed greatly over the last year, but yesterday was just a renewal of vision. He talked about George Washington and his indispensable men. Washington had four terms that had to be met in order to serve as one of those indispensable men. The idea of doing right for the sake of right, even if it meant detriment. There was just so much to take in. There was so much for all of us to learn yesterday. It was amazing!
There was also a lot of fun for the kids. They had old war jeeps and two hay rides going around the ponds on the property. Isabella was off helping to serve the veterans their lunch and I took the other kiddos on a jeep ride. Umm....yeah, they needed one of those signs that said this ride is not for people with heart problems or who are pregnant! I was ready to kiss the ground when we got back! I was hoping I wasn't going to go into labor that very minute! That being said the kids LOVED it. Of course :-) Later in the day I decided to take them on the more tame hay ride. That proved to be enjoyable, and SAFE :-) Jedidiah absolutely loved the hay ride as there was a big tractor pulling us! He just kept pointing to the tractor, babbling something, and laughing. It was too cute. When we got off he cried because he wanted to go again. By that point in the day I was ready to go home! On the way to the van we had to pass the area where the kids games where. They had brought out one of those large colorful parachutes that they where having the kids shake and run under. Of course the kids begged to play. How could I resist! I LOVED those parachute thingies as a child. The funny thing was they had all these colorful rubber chickens that they were bouncing around on the chute. Jedidiah had a blast running around picking all the ones that flew off the chute. He didn't want to be the one to put it back on so he would find another boy willing to do it for him and give it to the boy to do it. Then he would be off to find another chicken. It was hilarious! So after the kids were there for ten minutes or so it was time to go home. Jedidiah and I snoozed when we got home. Then there was dinner.....oh yeah, we still need to eat ;-) I was not feeling like making anything on my menu. I came up with scrambled eggs and corn bread. It worked, everyone ate it, and it was an easy meal. I put the kids to bed a bit early as they had a long day, and believe it or not the nap gave me enough energy to not be able to go to bed early myself. Bummer. I just hung out on the couch chatting with Jeremiah and crocheting.
Phew! That was our day. I wish I could be more eloquent in describing some of the speeches that we listened to. But you'll just have to trust me when I say....you should have been there :-) I hope you all had a great day. I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things today. We have three more days of testing this week for Isabella and Moira. By the way they are doing very well so far! Then we have only three more weeks worth of official school work. Wow, the time is going fast!
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