Grab your hat & flag, it is Freedom Festival Time! Gramps & I officially began the Freedom celebration last night by attending the non-denominational fireside at the Marriot Center with key-note speaker Glenn Beck. All I can say is, will it be overkill when I paint my house red, white, & blue? I left with greater patriotic feelings then when I arrived. We are so blessed to live in our free country & if I understood Glenn's talk we all need to wake up & remember what is "good" about America. Let's not let ourselves get mired in the problems our nation is facing. "We the people" are creative & hard-working with the ability to solve the crisis we face, whether it be financial, defense, or those outrageous high pump prices. In his talk he listed many of the inventions that have come from USA. The crowd was exploding with applause as we remembered how great we have been & continue to be. A small, yet very impressive band played all the favorites; Battle Hymn, This Land is Your Land, God Bless America, etc. Michael Ballum played the piano, sang, & told patriotic stories. One of my favorite parts was as the band played each military song, those in the audience that served in each respective branch stood for recognition. Gramps stood for himself & James during the Air Force song. We mentioned Rob & Austin during the Army tune & I thought of Grandpa Farrimond during Anchors Away as he was a Navy man. We have a rich heritage within our small family circle of brave men willing to defend our nation. I truly am proud to be an American. We look forward to the parade & stadium of fire on Friday. Unless plans have changed Austin will be participating in the flag ceremony. It is always an honor to salute the flag, but I get emotional when I see one of my boys in uniform at such events. Thank you James, Austin, & Rob for your sacrifice in behalf of our family & nation. (Picture 1: Glenn Beck @ podium 2: the fantastic band 3: gr & gr)
5 comments:
It sounds like you guys had a great time. I've found that I am so much more patriotic with James being in the military because of what he does. I appreciate all those who sacrifice for our great nation. Thanks for raising such awesome boys mom!
All I can say is...wahoo! That means we will be there soooon! I am so stinking excited. & no mom, if you paint your whole house red white & blue it is not over kill! That reminds me of the time, mand, amy and I went to a patriotic event and we all started crying thinking of our bro's serving in the armed forces...Man we're geeks!
That sounds like a fun evening. I WISH WE COULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO ENJOY WITH YOU> HAPPY $TH OF JULY TO YOU ALL!
I enjoyed your write up about the fireside you attended. I know we need to appreciate living in America. There are so many things we take for granted. I know I am going to try and focus on the godd parts about this wonderful nation we live in. Sometimes we need a wake up call. By the way it was fun having lunch with you on Monday. Seems it gets harder and harder to get together with as busy as we all are.
Vonnie, Sounds like you had an awesome "Independence Day". Ours was a little strange, sitting on a hill in Wyoming...the three of us... (Gary, Genelle and me), but those patriotic feelings were still strong. Have fun with Jen and the kids!
Post a Comment