Tuesday, the 5th of July! The Independence Day celebrations are all done, with the exception of people still shooting off their now bargain priced fireworks, and the communities having late fireworks because the performance had to be cancelled because of the rain. We have had a good four plus inches here and some areas have had as much as double that. Winds and storms have flattened a lot of corn that I doubt will stand back up. That isn't a good thing. We are under the threat of more rain and storms all this week. I conducted the funeral I had to do yesterday but we couldn't have a graveside commital because the cemetery was flooded.

Today is Julie's 49th birthday. That just doesn't seem possible. But, our girls are all hitting middle age. Julie is 49, Stephanie just turned 46 and became a grandmother, Heather will turn 46 and Lisa will be 45. Jon is our only grandchild left in highschool and if Josh would hurry up and marry that lovely Christina, we'd have two great grandchildren. It is a good thing Ms. Kate and I are making the most of our lives because they sure are passing by quickly.

I went outside for a few minutes last evening to see some of the neighborhood fireworks. Because of the dense air from the clouds and rain, the air was full of the smell of sulfur. The area sounded like a war zone with all of the fireworks cannons and firecrackers going off. I could hear people laughing and shouting when an especially loud one went off or a particularly pretty one went up in to the air. People were indeed having fun. But --- I couldn't help but think that probably not but one in maybe a hundred of those people had even a thought of how frightening all of the sound and smell is to a large part of the world, where that same sound would have been the sound of death and destruction and IEDs and mortars going off and bombs dropping from the sky and bullets whizzing through houses. We are so very blessed to live in a country where those things are not an everyday occurrence; where we don't have to worry where our children walk or play because of IEDs and land mines planted everywhere. I pray we will never ever again have that kind of thing happening in this country. I love living in this country. I love being an Ameerican citizen. Having been in war torn areas, I just can't fathom that kind of destruction in this beautiful country. But --- I also know it can happen or could happen if the people of this nation don't quit rattling their sabers at one another and back down from their stupid pride and feelings of entitlement. I just read last night that one political party in congress is calling for their party members to be "disruptive as possible" when the other party begins to speak. I suspect our founding fathers of this nation would look at our national leadership of today and would think they totally failed in their mission. I pray daily for this country and I hope youo do too.

Enough politics. I need to sit and watch my birds and enjoy this morning of beautiful sunshine. Go has provided yet another beautiful morning for us to enjoy. I hope you have a very blessed day. I need to take Ms. Kate for a root canal today so keep good thoughts for her. Also pray foro Ms. Stephanie who is having a serious operation on Friday. And never forget --- God is good. Peace.