My Country

I love the 4th of July.  It and Thanksgiving are my favorite holidays. (except St. Patrick's day, but that is a given.)

3 years ago when I spent the summer in South Africa I did okay with the homesickness.  S.A is nothing like USA, but I loved it all.  Until I realized that on the 4th of July, the holiday celebrating my home, there would be no watermelon, no barbeque, no family sitting on the lake watching the fireworks.  Oh… fireworks. I love them .  So we were running VBS at this little Indian church in Durban, I was beyond homesick, my teammates all thought I was crazy for being so sad about missing this one little holiday (WE ARE IN AFRICA,CORRIE!) and I walk into church late and see these beautiful children

and hear them yell “Happy independence day, Corrie!”

Pretty sure none of them had any clue what they are talking about but it made me smile, and slightly less longing for home.  That is one of my favorite memories of this holiday, the one I spent far from home…

Now… this 4th of July was so~much~fun.  It is my friend Tiffany’s birthday, and we celebrated big. I would show pictures, but I was too busy going down water slides and getting into splashing fights to take any. And then as we headed for fireworks, the skies opened up and that plan went out the window.  But as far as AMERICA goes, here are my captures:

Joe has spent the last 6 months in Army training, and got to come for a couple of weeks before he goes to his new assignment. He spent the time helping plan their wedding, which we are hoping isn’t delayed by a deployment.

America would not be the awesome country it is without the people who volunteer to protect it.

And the place I love:

People hate on Kansas all the time, but seriously? We have the best skies around. Fireworks or no fireworks.

The weekend ended with me hiding in an empty room to watch the fireworks at work when they set them off on Monday.

I love my country.

Part of You Capture