I think I actually laughed all day.
My sides ache today.
The Fourth of July is not necessarily a funny holiday. It is a reflective
holiday. A time to be thankful for the vision, passion and drive our
forefathers had for this country.
My flower boxes sported flags yesterday, despite the rain. I am very proud to
fly the flag. And very thankful for the freedoms that I have as a citizen
of the United States of America. Several times yesterday I overheard
others voicing a recognition of the freedoms we have and the understanding
of the price that had to be paid (and still has to be paid) for our freedom.
The Husband and Kidlet Three helped clean the house on Saturday.
Wow, is that a good job to have done. Being gone almost every
weekend for baseball, plus having games during the week and working
fulltime, my house has been neglected this spring/summer. I think the
house was smiling yesterday, too. We had a big day planned on the
Fourth so the cleaning had to be done earlier.
A family from Kidlet Three's baseball team invited us to their house
for a Swimming Fourth of July party. We headed over to their house
in the pouring rain with the potato salad and apple crumble
Bring-A-Dish-to-Pass foods (look for a how to make potato salad
post in the future) that I'd made. This family has an incredible pool in
their backyard. The boys were able to swim in between downpours
of rain. The adults, well, this is where I started laughing. There were
a total of three families at this picnic and as we got to know each other
we realized we had mutual friends, that we had similar life-stories and
that God had just plain ordained since the beginning of time, that we
should meet. And oh the stories we began to tell and the laughter
rang out. It was such fun but way too short.
See, The Husband and I had previously planned a Fourth of July party
at our house. In fact, we had four or five couples coming to our house
at 5 p.m. We went to one party at noon and we had the next party at
our house at five. The dilemma was that we were having a great time
at Party One. So, we invited them all over to our house for Round Two.
And oh, what a blessing, Party-One-People came to Party Two!
My camera was out to snap some memories of our Fourth of July party.
Especially since we had two different groups of people coming together
for the first time. I just knew this should be recorded! But, 17 people in my
Comfortable-But-Not-Equipped-for-17-People-Four-Children-And-A-Dog
house was, shall we say...chaotic. We grilled, we ate, we got to know
each other, we chased kids, and we laughed. We started at 5 p.m. and
the last couples left at 12:30 a.m.
As people left the house and I stood in the screen door, I could hear
chuckles as they walked to their cars.
See, God has been so good to The Husband and I that we love to
tell His stories. Some of these stories are blunders that we've made,
poor choices or just purely selfish ambitions that God, in His
heart-bursting love for us, comes in and makes things right. He cleans
up after us and straightens things out. And some of these stories are
hilarious in hindsight. That is what was going on around our table last
night. Everyone sharing, and we make sure everyone gets equal time,
a story or fact about themselves.
It was a fun party. But the camera sat on the cupboard, untouched.
It might be because we were sitting so close together around that table
that four other people would have to move if I had wanted to get up.
Laughter. It truly is good for the soul and is a good medicine.
Father God, thank you for tickling us yesterday. It felt so good to laugh
and celebrate Independence Day! Thank you for the new friends that we
made and thank you for the Stand-By-You-No-Matter-What friends
that we have, too. You are awesome!
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