Independence Day Delivery

We got our shipment on July 4th - an excellent Independence Day in my opinion. It only took 2 months and 3 weeks to get here. We had originally planned to have Madeline stay with a friend on the day our shipment came, but then our friend's kids got sick and Madeline had been sick and was still struggling, so she ended up being with us. She did very well in spite of the excitement.

The Aramco furniture people took away our Aramco furniture early that morning - which until writing this I haven't had a second thought about (we do not miss it!) - and then our shipment arrived around 9:30 that morning. Paul checked off numbers for each box and piece of furniture and I guided the movers to what room they need to take whatever they had, while Madeline ate goldfish crackers and watched Shrek. It all worked out rather well.

The only real issues were the two broken picture frames, the bashed up couch feet, the dented fridge door, the scratched front of the washing machine, the broken vase, and the fact that one of the movers had a nice big glob of black, sticky oil on the bottom of his shoe, which he tracked up the stairs, down the hall, and into the baby's future room. Some annoyances, but I was so happy to see our stuff! I am not sure where I am going to find a huge piece of glass for my collage frame though - so that's a dilemma.

We haven't been able to do much with our stuff yet because right after we got everything Paul and I got sick with pretty bad colds. We're just now getting over those now so we will finally be able to get going on making this our place. I'm excited!

It has been a heavenly blessing since our things arrived to sleep in our soft, pillow-top bed with our soft blankets; to use a bowl and a spoon in the kitchen and not have to wash it right away so someone else can use it; to have Madeline safely, and comfortably, confined to her softly padded high chair that she CANNOT climb out of during mealtime; and to vacuum with my beautiful, wonderful, "never loses suction, ever" Dyson. It's the little things, ya know?

Independence

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Paul and I went out to breakfast, played with water balloons, saw "Live Free, Die Hard" - Yippee Kiyay!!- and then went to see the fireworks in Germantown.

The Fourth of July, a.k.a. Independence Day, has always been one of my favorite holidays.

When I was a kid every year on the 4th my family got together with a couple of families across the street to have a BBQ, play games like volley ball, and we always had a massive water fight. Preparation for the event began in the early morning hours. We are talking kiddy pools full of water balloons, waterguns fully loaded with Mother Nature's sweet nectar (water), and hoses positioned and ready for war. Everyone was involved... even the moms sometimes. By the end, everyone was soaked Pruney. We'd dry off by laying on the hot sidewalk and then head over to the BBQ'er to eat the best hamburgers and hotdogs in existence, and then feast on fresh watermelon and popscicles.

When the sun began to set, we'd walk a mile or so to the Junior High School and head to the back with our blankets and lawn chairs so we could watch the city fireworks that were lit every year down at the city park. We'd run around doing cartwheels and playing tag until the fireworks began. Then we'd head back home to watch as my brothers and neighbors lit our own fireworks. We had 'em all... stink bombs, snakes, those panda houses that shot up 5 levels, bottle rockets, ooh and flowers that my brothers would pocket a couple of to later make flower bombs and force the neighbor kid to stand on a bucket which was over said flower bomb... and we'd laugh and laugh. We always saved the biggest, best fireworks for the very end... the grand finale'.

"Oooohhh... Ahhhhhh...."

As a kid I never realized how lucky I was to be a citizen of the U.S. of A. I never realized the gift of freedom that we had. Most children in the world don't ever have the life I had growing up.

There have been many men and women who have lost their lives and who are now fighting to protect the freedom I hold so dear and to them I say Thank You!!. I love America. I love that I have the freedom to write this blog, live how I choose, learn what I want, and be who I am. My children will know the meaning of freedom and what a great gift and blessing it is to be an American.