Our Independence Day -

"During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4." (wikipedia)

Independence Day, 2009. 233 years ago, Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, and 2 days earlier, legally separated from Great Britain, a move, which we would soon have to prove with long years of war and split families and lost lives. For Freedom! We won the right...and we've paid for it many times over with America's soldiers. Let's not waste it. Let's be very thankful this Independence Day, and not take it for granted, like I know we do. :)

The very strains move me to tears - "Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, oe'r the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?". The very sight of our flag never fails to make my heart skip a beat in pride. For those of you who are not still sure, or who ask the question -

Old Glory still waves!!! She waves all over her land. America is seen in the hearts of those who are not ashamed to call her their loved country. America, America, God has shed grace on thee!

The last verse to our national anthem is the most sweet and the best in my eyes, I encourage you to read it carefully, let it sink in. :) It moved me to utmost gratitude for my land and my Lord.

Happy Independence Day, dearest, beloved land! My country, I love you!!!

A grateful American girl,
~ Jean Marie

The Star-Spangled Banner
"Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"