2011's 4th of July Weekend

It took us an entire weekend to celebrate America's 235th birthday! It began on Friday night when the Hill Ridge Crew (minus EmJ, plus the newlyweds Alex and Amber) came to our house for a cookout and redneck fireworks. That's what Independence Day is all about, y'all. Well, that and independence...

Saturday, Brad and I spent the afternoon at Cheekwood with Alex and Amber (A²), enjoying the beautiful gardens and the incredible, historic mansion.

When the fourth came around, A² and Brad and I dressed up in our most patriotic (read: tackiest) ensembles and made our second annual trip to Nashville's Hot Chicken Festival, "the only thing hotter than the 4th of July." My mouth is a big wimp, so the only thing I feasted upon was the free watermelon. Ah, summer... (PS. Doesn't that dog on my shirt look just like Chester?! Love it!)

This year, we decided to semi-avoid the massive down-town crowd for the city's fireworks display, so we camped out on the opposite side of the river. We only had to temporarily penetrate the chaos when we crossed the bridge to get some greasy delicious vendor food for dinner.

The boys played frisbee as we waited for the sun to go down, and the girls practiced blowing bubbles with our grape Bubblicious. We pretty much mastered the art by nightfall.

I have to admit, even though we had a pretty decent view of the fireworks and could hear the symphony's live broadcast over the car's radio, my heart was a little sad to not be right on the river like we were last year. It just wasn't the same. I couldn't feel the booms in my chest, and we couldn't see all of the ground display, and worst of all, we looked like dorks when we cheered out loud by ourselves. It was definitely nice to not be as sunburned, since we didn't have to claim our territory on the riverfront all day, but I'm not sure we'll miss out like that again. If we're going to watch the big show, we need to be in the big crowd. That's all I'm saying. Lesson learned.

The 4th of July is always one of my favorite holidays, because it's just so laid back. It's all about hanging out with your favorite people and reflecting on the blessings we receive as citizens of this great nation. Our country's freedom is something that I don't know that I fully appreciate, since it's all I've ever known. But I try, especially on the anniversary of our gain of independence, to not take it for granted.

However, there's another type of freedom that is even better, and that's the freedom we have in Christ. I can't think of political freedom without also considering my spiritual freedom. God is so good.