Happy 4th!

 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD;

and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. Psalms 33:12

I just thought I would post a Happy 4th to my USA readers!  This is a special anniversary of our independence as it is our 250th!  I am so proud to be an American and so thankful for my country.  Last Sunday in Church we sang some great patriotic hymns and I included the words on two of them:  

God of Our Gathers:  written to celebrate our 100th Anniversary by Daniel C. Roberts

Battle Hymn of the Republic: Written by Julia Ward Howe during the Civel War

America the Beautiful:  written by Katharine Lee Bates and originally titled Pikes Peak, 4th of July 1895

1 O beautiful for spacious skies

for amber waves of grain;

for purple mountain majesties

above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed his grace on thee,

and crown the good with brotherhood

from sea to shining sea.

America: "My Country Tis of Thee" written by Samuel F. Smith 1832

1. My country,' tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside let freedom ring! 2. My native country, thee, land of the noble free, thy name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills; my heart with rapture thrills, like that above. 3. Let music swell the breeze, and ring from all the trees sweet freedom's song; let mortal tongues awake; let all that breathe partake; let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong. 4. Our fathers' God, to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing; long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light; protect us by thy might, great God, our King.

I was crying by the time we got finished.  Despite everything that is happening, I love my country and am thankful we live here!

Since I am posting anyway, I thought I would post another card for the House-Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge: Water Fun Midway Inspiration.

I colored this House Mouse image with an assortment of brands of pencils and added Glossy Accents and stamped the sentiment from a SU! set on a MFT die cut cloud.  The wonky rectangle white panel is a die from MFT. (MY Favorite Things)

Here are some photos of how we spent the 4th of July in 2008:

Watching the 4th of July parade in Ketchikan, Alaska from our ship

And here is a scrapbook page of how we spent 4th of July in 2022.

This year, hubby is grilling hamburgers out for the two of us.  You can see that is my ticket to the TSFT party over at Altered Book Lover.

Happy 4th!

Thanks for stopping by!

See you next time.

T Stands for Patriotism

 ​¹ Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1

Good evening!  It is time for TSFT, and we post early because it is already Tuesday over the pond.  Tomorrow, we celebrate the 4th of July or our Independence Day in the USA. On that note, I thought I would share some patriotism from my neighborhood.  As you all know, sometimes on the trails I walk they decorate them for the different seasons and holidays, so I thought I would share a few photos. The didn't go overboard, but here are a few.

Because this replica of a Keeper of the Plains looks patriotic, I am including photos of it.  This one is at Cambridge Market right in front of one of our favorite diners, Livingstons.

As Elizabeth explained these replicas were commissioned to celebrate Wichita's 150th anniversary, I believe.  I now have a complete list and plan to find and photograph all of them.  So far I have visited and photographed this one and the one at Cozine Memorial Group, which I previously posted on my blog.

Parting shots:

And for our TSFT ticket over at Altered Book Lover:

I wish all in the U.S. a happy and safe 4th.

Thank you for stopping by.  I love reading your comments and visiting your blogs.  It is so fun to get to know bloggers from all over the world as we visit each other.

T Stands for Thankful for My Country

 ^" Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance."  Psalms 33:12 KJV

Today in the U.S. we are celebrating our 246th year of the publication of our declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776.  We usually celebrate with family gatherings, and firework displays.  Personally, we have no family near here, so it will be just the two of us, and we will watch firework displays on TV.  Another way we did celebrate was to sing patriotic songs in church this week, and we listened to a wonderful rendition of The Battle Hymn of the Republic by one of our pianists.  I always get teary eyed as soon as I hear the first few notes. Yes, I am thankful for my country.

Here is some 4th of July cards I have created either this year or in the past:

I think this image is from a local stamp store Mrs. O'Leary's aka Artful Illusions.  She makes her own stamps.  I purchased them as just pieces of rubber.

The image is also from Mrs. O'Leary's aka Artful Illusions from years and years ago!

I actually used this for an anniversary card for someone whose anniversary is on the 4th of July!

And now for my ticket to T Stands for Tuesday over at Altered Book Lover:

This past week, I was invited to tea by someone I met on my trail.  She served Indian tea, which I loved!  I have to find out what it was.  It was spicy and strong, just the way I love it!  She served it with biscotti and a confetti Bundt cake, all delicious.  There were three of us and we enjoyed hearing the birds sing and taking a tour of her gardens.  It was a very enjoyable morning chatting and getting to know these ladies. 

I hope you enjoyed a little 4th of July with me as well as tea in the lovely setting.

Thank you for stopping by.  Happy T Day, (a little early).

WOYWW 474 New Stash!

                                    
                                 Phi 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Hello fellow WOYWW deskers!  Can you believe it is time to show our desks again?  If you do not know what I am talking about, check out Julia's Stamping Ground.  

I decided I would just spread out all my new stash from the Scrapbook Expo I attended this last weekend! Some of it was from the classes I took, and some was what I purchased! :)  If you want to see photos of my trip, look at my previous post.

I received a free stamp ad made three 3-D Christmas cards in my Heartfelt class.  I found three 6x6 pads for $5.00 at one booth.  Lots of neat goodies!

Short and simple!


Happy Independence Day to my American deskers!  Celebrate, but stay safe!

Thanks for stopping by!  If I missed you last week, it is because I left town almost immediately after posting.  I will try to see you all this week!  Happy WOYWW!