The 4th of July is a great day for us.  We celebrate Sam and Bethany Grace's spiritual birthday.  On Thursday we went to a local Christian bookstore so they could choose a gift.  On the 4th I baked a cake for them.  Sadly, I didn't get any pictures.  I don't know where my head was!!!!!  I'll have to snap a picture of them together this week and pretend it was on the 4th.  :-)   Sam and Bethany Grace are both growing so much in the Lord.  I have seen a big growth in Sam especially.  Bethany Grace is coming along as well but I've seen a really nice growth in Sam.  May the Lord continue to draw them to Him and may they each have a thirst for the Word that can never be quenched.

Later in the day Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and then we all headed downtown for the big fireworks display.  We were able to view it from the roof of the Wildhorse.  The view was GREAT!  This picture isn't very good but it gives an idea of our view.

Mark did NOT like the fireworks.  I was very surprised by this.  He has never re-acted this way about anything.  He was uncertain from the beginning when he heard us talk of being on the roof.  I tried to tell him it was like a balcony and he bought that until we got to the roof.  He was clinging to me BIG TIME.  He finally started getting more comfortable and was eating some watermelon etc...  At the end of performance of the person on stage, there was a big fireworks display that went off.  He grabbed a hold of me and stayed with me all night.  I think it was louder for us on the roof because the sound was "bouncing off" of the buildings behind us.  This is how Mark and I sat for the whole fireworks display (all 20+ minutes of it)

Here are Bekah and Sam enjoying the evening.

After the fireworks, we hung out on the roof a bit longer waiting for the crowds to thin out.  Once we were headed to our vehicle the sky was looking pretty cloudy.  Brooks commented that we might get wet and I assured him that as sweet as I am, I wouldn't melt (ha ha ha)  Not long after that conversation, the rain began and it was raining HARD.  We stopped beside a building for a few minutes hoping that the rain would pass.  Nope!  So we began walking again.  When we finally reached our vehicle, we were all soaked.  I was so proud of everyone for keeping a really great attitude though.  We laughed about it and had a great time walking in the rain.