* Independence Day July 4th *

We feel blessed to live in the land of opportunity full of many freedoms and pray daily that they will continue and the leadership of this great nation will make the best decisions for us as a whole.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

"The Star Spangled Banner"
The Defense of Fort McHenryby Francis Scott Key20 September 1814

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, through the perilous fight,O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.O say, does that star-spangled banner yet waveO'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, now conceals, now discloses?Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war and the battle's confusionA home and a country should leave us no more?Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slaveFrom the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall standBetween their loved homes and the war's desolation!Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued landPraise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!