Happy Veterans Day

Today is Veterans day. I was going to include this in my other post I posted earlier about my Dr. appointment, but thought it was worthy of it's own post. This morning when the kids and I woke up, we tried to call my dad to wish him a Happy Veterans day. My dad served in our military for 20 years. When we called at about 8:30 this morning, he was already out and about, visiting an old lady at the hospital. When we tried calling later, he was in a meeting for work. When we tried for a third time (and fourth, and fifth) no one was home. When we called my mom's cell phone to get my dads cell phone number (I had it saved in the memory of our old phone, but that phone is no longer working) he was in a meeting at church. So, we called his cell phone anyway, thinking either he'd like an excuse to leave his meeting, or we could just leave a message. So, we left a message.

My dad (and mom) have always been great examples of patriot's to me. They've always been respectful and proud of our country. My mom does cry just about every time she hears the national anthem, you know. I know our country isn't perfect. Nothing in this world is perfect. But lately I've been thinking about all the negative that is out there about our great nation. All the blame that is thrown this way and that. Why does everything have to be someones fault? Sometimes bad things just happen. Sometimes, people have good intentions and make the best decision they can, and then later realize that things could have been different. Hind sight is always 20/20. Why can't we just support that person and say 'Too bad things didn't turn out the way we thought they would. Lets think of another way to solve this'. I really think that is the American attitude we should have.

Having freedoms and liberties aren't free. But they are worth the sacrifice. I think it's difficult for most people to see, because we don't realize what we have. If you've always been able to say what you think, worship the way you'd like, raise you kids the way you'd like, marry who you want, live where you want, work where you want, etc., then we tend to take all those things for granted. I'm so thankful that I live in a country where I can teach my children the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I can choose if I want to put them in preschool or not. I can choose what doctor to take them to, and when to do it. I'm thankful my husband could go to school full time and work full time to support our family. I'm thankful that I'm able to stay home with my kids to focus my life on the most important thing I can do, which is raising them to be good citizens and disciples of Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for all of the many, many liberties and freedoms that we have. It really makes me sad to hear all the pessimistic remarks about our country. How it is so easy to be greedy with the things we take for granted. How people feel like they're 'owed' certain things, just because other people might have them. But, because this is America, they have just as much right to spout out their opinions (not matter how off base they may be) as I do. Thanks dad, for working so hard for most of your life, at keeping my family free.