This morning Ethan asked me about this holiday, the 4th of July; why do we celebrate it? Why the fireworks, the party? I confess: I have done an extremely poor job of teaching my almost-4-year old the basics of government, lol. (I’m fairly disinterested in the topic myself). As we walked, I pointed out the American Flag and reminded him about Obama (who he always recognizes on TV or t-shirts and declares: THAT’S THE PRESIDENT! YOU VOTED FOR HIM!). I tried to tell him how on July 4th we celebrate the fact that no one owns our country, that we are free. That part was a tad over his head. It struck me that I should have been focusing his learning on this these past few weeks, but alas, it fell between the cracks. Good thing there’s a July 4th next year

Freedom, however, is something he gets. Independence? Oh yes.

So I’ve been reflecting today on the concept of freedom, how it effects me in my marriage and my relationship with my children.

In my marriage, we are learning that we have the freedom to make choices and have feelings, to share what’s truly on our minds, and to be different individuals whilst loving and respecting those differences we bring to the table. We have the freedom to make mistakes and make amends.

With Ethan, we are learning that although he is 3 foot nothin’, he is still a person who deserves love and respect, to be listened to, to be given a safe and secure home. He has the freedom to make choices and have feelings too, and to display them — to make mistakes, and make amends. I recently add to my sidebar the slogan “Free Range Kid” because I want to remind myself (at least as often as I come to my own blog, lol) that my child is a gift from God, a small person entrusted to me to guide and facilitate, not to control and mold. He is free. I am free to love him, I am free to respond with gentleness and understanding, I am free to be excited about who is uniquely is. You might think these things are fairly automatic for a parent, but not always. Children have the capacity to wear you MIGHTY THIN, and the daily process can get you stuck in survival rather than enjoyment. So this is certainly a learning process for me, and for Chris.

In other news, I’ve had a busy week, esp with “field trips” and outings. We spent a total of seven hours at Jamison water park this week, and Ethan is now sporting a nice tan line above his crack Yesterday Chris was off for holiday, so the homeschooling group got together for a family-wide potluck/picnic– which was great. Looks like this week we’ll be doing a Berry U-Pick farm perhaps. In a few weeks we are visiting the water plant. It’s been such a blessing to meet the families preschool homeschooling around here. One of them even has an Azure Standard drop near us, so we get to add 15 lb Peanut Butter and 1 gallon of raw honey to the drop this week, a sweet deal. Also, we are bartering our kefir grains for her handmade natural soaps. Another mom is planning a day when us moms can get together to watch Bollywood films. God, I love this city.

We’ve been blessed a lot this week. From expert financial advice, a free clunker laptop for Chris to begin looking for his own freelance administrative work, and an infant carseat we can borrow. I snagged 5 handmade cloth diapers from Craigslist so we are finally back to cloth. Oh, and our roomies are having a rough go this last end of the pregnancy- they’ll be trying to naturally induce via acupuncture this week because of a liver problem that could be effecting the baby, so hold on to your hats folks- we could have the 8th Kenton House addition here VERY SOON! YEEK!

So, our lofty Independence Day plans to go to the fabulous church house party/grill-out were dampened by a lack of transportation, but all is well. We stayed in: Verity slept a bunch, Ethan made flags, I sewed and worked. We went out in the yard for the afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful, healing summer rays. We ate watermelon and Newman’s Oreos while Chris and I shared a cold Reisling. The boys did boy thing with fireworks while I continued a knitting project. Sweet times…

Curtains for Ethan (future Verity) room. Trying to overhaul this room to be a tad more manageable (toy rotation, etc) and less gender specific (away with the blue dragon rug and in with the multi-gendered patchwork curtains!) Sewing curtains for Ethan’s room has been a looooong time coming, so I’m happy to have this behind me, lol.

Remember those itty bitty carrot sprouts? Our garden is really taking off!

Tomatoes… coming soon?!

Verity is so beautiful. And she sure loves to sleep outside!

Wine and watermelon, anyone?

No, I’m not practicing voodoo on an unlucky lion out there who double-crossed me. This is my latest knit project- a jungle animal baby mobile for my nephew Logan, due sooooon! (And yes, I am very aware that these little animals are so ugly their cute. What can I say? They are imperfect because they are handmade, right?)

Ethan’s tribute to our backyard 4th of July party

Chris and Ethan in a watermelon eating contest!

And lastly – 4th of July is not complete until you light something up while in your watermelon soaked t-shirt

HAPPY FREEDOM DAY, EVERY ONE!!!