The Star Spangled Banner:

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

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

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

Quotes from our Founding Fathers:

Source: http://www.wallbuilders.com/

Benjamin Franklin

Signer of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence

[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

(Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore and Mason, 1840), Vol. X, p. 297, April 17, 1787. )

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.

(Source: James Madison, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Farrand, editor (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), Vol. I, pp. 450-452, June 28, 1787.)

My boss gave me permission to take the morning off as I'm through with everything I need to do for the year and I still have 4 sick days unused so I went ahead with my plans to go riding. Think lower humidity and between 75 and 82 degree temps, clear sky, and riding through trails... The weather this week has been beautiful! So I asked and received the morning off.

When I got out to the stables, I was partnered up with a set of riders who were going out for two hours even though I was only going to be out an hour. The lady who owns the stables was the wrangler who came out to get me and we separated from the group. She trusted me enough on her horse to spend about 20 minutes at a trot. Well, her horse was loping. Mine was trotting. Stormy is part Belgium and part quarter horse, so her legs are considerably longer than the arabs everyone else was riding. So her trot kept her up with the boss' horse quite easily. lol.

She took me around to check a couple of trails which impressed me mainly because I didn't think she would do something like that with a "guest". That was kind of cool. I liked riding with the group, but I had to squelch several impulses that apparently still exist from my two and a half years as an assistant wrangler out at a local YMCA. So when we broke off, all I had to do was focus on my own riding which was nice.

On our way back, we got to talking about what I did for a living and I mentioned I was needing to find something for over the summer. What she said next I think I can state is an answer to prayer. While she's already hired paid staff for the summer, she does take volunteers and some volunteers progress to riding drag (last place in the trail ride) and/or leading trail rides! Also though, the volunteers come out and work in exchange for horse bucks. The horse bucks can be put towards things like... oh I don't know... riding! So it would be a way of being able to ride without having to pay. This was something I had wanted to ask about, but wasn't going to until my next trip out there in a month. lol.

At the moment, I'm leaning towards trying to figure out how to do that. If I get a job I'm waiting to hear back from, I'm not sure how I'll pull off my regular volunteer work let alone anything additional, but I could go ahead and go out and start learning the ropes over the next couple of weeks. We'll see. It's something I'm going to have to pray about and see if my time management skills can handle it.

Another thing that happened this morning was that my left ankle, which had hurt like crazy towards the last 15 -20 min of the last time I was out there, barely bugged me at all! Praise God! I sprained a muscle in my left ankle/leg in May of 2008 and when I have to use that leg to support me (horseback riding, ice skating, something that takes a lot of muscle control), it really aches. Today was the first time that I've had it only ache a little bit and not at all once we started trotting! I am so thankful! Maybe it means that muscle is finally getting stronger again.

Ok... I've rambled long enough.