Easter and Witty Wednesday [6]

As promised, here are some Easter photos from our family gathering. It was the first time to have a family event at our new house, and we were quite excited! I hope you enjoy the few photos I took!

My Edwardian-inspired Easter outfit

Trying to look regal. Notice my dog...lol!

Notice Frodo in this shot, too! He really has a disgusted look on his face.

I traditionally make apple pie for all of our gatherings

I always enjoy creating a design suited to the season

I also made green bean casserole

Mom makes the best pasta salad

I have made deviled eggs since I was very little

Grandma brought delicious potato salad...

and macaroni

Yum!

We found this at a thrift store...isn't it precious?

I collected some wildflowers for the mantle

Close-up

My sweet mom and grandma

Remember those fuzzy yellow chicks I posted about a while back...here is what they look like now!

My brother caught an Anole in our mudroom

Running to see the chickens... my niece and nephew LOVE our chickens!

My niece, Chloe, was looking so pretty for spring. I can't believe how fast my sister's precious children are growing!

I loved her hat

My sister's oldest, Cole, searching for eggs. Since I grew out of hunting for eggs several years ago, I graduated to hiding them (which happens to be really fun)!

Trying to find eggs before everyone else does

My cousin, Ross, and Cole and Chloe. This is what happens when you give hints...they all flock to one area like a magnet!

My brother and I playing chess. He just recently taught me how to play chess...and he also beat me at this game! I am getting better, though!

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Now, on to Witty Wednesday!

John Quincy Adams

---On July 4, 1837, in a speech celebrating the 61st anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, Adams said, "Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the World, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day.

   Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the Progress of the Gospel dispensation?

   Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth?

   That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of Hebrew prophets 600 years before."

---"The first and almost the only Book deserving of universal attention is the Bible."

---"I speak as a man of the world to men of the world; and I say to you, Search the Scriptures! The Bible is the book of all others, to be read at all ages, and in all conditions of human life; not to be read once or twice or thrice through, and then laid aside, but to be read in small portions of one or two chapters every day, and never to be intermitted, unless by some overruling necessity."

---"In what light soever we read the Bible,whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue."

---"Blessed, forever blessed, be the name of God!"

---"May I never cease to be grateful for the numberless blessings received through life at His hands, never repine at what He has denied, never murmur at the dispensations of Providence, and implore His forgiveness for all the errors and delinquencies of my life!"

---"Providence, has showered blessings upon me profusely. But they have been blessings unforseen and unsought. Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo do gloriam. [Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to you name be the glory.]"

---This final one sent chills down my spine, "Posterity - you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."

Are we making good use of our freedom? To be sure, there are many "rights" we have today, but are they worth the cost? Women's right to choose, though a "freedom", has killed over 50 million babies since the adoption of Roe v. Wade. I contend that we are not making a good use of our freedoms today.

As usual, I would love to hear from you regarding this issue (or any other)!