4th of July at Paradise Ranch

I haven't got many pictures yet, which is very frustrating. Mary has got loads of pictures, so does Lizz and so does everyone else, but I haven't yet got a charger for my camera. Well, techichally it's mama's camera, but I accidentally took it and I'm sort of waiting for them to mention it's disappearance. ALEX CURRY never gave me my camera back and I am still mad about that.
Paradise Ranch is sure interesting. One of the many rumors that circulates here is that every foreman they've ever had has gone nuts, and several employers as well. Immediately coming to mind are 'Creeper Steve' who left his truck here and honeatly just disappeared into the night, and the unnamed foreman who would get up at 2am and prowl the ranch with his shotgun, certain that someone was lurking in the forest around us. Mind you, I never knew these two characters, but I've heard their legends repeatedly. There is something about that forest that seems to watch you...
This morning dawned a little drizzly, but cleared up pretty quick. I was so grateful for the overcast, because it is so much kinder on my eyes and skin. We had the morning kid's program as usual, but in the afternoon we got the kids to paint the wagon we were going to use in the 'parade'. (The parade consisted of the wagon, three cowboys, and two dogs. Oh yes, and the gator.) We all ended up at the Mule Parlor (a pasture surrounded with a rail fence and containing a firepit and circle) for lunch out of the chuckwagon, and the we celebrated with gunnysack races, three-legged races and an egg toss. After the egg toss Ethan started throwing eggs at Rachel and me, and a fight ensued. I escaped, but Rachel got pretty eggy. GROSS!!
It was a fun, All-American 4th of July!
There is a little girl in my group that is named Kalie. Little Kalie made me start thinking about how grateful I am for America. You see, Kalie is 7 years old and has had 21 surgeries. She's startling at first glance, and so thin she really looks like a waif. Her back, legs and skull are deformed. If little Kalie had been born in Cameroon, she would have almost certainly died. If she was born in Pakistan (had she survived infancy) she would have been hidden away as a shame and an embarassment. In years before America, she would have been called a monster, and drowned. No matter that little Kalie smiles like an angel and laughs with the other children, or that she's smart and compassionate. But in America, our America, where Capitalism has produced the best doctors, and Freedom and Equality have shown us the light, Kalie is a happy little girl with a future and a hope of achieving any dream she wants to pursue.
Thank you God for America. Please protect us, and teach us to do Thy will.