"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." -Psalm 33:12
Happy Independence Day! Can you believe it - no pictures taken on this day! A huge slip for this family brought up by an amateur photographer. My words will have to do as a description of this day.
Picture #1: A busy household of six adults scurrying to get everything together for a day at the lake.
Picture #2: Tables stuffed with all kinds of good food. Pot lucks are the best!
Picture #3: Two card tables literally covered with home-made pies. This really is the most important part of the meal. He-he!
Picture #4: Approximately 110 people on lawn and in water. Family gatherings get large in the Ronnevik family!
Picture #5: Red and juicy watermelon being toted around by aunts in the traditional enamel pans. In our younger days you would have seen seed spitting contests.
Picture #6: Another meal made up of lighter foods and left-overs. Are we really hungry, or just eating out of tradition?
Picture #7: Five weary Stowmans catching glimpses of fireworks on the 45 minute drive home.
Picture #8: Bibles out as we picked our brains for Old Testament quotes. Tomorrow was going to be "Who said..." day at Sunday School. This was the quote Dad found: "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord." Any guesses who said that? A brownie to the first one who gives the right answer. :)
After a quick but refreshing nap, Hannah and I let the breeze direct a 28 mile bicycle ride ending in this country cemetery. What a great way of "re-creation," as Hannah would say.
The rest of the family met us there to fetch us with the pickup...
...and bring a meal of peanut butter and jam sandwiches and fresh cherries. A perfect day for a picnic! This was followed by a drive to Dairy Queen for Buster Bars. A refreshing day of rest to end a week "off!"
A day of working around home. For Dad and Hannah that meant outdoor work - trimming trees and cutting down a dead cherry tree. In this picture Hannah is posing as our honest first president, George Washington. Smile! Mom and Maren spent much of the day in the kitchen preparing for the Independence Day festivities. Meanwhile I shut myself away in my room to figure out baking schedules and catch up on book-keeping.
Supper was on me this evening, as I offered to try out a recipe given me by a customer. Sourdough waffles - yum! 
Some strawberries put into freezer jam, some frozen with a bit of sugar for a wonderful topping for waffles and pancakes or just eaten with home made yogurt...
...and some dehydrated. It's always fun to try something new! With four of us working on these things (Mom, my two sisters, and myself) and a good story to listen to (The Secret Garden dramatized by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre - check it out!) the time sped by.
Also going on in the kitchen - preparations for rhubarb jam.
Of course we needed supper, too. We opted for something easy - home made re-fried beans (already made and waiting in the fridge) on tortillas with a sprinkling of onion and cheese, wrapped up, and baked crisp in the oven.
A salad is always good with this meal, especially when the greens and radishes are fresh from the garden. Our dressing supply was getting rather low, so my sister mixed up another batch of our good, old standby (the red one) while I decided to try something new, honey tahini dressing (in the jar).
Strawberry season would not be right without strawberry shortcake. Now that we've found this from-scratch shortcake recipe, we will never go back to Bis-Quick.
Now isn't that a dessert!
We were all good and hungry by the time the food was ready!
Yummy potatoes...
...fried Spam, and fresh salad.
After the meal was done, we sat around the fire. In this picture: Hannah and my Downs syndrome aunt, Dorothy, soaking up the heat.
...and we had a fun and relaxing visit with the grandparents. Memories to treasure. 
... a song by the Sunday School kids...
...a yummy pot-luck lunch...
