MagMadness MONDAY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!!

Yesterday in Primary the girls learned a new song I had never heard before. It's found in the Children's Songbook, called "My Country." We couldn't get it out of our heads and sang it all day to each other. The words go like this:

This is my country! I sing it with pride,
Whether it's desert, sand duned and wide,
Mountains with pine trees, land ice-berg bound.
It's here where my home and my loved ones are found.

This is my country, and all that I do,
Should make it mighty, noble, and true.
I love my country! Long may it be
A land where my people are honest and free.

We can't stop singing this song. It's a very happy, catchy tune. You can listen to it at lds.org. I love how it describes, not only the diverse landscape we enjoy, but also the special role we each play in making this country the great nation it is. We hope you enjoy your July Fourth celebration this year! We wish we could be with all of you...maybe someday....
In the meantime, we are including some great quotes by our church leaders about our nation and the Constitution, seeing as in this past week, we saw how close it came to being altered. Happy Fourth Everyone!

"If we would make the world better, let us foster a keener appreciation of the freedom and liberty guaranteed by the government of the United States as framed by the founders of the nation."
David O. McKay

"Next to being one in worshipping God, there is nothing in this world upon which this Church should be united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States."

David O. McKay

"The Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded on the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner; it is to all those who are privileged with the sweets of its liberty, like the cooling shades and refreshing waters of a great rock in a thirsty and weary land. It is like a great tree under whose branches men from every clime can be shielded from the burning rays of the sun."

Joseph Smith

"Those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits...noble spirits before God."

Wilford Woodruff

"This nation, founded on the principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail...I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Harold B. Lee


"The Almighty raised up this nation by the power of his omnipotent hand, that it might be possible in the latter days for the kingdom of God to be established in the earth. His hand has been over this nation, and it is his purpose and design to enlarge it, make it glorious...to the end that those who are kept in bondage and serfdom may be brought to the enjoyment of the fullest freedom and liberty of conscience possible for intelligent men to exercise in the earth."
Joseph F. Smith