There are quite a few things in the world that can make me smile, one of which happened last night, which was, obviously, July 4th. We had a great cookout with Crossworld friends and went swimming, played volleyball, the whole works. Around 8:00 we quickly cleaned up everything and hurried over to the fireworks, which are a pretty exciting and long display they do in this area every year. There were 11 of us, a nice fun group, and we took 3 cars and headed towards the park.

Of course, it was pure chaos there. Streets lined with cars, and, here in the Philly area, the streets are narrow to begin with, and created in a complete mess of curves and badly angled intersections, (which is probably a result of the historic meaning to this area, and the fact that it was built long before anyone thought about cars. :) We all walked over to the park then claimed our spot with 3 blankets, right by the port-a-potty, which was the only place left. But sometimes the world is just too picky, we didn't smell a single whiff the entire time. Anyways, the fireworks display was a bit late, but we had fun talking and I enjoyed observing all the adorable kiddos around us, one of which did a funny little dance to the music and had the sweetest smile the whole time. The mother kept encouraging him to do his little "dance" whenever he stopped and so he would continue his little jumping actions. :)

Well, after the beautiful fireworks, which were set off to the most random music, we started our way back. This was, of course, chaos once again, but organized chaos. We were surrounded by people, so one of the missionaries, Uncle Larry, used one of the pillows we had brought to keep us all together. This was absolutely hysterical.... I mean it was this HUGE pillow with paintings of macaws and palm trees on it, which they had bought in Brasil, and he was holding it above his head so that we could see where they were. He had a perfectly straight face and I was trying so hard not to crack up. The funny thing was it really worked! We didn't once lose each other. People kind of looked at him like he was crazy, but HELLO, they were probably lost in the crowd and we knew right where our leader was.

So, we all had a nice little laugh about that. It's funny the things that'll trigger a laugh, especially now that I can laugh since getting my wisdom teeth out a few days ago. :) I absolutely love the missionary community; it is one of the joys in my life. I pray there will always be those uncles and aunts in my life. There are too many to count even now. Praise God for family anywhere you go...