Happy 4th of July!!!

I love this day! It's always one of my favorite days of the year. Of course I love my country, and for all it's warts, I am so glad to be here, but there are a lot of other reasons I love this day.
1.) I love to see stuff blow up. I like explosions any way, but pretty explosions? Oh, yeah!
2.) I am a fire bug. Yes, yours truly, Pastor Estep, is a bonafide, certified FIRE BUGG!! I love to light fires...trash fires, fireplace fires, I love to light charcoal (otherwise I'd take the easy way out and get a gas grill), I love to light candles, fireworks...man, you name it. The fourth is hardly the fourth until I've burned myself one good time.
3.) My wife's dad always throws a huge cookout/picnic on the family farm on this day. We get to hang around lots of family and church friends, and it's just really nice. People, after all, are among my favorite things. Plus we don't have to buy any presents.
4.) I love it at the end of the night when a whole bunch of us get in vans and pick-ups and go to the big park at Lake Reba in Richmond to watch the fireworks show. It's a huge deal with lots of people, and concession trailer(which could legitamately be reason #5...I love anything that is deep fried behind a concession trailer...especially great big corn dogs...mmmm, corn dogs...). The fireworks show there gets bigger and better every year. I love to sit on the grass or the bed of a pick-up, next to my wife and baby girls and watch the fireworks. I'm like a little kid when that stuff goes off. I like to see the look in my daughters' faces or see the reflection in my wife's beautiful eyes as I steal a glance at what I'm certain is the most beautiful face I've ever seen, (followed at some slight distance by our daughters Haley and Taylor, in no particular order. Man am I in love with Marsha Renee. And Haley Renee. And Taylor Nicole. God has blessed me with an amazing and wonderful family. That's really the best thing about this day. We spend it together. That makes any day special.
In addition to all that, I must say that it is pretty great to live in the United States. I've lived across seas, in the Philippines. That was an incredible experience. I love that place, and hope to go back some day. A beautiful country, filled with wonderful, precious people. But I most say it was a great comfort while there to go by any place where the American flag was flown. An embassy, or one of the military installations. It was an awesome thing to see my country's flag flying over foreign soil. It let us know that our country had a presence there, and it helped us to fel safe. I saw a lot over there, even as a child that has helped shape who I am. I'm thankful for that experience and for some life-long friends from there, like the Orcino's.
At any rate, I'm very glad to be a Kentucky boy from the U S of A. It's a blessing, in my book.
God bless...
Brother Donnie