The Fourth of July began for us as usual--with pancakes... But the only difference was that instead of hosting a bunch of people at our home, as has been our tradition for the past 25 years, we ate at Penny's Diner in Marysville, Kansas. The pancakes were good, but the company was a bit hollow--we missed laughing and mixing with our friends!
Then on we went to another strange Kansas site--the Davis Memorial tomb in Seneca. This Davis person had no claim to fame except that after his wife's death he used a great deal of money to build a very elaborate memorial for her, complete with several statues of himself. And he did this during the depression when the money could have been used for the betterment of the community, and the community noted this fact with great disdain...To emphasize how little he cared about others' opinions he had a very expensive marble wall built arond the tomb, so no one could get to it... Not very note-worthy a site, but it does raise the question of how we use our money and the impact of that use on others. The news articles about the recent donations by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet refer to their conviction that wealth should be used for the good of the people. That is straight from John Calvin--and good advice... Just a thought on our use of resources--are we building monuments to ourselves or leaving legacies for others--and the kingdom of God...

The rest of the day was pure 4th in America. A parade in Cameron, Missouri, complete with tractors and candidates...Then a riverboat dinner and fireworks on the Mississippi at Hannibal, the home of Mark Twain. What a country we live in!