Happy 4th of July!!! We feature the 4th of July this month as not only a special time to celebrate our country’s independence, but as a time to celebrate our own families’ heritage, too. We focus on the importance of passing our heritage on to our little ones through patriotic and folk music, exploring family history with genealogy, and heritage travel. Mary Nadal, our featured writer, has some great ideas for raising kids that are more patriotic and have a better sense of who they are. And as always, as we teach our kids, we learn and grow, as well.

From the little things like kindly correcting their recitation of the pledge of allegiance, “honey, it’s from which it stands, not from witches stands” to introducing young readers to biographies of our country’s leaders, there are many ways to instill that while we are not perfect Americans, we are proud Americans with a strong heritage and a promising future.

With our generation’s computer resources, it’s fairly easy to create a family album that will be treasured for years to come. Old photographs can be scanned in and a program like iphoto can be used to place the photos in the book and ordered online. What makes a photo book really cherished though, takes a bit of time, but is worth the effort. Recently, I spent some time with my dad to put captions by each of the photos. I wanted more than the name, and date, I wanted to know “who” these people were. Digging a little deeper, I found that my great-grandfather loved to entertain and built a lighted croquet and horseshoe pit on his farm that would draw family, friends, and neighbors together from miles away. I thought to myself, “Wow, I think that entertaining gene might have been passed down”. From a photo of a wagon full of watermelons, my dad recalled what beautiful flower, fruit, and vegetable gardens the family had maintained. Thinking of my pathetic wilting tomato plant’s single minuscule tomato drooping out of my Topsy Turvy, I can only wish the “green thumb” had been passed on. Connecting with who our ancestors were helps us to connect with who we are, and connecting with our county’s history and the history of our forefathers tells us a great deal about whom we are as a country.

We continue to strive to be your most valued family resource in the southern crescent area. Please email any comments and ideas you might have for our little magazine and our website. Also, look for our upcoming blogspot on our website, where you can post your thoughts and ideas about our monthly features. We will be participating in the Peachtree City 4th of July parade this year. We will be passing out lots of goodies including drawstring bags, and some even have free tickets to Zoo Atlanta! We look forward to seeing you there!

Make it a great month.