🎆Happy Fourth of July!🎇

Many of you are no doubt heading out for this very special 250th Anniversary Fourth of July weekend, but Mr. M and I are not. No, sirree! (like Andi would say). We are sitting in the quiet Ponderosa pine forests of the Okanogan Highlands, enjoying the "NO FIREWORKS" for the mountains. Fireworks plus extremely dry forests🟰 DANGER and evacuations. No thanks.

It's an honor to be alive for the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Indepence. I wonder if our forefathers anticipated our Republic being around for this long? Before we get to our July WHAT AM I?, I found a few precious words from our founders that seem like these men might have had a few concerns when they realized what an undertaking this was--to form a completely new kind of government--no more kings--for the first time in history.

Founders' Famous Sayings📣

The four founders' words I chose to highlight are (from left to right): Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and George Washington.

Here are their quotes [maybe you have heard of these?]. They always make me tremble, especially when I see some of the crazy (yes, crazy!) things that are going on in our country today.

• BENJAMIN FRANKLIN had this to say in a conversation on September 17, 1787. "Well, Doctor," a woman named Elizabeth Powel asked him, "what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" He answered, "A republic, if you can keep it." [Sounds like he was a trifle worried about this.]

• JOHN ADAMS wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Militia on October 11, 1798, in which he said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." What do you think he meant by this? I think he meant that people must have self-control and a sense of absolute right and wrong (based on the Bible) in order to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of living in such a free country. When people stop controlling themselves, the only answer is someone else (like a dictator) steps in to control them. 🫣

• SAMUEL ADAMS. Here's a gem and so true. Was he looking into a time machine and seeing our 21st-century nation? "Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupted." I think we have a lot of people today who have corrupted manners.

• GEORGE WASHINGTON, our first president, sums things up quite nicely. "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." He is so right! So why in the world would anyone think it's a good idea to throw God out of our government? We do so at our own peril.

THE COLT'S NAME

Before we go on to this month's "What Am I" game, let me announce the new colt's name:

NOBLE SHASTA MOON

Thanks so much for the 87 responses. My daughter truly appreciates this, as she says she is "no good" at thinking up names for fancy horses that need to be registered. (I agree, because I am the one who thinks up all of the registered goats' names!) 🫣 Three of the entries suggested "Noble" as part of the full name they gave, and two suggested "Shasta" as part of a longer name. Like last year, Kristel combined these two names she liked to make his full name. Thanks to Adeline, Kaylah, Jennifer, Hope, and the West Family. These five winners can choose any digital product from my webstore as a thank-you.

Guess here!

Because it's the Fourth of July, I thought it would be fun to offer the audiobook story, "Race to the Finish Line," an Andi story that shares the backstory of why she and Cory are having a match race at the beginning of Dangerous Decision. When the book opens, Cory and Andi are lined up, ready to race:

“I’m gonna beat you today, Andi,” he [Cory] said. “You wait and see. I can’t hold my head up in this town anymore—not since the Fourth of July.” He leaned over the side of his horse and lowered his voice so only Andi could hear. “You winning that race was nothin’ but luck. And I’m gonna prove it.”

I always wanted to write the backstory about Andi winning the Fourth of July race, and now it is one of the stories in Andrea Carter and Other Tales from the Circle C Ranch (book 7). I also have the audiobook story.

Everyone who guesses the object correctly wins the audiobook story. (It will take me a while to email all the winners, but that's okay.) This is a one-time fun deal for the Fourth of July. Note: If you choose the gold as your prize, I can only give ONE of those away.

Does that make sense? What Am I Game runs from Wednesday, July 1 through Wednesday, July 8 @ 5pm Pacific Time. Anyone who sends a guess after 5pm Pacific Time is disqualified.

Who won last month's What Am I? First of all, it was a sponge. There were 114 entries, with 89 correct answers. Charlie P. was # 20 in the Random Drawing, and he chose the audiobook BADGE OF HONOR for his prize. Congrats, Charlie! (I hope you got it, Charlie, as I never heard back from you that it arrived safely.)

Just for Fun!

I got it into my head last month that I wanted to create a picture book. Years ago, when I did school visits, I used my PowerPoint and created a fun picture book (pictures on the Ppt. screen) for the K-2 kids I spoke to. They seemed to love it.

Well, I decided to create an official picture book. A Horse for Andi tells the story of Andi wanting a horse of her own. Sure, the first book of the Circle C Beginnings, Pony Trouble, tells the same story, but only the ending is the same (Andi gets baby Taffy).

The story itself is completely different, geared for ages 3-6, with repetition and colorful illustrations. And . . . drum roll . . . I paid my narrator to narrate the book! The print book on Amazon includes a QR code on the inside title page to grab the MP3 audio file as part of the price. It was so fun to do this, and Annette did a super job with the narration (I added the "turn the page" chimes).

You can see sample inside pages on my webstore. It's available as an EPUB, which also includes the MP3 track, the PDF format, and coloring pages that go with the book, all for $4.99. The book is also available as a print book from Amazon (includes the QR code inside to download the MP3 audio file for listening fun). Free coloring pages can be found on the website.

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