Thankful Thursday- October 11

As always, I look forward to Thursdays, to reflect upon the many blessings I have been given.  After visiting Valley Forge National Historical Park yesterday, I am grateful for wonderful homeschool programs like that (for no cost!), but more importantly, I cherish all the more the freedoms we have and the immense magnitude of sacrifice made for us to have those freedoms.

 Our tour guides demonstrated marching and firing their muskets

 There were many stations for the kids to visit including clothing,

 food rations, and "medicine" (I think the kids were too shocked by the saws and such to take a photo of that station)

 we got to climb inside the cabins that had to house 12-15 men.  This was after enduring almost 2 months of a brutal winter in tents.  It took that amount of time for all of the cabins to be constructed.  They arrived in Valley Forge in December.  The cabins were finished by mid-January.  They stayed in Valley Forge until June.  From December 1777 to June 1778, 2000 men died from disease, cold, hunger, etc, but somehow they emerged a more efficient, better trained, determined fighting force that continued on for 5 more years to victory.

"Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the imcomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery."-- George Washington

Costumed interpreters were everywhere and were friendly and very informative.  This man was portraying a farmer who owned some of the land that the Army used during their encampment.

 This was Washington's headquarters.  It is not a replica or reconstruction.  It is the real deal.  This home actually belonged to a son of the man whose home we visited for a program last week.  Isn't that cool?  I didn't know that.  Washington rented the house for the duration of his stay.

 Most of the items inside are authentic and it was quite awe-inspiring to be there and see it all.

These were the cabins where Washington's guard were housed.  Their unit became what we know today as the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery.  I didn't know that, either.

Here are the 5 of us in front of a statue that was made to thank Washington for his service at the end of the war.  There is so much significance in the sculpture-- Washington is in his military uniform, but holding his civilian walking stick, not his sword.  He is leaning on his farming plowshare and there are 13 rods all together, symbolizing the 13 then unified states.

An amazing, fun and educational day with my children that gave us much to think about and be thankful for.

"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God."-- George Washington

Linking up with Lisa at The Army Chap's Wife, NOBH , A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings, Spilled Milkshake, Miscellany Monday and Field Trip Friday.