Flied Lice?

Natural Treatments
for Head Lice


When I was growing up, my mom made us believe that head lice was something to be ashamed of, like bed bugs or such horrific little vermin. I remember going to the movie theater, and she would bring a special towel to put behind our heads on the seat backs!  

But once we moved to the country we learned that sometime head lice just comes with the territory.  In fact, as I write to you tonight, I am told that if you  have school aged children, chances are, at least one time you may indeed come face to face with this pesky little problem.

Doo Do Do Doooooo!    Aromatherapy to the rescue!  Why douse your child with unecessary chemicals yet again?  Nature's pure essential oils have the remedy,  and we have three recipes just for you!

Recipe #1


3.38 oz or 100 ml vegetable oil
10 Drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil
20 Drops Rosemary Essential Oil
20 Drops Lavender Essential Oil
10 Drops Geranium Essential Oil




Measure out your oils, and funnel into a dark glass container or plastic PET bullet bottle.  Add the prescribed drops of essential oils and shake well to distribute.  Apply this oil mixture to WET HAIR! This will help you in being able to shampoo out the oils when the treatment is over. Massage the mixture deep into the scalp and make sure to have it thoroughly cover the hair. Put on a cap, like a shower cap, or even plastic bag. Leave on 3 hours, and then shampoo your hair thoroughly.


Be sure to remove any dead lice and nits with a fine toothed comb or lice comb, and repeat this same treatment twice more at three day intervals.


Recipe #2


Head Lice Bug Buster Treatment
1 drop Eucalyptus essential oil
1 drop Lavender essential oil
2 drops Tea Tree essential oil
Blend with 1 tblsp (15ml) Sunflower oil and massage into the scalp. Cover with a plastic shower cap and leave on for an hour or overnight. Shampoo out the next morning - rub the shampoo in before adding water to get rid of the greasiness of the oil. As a preventative measure add 2 drops of Tea Tree oil and 1 drop of lavender oil to 1 tsp of mild shampoo and use to shampoo hair.

Recipe #3

Add ten drops of each of the following essential oils to an empty two-ounce bottle:

• lavender
• eucalyptus
• rosemary
• peppermint
• tea tree

Then, fill to the top with a carrier oil, such as apricot kernel, jojoba, almond, or even the olive, peanut or safflower oil that you cook with! Cap the bottle, place it between your palms, and roll back and forth between your hands for several minutes to combine. (It is a good idea to repeat this before every use.) To apply, add a few drops of this mixture to a cup of water. Rinse hair with this mixture every night, massaging into the scalp, to relieve itch, kill lice, and reduce your risk of future infestation.

Now, off to make one of these recipes; my friend has 4 very vivacious little boys who like to play outside in the dirt, and she asked me to mix her up a cocktail to treat their heads!  Should you need some relief, please don't hesitate to contact me through my shop or within!

I have quantities of pure natural essential oils just waiting to serve you!  It would be my pleasure to provide you with safe, natural alternatives to dangerous chemicals for your precious children!  It's just what we do!

Have a fantastic evening, dear friend!  And a wonderful day tomorrow!

It's Christmas in July!

Ladies, have I got 

a deal for you!

You can save $$$$ on gas, and just mosey on over to my fancy little posh boutique full of luxury goodies.  Shopping online is just so much better, than driving in the heat, paying high gas prices, waiting in line for checkout....now you can....

Do it in your jammies with a good cup of coffee, or the tub,
Do it in bed, or on the couch....
Do it wherever and whenevr you feel like it! Just shop till you drop!  Starting right now and lasting until whenever I say stop, YOU, my dear friend will receive 20% percent off any item in my shop except those items already marked SALE!
What a DEAL!

So then. LET's GET STARTED!  Let me be your online concierge, dear one. Everything has already been marked down 20% with no coupon code necessary!

So...what looks good?   Let's start with the decadent luxe, AROMATHERAPY soaps!
Check this shop section for not just 1, or 10, or 20, 30, or even 40 skin loving and good for you soaps, but 48!   How is that for flavor?

My latest soap, Royal Princess  , 

and to accompany that, perhaps, a lovely oil perfume to match?

Or, if you are in the mood to exfoliate, why not try our #1 best selling aromatherapy loofah soap?

Tangerine Dream Aromatherapy Loofah Soap

Have you considered my wonderful, inspired by Thailand soap?   If not, you are missing a real treat?

Mali Blossom Shea Butter Soap

Do you have super dry skin? Why not try one of our luxe shea body whips?   We can customize the fragrance just for YOU!  Yep!

There's just so much variety to choose from!

So, here are the links to the aromatherapy soaps:http://www.etsy.com/shop/CassiasGarden?section_id=6260247

And to the perfume oils: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CassiasGarden?section_id=6348684

And to the Aromatherapy Soy candles: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CassiasGarden?section_id=6308741

And to the sugar scrubs, and body  whips: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CassiasGarden?section_id=6260392

And to the multiples and Spa Gift Sets:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/CassiasGarden?section_id=6261096

My New Natural Insect Repellent:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/CassiasGarden?section_id=10013713

And to the Bath and Body for Men's Section: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CassiasGarden?section_id=7312093

And to the Babies:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/CassiasGarden?section_id=10013750 (more coming soon!)

And to the Christmas Soaps! http://www.etsy.com/shop/CassiasGarden?section_id=10085168

If you have ANY questions, please either FACEBOOK me or inquire within

Bon nuit, mes amis! 

Je t'aime toujours!

Summer Salad and Appetizer Recipes - Summer Salads Recipes - Delish.com

Summer Salad and Appetizer Recipes - Summer Salads Recipes - Delish.com: "
I love salads, and summer is the time to really chow down on all the bounty that nature has to offer!
I clipped this from Delish.com, and there's several good ones!   Click on through to several great dishes
that are quick, easy, FRESH, and chocked full of color, crunchiness, antioxidant power, and delight!

Clipped from: www.delish.com (share this clip)

"Which one are YOU going to make?
I like the BEET SALAD with Watercress and Fresh Pecorino.   (Not even sure what
Pecorino is.....but this looks DELISH!~

Well, it's Day 3 of my beautiful daughter's Youth Camp, and I feel I've gotten very little done.
Today will be spent on SEO, and getting ready for a meeting with my Coach tomorrow morning!

Have a fantastic day, friends!
Love you!
Kelly

So Much it Hurts

Today  

marked a

passage 

in our lives

You see, 

today

13.5 years 

flashed 

before our

eyes

The cherub like

chubby

adorable

cute 

bundle

of 

squishy

kissy

sweetness

Image combined of

me and

her 

father

That once 

I could hold

and 

enwrap

and 

surround

and 

hold onto

I had to let go

You're probably not old enough, fair reader

to remember the old Eastman Kodak commercial song:

"Turn around

and you're 

Two

Turn around

and you're 

Four

Turn around 

and you're a

Young man 

Going 

Out of the Door.

Yeah, I'm emotional.     

I love her.  

SO MUCH IT HURTS.

Today is different.

We dropped her off at camp. 

The house is still and quiet.  Somehow empty.

The puppies are wondering where she is.

I am left, alone

thinking about

the rest of my life.   And what will I do

if she ever leaves.  

Yep, today is a passage.

We were so excited that she was nervous.  

She wanted US to drive her to camp.

When we said goodbye she almost cried.

She loves US.

Still.

Despite us.

She loves us

and we love her

so much it HURTS.

So in the meantime

I will work

and wait

and hope the time 

goes quickly

and then I'll

plan 

what we'll do

when she gets home

and it's all normal again.

Or...will it be?

No, 

I hope

it's not

normal but 

better.

Time goes fast, fair friend.  

Shower them with love while you can!   

Take every opportunity 

to show,

and share, 

and be 

with them.  

Your precious treasures.

Wait, not my precious treasure.

His, created in His likeness

and Image

for His purposes, 

and work

and glory.

But ours to love and cherish

and train, and lavish with love.

Yep, I love her So Much

It hurts.

Just wanted to share!

Vert de Menthe

Cool, minty, green, fresh, sea foam, vintage, cool.
Did I say COOL? Meet the artists by clicking the images below!




Wow.....did I see a soap with Cassia on it? Yep, my friend Beth makes the
most amazing soapdishes! One day I hope to carry her fine work in my shop!

Happy Monday, y'all!
More posting later!

With This Ring....The Power of Two

 

A Happy Saturday to YOU, fair reader!  What is happening in YOUR neighborhood today?  We got another soft, soaking shower again today in Montgomery County; and the plants are smiling!  

Yesterday was my 16th wedding anniversary!   Just a glance over at Wikipedia to quench my undying curiosity to see if perhaps there was an algorythmic or cataclysmic or revelatory siginificance to the number 16.  Wiki revealed two things that stuck out to me:  #1 16 is the Coming of Age, for quite obvious reasons in our culture.  Sweet Sixteen and all the pop culture songs celebrating that magical coming of age.    Digging a little deeper....

"Sixteen is the fourth (#2) power of two. For this reason, 16 was used in weighing light objects in several cultures. The British used to have 16 ounces in one pound; the Chinese used to have 16liangs in one jin. In old days, weighing was done with a beam balance to make equal splits. It would be easier to split a heap of grains into sixteen equal parts through successive divisions than to split into ten parts. Chinese Taoists did finger computation on the trigrams and hexagrams by counting the finger tips and joints of the fingers with the tip of the thumb. Each hand can count up to 16 in such manner. The Chinese abacus uses two upper beads to represent the 5's and 5 lower beads to represent the 1's, the 7 beads can represent from a hexadecimal digit from 0 to 15 in each column."

The power of two!   Yep, this has significance to me.  The Bible says that if one can put 1,000 to flight, then two can put 10,000!   Also, Ecclesiastes, that sage book written by Solomon states, "A strand of 3 cords is not easily broken".


For me and my husband, our marriage was witnessed by many, but most of, by God Himself.  I like that

in this photo, loud and clear, and with bold, red italic font, we see here our Solemn Witness, the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.   As Christians, we make a covenant with God to love unconditionally, and to the end:  One Man, one Woman, and One God.   The very first institution God established was the institution of marriage, in the Garden.  When He instituted that, He also gave Man + Woman dominion over all of His Creation; to rule and to reign.   We see this shattered today in our society as marriage is continually assaulted by those who want to erode our society from the inside out, but nevertheless the testimony of God stands sure; for Scripture says, "The LORD knows them who belong to Him..."   He gives us the power to both will and do His good pleasure.  


I guess I am kind of whimsically enthralled with these photos today, being delighted that though they are film pictures, that I could successfully scan them on my Epson Workforce printer and upload them, thus preserving them digitally!  That's pretty exciting to me, since I am a digital girl...heehee....  A big plus, of course, is getting to photoshop these images and have fun with them, and to glory in the fact that the "younger me" was really quite beautiful, if I do say so myself.  ;)   And to vow, however I can, to try to revive that beauty again.....somehow.   


Joe Taylor and I met 4 years before our marriage.   He was fresh froma travelling workman lifestyle, a lifestyle of bravery, hard work, a rock and roll lifestyle, hard living and hard knocks.   Married at an early age but not willing to really settle down (18 is YOUNG, y'all!) he lost his first wife to divorce and estranged from his little girl.   He has hung iron on scyscrapers, hung over ships welding, hung over mountains, bridges, and trains to leap off, and then hung his heart on me!     I felt honored when he wrote me my first song, gave me his first kiss, and "went steady" on Valentine's Day, 1995.


I was the Rambling Girl; travelling 6 states by the age of 6, and then 32 nations by the time I was 30!   Learning how to read and write the Thai Language, braving the Amazon Jungle and River, climbing mountains in Golden Triangle, smuggling Bibles into China,  and living on a ship carrying relief supplies to war torn areas.  I had been lost at sea, lost in sin (before that), lost in Los Angeles, and lost in love.    But when I met Joe, I saw a man who was ready to settle down, and a man who would be true.   We married in July of 1995.

Here are my lovely bridesmaids.   My sister Erin was my Matron of Honor, and she was pregnant with my nephew at the time.   My best friend Sharon, my daughter in law, my  wonderful friend and Pastor's Wife and her daughter and another close friend to "got us together" so to speak attended me.   My best friend's daughter, and another close friend's daughter were flower girls.   I had a processional of dancing girls who led the celebration with a worship song, and a worship service preceded our event.   It was also a reunion;  I saw some smiling faces out in the audience who I did not know, and later found out that our Worship Leader was 2nd cousins with Joe's brother!  Small Small world!

How embarrassing....we sort of did a "budget" wedding.....since we both didn't have any money; he had just started  his construction business that year (poor thing-what a stressful year for him!), and I of course had been a missionary for 13 years before that....so I think our whole wedding was done on less than $500!  Now, that's a deal!   Our reception was done in the children's Sunday School building and they were remodeling....lol!   Haha.  Oh well!   Maybe I can photoshop the sheetrock mud and tape and float off the picture!

My Daddy walked me down the aisle, and poor thing, he was SO sick that we thought he would not even be able to make it to the wedding.   He didn't even let my little brother buy a ticket he was so sure that he would not live to survive the trip.   So in the end Todd did not come as it would have been exhorbitantly expensive for him to fly last minute.  That was a sad occasion for me.  I loved my DAD so much and was so happy that he was able to !

Here is Joe with his late brother, Jay.  I loved Jay SO much and miss him terribly.   Here they are cutting up.......as usual.  

I really like this picture; not sure when it was snapped, but I think it might have been during the vows?

Notice I am smiling and laughing.    I distinctly remember a little giggle during the "I promise to submit to you part".   Lol.....

Here's the exit photo.    

Did look ecstatic or what?!     Our wedding party:

So you see, a Wedding really is A Family Affair.  Two lives, completely separate, now joined by an Unseen God who chooses to show Himself strong to those who will take Him at His Word.   Bound together, in covenant, backed by the power of Heaven; the First Divine Institution, unshakeable, unmoveable, destined to bring glory to the One who gave Himself to establish Covenant, Redemption, Family, and Dominion.   

I really choose to believe what Wikipedia said about the number 16.   Coming of Age, and the Power of Two.  I believe that this coming year, our marriage, like a fine vintage wine will come of age, and be enjoyed, not only by ourselves and our daughter, but by those around us; bringing stability in these troubles times.   And I choose to believe; to grasp, apprehend, and take hold of the dominion covenant for our lives, marriage, business, ministry and families:  The Power of Two, a strand joined by a Third, though Unseen Party; a cord which cannot be unraveled by stress, worry, fear, issues past present and future.  He who is Faithful has chosen us, and He will do it!

I hope I have encouraged you, fair reader by my story!  Thanks for allowing me to share today!

P.S.   There is alot more to the idea of marriage than just wedded bliss.  For a complete commentary and a really thought provoking in depth read on marriage, here is a great book!

Comment, please!  What is your favorite wedding memory?  What have  you learned on your journey as a married couple?

Meet Real Free-Range Eggs

Happy Thursday!  SO glad to report that my feed is working again, after troubleshooting it for 8 days!  Today Blogger Help forum told us to remove our location tags which I had cleverly started adding 2 weeks ago, hoping to help my geo-targeting.(cough), like I really know what that means!   Today a quickie post about FREE RANGE chickens, how good they are!  Meanwhile, little Lucy is holding her own, just loving all the attention we are giving to her, the lone pullet.  Don't know Lucy?   Meet her here!

Meet Real Free-Range Eggs: "

Clipped from: www.motherearthnews.com (share this clip)

So, I bid you adieu, fair reader!
Today I am busy with untold amounts of errands and getting Casey ready for summer youth camp, and fixing my vacuum cleaner cord, and all those fun mommy things!  More later, promise!

XO!
Kelly

Day 7 of RSS feed on Blogger being down.....

Well it's day 7 and the list of belly-achers on Blogger help "Something is Broken" is growing. Our feeds are broken and therefore if you have subscribed to this feed; alas, you are not getting notification.  I feel like I am blogging into the darkness, so I am saving my best posts until all is fixed.

Today 2 beautiful Surfer Girls living in Isreal posted Thundering Surf soap in their beautiful Treasury!
I've been selling more of this soap and have just made a fresh batch!   It's great to be noticed, and this is authentically unique to CassiasGarden!


In other news, I am busily fixing my shop SEO after getting the help of a wonderful Etsy seller named Mary of SEOWebDesign.  I have alot of decisions to make about my products, and sections, and wordings.  So if you think of it, say a little prayer for Moi, that I will be able to have the wisdom to decide all that is needed at this time.   I am also working with a wonderful young lady on the East Coast with branding issues.....yep, it's ongoing.  I mean, even Starbucks is undergoing branding updates, so don't tssk tssk, now.....it's just that important!    Now is the time to do it, because before long we will be hearing sleigh bells in the snow and that's not the time to do this dirty hard hair splitting work!

One good thing that just happened....we received a gentle soaking downpour here in Montgomery, TX!   The trees and grass are smiling.  The puppies are looking in amazement at this strange phenomenon...and we feel refreshed knowing that God is smiling upon us....

So, fair reader, adieu for now!
Did you see our last post yesterday?
It's hilarious, go check it out!

Planetary Disambiguation - Oooh Baby it's a Wild World

Hello, Lovelies!  Monday finds us in a state of planetary and ecosystem confusion.  Collusion, confusion, contribution, coalition, tradition, extradition, wild ambition, chicken chicken chicken.....oh my...do I need a vacation? Playcation, placation, derivation, deviation.....playstation.    Yep, I've gone crackers...;)  Certifiably.

We are babysitting "Bella", our GrandPuppy, and she is a dear, although she singlehandedly

dismembered my vacuum cleaner cord into 5 separate pieces whilst Casey and I pounded away at our computers ysterday.....we still love her and she is part of our family and right at home.

So you're aware of the recent blood shed on our property, right? If not, check here....  So since the bloodshed and the ensuing one by one decimation of our pullet population, and our grief, and woes, we have been keeping our one remaininng Rhode Island Red pullet in our kitty kat carrier on top of my laundry center in the breakfast room.  In the morning, I let the dogs out to use the outdoor facilities, and roam, and sniff and be dogs, and then I corral them, bring them inside, and let our little Lucy out to scratch, peck, eat her breakfast, and remember that she is a baby chicken, not a prisoner of war.    Meanwhile the dogs inside salivate, and lick their chops and generally try to terrify her while she eats her breakfast in my garden....  Here's a picture of her, and I think she is modeling after Casey as her mother,  and hops up to "talk" to us each morning!   We love her.

So this morning, Bella, Annie and Lincoln were barking wildly; (actually through the night, I have this dull remembrance of them barking on and off while trying to sleep).  And this morning, as usual, I let them out.....
and they proceed to bark wildly, and then run under the porch......  We as a RULE NEVER go UNDER the PORCH.....because all manner and multitudes of reptiles live in it's dark underbelly confines.  I have chased a few snakes quite recently there myself.    So the three dogs are howling and hollering and barking, and I see this little furry creature leave and scurry up the tree, and not just a tiny tree but about 35 feet up high!   And the dogs are WILDLY salivatingly and hysterically barking and pawing at the tree like they could climb it or something.

So this morning I go to the chiropractor, and come home, and my daughter has put dog food out and a tiny bowl full of milk and posted it under the tree to feed the poor beasty........

See the little black furry dot in the center?  There she is!  I have always LOVED racoons, and wanted one as a pet...Yeah, right.  They can be totally vicious, but I still think they are cuties.

So now, we have a chicken in a kitty cat carrier on top of my washing machine, and a baby raccoon clinging for dear life camped out on a tree branch, and three Mini Schnauzers who want to kill the chicken, AND the racoon, who is not budging, by the way, and probably will not until the sun goes down.   And meanwhile, if the racoon sees the pullet who will eventually need to go outside to use the facilities and to stretch her poor legs, but will surely meet her demise if we leave her unattended at alll.........

Do you see the predicament we are in?   Yep.  It's a stalemate all right!

But then again, that's life in the wild.

Oh! Baby!  I'ts a Wild World!   Oh well, call me a hippy!  It just reminded me of the song, the chorus!



So in the end, I fear our FOX may in reality be a racoon, or a family of racoons who has killed all of our chickens.  My husband reminds me that that is nature, and that is "what they do", but still I try to protect all life here, except poisonous snakes.

Just a quickie post, dear friends!   What kinds of funny things have happened in YOUR backyard recently?
Go ahead, share!

Autumn Fire.....

Wow.....autumn already almost here? I don't want to believe it!



We have a new soap here...can you find it?
Go ahead and click her and meet Mary Jane! An all natural and most
unusual but delightful soap!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

A Stitch in Time

Another lovely Treasury featuring the HANDSTITCHED WORK of my fellowETSY artists!
I hate to handstitch anything, so I can especially appreciate their hard work!



My Blogger feed is down and I don't know what to do!   I have all my Blogger, Etsy, and Twitter configured to feed to my facebook page and business page and the feed won't pull.   My analytics are telling me that most of my traffic comes from facebook to my blog!  YAY!  That is good for my blog!

Oh well, difficulties will come, but it's how we handle them...right?

Onward!

Have a most beautiful weekend, my dear readers!

OK so I got this error message, and other weird visitors. Testing Testing

FOR ATOM AND RSS AND KML

Sorry

This feed does not validate.

• Server returned HTTP Error 500: Internal Server Error [help]
  

• line 1, column 0: XML parsing error: :1:0: syntax error [help]
  

  Internal error: bX-fj78fy

In addition, interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendation.

• Feeds should not be served with the "text/html" media type [help]
  

Source: http://cassiaskitchen.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

1. Internal error: bX-fj78fy

Keep Calm-o-matic poster generation

Keep Calm-o-matic poster generation

Pleasant Under Glass....

I admit it....I have an obsession with glass...thus another Treasury curated by Moi....
Today featuring the beautiful work of my fellow Etsy Artists




Which ones are your favorites?
Seriously I love all of them!
But when I was a little girl, my mom used to take me to
the Arboretum where I learned how to make these beautiful terrariums.
Seriously they would look fine on my beautiful Cassia's Kitchen garden window!
Alas, I am a sucker for anything garden!
Have an awesome day, lovies!
I'm working on alot of blog posts but they are still drafts...

Tea for Three

"Ecstasy is a glass full of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth"
-Alexander Puskin

Here's to tea!



I love tea, and tea pots and tea cups.
I've been toying with the idea of learning how to blend teas and start selling some in addition to my soaps....have a couple of blends in my mind but need to do more research.

Tea is a trend to watch I believe....and there's money to be made in it! Why let's Starbucks have all the action? Besides, I use tea in my soaps and it is a wonderful antioxidant....

Do you like tea? What is your favorite kind"?

Land that I Love

Yesterday, well over 1 million Christians nationwide gathered to repent, invoke Almighty God's mercy upon this land that we love.   You can read more about that here.   We asked God for forgiveness for breaking His Holy laws, for mercy upon ourselves and our countrymen.   We prayed for our government officials, church leaders, ourselves and our children.   I felt a great joy and a deep, heartfelt almost bittersweet satisfaction and  gripping conviction  that we had done God's will, but also that we needed to continue to do more, more, and even more of the same.  To do this every single day, united, all over this nation, until we see real, lasting, and effective change.
Our pastor spoke about the need for reformation, awakening and revival in this nation.  If you would care to listen to the audio portion, you can do so here.  Yesterday's audio will probably be uploaded to the server tomorrow, when regular office hours resume.


Today, my soul is reflective and peaceful, but solemn.   How could we have strayed so far from the truth?   I began to reflect upon our beautiful flag, and it's significance which is a constant reminder not only of our destiny as a nation, but our former roots and resolve to be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.  


What do the colors of Our Flag mean?  


The following text all credits to:  http://www.usflag.org/colors.html

From the book "Our Flag" published in 1989 by the House of Representatives...

"On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution authorizing a committee to devise a seal for the United States of America. This mission, designed to reflect the Founding Fathers' beliefs, values, and sovereignty of the new Nation, did not become a reality until June 20, 1782. In heraldic devices, such as seals, each element has a specific meaning. Even colors have specific meanings. The colors red, white, and blue did not have meanings for The Stars and Stripes when it was adopted in 1777. However, the colors in the Great Seal did have specific meanings. Charles Thompson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, reporting to Congress on the Seal, stated:
"The colors of the pales (the vertical stripes) are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue, the color of the Chief (the broad band above the stripes) signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice."Also this from a book about the flag published in 1977 by the House of Representatives...
"The star is a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun."

I just wanted to add that; dear reader, in case you may not know, or may have forgotten.  


So, from deep inside me on this day, rise the words of the Song;  God Bless America.


Maybe as a family we could sing the words of this prayer/song before we partake of our festivities today?    


Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Bless_America

"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938, as sung by Kate Smith (becoming her signature song).^{[citation needed]}

"God Bless America" takes the form of a prayer (intro lyrics "as we raise our voices, in a solemn prayer") for God's blessing and peace for the nation ("...stand beside her and guide her through the night..."). 

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,

Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God bless America,

Land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the oceans, white with foam

God bless America, My home sweet home

God bless America, My home sweet home.

Fair reader, wherever you are, whatever you do today, may you be filled with the knowledge of His will and great abiding love for you!  May you be drawn into His heart, and may you wholeheartedly believe Him who died for you!

Happy Birthday, America.  

God shed His Grace on Thee!