Brody James Murdoch is my name.  I will be eight years old next Sunday, on July 4.  I will get to celebrate with red, white, and blue, cake, presents, and best of all, FIREWORKS!!!!

For my birthday, we are going to our aunt's house in Maypearl (we live in Dallas).  Then we will go to Dallas' Fourth of July Celebration, which starts this Friday, so maybe I'll get an early start on my birthday parties!  :)  (I hope, I hope, I hope ... LOL)

I even look like a firework:  bright, flaming red hair, pale skin (I have to use sunscreen when I go out or else I get toasted!), and bright-blue eyes.  Or maybe a flag!  Red, white, and blue!  That's me!  LOL

I have my mom and my grandma as well as my baby sister, Kristine Michelle, who is four (and a brat).  My daddy died two years ago; he died in Iraq when a bomb went off.  It killed him.  I still cry when I think about my daddy; he was my bestest friend in the world.  He died trying to keep our country free.

In a way, the Fourth of July is hard, especially when I see the military men and women because my daddy isn't among them, and it makes me sad.  Yet I feel a lot of joy in my heart because I know they are helping America (and the rest of the world) in the best way they can. 

Maybe I will follow in my daddy's footsteps and become a Marine, just like he was.  Yeah, that sounds like a good plan!

Today, it is sunny and HOT.  We may have rain for the next few days, but today it's nice.  I have been doing a lot of swimming, which helps me keep cool.  I also have been playing with my friends and am looking forward to turning eight years old next week ... not to mention, all the Fourth of July fireworks and FUN!!

Well, I gotta go.  Kristen Michelle is hollering; have to see what's making her so upset. She doesn't sound happy.  UGH!  I will write in here again soon; until then, this is Brody James saying so long!  Happy Fourth of July; be safe and enjoy the fireworks!!

~Brody James Murdoch, Dallas, Texas.  :)

*to be continued.*