Big Trucks, Fires, and Heroes Abound

This afternoon after church we took the kids to the county’s Public Safety Expo.  The Police and Fire Departments for the country put on an INCREDIBLE expo.  It was both fun and educational.

I think going into it my oldest son was a little like, “big deal we are going to see fire trucks”  while my 3 year old was all “WAHOO We are going to see Fire Trucks”  but everyone was surprised by all we got to see and do.  Yes, even the 9 year old was impressed.

 

Because, we didn’t just see fire trucks.  We watched firemen cut into a car.  We watched them cut the doors and roof off of a car.  And we watched them put out a REAL fire. 

We saw robots from the bomb/explosive division.  We watched a K9 sniffing demonstration.  We saw the tactical response unit.

And we slapped 5 to Sparky the fire dog.  We even snacked on some popcorn and hot dogs.  We also got to see a Police Helicopter up close and personal.

While we found it both interesting and fun to see all of these things up close, I found myself overwhelmingly grateful the entire time.  I was grateful that these men and women would take the time to talk to my family and explain their jobs to us.  But even more than that I am grateful to live in a community with so many men and women dedicated to providing for our safety.  I am thankful for the wealth of technology and machinery available to them to help them do their jobs.  And I am thankful for the training they receive to do their jobs well.  I am immensely thankful to the many, many men and women who dedicate their lives to serving our community… to protecting and caring for us.  We are so richly, richly blessed.  This afternoon as the kids had fun climbing in trucks and checking out the machinery and even weapons up close, I was blessed with a reminder of how very fortunate we are.