Gift of Gab: The Rest of My Holiday Weekend.

Alrighty, I have been slacking with finishing my blogging about the weekend, so here are my pics from Saturday. First things on Saturday, we went to Scera Park in Orem where they had something called Ellis Island in the Park. They had a really neat (and free!) thing set up at the park where you could experience immigrating to the US. We got our passports and immigration packages, and then made our way over to a field where they had flags staked out in the shape of a huge star. Along the star, at every point and corner, they had the 10 citizenship commitments. You had to read them and agree to them, and then initial them in your little passport. The 10 commitments are:

1. Are you willing to fight for liberty?

2. Do you understand and agree that you have certain God-given rights and that government's only legitimate function is to help you protect those rights?

3. Are you willing to risk your security in order to insure your liberty?

4. Do you accept the Declaration of Independence as our foundation for good government?

5. Are you willing to voluntarily support our military in causes that are under the Constitutional authority of the United States of America?

6. Are you willing to have hope in America, even when all looks lost?

7. Are you willing to pray for America?

8. Are you willing to accept the United States Constitution of 1787 as lawfully amended as the supreme law of the land?

9. Are you willing to udnerstand and fight to preserve our natural, God-given rights?

10. Are you willing to pledge to pledge your allegiance to the United States of America?

We went to each commitment and I read the little paragraph to the kids about them and we talked about what they meant and then initialed our passports. After that, we had to take a citizenship test. There were 10 different tests and each one had 10 different questions on them. Here is a sample of one of the tests. How many can you answer?

1. Which President is called "the Father of Our Country"?

2. What Immigration and Naturalization Service form is used to apply for naturalized citizenship?

3. Who helped the pilgrims in America?

4. What is the name of the ship that brought the pilgrims to America?

5. What were the 13 original states of the United States called?

6. Name 3 rights or freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

7. Who has the power to declare war?

8. What kind of government does the United States have?

9. Which President freed the slaves?

10. In what year was the Constitution written?

The kids got easier tests (questions about the flag and number of states and things like that). They did good and we all got 100%. Well John and I basically did Brooklyn and Camren's, but they can't write so whatever. I just wanted them to participate.

After getting our tests graded, we had to go to the next booth, where we had to hold up our right hand and take the oath of Citizenship. Here is what it says:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and anjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potenate, state or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enimies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forced of the United States when requirred by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God. In acknowledgement whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

After that we all got certificates saying that we are now citizens of the United States. The kids also got stickers and little flags. We had a good time, learned a lot of things that we didn't know before, and it was a great experience. It was their first time doing it, and they are planning to make it a yearly activity. I plan on going again.

After that, we got lunch and headed back to Provo for the Freedom Fest. I wanted to get over to the Colonial Colony that they had set up on Center St. a few blocks further than the booths we had gone to the day before. We had fun. They had a huge replica of the Mayflower, stocks (the kind they lock you up in when you get in trouble), candle making, broom making, iron working, and all other kinds of things. All the people there were dressed in period clothes. In the museum, they even had a bunch of church history stuff, like bank notes from the bank that was established by Joseph Smith, an original copy of the Book of Mormon, and a replica of the printing press that was used to print the first copies of the Book of Mormon. It was so neat to see that stuff and be able to show it to my kids. It also had things like, original framed signatures of Benjamin Franklin, Martha Washington and a bunch of other historical people, that were on loan for display. The kids loved seeing how they used to do stuff back in the old days and were SHOCKED to find out that people dressed like that every day and they didn't have jeans and t-shirts. lol!! It was really neat and I am glad we got to go. Now enjoy some pictures!

Here is a picture of the kids with their stickers and flags after becoming true American Citizens.