Gratitude

Since it is Thanksgiving here, I thought I would share a few things I'm grateful for: 

Safe travels: We drove down to Lethbridge and had turkey dinner with Grandma on Sunday. When we woke up Sunday morning, there was a heavy blanket of snow all over Calgary. AMA said the roads past Calgary were bare though so off we went. Apparently, AMA isn't all knowing. They were wrong. The roads were terrible!! The snow was relentless. It is still snowing. I really need a good yoga class now to get rid of all the stress from fish tailing and feeling like we were about to go into the ditch again and again. It should all melt this week though. Thank goodness there are highs of 15 degrees coming up!

Cousins: Jill has gone to Utah for a week with her Ackroyd grandparents. Her cousin, Maren, who lives in Provo, is leaving on a mission to Brazil. They went down for her farewell. We also got to visit other Ackroyd cousins this weekend. They were happy cousins catching up on each others' news, taking pictures, and watching old home videos. 

Inspiring Ancestors: While we were visiting cousins, Nana and Grandpa Ackroyd shared some stories from their family history. One story was about Grandpa Ackroyd's family arrived in Raymond on July 1, 1901: the day of the first Raymond stampede. Imagine pulling into Raymond, right behind the parade? Quite the welcome! They had been living in Bear Lake, Idaho. One Sunday their name was read over the pulpit from a list of families who were being asked to sell everything and move to Canada to help set up the irrigation system. Not everyone agreed to do it, but they did. It was hard. They settled some land and did volunteer work digging ditches and building roads. That is how they paid their taxes. The first winter they lived in a house where you could see the outside through the boards. Brrrr! It wasn't easy to come and get setup in a new country but they were willing to do hard things. 

Ether 12:27 "...my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."