Thanksgiving

Silly... I don't get this blogging thing. I had just finished my first post when I tried to change the font and the whole thing disappeared! Apparently there is no such thing as ctrl-z in the blogging world. I'll try to recreate what I already wrote, but it will probably be shorter...

So Suzanna and I had to talk in church today. Brother Slater (counselor in the bishopric) called on Wednesday night as I had just finished playing basketball and was driving home. Had we played just a few minutes longer, I would have missed the call and perhaps we wouldn't have had to speak. After talking it over with Suzanna, we decided that we would, indeed, speak on Thanksgiving and gratitude (though I was not particularly grateful for the opportunity as so many people claim to be when they stand to give a talk). The Sanford's (who spoke last week) had four weeks to prepare, and we had less than four days, but I didn't mind, since I didn't want to stress about it too much. Unfortunately Suzanna and I have very different ways of preparing and giving talks (maybe it's a good thing). She likes to write everything out ahead of time so when she gives it she can just focus on doing the delivery. I don't write everything out, so I find that I always back myself into a corner with my words and I can't find my way out. That happened today once.

Adam and Amber (D'Agostini) came and sat next to Mom. Jeff and Shauna came as well, but they arrived just as Suzanna finished her talk. They have a bigger ward and were expecting the Sacrament to go until about 25 after the hour, but Suzanna was already speaking at about 20 after (or so). They had to run out early to make it to meetings by 10:00 as well, so we never actually got to talk to them. I feel like it went well. Suzanna did exceptionally well. She is amazing!

For my talk I decided to get a little history involved. I searched "Thanksgiving" on Wikipedia and found an interesting article. I was expecting more about indians and corn and muskets like I was taught in elementary school, but what I found was also interesting. Go look it up if you're interested. It turns out that at a place called "Berkeley Plantation" is a historical site where George W. Bush spoke last Monday. I liked his words. Here they are:

"In the four centuries since the founders of Berkeley first knelt on these grounds, our nation has changed in many ways. Our people have prospered, our nation has grown, our Thanksgiving traditions have evolved -- after all, they didn't have football back then. Yet the source of all our blessings remains the same: We give thanks to the Author of Life who granted our forefathers safe passage to this land, who gives every man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth the gift of freedom, and who watched over our nation every day." -President George W. Bush.

Amen, President Bush. I thought it to be rather inspiring that our nation's President expressed his faith in and gratitude for God. I like that characteristic in a political leader. Obviously the founding fathers had great faith in the Almighty as well, and aren't belief in Him and desire to worship as we choose some of the main reasons for the movement to America and the fight for freedom?