311. Today I am grateful for a day at the lake with friends

I am grateful to have been able to spend a day off at the lake with a friend and her family. Not having my family here, it`s nice to be included in other peoples family activities. The weather threatened to storm but ended up clearing up. I had cute babies to play with and friends to catch up with. It was an enjoyable day for sure.

310. Today I am grateful to live in Canada

As we celebrate Canada’s 145^th Birthday I want to share my gratitude for living in such a wonderful country. I love being Canadian, as I shared in this post. I love how diverse and beautiful each province is. I love the image it has; Canadians are welcome in every country. J I love that it is a bilingual country although the extent of my French is understanding what food labels say when turned to the French side (although the pictures often help too).  We have attractive looking money and compared to many other countries, our economy is looking pretty stable. I love our flag, our anthem and our pride ... Yet humility. I love Canada!

309. Today I am grateful for angels

Particularly hard days for me this week were Wednesday and Thursday, in between those days in my time zone was my Grandma’s funeral in Scotland and I really struggled with not being there. On Wednesday I signed on to the internet with my home page set to www.lds.org and saw a link to Elder Scott’s recent Conference talk, “How to Obtain Revelationand Inspiration for Your Personal Life”. It seemed to have come as an answer to my prayers. I have continued to read it several times throughout the week, particularly this section:

 “Another example of revelation is this guidance given to President Joseph F. Smith: “I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them. … We are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors … who have preceded us into the spirit world. We can not forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we can not break. … If this is the case with us in our finite condition, surrounded by our mortal weaknesses, … how much more certain it is … to believe that those who have been faithful, who have gone beyond … can see us better than we can see them; that they know us better than we know them. … We live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever. For now they see the dangers that beset us; … their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves.”

Relationships can be strengthened through the veil with people we know and love. That is done by our determined effort to continually do what is right. We can strengthen our relationship with the departed individual we love by recognizing that the separation is temporary and that covenants made in the temple are eternal. When consistently obeyed, such covenants assure the eternal realization of the promises inherent in them.”

It reminded me of one of my all time favourite Conference talks, which was given in the October 2008 (was it really that long ago?!) Conference by Elder Holland, titled “The Ministry of Angels”. He speaks of both Heavenly and Mortal angels and that both have the same purpose to help in times of need. While reading over this talk again, this part is what I most needed to hear at this time:  

“My beloved brothers and sisters, I testify of angels, both the heavenly and the mortal kind. In doing so I am testifying that God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. “[N]or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man [or woman or child] upon the face thereof to be saved.” On occasions, global or personal, we may feel we are distanced from God, shut out from heaven, lost, alone in dark and dreary places. Often enough that distress can be of our own making, but even then the Father of us all is watching and assisting. And always there are those angels who come and go all around us, seen and unseen, known and unknown, mortal and immortal.”

I know that my Grandma will always be there for me and continue to care for me as she watches over me.

308. Today I am grateful for quiet walks in the park

I have been taking walks in the park close to my home often and it’s nice to be out in nature and have that time to reflect while getting some exercise too.  

307. Today I am grateful for my sister to talk to

I have called my sister everyday for a week now and even though she has a family with four young children she has taken the time to just be there for me to have someone to talk to.

306. Today I am grateful for people who care about me

I have been feeling pretty lonely; it’s hard dealing with grief on your own. Right now I feel like the only people who sincerely care about how I am feeling are people at work, my family (particularly my twin sister), and one friend. When I put it like that yes, I see that people care, I guess I was just hoping for more support from my friends. I am grateful for the support from my coworkers especially when I don’t feel very productive at work right now but I would rather be there than sitting at home alone.

305. Today I am grateful for cousins sharing memories

I started a thread on facebook with all of my Couper cousins and invited each of them to share their favourite memory of our grandma. It has been awhile since I have laughed that hard. So many funny memories, my Grandma provided lots of entertainment for lots of people. I don’t get to see our talk to my cousins often so it was nice for us all to gather electronically and share memories together. I have also been chatting with a cousin in New Zealand who is also on her own and she has been a good support to me as well.