Giving Thanks

I love Thanksgiving. I enjoy the time we spend preparing for Thanksgiving day. For the last couple years we have read the Pilgrim's stories in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, and each time we read about their hardships, it makes me so grateful for their sacrifice. I really don't remember hearing too much about the real pilgrim story in school, so Paul and I have been learning right along with our kids. The part that I find interesting is that the pilgrims left England (because of the religious persecution) and went to Holland. In Holland, they had their freedom to worship the way they pleased, but they were concerned about the influence that the Dutch culture was having on their children. Thus, they decided to come to the Americas. It's amazing to me that: A. they realized that culture plays a great deal raising children and B: they left all they knew and all their comforts to make sure the next generation would carry on their ideals. Wow. I think that's really cool.