Baby Blues

In class we learned a lot about marriage and how to transition into marriage. I am not married but I have yet to learn. We learned that merging into each others lives gets pretty difficult. So I am going to tell you a few things on how to help merge a family successfully. (in my opinion)

Different backgrounds: We are all different in my ways. We come from all over the world and have different cultures and sometimes it is hard to get married and to be in each others lives constantly. We learn different habits and we continue to do those and so this makes it difficult, especially when children come into your lives. But if we are patient and continue to strive to be our best  in hard situations and cling to the teachings of the gospel it will be easier and we will see blessings.

Time: Spending time with the person you love and care for is very important. It shows that you want to get to know this person. You and your spouse are bond together for time and all eternity.It is important because they need to see that you want their attention. I love when my parents would go out on dates and show my siblings and I that date nights are important and have an impact on marriage and family. 

Finances: This is a big part of marriage because once you get married you and your spouse are all on your own. This is why I think keeping a budget and spending your money wisely while you are younger is very important. I have always been taught to keep a budget and to manage my money as best as I can. I am very thankful for my parents and the efforts they have put in into have a stable home and to support us financially. I want to follow there example.   

Now lets talk about the Baby Blues, this happens when children start to come into the picture, this mostly involves the males. The husbands are used to having there wives attention all the time. When a baby is born it puts a toll on him because now is wife is showing the baby all her attention and he is not used to that. He goes from getting 100% attention to about 50%. My parents were blessed with twins after three years of marriage and my mom was so tired because she was taking care of  2 babies instead of one. My dad would get home from work and would immediately want her attention, but my mom was tired and wanted to get a break, so yes he had the baby blues, but this is normal and I know that the gospel helped them out and I am thankful for that.

Thank you for reading! Have a great week!

Marriage and Dating

This week in class we touched on the lovely subject of marriage, my favorite!!! (note the sarcasm). We talked about how marriage is not just about finding someone to marry because you are bored but finding someone that will make you happy forever. In class our teacher mentioned the three T's of marriage 1. Time 2. Together and 3. Talk. I think these three attributes are very important when it comes to having an eternal marriage. We also talked about the RAM model which stands for Relationship Attachment Model the attributes about this model are know, trust, rely, commit, touch. These 5 different ways of attachment are very important for a healthy relationship.

Did you know that there are four stages from dating to marriage that need to be accomplished? Well if not I am here to inform you. The first is dating, going out getting to know each other and form a bond. The second is courtship the root word is "court" which stands for trial, be willing to show each other your strengths and weaknesses. The third is engagement, make him put a ring on it!! Just kidding when you get engaged it is a time in your life to experiment with each other. Learn how to cook with one another and fall in love. The fourth is marriage, this is most important also get married in the temple to receive those blessings.

We also learned the difference between "hanging out" and going on a date. What do you think that means? Let me explain "hanging out" means going over to each others house and doing homework or watching a movie. BORING!!! Okay do not worry here comes the good part dating has three P's: planned, paired off, and paid for. What are the roles of a husband according to the Family Proclamation? To provide, preside, and protect. Now ladies please tell me this is what you want in a husband because I sure do. Here comes the mind blowing part I am going to make a cool connection with the threes P's of dating....

MEN SHOULD:
provide- paid for
preside-planned
protect- paired off

Pretty awesome if you ask me, the prophets knew that dating is important because it teaches gentlemen as well as ladies how to go out on proper dates which takes a toll on how to serve their purpose and role in this world today.

Thanks for reading have a great week!

Gender Roles/ Same Sex Attraction.

This week in class we touched on gender roles in the Family Proclamation it says, " By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children." Men and Women are different in many ways, but the great thing about it is, they complete each other. Marriage between a man and a women is essential to Gods plan. It also states that in The Family Proclamation. Saying that moves me into my next topic we talked about same sex attraction and the impact it has on families today. We were told to watch a short film talking about men that over came same sex attraction. The are many contributing factors as to why men and women feel they are attracted to the same sex. The factors include: Wounded gender identity, bullying, father hunger, mother confusion, inappropriate touch. I truly believe that Heavenly Father did not make people "gay" but I do believe that he gives us trials and that is a trial for some.
Here is the link to the video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJhyzqdzpnM)

A talk given my Elder Holland in October 2007 called Helping Those Who Struggle with Same- Gender Attraction. He tells a story about a young man who is in his early twenties, confessing to Elder Holland that he is not worthy to be a member if the Church because he is gay, Elder Holland responds with "and" The young man continued with " I am not attracted to women. I am attracted to men. I've tried to ignore those feelings, but why am I this way" President Holland then said, "You see same gender attraction is not a sin, but acting upon those feelings is." This proves that it is OKAY to be attracted to man or women, it is a trial that has to be over come and it won't last for eternities.
Here is the link to the talk: (https://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/10/helping-those-who-struggle-with-same-gender-attraction?lang=eng)

Thank you for reading and have a great week!

Family Strutures

We all have different families, some are more wealthy than others and some are more poor than others. The great thing is that we are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and he sees us as equally human beings. In class this week we learned about social statuses as well as different cultures and their backgrounds. In preparation for class we were asked to watch short clips on YouTube about different social statuses. It amazes me to see how other cultures live their lives, a sweet lady named Tammy, lived in a trailer house with 2 boys that treated her poorly and she worked at Burger King, but get this she does not have a car so she has to walks 10 miles everyday to get to work so she can provide for her family. It really made me grateful for the family I have and how my family can provide and be comfortable with our lives. Here is the link if you would like to watch it:(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37ZpauS5Doo)

We also had to read about illegal immigrants from Mexico, this was about families that were affected by it. Usually the Father of the house would go to the U.S. first and work for a while before he would help his family immigrate. This process usually took on average 3 years, this had a huge impact on the families it created tension between them when they finally reunited. The expenses were also outraging, families would have to come up with lots of money to immigrate to America. In Mexico the hispanics had great jobs they were able to provide for their families, but when they would immigrate to the U.S. companies knew they were not citizens so they did not receive the best jobs. Most of the fathers would work in the fields and get paid very minimal again causing it hard to help their families in Mexico.

You might ask why did they do this to themselves, if they were content why would they make their lives harder. The main reason why they did this was because they thought it would help there children have better lives and a better future. What are your thoughts, do you think Hispanics are making the right choices? Do you think it is worth the pain and suffering?

I am from a small town in Idaho where most of the people there are hispanic, they do not have much. Most of them work in the fields or on a ranch to provide for there families. They usually are not very wealthy and live in little homes just to get by, so I have seen it my personal life how it has affected these families. Learning about this makes me want to do the best I can to provide for my family.

Thanks for reading have a great week!

Family Rules

In class this week we discussed family rules and why they are important. I think most of us grew up with family rules and many things we were expected to do. Rules are ways to keep us safe, from temptations, accidents and just our everyday living. In my house we had many rules to abide by, taking off your shoes, cleaning up your dishes, these were just a few of the many rules we had.

I am very thankful for a mom like mine who taught me the importance of rules, I am grateful for the rules I had to follow because now most of those rules are habits. We grow up and leave the nest expecting to have rules but we really do not. The rules are up to us now and it is our free agency to live by them. Most of us our smart and know what we need to do to live a happy life. Hopefully most of us are all doing great at following rules.

Thanks for reading hope you have a great week!!