One Unit

This is a picture of my family on my wedding day. There are four children, and out of those, three are now married. When we were all living at home I could definitely apply the Family Systems Theory to our lives. We all had specific roles and functions that we participated in. No one was left out and we all worked together as a team. Our family was united in a way with a special bond that I will never forget. 

I can definitely pick out a few subsets or subsystems in my family. Obviously, my parents are a subset and they work together to make sure everything runs somewhat smoothly for our family. I would say that my oldest sister, brother and Dad would form another subset. They are all alike in their interests and intelligence. All three are very smart and love doing math and things related to science or building or something challenging. My second oldest sister, Mom and I form another subset. We are all alike in our personality and interests as well. We all love to sew, bake, make crafts, and we are all always making sure everyone around us is happy or having a good time. 

My family gets along so well and we love having the new additions to the family. In the future when we all spend more time together, I will be able to find more subsets and roles being played by my family. Our family works so well together because we were raised in a home where we could feel the spirit and we knew gospel principles. I know that families can be together forever and I can't wait to start my own little family. 

Strengths and Benefits

I was so shocked when I was reading the chapter for class on Wednesday. There are so many charts and statistics that show the percentages of cohabitation and child birth out of wedlock are going up. It is so sad to hear that people don’t value marriage and family the way that they used to. 

It is surprising to me especially after reading the section titled “Strengths and Benefits of Marriage and Family.” How could anyone read that and still say that they would rather live alone or rather not get married. It said that overall, both married men and married women are happier, they are better off financially and they live longer than the unmarried. How does that not appeal to the rest of the world? It also stated that a satisfying marriage provides you with a built-in support system to help you deal with the varied challenges and struggles of your life. I can testify to this. Being married is seriously the best. You always have someone there to talk to, you have someone supporting you and helping you make life changing decisions. Yes there are struggles with every marriage and some use the excuse to get divorced that they have too many problems. Well statistics show that those who stay married and those who get divorces have the same amount of problems. The ones who stay married are just better at working through them together. 

I know that marriage is essential to Heavenly Fathers plan and having a family is such an amazing privilege we have here on earth. I can’t wait to start my own family someday and I know that Heavenly Father will always bless us for our righteous choices we make. 

The Challenge to Become

"In contrast to institutions of the world, which teach us to know something,
the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something."
 - Dallin H. Oaks

What have we become? What are we working towards?

I have so many goals in life and one of them is to become more Christ-like. He lived a perfect life and I know that I am no where near that, but it is the little things we do every day that bring us closer and closer to our goals of becoming more like him. The word conversion is defined as a change in character, form or function. We qualify for eternal life through conversion. This means we are here to change. We are here to change our character. To become something. Take this challenge that we have and work towards becoming something great.

Trying new things!

I am really excited to start this blog for my family relations class. I have never blogged before so this is a great place to begin. Most of my posts will be inspirational thoughts, connections, or insights I have had during this course. Enjoy!!