Contemplating Family Relations

  Marriage is a complicated relationship involving building a family from two different human beings. In my marriage, the most important aspect involves my covenant between God and my husband. This is a staple to how I view my relationship as it changes and grows. It affects my choices on protecting and remaining faithful to my husband. I covenanted to pledge my fidelity and to love him with all my heart and soul.   This is a sacred trust and is worth protecting. I want to discuss some important red flags to watch for and to avoid, to keep a marriage safe from affairs. There are four different types of affairs – ·          Fantasy ·          Visual ·          Romantic ·          Sexual Did you have the same light bulb moment as I did when I discovered there was more than one type of affair? An interesting st...

  "Meanwhile, mortal misunderstandings can make mischief in marriage. In fact, each marriage starts with two built-in handicaps. It involves two imperfect people. Happiness can come to them only through their earnest effort. Just as harmony comes from an orchestra only when its members make a concentrated effort, so harmony in marriage also requires a concerted effort. That effort will succeed in each partner will minimize personal demands and maximize actions of loving selflessness."        - President Russell M. Nelson     I want to share my feelings on this idea of built-in handicaps that start each marriage and why it is essential to recognize that in your relationship. The harmony that can result from understanding and accepting these handicaps and the daily effort almost keeps your relationship "tuned" up and loving. My marriage started with two most definitely flawed people. We each had your own weakness, bad habits, etc...

 .  I have always been a romantic. I love sweet, goofy romantic movies like "Sense and Sensibility," "Jane Eyre," "Twelfth Night," "The Princess Bride," Oh, I could go on and on! I love books about courtly love, knights in shining armor, fair ladies, and riding off into the sunset. As much as I love, love all this fun, cheesy, mushy stuff, I have often thought about what is happening in our world with dating and marriage? Please, don’t misunderstand; I know that real life can't be wrapped up in a cute heart shape package.   Love and marriage relationships are complex and critical to building stable families.   What is troubling me is that people seem to want to play house, avoiding any real commitments—this not the right way of starting a good relationship.    This week, I have been thinking a lot about why courting and dating are becoming obsolete in our world?   If you have a conversation with people in the dating scene, they’ll tell you ...

  I raised 5 daughters, so I didn't see firsthand the way boys play compared to girls, but my girls did have differences in how they played. I had a couple of "tomboys" that preferred climbing trees and playing with mud and bugs. They all liked to play house, and sometimes the playing house morphed to being chased by ravenous dinosaurs. Sometimes they would go exploring in our back pasture and look for a family of foxes. I really didn’t give much thought to whether they were playing more like girls or boys.  To me, they were just.  . .   playing and having a glorious time of it! So what's the big deal? Is the way we raise our children making them fit into a role gender stereotype?   The roles of men and women have been defined since the beginning of time; however, those roles have changed. The women’s suffrage movement that began with the right to vote and then swiftly climaxed in the '70s with the feminist movement had a harvest of positive and negative fruits....