Family Relations

I have been talking about my dad recently so I think I might as well keep up the streak. My dad has always been so hard working and pushing forward to help his family. As I was growing up in the home, I remember him leaving early and coming home late. He owns a construction company so he is able to make his own hours. He has supported us from day one and made sure all of our needs and even some of our wants were met. Even know when most of the kids are out of the house, he still cares for us. For instance, I am going to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in northern Porto Alegre, Brazil. That would not be possible without the financial support of my father. He has helped me with so much with college and other needs so that I will not fall into debt.  I love my dad so much, and that love comes a lot more from different things other than the financial security part of things, but we will have to focus on that a different time. As you can probably tel...

Growing up, my dad always taught me that communication is very important and that it should be used every day as far as making plans and creating a schedule so everyone is in the know. But I found that communication is not only important with our friends and family, but it is also extremely important with our Father in Heaven. Communicating is able to strengthen relationships and that allows the relationship to grow and to flourish. According to David D. Burns, MD. there are five secrets to effective communication that he wrote about in his book, "Feeling Good Together". The first step is to apply the disarming technique. Agree to stop blaming each other by being honest with yourself and taking full responsibility for your actions. This is when you find the kernel of truth which means to find the answer  as to why someone in the situation would do that or feel that way. This allows the conversation to be so much more effective because people are able to understand the situati...

Stress is something that comes to us all the time as we live our lives. But I think what matters most is how we decide to deal with that stress. The word that I am looking for is coping. We all handle situations differently. The way we decide to cope with our stress and the rest of our feelings for that matter are so important and influence our own, and others', lives significantly. Trials and hard times are bound to come to us all, but sometimes it feels that we are never prepared for them. Ya know, the last thing we expected to come up and tear apart our world. I can think of many times when this has happened to my family and I, but I would just like to focus on one scenario. I would first like to say that I hold this really close to my heart. It is still such a sensitive subject to me, and especially others in my family, but there are still so many feelings that I think I would like to express about it. I am not sharing this experience to say that I have had it worse than you o...

If you would have asked me to discuss this topic a week ago, I would've turned you down immediately. However, I think that my view points have changed drastically in the last five days. I always thought that discussing sexual intimacy or sometimes even using the word sex was inappropriate and kind of almost sinning. But I have learned from multiple sources that that is not actually the case. In fact, at this age, (I am 18), it is healthy to talk about it openly. I also now believe that it is healthy to talk about this kind of stuff to all ages, to a certain extent of course. So I think I am going to tell you my story with coming to understand the importance of sexual intimacy and why it is actually crucial to our well being and health as far as discussing the topic goes. Let's start from the beginning, fifth grade. We had to watch the video . I vaguely remember part of me being nervous and curious, while the other part was just kind of disgusted. Ya know, just learning about p...

So I might be wrong, but I feel like we start preparing for marriage from the day we first arrive here on earth. It makes a lot of sense in my head. AS we grow up, we learn how to communicate. We learn how to interact with other people, including the opposite sex. We begin to recognize who we are, why we are here, and what we need to do in this life. One thing that we need to do, and is also commanded of God, its to have children and to raise them up into the people that God would have them be. Having children is actually crucial to mankind. That is something that I think people tend to forget. Something else that people are forgetting is the data. People who get married and don't live together before hand have way better chances. They are more likely able to merge into one, rather than be parallel lines. Man isn't that interesting? Okay, so let's get back on track. Not only is preparing for marriage important, but transitioning into marriage is crucial. Many problems can ...

Do people even really date anymore? Is that still a part of the culture that we live in today? I'd say we are kind of losing it. I think dating is viewed more as a "date 'em til you hate 'em" kind of attitude, meaning a couple becomes exclusive until one or the other gets tired of them. So, people just hang out instead. So, what are the pros and cons to dating and hanging out? First let us define dating so we actually understand what we are comparing.  Wikipedia says that "d ating is a stage of romantic relationships in humans whereby two people meet socially with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a prospective partner in an intimate relationship or marriage." As far as this meaning goes, I would say that it is pretty reliable. So, let us get to comparing. Hanging out is a great way to get to know someone in a comfortable setting where it isn't very formal. Other close friends can be there and it isn't awkward. There i...