Parenting

If you're the parents of a large family, and not all of your children have the same interests as the majority, do you insist that they participate in these particular family outings?

Texas Rectum Ripper

As an adolescent, and now as an adult, I was a huge fan of getting the whole gang together to "go and do" the wholesome recreation shin-dig! 
I feel gratitude for the unity we experienced when my parents would get us all together to go to visit SPLASHTOWN, enjoy overnight campouts at Pine Crest lake, or hiking in Tahoe, and the most eventful memories of our 1,883 mile road trips from Texas to Nor-Cal during the summer break.

I'm also grateful that my siblings and parents found interest in doing the same things all together; this made family unity that much more attainable for us.

Separation and Divorce

"Those from disrupted homes have lower levels of trust and altruistic love, various difficulties in intimate relationships such as more conflict and anxiety about love and commitment, and a lower likelihood of marrying."

(Jacquet and Surra 2001; Tallman, Rotolo, and Gray 2001; Wallerstein 2005; Chen et al. 2006)

Altruistic love is defined as the belief in or practice of selfless concern for the well-being of others.

A good friend of mine was painfully unwilling to say "I promise". My initial reaction to her inability to feel safe taking upon herself the responsibility of  making and keeping promises, made me feel unsafe-- not to mention how much pressure I felt if I wasn't perfect in keeping the promises I'd potentially make to her.


When I shared this in class today my professor paused, and then reflectively said "I wonder...how will she handle making gospel covenants?" I'd failed to perceive the potential struggle in my friend's making and keeping eternal covenants.


Oh, how important the Savior's Atonement is. I am grateful for my witness of His healing love.