So first of all I want to apologize for being so bad at keeping up with these blogs in reality this is one of my favorite classes I have just had so much going on since I came back from my mission and moving up here from South Carolina trying to start from scratch. But any ways like I said this is one of my favorite classes because I think this is the most valuable thing for me right now especially after serving a mission and seeing more how important families are for Heavenly Father and for ourselves. So this blog is for the week of January 14-18. That week I learned about the different trends their is and how these trends shape up different families. We talked about how a lot of people don't want to have many children because they want to make sure they focus on their career or simply don't want to have to many children because it won't be easy. I think of my own family member and friends that are not members of the church and I wish they knew what we know, what our purpose is here on the Earth if more people knew and understood the plan of salvation they would make better decisions when it comes to fertility decisions. I think we that have this knowledge have the responsibility to pray to our Heavenly Father to let us know how many children we should have I know that as we fulfill our purpose as parents and have children that have been foreordained for our family we will see many blessings lying ahead in our lives, many will be blessed and we will be happy because we will be doing the Lords will .

This week we have been learning about how family deal with stress!

I feel like this week was totally dedicated to my family and me, may be others may feel that way also. As I started to think of events in our life that affected our family only a few events came to mind though I knew we had a lot of things that always seemed to go wrong, but as I kept pondering and thinking I realized that we had so much going on since way back then. I started to get emotional because I hadn't really put much thought into them especially after the mission being so busy trying to stay on top of things I remembered how it was that I was able to change my life for the better. It wasn't the worst life, but it wasn't the best. Our family has had many opportunities to progress and move forward but their always seems to be something that just bumps all of us back. When I realized that I could be that bump moving our lives backwards or forward I needed to make a decision and I don't know if with the drama already going on I would've decided to come back to church and go to school etc. I'm grateful for the things that I have witnessed in my family not because they hurt and were hard but because they helped me become what I am becoming everyday. Their are things in family that can pull us apart but if we are aware of what actions to take our life could be so much easier, but that is how life is we don't know what is going to happen and sometimes we are not prepared, but that is how we learn. I look back on how maybe things could've been different had we stayed active or had we just stopped to think what should we do to make things better instead of going through the motions and just doing things. I am grateful to be able to look at my family now with a better understanding of family systems and see what things I can do to help and things we can anticipate together.

This week we learned a lot of amazing things about marriage and how we select our life long partners. It all starts with dating I have learned so much about how important it is to actually go on many different dates, becuase it will help you know better what kinds of things you are looking for in a spouse and you as well learn as you interact with other people.

I think of so many of my friends and the way the view dating and I'm excited to share with them the things that I have learned that will hlep them change their mind set about a few things. I love how everything that we learn is not just based on the gospel the things we learn are things that have been found through research and facts , which in turn our leaders have been counceling the members all a long and it increases your testimony that we are really guided by a true prophet of God.

This week we talked about gender roles and homosexuals. First of all I am really glad I am taking this class because I learn so much about the roles of each family member and how their gender also influences their role, and it has just opened my eyes to many things that I otherwise would've probably never learned especially not being raised in your typical LDS family.

So gender roles are important men and women are not the same they are different and they were purposely made that way, but what about those men with feminine like traits? They are actually blessed with really great traits but it's due to the way society reacts to these characteristics that unfortunately has really marked the lives of many men and women classified as homosexuals. Heavenly Father created a man and a women because they were both different and together they are made whole. Men have what women don't have and women have what men don't have they both need each other to learn and grow. I actually never thought I would be excited to know what I could learn from my future husband it's really interesting to see what the Lord has in store for all of us to help us become what he wants us to become just like him

I really thought people were just born homosexual...but now I know that is not true people can change and it is due most of the time to their environment and the sexual abuse they might have encountered. I wish people knew what we know so that we could help more loved children of our heavenly father find their way back. Their are single women out their that have been looking for their loved one or vice versa and these children of our heavenly father are confused the world has made them believe that they are just born that way.

If people knew how important families were all of these issues that we face today could be better taken care of. It's also amazing to see how the church is unfolded as I make the connections with the family proclamation, with having family home evenings, with how the church leaders stress the importance of the parents in the children's lives and also the many different programs available for the children , the Lord is protecting his children if we could only strive more to keep the commandments. I am grateful for the Lords mercifulness and love and for inspiring scientist and psychologist to help the world see the real challenges the world faces today.

A lot of the things that we soke about in class today really just brought memories back from the past. My situation was really different though, even though I was born here in knew the language things that we were custom to do in our home were just like the families we read about that had just come form Mexico. I didn't really get to go out anywhere and was always home it can get really depressing and lonely and you start thinking what has my family failed at how are we going to move along and you also get angry that everyone else around you doesn't understand , but then you realize their is some people that do understand and those are others that are going through the similar situations, so that is who you start talking to. but then that also creates a problem because you start isolating yourself from others and you could learn from them as well, thankfully for me the gospel was really what rescued my life I am so grateful that eventhough it was hard in the begenning to try to belong to two cultures now I can take the good that I have from both and embrace them. This morning in my daily scripture reading I ran into this scripture in 2 Nephi 1:5-6...5 "But, said he, nothwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of promise....Yea the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord. 6 Wherefore, I , Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord."

Well welcome everyone to my first and new blog. I'm excited to be able to start college finally after forever! Brigham Young University-Idaho is awesome I love it it's a beautiful place where you can learn and feel the spirit. I have never seen the snow so this is all a new experience for me the snow, school and this blog. I am so grateful I get to learn about families because I love my family with all my heart, and I'm excited to have my own one day. I know this class will help me a great deal with reaching the goals that I have to become a better mother, wife ,and example for my future family. So I will post every week what I have learned in class. Please feel free to post any comments or questions. ;)
                                                                                  Nicki

Hi!