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I Was Right

When I first enrolled in Family Relations, I was really nervous since this is my very first semester of college, and I’m taking three other multi credit courses at the same time, AND I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to juggle all of those in my schedule.  I also felt like I would not be able to keep up on the blog posts since I’m not much of a talker.  I can be a talker when I want to be, but that’s beside the point.  My point with the blog is I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to write enough subject material to get full credit.  I considered dropping the class to focus on my other classes, but I came to the conclusion that I should at least try the class for the first week and see how it goes.  The first two weeks passed by pretty slowly, but I was incredibly intrigued by the level of knowledge and enthusiasm that my professor had on the subject of marriage and family relations.  After I had made some friends in the class, and after some serious con...
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Parents

  I thought I would start off this blog post with some quotes I found about parents and their kids: 1. Silence is golden...unless you have kids.  Then, silence is suspicious. 2. There should be a children's song that goes, "If you're happy and you know it, keep it to yourself and let Dad sleep." 3. You wanna know what having a fourth child is like?  Just imagine you're drowning...and then someone hands you a baby.  4. The trouble with being a parent is that by the time you think you're experienced, all of a sudden, you're unemployed.   I also once heard from a wise, albino comedian named Jim Gaffigan, that being a parent is not that different from being a tourist in a foreign country.  With parenting and tourism, you walk around exhausted, spending money you don't have on things you don't need...while you struggle to find a bathroom.  Just somewhere to sit down. It's the same experience. Anyways, enough with the silliness.  It’s time to be se...
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Don't Get Ruff With Your Finances. It Bites!

This week, I’m offering some thoughts on marriage and finances.   First, consider the human body.  In extreme weather conditions such as the cold which can result in the different stages of hypothermia, the body has a way of reacting in such a way that will allow the person to stay alive until help is available.  Your body, in a way, has a mind of its own, in the sense that it will literally recognize that it’s in distress, and it needs to switch to survival mode.  Realizing that it is in trouble, the body will stop pumping blood to extremities (your hands and feet), and redirect the focus of that blood flow to the core of the body.  Your organs and your brain.  The vitals.  That which is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL for your survival.  It instinctively knows, “This is what I need to do to keep this body alive.”  Your body will go to the extremes of losing fingers, toes, etc in order to keep the rest of you alive.   Now take what I have ...
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Communication: Part Deux

Coming back to a topic that I addressed a few weeks ago, this is part two of my communication theory... theory.  Let me say it again, because I feel like I cannot stress this enough: in my own extraordinarily humble opinion, communication is what makes or breaks a relationship.  Any relationship.  I was never the best at communicating, and I still am an amateur when it comes to such things. But through my experience, I know that communication helps strengthen your respect for others as well as others’ respect for you.  It helps avoid misunderstandings, it builds trust, it takes the guesswork out of what’s wrong, and it isn’t as emotionally damaging as holding everything inside.  Communicate like your relationships depend on it . This doesn’t only apply to romantic relationships such as marriages.  This applies to other interactions as well. Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preach the gospel of Jesus Christ “two by two.” ...
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Fraaaagiiiiiileeeee...Hmmm, Must Be Italian!

It's the perfect day.  The day of your wedding.  You're standing there with your spouse, looking at all the people that came to congratulate you on this most special of occasions.  You study each of the faces, then your spouse whispers in your ear, "Honey, didn't you invite your aunt?"   "I sent her an invite, but I don't see her here."   A hand taps you on the back.  You turn around and its your uncle.  You throw your arms around him and say, "Hi Uncle Brad!  Thank you so much for coming!  Where's Aunt Pam?"   "She had an emergency to take care of out of state, but she wanted me to let you know that she bought you both a gift.  It's a really expensive gift, but it's also really fragile."   Your spouse say, "Well, we appreciate your graciousness.  Is this gift in your car?" "Oh no, my sons and I have already moved it to the table where all the other gifts are.  I gotta run right now, but we hope yo...
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Marriage: It's Pretty Neat...If You Make It Neat

Howdy gang✌🏼This week’s topic was about marriage.  To start this off, lemme describe a scene from one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces of all time: Shrek 2.  Yeah.  I said it.   The main characters’, Shrek and Fiona, have finished enjoying their honeymoon and are returning home to an invitation from Fiona’s parents: the king and queen of Far Far Away.  Fiona is elated to introduce her husband to her parents, but Shrek is fearful that his parents-in-law will reject him because he is an ogre.  Fiona rejects that notion and says that they only want to give Shrek their blessing so that he can be a part of the family.  Shrek exclaims, “Hey! Who said I wanted to be a part of this family?”  Fiona responds with, “Uh, you did when you married me!”   I had to pause the movie at that moment.  I realized that Shrek is not only a gold mine for internet memes.  I also learned that there is a really good lesson on a transition in ...
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Our Christ Culture

I think I have mentioned it before: I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I have been a Latter-day Saint my whole entire life, and I do not know who I would be without being raised on Jesus Christ.   A few months ago, I returned from serving as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ.  I served in Kansas for two years.  It was during my time in Kansas that I made the decision to pursue a degree in Marriage and Family studies.  Because of this decision, I thought to myself: well, what makes a strong family?  A couple that invited me over for dinner were just about to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary.  I asked them, "How in the world have you made your marriage last that long??"  They answered with this exact statement, "Well, we made Jesus Christ the foundation of our relationship.  Our marriage was never just the two of us.  It was me, my wife, and the Savior.  That is our cult...
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Communication Theory

What is a theory? For the layman like myself, I have to dumb things down in order to understand them better.  In its simplest definition, a theory is an explanation as to why something is the way it is.  Scientists will use these theories to guide their research in whatever field of science they may be practicing.   This week in class, we learned about different theories having to do with behavior both in the family and outside the family.   I am going to describe a few of the theories that have dominated my mind over the last few days.    Systems theory maintains that any intimate group must be observed as a whole.  It analyzes how each member of the family influences one another.  As a system, each individual family member has roles and rules that apply to them, which directly affects the whole unit.  Though members of the family may be individual in their specific role that they fill, they have an impact on the rest of the group so a...
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