one for the money

I had learned the principles out of one for the money before, but I never delved that deep into them. Foe example, I never thought there was so much that went into teaching children to pay tithing. I just assumed there were spiritual blessings, I never even considered the way that single principle could insluence the family. I have always been committed to this principle, but now the importance is even more imprinted in my mind. Also, I never thought that budgeting together would actually bring a husband and wife closer. I knew that financial problems would bring us appart, but I never thought that bugeting together could actually strengthen bonds. I really like learning way that the gospel is perfectly in place so that if we follow the councils we will be stengthened. This class has really helped strengthen my faith in following the prohpets.

Parenthood is a sacrafice- there's not way around it.

I liked the discussion of this week, but today's topic was definately the best in my opinion. I never knew that just something so simple as the mother entering the workforce would have such a huge and lasting effect on children! This is a topic that has weighted on my mind for quite a while because I really like the field I'm going in to, and I really like working and feeling financially productive. At the same time I knew that the prophets discouraged mothers working outside of the home, but I always hoped that I would be the exception. Well, guess what- I'm not the exception (after all, everyone can't be the exception). I think that parenting is a sacrafice. Fathers have to sacrafice time with the family and their personal ambitions to work, and mothers have to sacrafice the respect and satisfaction the comes from working outside the home and her own personal ambitions to be with the children. The thing is, though, that it's worth it in the end. We want to be like Heavenly Father. He's not Heavenly Businessman, or Heavenly Nanny- He's our father, and we're his "work and glory." I almost feel like making our families anything less than our "work and glory" is unacceptable to Heavenly Father. But this is just my opinion so take it for what it's worth.

That stunk! to thank you

I think my favorite part of this last week was making that list of 10 crises in our family or a family close to us, and then in class rating it from "that stunk!" to "thank you." As I was making my list and trying to recall family crises there were no thoughts of "thank you," only "that stunk!" I had never thought about those trials from a present perspective. In class Brother Williams asked us to think about how those trials influenced our family system and this helped me to see the positive effects the trials had. After recognizing how each specific trial had strengthened and bonded my family I had to rate almost all of our crises as "thank you." I really like learning about families as a system. This gives me a new view of my family now, and changes the the way I perceive past events (the cognition part of crises.)

Boundaries

I never thought that boundaries were so important in a marriage. I always knew that cheating (on any level) was wrong, but I didn't know that things could slip so fast. That story of the girl who ran into her old friend on campus really blew me away. I kind of thought that having too clear of boundaries meant that you distrusted your spouse, but I see now that it means the opposite. Boundaries are definitely something that I want to discuss with my fiance before I get married!