My family has had many opportunities to travel around the world and see the various family lifestyles that different cultures portray. In Africa we were able to view the people of Liberia and Tanzania.  Families were a fundamental part of life, and were needed in order to survive.  They supported each other and depended on one another for survival.  We were able to care for a pair of liberian twins for a couple weeks because their mom had died during child birth and their dad had several other children to take care of.  While walking down the streets with them random people would walk up to us and say, "Thank you, you are such a blessing to these babies" or "God bless you, even though those are not your babies".  Normally they would be orphaned or abandoned at a hospital.  So us providing a family life for sometime was a huge blessing for these kids and the people in Liberia recognized that.  In America we should strive to be like this as well; loving our families and doing all we can to love and make them the center of our lives.

Live, Laugh, Love; Family

 
    Growing up, family has always been the most important thing to me.  They are a support group, embarrassment, free comedy show and at the end of the day, always there for you.  To be able to build a family of your own seems like such an amazing honor.  But in todays society, having kids is lower down on the priority list than ever before.
    A parents biggest responsibility in life is to raise their children to be the best they can be.  What an honor it would be to have a child of your own to teach and nurture and watch grow right before your eyes.  It is a wonder to me why there are so many couples don't want to have children of their own.  Some couples say they aren't in a financial spot to have kids, or that having more than a couple kids isn't the norm anymore, or that the world is already so overpopulated that having kids would be a selfish and stupid thing to do.
    First, a couple shouldn't worry about whether or not they can raise a child with all the comfortable necessities that make life easier.  God will help in the ways he can and make sure that things work out.  All it takes is a little faith.  Second, children bring so many blessings and amazing memories to a family that wouldn't be possible to have without.  And lastly, there is no need to worry about the world being overpopulated.  Studies show that today the numbers are decreasing and women are having even fewer kids in their lifetime.  There isn't a problem with too many people, there will eventually be a problem with having too few people.
    When I get married I want to raise my own family with my husband and take pride in each child and teach them all that I know.  Because to me, family is the most important thing I'll have.

Important, Intriguing and Beautiful

Today in class we spent a good amount of time talking about the different types of learning we each go through.  There is surface learning, strategic learning, and deep learning; deep learning usually happens when we have a question that is important, intriguing or just plain beautiful.
Since this is a class on the family, we were asked to think up three questions that were in those categories.  Here were my questions:

Important: How would you know when your marriage is heading south and how would you recognize the red flags?

Intriguing: How come intimacy is so easy to obtain in the beginning, but so hard to hold on to as time goes by?

Beautiful: How can I learn to love and grow with my spouse through the rocky times when emotion is no longer the driving force?

Although I'm not married myself or have kids, I want to learn all that I can so that when the time comes I am able to be the best wife and mother that I can.  “Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.” - Howard W. Hunter

First day of Class

Today was my first day in my Family Relations class! We will be learning about the relationships inside the family and what we as Social Scientists can do to improve, learn and give to those families.
Looking forward to an interesting class!