I spent well into the early hours of the morning this morning at the hospital with my pregnant sister. We're fortunate enough to be able to live in the same small town, and I was able to be there for the birth of my brand new nephew very early this morning.
While we were waiting, I was thinking about the idea of the family and the different units within it. My sister and brother in law have a daughter who is two and a half. The process of introducing their new son into the family is going to affect the different subsets within their family. Right now, there are subsets between my sister and her husband, and between both of them and their daughter, Sophie. We were all talking about how it's going to be a rough adjustment for Sophie, and I think that's because of the change that will take place with the subsets. My sister and brother in law have already formed, and will continue to form, their relationships with their son, and their subsets with Sophie will be affected by that.
I'm really interested to watch and see how their family dynamic will change due to the new infant that's been brought into the world!
For now, I have to get back to the hospital to visit with my new nephew :)
Friday, September 30, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Faith in His Plan
This week in Family Studies I was incredibly intrigued by what we talked about on Wednesday in class. There's something that struck a chord with me when we were talking about being held responsible for the children that you choose not to have. I've always known that it takes a great deal of prayer between the husband, wife, and God, to know when and if you should have more children, or if your family is complete. What I'd never thought about before was what happens when we use our agency to choose to ignore God's will.
Brother Williams was explaining to us that if we choose not to have more children, whether through preventing pregnancy, abortion or adoption, we will be held accountable for those children. There's a reason that Heavenly Father has planned for certain children to come into our lives. Brother Williams shared a story in class that I won't retell here, but it really got me thinking about how little we know, and how well our Heavenly Father knows what he's doing. It's really remarkable.
That being said, I know that there's no way we'd be held responsible for the children that we've tried so hard to keep as our own. For over a year now I've been following the blog of the Sullengers (click on the name, it's a link!). They lost their daughter Preslee in an accident 14 months ago. We don't know exactly why some children come into our lives and are taken so early, but we know that there is a purpose that they were here. Another couple, the Webster's, had a daughter who they lost also. Their stories are both so heartbreaking, but so inspiring.
What I learned in class this week is that there's a great deal of difference between choosing not to have children, and children being taken from you just too early. When we prayerfully approach our Heavenly Father as a couple, we can know when and how many children to have. The hard part is putting our trust in Him, and knowing that we don't know exactly what's in store.
Faith is the most important part.
Brother Williams was explaining to us that if we choose not to have more children, whether through preventing pregnancy, abortion or adoption, we will be held accountable for those children. There's a reason that Heavenly Father has planned for certain children to come into our lives. Brother Williams shared a story in class that I won't retell here, but it really got me thinking about how little we know, and how well our Heavenly Father knows what he's doing. It's really remarkable.
That being said, I know that there's no way we'd be held responsible for the children that we've tried so hard to keep as our own. For over a year now I've been following the blog of the Sullengers (click on the name, it's a link!). They lost their daughter Preslee in an accident 14 months ago. We don't know exactly why some children come into our lives and are taken so early, but we know that there is a purpose that they were here. Another couple, the Webster's, had a daughter who they lost also. Their stories are both so heartbreaking, but so inspiring.
What I learned in class this week is that there's a great deal of difference between choosing not to have children, and children being taken from you just too early. When we prayerfully approach our Heavenly Father as a couple, we can know when and how many children to have. The hard part is putting our trust in Him, and knowing that we don't know exactly what's in store.
Faith is the most important part.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Family Studies 160
Welcome to my blog!
The purpose of this is for my Family Studies class at Brigham Young University-Idaho.
I'm currently a third semester sophomore, and my major is Marriage and Family Studies with a Clinical Emphasis. My plan is to head on to graduate school for Marriage and Family Therapy.
I'll be blogging at least once a week for this class about what I learn and find interesting.
I'm hoping to learn a lot and gain valuable insights from this class that will only make me even more excited for the path that I've chosen to go down with my major.
Enjoy!
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