Week 6

This week we have been talking about marriage, specifically early marriage. It's important that the base of the marriage is made strong early in the marriage. If the base of the marriage is weak then it can and probably will fall sooner or later. We talked in class about the pattern of the husband and wife's relationship and where the most common spots are when couples get divorced. The spots are after the after the first child is born, right before the first child leaves home and after the last child leaves home. It's good to know this information so that I can prevent this with my relationship with my future husband. Brother Williams said that we can prevent this by involving the husband in everything, so that you're working together as a team. This requires good communication skills between the couple so that they can talk about their feelings to one another. I think that you have to constantly work on a marriage to make it work and to most importantly be happy.

Week 5

This week I have been thinking a lot about my family and how we all are different, but similar to each other. As I've been working on the Genogram project and really getting to know my family, it has opened my eyes to how things carry forward through generations. It's even been crazy to see the similarities between my parents families even though they're not even related to each other. I have enjoyed hearing stories about my relatives and as I've been talking to them it's made us think about each other on a whole different level than we hadn't before. When I was looking at my immediate family and how our relationships are with one another, it's made me want to change somethings in my own life. I know that I need to develop more closeness with my siblings and really focus on that so that our family dynamic can change. It's really helped me see how one person can and has really made a difference in my immediate and extended family.

Week 4

On Friday our topic was Homosexuals. This was a very interesting discussion and broadened by understanding. I thought that Brother Williams lead the discussion very well. I have always known my divine roles, but I had never thought how some people thought of them and how confused that they could get. I hadn't thought of why gays are that way because they've lost sight of their divine roles and how it feels in the eternal realm of things. I knew coming into the class that people aren't born with being gay- it's a choice and people can reverse their choices. One of my relatives works with people to overcome their challenges of being attracted to the same sex and it does work. People can reverse it. I also hadn't realized exactly why people become gay- the circumstances that help these feelings be manifested. I realized that I shouldn't label people because it's not helping people not become gay. I'm really just helping them become that way. This made me do a reality check and to change somethings in my life so that I can help people and not bring them down.

Week 3

This week we have been talking about how culture affects us in so many different aspects in our lives. It's amazing to see in my own life how culture as affected my life- how my everyday life focuses on my culture. I have several different cultures that make up me- or basically my family. First of all, my religion plays a big role in how I think and act- it's the biggest cultural factor in my life. Especially since I'm at school with a large population of people that share my religion. It's nice to be immersed in this culture, especially since in Naperville it isn't predominantly Mormon. My grandmother (we call her Mormor in Swedish) immigrated from Sweden so we incorporate  many traditions. It plays a role in birthdays (we always sing happy birthday first in English and then in Swedish) and at Christmas time we celebrate St. Nicolas Day, Santa Lucia, and dance around the Christmas tree and do other Swedish traditions. My culture from living in Naperville has affected me in many ways of how I think of the world around me. If we just look around we can find how everything affects us, for either better or worse.

Week 2

I have been thinking a lot about how my upbringing was so different from other people in my class. We're all coming from different backgrounds and because of that we bring something different and maybe new to other people. Our background affects how we think. I had never really thought about this until I've been in this class.
I have grown up in the church mostly in the mission field- in Indiana and in the Chicago, Illinois area. My dad is a convert and my mother's parents are converts- so my family is still "new" in the church. Having this background and having family that aren't members of the church, has broadened my understanding of families and how different families can be. Being different from how my family operates, doesn't mean that it's bad. I had especially noticed this when I first came to college and had to live with roommates for the first time. We had all come from different backgrounds and we had to learn to understand another to keep the peace in our apartment. I think that as I'm in this class, I have to learn to be understanding and remember that we all come from different backgrounds.