Finding Your "Forever"

All my life I have been pretty boy crazy. But I have had my share of bad relationships and am still dealing with that. Last year though I was dating a boy that stole my heart. He was the first guy ever to make me feel special all the time and who I could really feel comfortable with. We dated for a little more then year and I was in love. I still am. All of high school I dated boys that were after the wrong thing or were guys I learned from. I found qualities I liked and disliked. Dating helps to prepare you for the future, when you are ready to settle down with someone who can be your "forever." Since I had dated so many guys I new that this special man was The One. Unfortunately he still had to go on a mission. So here I am 10 months after he's left dating around. Every guy I am meeting is now helping me to make sure that my missionary is definitely The One and only for me. So far, after dating here and there, it has been reassured to me that he has all the important qualities I am looking for. No one yet has matched up or exceeded our relationship. I will continue to keep dating and pray to our God to know if he is the right one. It takes quality time to find the quality "Forever." 

Dear To My Heart...

Recently it was made known to me that my brother use to struggle with same-sex attraction. As a young boy he was molested by a member of the church, someone that he trusted for a long time and since then destroyed his mind. My brother has questioned himself for many years now I guess and got in his own mind because of his past. But I guess the last couple years he has been fighting hard to not let himself feel that way. His attraction to women is becoming stronger now since he is allowing himself to feel sexual towards them.

The Lonely Bulgarian

My family has a family friend that is dear to our heart. My dad was the one who met him in a church parking lot one day. As my dad got to know him more and more he found out that he came illegally from Bulgaria so that he could make money for his wife back home. Throughout his whole time in America he has struggled constantly. He works for a trucking company that treats him horribly. The pay is terrible because they take advantage of him being illegal and know that he's desperate. When he has medical problems he gets poor treatment for it because it's all he can afford. His wife will visit him like every year or 2 but other then that he never sees his family and is always lonely. He lives on the road for the most part but when he gets a break his apartment in Chicago is so small and dirty. It has been so hard on his relationship with his wife and wants to return but can't yet. This is just a personal example of the hardships of being apart of a culture where your social class is so low and you don't get the care and respect that any other average american gets.

Understanding Family Dynamics

When we talk about families obviously they are going to all be different in their own ways. There are a couple theories that we can use to describe different families. For my family I learned that we are most like the exchange theory. We don't always agree but there is a lot of give an take in our relationships. To make our family function right we do a lot of compromising. If we refrain from doing this sometimes then (from my own experience) that I will withdraw from them and just want to get away from them. We have to work hard though constantly because one of us will always tend to be more stubborn. But we are training ourselves more and more everyday.

Societal Trends & The Family

In todays world we are noticing a major difference in the standards of marriage and family. Some families want kids and some never want them. Teenage pregnancy is more common causing more families to be run by a single parent along with divorce. Things are changing and it is not having a good impact on us all. The major problem of low birth rates is an example of what is changing the norm. I find it sad that all these things are changing and that people are making mistakes over and over again that cause not just them to struggle but our world altogether. I feel like so many people want to stand out and feel like they need to go against what the norm is. Now a days everything is about being unique, which is okay if we do it in the right way. Change is sometimes good but when used in the right way.