About Me

"Protect and prepare children to survive, and to thrive in the world they're going to live in."                                                                                - Michael Popkin Obviously, I won't be able to touch on everything about parenting, that would take me forever to write up and you forever to read, so I'll sum it down to what I thought was most interesting and hopefully you'll be able to love it as much as I have. Teenagers, just like younger children, need physical contact, a sense of belonging, they need to be loved, held and hugged. For the parents it is obvious of what they need to do, offer contact freely. I knew that being loved and having that sense of belonging was important, especially growing up. After my teacher shared a story with us made me realize h...

Men who are married, aren't married, single or in a relationship, I am going to focus this message on you guys today. Have you ever had a vision of your own where you would one day be a father? Having kids of your own that you can raise and teach them the important things of living? Keep those dreams close to you and keep aspiring towards them! As men, there are many out in the world that say they would want to be a father one day. Many men were asked the question, "Why do you want to become a father?" Their response was, they want to have that opportunity to carry on traditions or family history. Why do you want to become a father? Is it just to say you have kids, to have your own little family growing in front of your eyes, to share this life with them, or like others, to carry on traditions from your own families or start new ones? Even though these men say they want a family, how soon do they mean? Many couples (both men and women) want a family, but they are a...

How do you communicate with others? I'm going to talk to you about three different types of communication. The first is our words. Speaking is normal for us right, we speak every day. In our generation we only use 14% of this type of communication. Words are so important and how they are interpreted and used each time we speak. Let me share a little example my teacher shared with us. As two individuals speak to each other one is the speaker, while the other is the receiver. The one speaking expresses their thoughts/feelings which then travels to the receiver and they must encode and decode the message. They are then the speaker and express their thoughts/feelings. And back and forth. Here's an example. A wife, whom we shall call Brittany, is home alone all day because her husband, Caleb, is always working. As the days go by, she feels sad and lonely, wishing he would stay home more often. When Caleb returns home one evening, Brittany expresses her thoughts/feelings into wo...

Everyone has a stressful day, some days are harder than others, but we always have those days where that stress keeps us on edge and a little irritable. Today I am going to talk about how stress affects not only yourself, but your family as well and those who are near you. Growing up both of my parents worked. My mom did her own quilting business and my dad worked at a phone company in town. At one point in my high school time, my dad was having problems with his left eye. He would talk about the pain he would have behind his eye, and how he could see things behind his eye that were floating around, he explained it as a bubble in his vision that no one else could see. Pretty soon his eye got bad enough where my mom had to take him to the doctors. Weeks and months had passed, my dad had to have surgery on his eye because something inside his eye was going wrong, and the doctors didn't catch the problem soon enough. Now because of that little incident, my dad can no longer see out...

To start off, I'm going to warn you that my blog today is going to be pretty blunt with the message I have chosen to share with you, because it is something that needs to be treated seriously and not as a joke. This topic has broken up so many families and continues doing so because many people, especially your children, don't know what it is, how to handle it and how to fix it.  My topic I'm going to talk to you about today is pornography. Years ago, pornographic images were only found in magazines at the store. Now, years later, porn is everywhere! Technology, on billboards we pass by while driving, in music we listen to, in books we read, and even in the words we hear each day. This horrible addiction is everywhere! As parents, our job is to protect our children. To teach them of the worldly things and how we can best prepare them for the future. I know pornography may be an awkward conversation, especially with kids under the age of ten, but all ages are affected b...

Who enjoys being married? Is it easier, or harder, than you thought? Many people have this fantasy that when they get married, all of their problems will go away, and they will have their happily ever after. Well, in a way you do have a happily ever after, you have a great soulmate, but it does not get easier. I am not married so I don't know the full extent of the problems that many married people go through each day, but I have learned a little about it in class, and I am wanting to share with each of you! As singles, we have our usual trials of trying to get through each day with classes, friends and even dating, which is such a joy right! As married couples, you still have trials in your life, but they are a little different. Have you heard of the phrase of those who get married disappear off the face of the earth? I'm sure you already know why, they have found their best friend and are happy with life! Also, after being married, being able to be with your spouse is somet...