This week the one thing that really caught my attention was the discussion about children of divorced parents and their chance of divorce in their own marriages. I have a friend who is really close to me, whose parents went through a divorce when he was younger. He is also a convert to the church. We talked all about it after class, I asked him his views on marriage and such. He told me that before he joined the church he did not think he'd ever get married. He said he thought that all marriages just ended in divorce and unhappiness. Once he joined the church and learned more about how the lord views marriage his opinions changed. I asked him how confident he felt his marriage would succeed. Although it was significantly higher now that he's a member, it was still quite a bit lower than mine. (I have never been faced with any kind of divorce in my life) It was so interesting to take something I learned in class and talk to a friend about it. I let him know that it by NO MEANS means he will get a divorce and that everyone has the opportunity to change things their parents did for a better future for their children.

Budgets are such a good idea. I took money management a couple years ago, but never put my knowledge into practice. While on a mission I really learned the importance of budgeting.My companion and I would sit down once a month (usually really close to the beginning) and take all of our money and deciding TOGETHER where every cent needs to go. We had multiple envelopes, with labels such as rent, food, utilities..etc. We would talk and counsel together where we thought we should put all the money. We made sure to only buy what we needed and not too much of things we wanted. We were living in Latvia, it was one of the most expensive countries to live in in my mission. at the end of the transfer we found out that we had a whole bunch of money left over just because we budgeted. But the budgeting did more than just save us money, it brought us closer together in unity. We worked very well together. It taught me a valuable lesson about how much of an impact budgeting has on a relationship. It was fun to read over the church's pamphlet and teach it to a class mate.

What is the purpose of parenting? I said it was to be able to raise loving, righteous, capable children who will build up society and who will be able to raise children of their own who will do the same. I also really liked the examples that were shared in the class. To protect, and help our children to survive in this world and the eternities.

I had never heard the quote by Orson F. Whitney talking about the sealing power and you children being with you in the eternities. How comforting is it to know as long as my husband and I keep to our temple covenants, our children will always be with us. I was actually wondering about this exact thing a while back. I knew that if you were sealed and lived faithful to your covenants then your children would be sealed to you... but then if your children didn't then they would be lost. That just didn't seem right to me, What would be the purpose of the sealing power if it didn't work. I know that everyone is entitled to agency and can choose for themselves whether or not they are willing to live righteously they will have to suffer for their own choices.