As the Christmas Season has come and gone, I have been thinking a lot about our Savior and how grateful I am for His atoning sacrifice for us. I recently gave a Relief Society lesson about remembering the Savior, especially His atoning sacrifice during the Christmas Season, that lesson reminded me of the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate His birth. I shared this video in my lesson and I really like it because it reminds us why the Savior was born and why we need Him in our lives. https://www.mormon.org/christmas/purpose-of-a-savior here is the link to the video so you can watch it, and hopefully it reminds you of Him and His amazing sacrifice for us. I promise that you won't regret watching it.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to remember Him throughout your day and especially during the holidays.

Until next time!

I have never been married so I don't know everything about marriage, but I do know that marriage is definitely not always going to be happy, marriage is hard and there will be issues. Sadly some couples can't work through their issues and sometimes a divorce is presented. something interesting that I learned is what Neil Jacobson said, he said something to the effect of an average couple that is looking at divorce has at least 10 areas in which the couple is incompatible. Neil Jacobson also said that couples who are happily married also have at least 10 areas in which they are incompatible. I thought that this was an interesting statement, it looks like to me that those that are looking at divorce have just not been able to find ways in which they can work through their issues. This fact isn't true for all married couples though and I want to make sure that everyone understands that I am not trying to say that divorce only happens because of not working thorough problems. Something else that I wanted to touch on this week is that when there is the situation of a blended family, I learned in my Family Relations class that it is going to take a minimum of 2 years for a blended family to develop normalcy.  This was really interesting to me and but it makes complete sense because a blended family will have to begin to learn how to live with one another, and eventually, they will find a rhythm and develop normalcy.

Thanks for reading :)

What exactly is the purpose of parenting?  Dr. Michael Popkins, who talks about being an active parent, says that the purpose of parenting is to protect and prepare our children to survive and thrive in the world they are going to live in. Another purpose of parenting is to teach your children, the ways of society and also to be respectful. Parenting is something that is beneficial to both the child and the parent. Parenting isn't easy though. Discipline is something that parents often have problems with. Popkins teaches that it is often best to let children learn from natural consequences unless the consequences are:

• too dangerous
• too far into the future
• going to cause others to be affected negatively

Something else that I want to make sure to cover about discipline is how children would respond best to discipline. I have noticed that children will not respond well to too harsh of a tone or if you always yell. I understand that there are times when it is necessary to yell or discipline harsher if your child will not respond to a calmer tone or if they are in danger or hurting themselves or someone else. I have noticed that when a child acts out, especially younger children, if you calmly approach the problem and use a calm tone with the child, the child will, yes, most likely throw a tantrum, but the tantrum will last for less time than if you had responded by immediately yelling and acting harsh. The first thing that a parent should do is to act calmly and if the child still doesn't respond, then it may be necessary to use a firmer statement with your child.

I hope this was helpful! Thanks for reading :)