Literature on Intimacy

This week for the Eternal Families class I am taking from Dr. Coyne I was able to read some really neat literature that have helped me gain a deeper understanding of sexual intimacy. I really loved how Elder Holland described sexual intimacy as a sacrament, thinking of intimacy in such a sacred way was truly eye opening for me. Sister Nelson shared 30 things that couples can do to strengthen and prepare them for their intimate relationship. These 30 activities made me want to be a better wife in all aspects of my relationship with my husband. Laura Brotherson helped me to gain a stronger understanding of the importance of prayer and God in that aspect of my intimate relationship. Busby, Caroll, & Leavitt confirmed my understanding and also gave me new insights into the matter of intimacy and the personal line as opposed to a priesthood line to communicate with God when making persona decisions regarding intimacy- quoting Elder Oaks talk from October 2010 about the difference between personal and priesthood lines, and then expanding on it. Chapter 5 of the Successful Marriages and Families book taught me more about the purposes of intimacy, and the expectations or not so many expectations I should have. 

I think the take away I had from all these readings was just how sacred intimacy is, and how it truly is a God given and amazing experience that we can have on this earth to draw us closer to God. I came to more fully understand how important it is to treasure all aspects of my relationship with my husband. I'm grateful for good literature that we can turn to on this topic that can deepen our understanding and help make that one relationship more God-like. Below is a list of the literature I read for the class this week. I highly recommend these! 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20;  D&C 121:45-46

9.2 - Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments, Jeffrey R. Holland

10.1 - Preparing for Intimacy  - Wendy Watson Nelson

10.2 – Strengthening Marriage…, Laura Brotherson

10.3 - The Spiritual Dimension: Sexual Decision Making, Busby, Carroll, & Leavitt

Successful Marriages and Families ~ Chapter 5, pp. 49-54

Some Positives of Women in The Media

Wow these past two class periods have been deep! I really loved everyone’s comments, in class of women in the media and I feel like a lot of what everyone had to say I had been thinking and so I was glad that they could be discussed!

Looking on the more positive way women are portrayed, I thought I would share about a movie I have seen before, but watched again starting Saturday and finished watching Monday- Womder! Julia Roberts played a very strong and powerful mother who only had her thesis left to get her masters degree when her second child Auggie was born with some major facial deformities. She chose to Put aside ontaining her masters degree for a season and care for and soon homeschool Auggie clear through the fourth grade before she would send him to school where he would have to face socializing with others. She then was able to get her masters that year when he was at school, as well as care for him and do her best to care for her daughter Via too. This to me is a strong woman! 

I also rewatched the episode from the Book or Mormon youtube series of Lehi and Sariah’s sons going back to get Ishmaels family. Seeing the part when Laman and Lemuel bound Nephi and were about to bind him again, when Ishmael’s wife and his daughter pleaded with them to stop hurting Neph was very powerful. I loved watching this scene because we see the influence that these good female characters had to cease the angry actions of Laman and Lemuel, and further lead them to plea forgiveness from Nephi. I’m excited to see more of how this series porttays women, I like it thus far. 

Also I wanted to share: my husband and I have started waking up early to study our scriptures,  Come Follow Me, and The Power of the Everyday Missionary. Waking up with this media at the beginning of our day is something we want to continue. We also have started listening to some classical music at night to help get us in the right mood to fall asleep. These have been two positive rituals that are based on media that will surely help us! 

Hope you all have made it to the end of midterms okay! I know it was a fight for me!

Just a report of some other media from my last post until now:

• My sisters first time through the temple! Got to be there for that.
• Readings for classes.
• Essay writing, midterm studying, etc.

The Good Place

I hope everyone had a good General Conference weekend! I ran the St. George Marathon Saturday so ended up recovering/sleeping through a lot of it... I do however plan on going back through and listening to all the talks!

This week I started watching The Good Place. (My husband is re-watching them all with me) It's a humorous show, where this girl dies and mistakingly to "The Good Place." She then convinces her, "soul mate" to teach her how to be good...

As I have been watching that show, I have also thought about the knowledge I have of The Plan of Salvation, and how different The Plan is from this silly TV show. Some comparisons of the shows teaching's vs God's:

Good Place: Every deed we do has a positive and negative effect, and the combinations of our good and bad deeds are calculated to determine whether or not we will make it into The Good Place.
God's teachings: We have a Savior that if we repent, we can rely on the power of His atonement, become clean from our sins, and work to overcome our weaknesses and one day become like him.

Good Place: Each person who makes it to The Good Place is given a Soul Mate.
God's teachings: We each can choose our eternal companion.

How grateful I am to know of God's plan for us!

Below is a short report of some media content from after my last post until now:

• An Office Episode
• A Hoggan's Heros Episode
• Lots of readings on eternal marriage, soul mates, divorce etc. for my eternal families class
• A news article from my husband
• My phone for recipes 
• An audio book, Insights From a Prophet's Life|Russell M Nelson - Sheri Dew  
• My computer
• Learning Suite - videos to review for my Stats midterm 
• Music on my phone
• Texts between me and others
• Book of Mormon chapters
• Book of Mormon Episodes
• Provo's Most Eligible
• Facebook
• General Conference

Hope you have a good week! 

Provo's Most Eligible?

Quick update on my lost iPhone X. Good thing I had insurance on it and a new one came Monday I will say I was pretty stressed about losing info, and good to know the iCloud back up does its job and it looks like everything is there! So yay!

Anyone been watching Provo's Most Eligible? This is Season to Week 2 of Provo's Most Eligible. My husband and I have really enjoyed watching it together, and they have definitely improved since last season. One critique I have, is they could work on their sound quality.

It's fun to have a clean version of The Bachelorette. I definitely got sucked into watching Hannah B. on the last season and my husband and I both decided we did not want to watch it again because it left us feeling crummy every time, and overall just was not super wholesome.

If you have not been watching this season's Provo's Most Eligible, here's the layout for you:

There are 3 girls and 30 guys. At the end of each episode the guys who one or more of the girls want to be on their team get called up one by one. Then one or more girls step forward and if it is just one girl then that is the team the guy is on. If more than one steps forward than the guy chooses which team he wants to be on. Teams compete, there are group dates with one girl and all her guys on her team, or group dates where each girl is paired off, and then the guys in other portions have the chance to talk to whichever girls they want, and at the end of the episode they could possibly switch teams... 3 guys go home each episode is what I understand.

There is still drama on the show like on the Bachelorette, but this for me is a good replacement. I am kind of excited to see how this goes because I can tell that two of the three girls are really there to find someone, and I hope to see it happen for them.

From my last post til now a couple other good media that I have enjoyed include: The Book of Mormon Episodes, Ephraim's Rescue, and of course all the good readings for this class and my Eternal Families class also taught by Dr. Coyne. Then of course, the relief of having my iPhone back... I lasted a full 4 days without it so pretty good, maybe had some withdrawals or at least frustration when the device that I was so used to having on hand was not there. I do want to change some of my habits for my use with my phone... Just things like being more present around others, and not having to look up everything right then when I want to.