"Strengthening the Family"

A few months ago in ward council I got wind of this new curriculum put out by LDS Family Services. Our stake presidency had assigned each ward's bishop to select three couples to attend a lengthy course centered in this booklet. It requires some sacrifice to attend--it's a ten-week course, so we go to the stake center (45 minutes from our house) each Friday night for the two-hour classes. It's taught by a couple who was trained by LDS Family Services.

Frankly, Dan and I don't feel like we're floundering as parents, but we know we have a lot to learn and we know that we'll be seriously short on date nights in the near future. Now is the time to learn Christlike communication, not when we're sleep-deprived and drained.

So, I volunteered. I somehow knew that things would work out and I found a babysitter who could commit to ten straight Friday night. We just attended our third class--the second installment of "Communicating with Love"--and I feel like this course is so inspired. Not only is it full of teachings from prophets and apostles and scriptures, but the practical applications are so meaningful. It is practice-based. Think Preach My Gospel--that's how it's set up, though our coursebook is fairly thin. Anyway, if you get invited to participate in this, you should prayerfully consider how to make it possible. It really is great. I even found the PDF-verson on-line. Here it is.

http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,6676-1-3456-1,00.html

I think the thing I like best is the discussion in the group. There are so many different types of parents in our class who are at so many different stages in their life. Everyone has children of different ages, ad we've all come from different types of families ourselves. The forum for sharing successes and frustrations as parents has been richly informative. Having both husbands and wives there adds to the content of the discussion.

Last night as I was listening to the talks at the General Women's broadcast, I thought of things from this course that I'm currently practicing specifically during Sister Beck's talk. We really should be able to "do" families best with all that we've been given as resources for strengthening our families. So check this out. Experiment with it. I hope you find as much value as I do in its topics and presentation.