Marriage According To Me

"Creating Healthy Ties with In-laws and extended Families" by James M. Harper and Susanne Frost Olsen really hit home to me.  Our biggest struggle in our marriage has been our extended family. I come from a large loud family with seven siblings.   My husband has two siblings.  Obviously there is a big difference.  We love to play games, make each other laugh and tease each other and play sports.  My husband's family is more quiet and generally just sit around and talk.  I love his family but it was just a lot different than what I was used to.   Our families were in the same ward and one of the things that made it harder when we were first married is that we lived in the same ward after we were married as well.  We both wanted to sit by our families in church or go to our families house for Sunday dinner. We didn't have a plan starting out was also a big mistake.  We later developed a plan but we both would have been a lot happier if w...

I really like Richard B. Miller's speech titled "Who is the Boss? Power Relationships in Families."  It was direct and to the point.  One section that stood out to me were his thoughts on equal partnership in a marriage.  He said, Sometimes a husband may believe that his role as head of the house gives him a right to be exacting and to arbitrarily prescribe what his wife should do. But in a home established on a righteous foundation, the relationship of a man and a woman should be one of partnership. A husband should not make decrees. Rather, he should work with his wife until a joint decision palatable to both is developed (  H. Burke Peterson,  Ensign , July 1989, p. 9). They [husbands and wives] should be one in harmony, respect, and mutual consideration. Neither should plan or follow an independent course of action. They should consult, pray, and decide together... I have seen so many marriages that are unequal partnerships, either the wife is more...