By Divine Design

Let me start by exposing myself a little bit. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m from a small town and I’ve grown up with the same set of friends and peers for almost 8 years. At least in high school, the saying “there’s plenty of fish in the sea” wasn’t exactly true. Usually, you ended up dating the same guys your friends did. That’s just the way it worked. When you accounted for your expectations, the list of possibilities was quite small. I only really dated one person in high school but went on plenty of dates with boys in my friend group. In college, I explored my options a little more and dated people from outside my little city. I’d say I learned from those experiences, but something inside always drew me back to the guys I’d grown up with. When I came home after serving and 18-month mission for my church, I realized many of my old friends felt the same way. Very unexpectedly, some of my male friends I’d grown up with sort of flocked back into my life. I was surprised to learn that...

       One of my favorite things to do in my free time is go home to visit my nephews. One of them is four, and the other’s two. They love to play the game Batman so the minute I walk in the door, I become Cat Woman while they play the part of Batman and Robin. Usually, this ends with me on the floor, one nephew tackling me and the other mid-jump flying towards me in the air. Honestly, some of my favorite memories have been made this way and I’m honored to be called Cat Women haha. To this friendly interaction, I’d usually say “boys will be boys”, but as of late, that ideology has been under attack, some even terming this thought process as “toxic masculinity”. What about the fact that boys will be boys? They are biologically different from girls; thus, they’re going to act in a different way.               Now, there’s the obvious differences, males and females are born with different sex organs, but...

I’ve always felt extremely blessed to be a part of the family I am. My parents are still married, I have 6 siblings, 3 of which have started their own families, and there’s never been a time in my life where I doubted whether my parents loved each other, or whether they loved my siblings and me. It wasn’t until I stepped outside of my own home and comfortable lifestyle that I realized my family was the exception. After graduating high school, I quickly moved out of my home and into an apartment on the university campus I was attending. I lived with one person I knew from my adolescence, but the rest were strangers. A week into living there, I discovered it wasn’t exactly normal to have high standards, to work hard, or to be a diligent student. In my mind, there was no other way to live your life. My feelings were only amplified when I started serving a mission for my church. As part of this adventure, I would spend 24/7 with someone I’d never met for anywhere from 6 weeks- 6 months. ...

       Hey everyone! As a new writer, you guys don’t know much about me, so let me first introduce myself and explain where my passion for family began. My name’s Sophie Venema. I’m a small town girl through and through. I’ve spent the majority of my life in Idaho, minus a few short years in Florida and Georgia. I come from a family of seven kids and two parents who have been happily married for almost 29 years. I guess you could say my love for the family began at birth haha, but I promise it’s deeper than that. If I’m being honest, much of my life was spent in a sheltered community. Most everyone was the same religion, the same race, came from the same background. Growing up, I wasn’t too concerned about social issues, I just minded my own business. But one day, something clicked in me. I was all the sudden more aware of what was going on in the world. Watching the news became regular, and I was saddened at the state of the world we’re living in. Naturally, I start...