This.is.really.big. "Infinite and Eternal" (Alma 34:10-14)

Wonderful thing for Thursday, 5 February:

Blaine has been working for weeks on his profile for mormon.org.  Yesterday he sent out lots of emails with a link to it.  Some of our children have shared the link on Facebook.

I am enjoying, especially on this mission, the happy harbors of our long voyage together, but sometimes along the way, I wondered why the Lord gave me his approbation to marry Blaine.  Then I would comfort myself by saying that only someone from a family as wonderful and strong as mine could help someone from a family so wounded and pathetic as his.  That was among the first of my own personal obstacles to overcome.  My sister shared with me how once, when Amy was about 16, she had said during a visit, "Your whole family is so stinkin nice!"

It's true, we are soooo nice.  But the "stinkin" part is true too.  When Blaine and I really started looking into the issues at the source of our family problems, my uncle, who was in recovery, warned me that I would have to accept that like people find each other.  In other words, if Blaine was broken, so was I.

Our kids started warning their friends that if they came to visit, they could expect some weird questions from Dad, one of which was, "Is your family dysfunctional?"  If the answer was no, we would just shake our heads for them - because they were in denial.

That's kind of a joke, because there really are functional families...somewhere...but the key, at least from our experience, is this:  functional families are just like dysfunctional families in that we all have problems; functional families talk about them and work to resolve them - that's what makes them functional.

We had so many years of pain.   For several years know, we have been experiencing more and more joy.  Blaine's post, and Tamra's FB post sharing the link, talk about some of the whys.  As for me, I've been working on the "stinkin" part, the part where you go beyond the superficial niceties and are willing to live real life.

Both our families, in fact, are becoming more functional.  It's a great, slow, painful, rewarding, joyful process.  "O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace" (2 Nephi 9:8)!  "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten" (Joel 2:25).

http://www.mormon.org/me/GPBT/Blaine
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/broken-things-to-mend?lang=eng

fun thing:  We skyped with an entire branch council yesterday evening, in La Spezia, about a couple of hours away, sharing our Pathway ppt.  Technology is awesome!