It's all in the Trends, my friends

This is old news for most of you, but early last month I was hired at an intern with Child Trends in Washington, D.C. from April until August. Yay! Child Trends is the foremost research organization for children and families in the nation. They're nonprofit and nonpartisan (right up my alley) and they are the major source of data for Congress on children and families. Even better, my supervisor is one of the most well-respected researchers in the family sciences. Yay again!

So that means instead of bumming around Provo for the summer (which I have loved for the past two years - see picture on the left), I will be living in downtown D.C., working on research 32 hours a week, and traveling up and down the east coast on weekends (visiting fancy schmancy law schools and such). According to my supervisor and former interns, I will be involved all along the research process from literature reviews to survey creation to data collection and analysis. At times, I'll sit in on briefings at the Capitol and report back to the Child Trends staff on the development of legislation that affects children and families. I probably will even be able to complete my Honors Thesis.

This internship has worked together so perfectly, in a way I never could have planned. It reminds me of what President Ezra Taft Benson said:

"...Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that he can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose [her] life to God will find [she] has eternal life (Jesus Christ - Gifts and Expectations, Ensign, May 1975)."

As I have striven to follow his counsel, I have found amazing opportunities, unplanned and perfectly suited for my gifts and strengths, come my way. I'm not exactly sure what the future holds for me (I don't even know where I'll be in September), but I have the assurance that if I live correctly, it will be better than I ever could have planned.

The gospel gives me great perspective in my field of study. Not only do I, as a Latter-day Saint, have The Family: A Proclamation to the World to guide my interactions with my family and my study of families, I also have the scriptures and modern-day revelation. The Doctrine and Covenants teaches us that families can be forever (D&C 132:19-24). We know that our relationships with those we love will be similar, except we will enjoy even greater glory than we do now (D&C 130:2). The Lord also tells us that parents are to teach their children the gospel (D&C 68:25-28) and bring them up "in light and truth (D&C 93:40)." We are also given a pattern and accompanying blessings for how to interact with our family and others (D&C 121:41-16).

I recognize that most of the families I research and interact with will not share all of the same views on the family with me. But, I am blessed to know of the divine and eternal potential that all families have.