You marry what you date.

So, as my life begins anew and I again enter into the social world as a considerably normal human being, I realize that at some point I will have boys who will be interested in me and ask me out. See, my issue before was that I would look for the good in people, and ignore the bad, leading me to be in compromising situations with less than honorable individuals. I have determined that I need to make a list of rules for myself for what kind of people I intend on considering as a future companion because if I don't set my standards high, I will end up in the same place I was 10 months ago.

#1 : Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS).

I placed my baby for adoption so she could have an eternal family. I intend on having one too someday, and anyone who is not baptized in the LDS church cannot give me that opportunity. So from now on, I will only date guys who are LDS. And I don't just mean having their names on the records if the church, I mean serious member of the church who have strong testimonies and honor their priesthood. Now, I'm not saying I can't be friends with guys who are not LDS, because I have a few very close guy friends who aren't. I just wouldn't ever consider marrying them.

#2 : Respect for women...ALL women.

It disgusts me when men use degrading names for women. I don't care if a woman is a prostitute, she should never have degrading language used to reference her. A woman is a daughter of God, and should be treated like that. I learned the hard way not to judge people. When I was pregnant, I felt constantly judged for my situation. But most people didn't know me or how I felt about it or what I was doing to make amends for my choices. I felt like what people saw was a stupid girl who was unmarried and pregnant. I realized that we should never assume what is in a persons heart. I just want to marry a man who respects women for who they are as daughters of God and does not judge me or the other women around me.

These are just the first two in my list. More requirements will be added as I learn more about what I want in my future husband :)