She never saw her mother and father again nor one of her brothers who died in his early 20's trying to save a drowning child. She did see her sisters once and her other brother several times. It was difficult because Poland turned into a communist country and my parents couldn't travel back until they became US citizens and had the protection of the US Govt. Then they also had to save enough money and vacation time to make it worth it to travel there (prices for airfares were much higher when airline traffic was price regulated). We traveled back when I was 11 and it was still a communist country but a bit more open. That was way before the Solidarnosc movement.

I married a man who dislikes some of my main food dislikes and so we don;t have all traditional foods at holidays. None of us eat sweet potatoes traditionally cooked, broccoli casseroles, any other vegetable casseroles, mayonaisse, or pumpkin pie. We all like turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, many vegetables not in casseroles, salads with no mayonaise, and apple pie.

I have never had hbp but my mil did during pregnancies. In later life, she developed it all the time. Because hbp runs in families, I read up about it. If you have hbp in pregnancy, you are at a much greater risk to develop it again later. The main thing to do is just get your blood pressure checked on a regular basis. As someone else rightly said, most people have no symptoms while having even dangerously high blood pressure. Prayers for a safe delivery and no more complications.

I don't talk much on phones so I am not worried. We also don't use the laptop on us but on a tabletop so again I am not worried.

This is my dh from 5 years ago with my middle. She was 11 then. He now wears glasses. This picture was from when we lived in Belgium and this is from Bruxelles.

I give grades to classes. My dd receives higher grades from outside classes than she does for so of mine so I am not the least bit worried. (This is because she does math and science at home always and those are the hardest subjects for her and she has gotten only A's in outside classes because she is extremely responsible and hardworking). I don't have photos of her doing science experiments so far. I guess we might take a few but mainly I rely on the fact that a PhD scientist is helping her with her labs (her father). We have kept school materials and I will be able to come up with some kind of portfolio if necessary but so far the school's she is interested in do not require this. I don't plan on sending course descriptions either unless they request them. I asked one college and they said they only want that if you have untraditional transcripts without grades and with strange titles. Mine is very straightforward like English 9, ALgebra II, Chemistry, etc. so they said that was what they were looking for. The one thing that was stressed over and over again in the admissions office presentations was how they want concise information and not lots of extras. I don't plan to make their job harder.

I have been in three co-ops with high schoolers. None of them provided essay rubrics like MLA or anything like that. On the other hand, I have been absolutely pleased with the way the teachers graded since they graded fairly. None of the classes my high schooler is doing in co-op currently call for essays. She writes cases for debate, a novel for writing, and a research paper for my government class. Someone in my class asked about format today and since their paper was about a Supreme Court case, I said I want previous or subsequent cases cited as (Brown vs. Ed and date) as an example and not any more detailed. I will ask for a bibliography too. Other students doing another form of research paper will have different citations depending on the nature of their paper. Some are doing legislation, others cases, and others are doing programs.

I am so sorry. Prayers and :grouphug:

I now always take my kids to the orthopedist. This is after three breaks that were misread by radiologists (in two different states :)). Having an orthopedist who can look at an xray and examine the patient too is what is crucial. Even if if is a not a fracture, he or she can recommend other treatments or devices. Twice my dd who has osteoporosis did not have a fracture but had other musco-sceletal problems that needed special care. One was bone bruising and another was an issue with her ligaments.

I think the reporting on these recommendations have been terrible. The don't say why they don't recommend screening mammograms before 50 or after 75. They don't say why your doctor should not check your breasts when you have your annual gyn appointment. (That is the one that is really perplexing me since I depend on doctors to be able to feel what is normal or abnormal better than me). I do understand the point behind dropping the BSE since I think it probably led to lots of invasive procedures that were unnecessary and not much actual detection of cancer. But much more needs to be said and done. When my daughters asked me about it, I gave some of the same answers Sara K. did in the above post but I cautioned them that they need to actually talk truthfully about risks. I informed them that we dont have any breast cancer in our family but I didn't know whether other cancers were also linked (we have prostate cancer on both sides of them). I told them how other risk factors aren't mentioned very often like having terminated pregnancies (either abortions or miscarriages) or not having any pregnancies at all (Nuns have a high rate of breast cancer). I also told them that even if they did not have to do BSE when they get older, they do have to be aware of changes like in appearance. I want to see the scientific data and then decide for myself. However, I am not surprised that the reporting is so bad since science reporting is never done well by mainstream media.

I must be really strange because I have no issues with swimsuits. They fit me. I have such problems with jeans or pants in general. I am 5'6", overweight but curvy with a long torso. The swimsuits fit because they cling. The jeans are made of much stiffer material and if they fit my hips, they don't fit my waist. I have compromised the waist by getting a 16W and wearing a belt but then I can't find those either. 18's normally fit my hips but are so large in the waist that even a belt makes them look funny. I also don't like clinging legs since I have nerve issues too and tight clothes don't make that better. I was so happy to have found a 16w about a month ago and I went in to try it and I couldn't even get it on. I took it off and thought at first I must have gained a lot of weight. BUt then I looked on the inside label. It was a size 8 while the big outside label said size 16W.

I am going to have to get this book. Both of my parents were survivors of the Siberian prison camps. My mom was caught at age 16 escaping Poland with her youngest brother. They were brought back to their house and her father slapped her across the face for the first time to mislead the Soviets about their escape plans and make it seem like a rebellious teenager. They took her away but spared her little brother and the rest of the family. My dad was captured too in a different area. They were released after the Germans turned on the Russians and the US and Britain told the Russians they wouldn't get any help unless they released the Poles. My mom ended up in Alma ALta with an uncle trying to make it back to Europe where a local tried to marry her by offering her uncle a yak or two. They declined and my mom eventually ended up in the Army serving in the Middle East. My father also ended up once again in the Army serving in North Africa and Italy.

We have lived overseas and want to do it again. LIke Happy, we were in Belgium for three years and had a great time. I would return there in a heartbeat. DH wants to get a job in London for his next job (as an AF officer) but I am not sure that will work out with our schedule (it might be a mid year move in my youngest's 9th or 10th grade). ANd then there is the fact dh refuses to acknowledge which is we will probably be transferred before then. But when he is retiring, he will have foreign locations on his horizon though with his career, they would probably have to be US Govt jobs only.

I have adult onset asthma. I did not get asthma until I was 30. I did have pneumonia as a teenager and then another bout when I was about 28. My dh also something like asthma that is adult onset. He has what is labeled as exercise and cold induced reactive airway. His is different from mine because he isn't as sensitive to pollutants as I am and his doesn't get worse from infections. If you are out of breath walking around, you need to see a doctor quickly. It could be asthma, it could be pneumonia (from the cold you said you had), it could be other things. Being out of breath without a diagnosis is a danger sign. Once you have a diagnosis, it depends on your diagnosis whether it is dangerous. With asthma, you would get a breath monitor thing where you breathe in and the mechanical or electronic scale tells you whether you are in green (ok), yellow (use rescue inhaler) or red (emergency room). IF what you have is asthma, the way you describe would be labeled uncontrolled and that isn't a good thing. You are having way too many problems. Call the doctor back and tell the staff about the breathing problems. They will either get you in sooner or tell you to go to the ER. None of us here can diagnose you and without listening to your breathing and your heart, no one else can do it either. Being out of breath is an emergency. Please get help.

I think the Biblical response to a child molesting husband is certainly not staying married to him. In NT times, let alone much more recently, child molestation or rape of anyone was a death penalty offense so there was no thought of staying married. The perpetrator was dead and the wife was a widow. Bringing it back to current times, having a sexual predator for a spouse is mostly definitely grounds for a divorce since that is an aggravated form of adultery. Instead of consensual adultery, it is non consensual.

I am a teacher at a coop and I also had my kids in two other co-ops over the years. I couldn't even imagine giving a grade of D- or getting one on a paper unless it didn't address the question at all or something like I ask for 5 pages and get 1. The instructions seem clear to me but if the teacher is judging on something other than the instructions, I think it is wrong. Something that all the co-ops I was associated with stated was that the grades were suggestions and that the parents were the final teachers. The teachers were often called facilitators because for one thing, the classes usually meet only once a week and most work is done outside of class. I would talk with the teacher and then the co-op director. If I didn't get satisfaction, I would drop the class.

I am another military wife who agrees with all the other military wives or former military commenting here. The main job of the FIrst Shirt is to take care of the problems of the enlisted ranks underneath him or her. He picks up people from the jail, he cajoles others about their finances, he helps tropps who are sick or need childcare, etc, etc. SHe was deploying with a unit. THat means it was an orgnaized deployment and they had plenty of help available. I have seen people deployed singly and that can be a bit challenging. But this was not the case and she simply didn't follow the rules.

We are active duty military and that means we move every few years. At my dh's current rank, the moves average 20 months. And they are also rather short notice. So what do we have? 1 cat (definite mover) 1 dog (definite mover) 1 hamster (will probably not move with us) 2 hermit crabs (will not move with us) about 12 fish (will not move with us) Actually I should not say that for sure the last two types won't move with us because if we move locally, they would.

Praying here.

I said other because it is more than once weekly but less than every day. It usually is not a planned dessert but sometimes it is like when my youngest made an apple pie by herself this week.

If it is a muscle spasm, muscle relaxants. Those are prescription medicines and most make you very sleepy. I have learned from bad experience that not treating muscle spasms appropriately leads to worse problems like nerve problems. Those are even worse since there is little relief for them and they tend to worsen at night. Prayers for quick relief.

PCC is an independent Baptist College. They state in their beliefs section that they don't hold with charismatic teachings. That said, the school my oldest attended for first grade was run by an AOG church which used ABEKA material with the students. Apparently they had no problems with it.

Yes, my youngest reminded me a few days that she needs a cell phone so she can contact us if she gets lost. All the recommendations have been great. I was thinking about the Circle Line Boat since neither dh nor I have been on that (and of course not the kids) and we did enjoy boat tours in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Strasbourg so that would be a good one to add. Restaurants Recommendations??

I think there are only 2 times in 15 years of homeschooling I have heard that comment personally. THe first was the year I sided and I was out to lunch with the other museum guides for our holiday lunch. I didn't have to say anything because the other museum guides, all older than me, many much older, shot her down. Then last year, at a youth parents meeting for our church youth group, another set of parents issued that statement along with being salt and light. They had homeschooled and now were not. Well, actually, that lasted only a few more months, and their daughter came home since she was learning nothing in school and not having those great social moments. As it is, my children probably have more activities than they would in school. That is because we school year round and because we have the flexibility to do school at any time. They all have attended plenty of events with non homeschoolers but in reality, activities with the homeschool soccer group or the homeschool co-op are not noticebaly different than activities at church or with the swim and dive team (neighborhood based). Are they shelter from disaffected youths who have nothing better to do than drugs and alcohol? Yes but they would be even if they were in school. I attended high school in the same area and I kept myself busy and out of trouble. My kids have been brought up this way and thankfully it has worked. ( Blessings and prayers for those who have children struggling with these problems- this is not a blaming game and I am not judging your parenting because I am all too aware that some who have everything going well choose otherwise).

We are travelling to NYC for the THanksgiving Weekend. We will go up on Wednesday and leave on Sunday. We are staying at Fort Hamilton in lower Brooklyn. We plan to see the Macy parade, and we do want to go to the Metropolitan Museum and the American Natural History Museum. We have a 20yo, 16 yo, and almost 13 yo. Any suggestions or ideas? Dh grew up nearby and has been numerous times there and I visited there a number of times too. THe only one of my three children who have been there is my middle who spend a day there running around unhappily and ending up eating at Applebees (not what she wanted to do) with a church mission trip (their ond day off).