I LOVE reading these stories. Especially where someone has seen Jesus. I just think...it's wonderfully amazing!

I KNOW....what's wrong w/me? I felt ok about it because the Scoutmaster promised to watch everyone very, very closely (I trust him) and because hatchet-boy isn't there. Ax-boy is the one who chased the moth on the tree w/his hatchet and accidentally cut another boy who got his hand in the way. Hatchet-boy is the one who put his hatchet an inch or two above ds's neck. I'm thinking of calling the Scoutmaster on his cell phone just to check that I interpreted the bungee cord incident correctly. I was a distance away and maybe missed something. I doubt it. Dh thinks we'll just let ds finish the camporee and see ask him how it went on Sunday. I don't know.

When I dropped off ds at the church where everyone meets to drive to the camporee together, we were the first to arrive. The Assist. Scoutmaster (ax-boy's dad) arrive and park way down from us and sit in their car. That was pretty awkward to begin with. Then when the Scoutmaster arrived, he greeted ds and everyone started to load up. They were all standing around the truckbed when ax-boy launches a bungy cord thing toward ds's head! Ds ducks and says "nice shot." Ax boy smirks and his dad (assist. scoutmaster) says, "Well he said to watch out!" I am livid!!! Ds came over later and said quietly that he hoped he wouldn't lose his temper this weekend. He was pretty cool about the whole thing but I feel sick. I wish this weekend were already over.

Our 3 oldest dc are going to be spending the summer at their grandparents this year. I was at Walmart looking at Trac-phones and got totally confused between those and the other phones. Does anyone use these and want to post a recommendation? Thanks!!

Yep, I got confused. The patrol leader I've been referring to is actually the Assist. Scout Master. Sorry about that. You're right, the boys are the patrol leaders.

Well it has turned into quite a fiasco! I spoke to the Scoutmaster, who reassured me that not only does he have major issues w/the way our patrol leader does things, but he also 100% agrees that there should never have been hatchets at that trip, that the boys need more supervision than the patrol leader believes, he gave me his word that he will keep a close eye on ds's interactions w/the other boys and make sure safety is top priority. He has been talking to the patrol leader emphasizing the need for close supervision and not leaving the boys alone. They seem to be working out some differences of opinion. I then spoke to the patrol leader, that didn't go quite as well. He thinks that everything has been blown out of proportion, and while he didn't come out and say it, he alluded to the fact that he thinks it's ds's fault for creating this exaggerated idea that hatchets were flying around everywhere and there was no supervision. He doesn't believe that the hatchet incident happened, he thinks ds made it up-for whatever reason. He says the reason he believes that is because when I first called about the ax-moth-thumb incident, I said my impression was that his son was chasing a moth w/an ax. Ds had said that the boy had been using a hatchet and was trying to get a moth. That created a picture in my head of the boy waving the hatchet in the air after a moth. When I found out the whole story from the patrol leader, I put 2 and 2 together that ax boy was using the hatchet on bark and was trying to get the moth on the tree, not flailing around crazily. However, the patrol leader thinks that ds said his son was waving the hatchet around. He won't hear any differently. So he believes ds is lying. He kinda flipped out saying he was considering leaving the troop, that this whole thing is ridiculous, and he doesn't care anymore. Dh is livid that the patrol leader is calling ds a liar. We believe ds and won't allow him to be around hatchet-boy w/out the scout master anymore. We were going to take him out of the troop but ds really, really wants to stay and the scout master really tried to reassure us that something like this will never, ever, ever happen again and he will keep a close eye on ds. He really likes ds, thinks he is a great kid, and said not to worry about what the patrol leader thinks. But I'm nervous that I've made things worse for ds by making it seem like ds was exaggerating when this whole situation started w/the thumb injury. He's going on the camporee this weekend, the scout master will be there, and the hatchet boy won't. The patrol leader will be there, as will his son, and I'm nervous about the situation. I told him that the only reason ds was going was because hatchet boy wasn't going to be there. That seemed to really anger him. I truly believe ds is telling the truth and I feel like the patrol leader is going to go after him in some subtle way. It's just a feeling I have. Admittedly I can't prove whether ds is being honest but I can't remember him ever just making something up...especially something of that magnitude. He just doesn't do that. I feel hatchet boy has more of a motive to lie because of course he wouldn't want to get in trouble. What motive does ds have? He almost got yanked out of the troop and he doesn't want that at all. It's making me a little crazy and I don't want the patrol leader bugging him about it. I guess I'll just trust the scoutmaster because I feel he is a very stable, serious, trustworthy man and wait to hear how this weekend goes from ds on Sunday. I hope we're making a good decision.

I can totally see what you're saying except for 2 things: my son was the victim, he's the one who woke up to a hatchet being inches away from his throat and yes, I think that is a crime. Maybe threat of assault or something, I don't know. I know the boy backed off, laughed and said it was a joke but you know what, that was a serious, serious offense. I think it's akin to pulling a knife on someone, even if that person says, oops, nah, just kidding....that doesn't undo the emotional trauma.

My brother-in-law, who is a 6th grade teacher, thinks we should sit down with hatchet-boy, his mom, and ds and try to get the truth out of this boy. He doesn't like the idea of the boy getting away with saying he didn't do it. He thinks if we grill him long enough, he'll crack. He said to threaten to bring in the cops and file assault charges if we need to, that this boy needs to feel the seriousness of the situation-putting a hatchet to ds's neck is serious business. Is this going over the top?

Dh goes camping with the troop when he can but often he just can't make it. He feels strongly that since we can't trust the leadership, we need to look for a troop w/ hopefully more level headed boys and better supervision. We just don't see any other way.

After talking further w/ds and hearing that the hatchet was about 2" from his throat, I called the scout master-who I felt completely minimized the entire situation. It wasn't until I asked him how he'd feel if it were his son that he took it a bit more seriously and said he'd call the mother. She called me, told me she talked to her son, he denied it, so he didn't do it. I just thanked her for calling me and let it go. I certainly wasn't going to argue w/her but I do believe her son has more motive to lie than my son does. In fact I see no reason whatsoever for ds to make up such a story. I also see no evidence of lying in his daily life here at home, so I'm inclined to believe him. Anyway, dh and I have decided that he can go on the camporee this weekend because the hatchet-boy won't be there but after that, we'll find some troops for him to visit. He's bummed, mostly because this is the group he's familiar with, it's the unfamiliar that unnerves him. I hope we can find a decent group of guys in a scout troop for him. As if this weren't enough, while I was talking to the patrol leader, he referred to the ax injury as a nick! Do I need it any plainer that this group doesn't take safety too seriously? That's the first I've heard of a "nick" needing stitches. Crazy.

Well I spoke to ax-boy's dad, it sounds like he was using a hatchet to cut bark off a tree, kind of scraping it off, and the other boy reached around the tree and got into his "cutting zone" and only req'd 2 stitches, not 6. The ER was empty that night so they wrapped it up in a "funny" dramatic fashion and the boys concocted a story to tell the others that it req'd 6 stitches. Ds says that ax-boy told him that he was trying to get a moth on the tree, but of course that's not what he said when explaining to the adults. It was about 11pm and it was hard to see w/only a lantern. The other adult called me and explained he felt that neither boy was messing around and it was just one of those things that happen. It wasn't like ax-boy was flailing the ax around wildly, chasing a moth, like ds made it sound. However, I'm still leery because I know this boy can lack serious impulse control & the adults in this troop believe that the boys should have their space....which I agree w/ to a certain extent but I don't know. Anyway, they had a serious discussion about safety and I guess that was the end of it. I seriously want to change troops though because ds told me that at one of the camping trips, he woke up from a nap to find one of the boys standing over him w/ an ax, pretending like he was going to hit him w/it. Scared him to death! The boy was joking but I think that's kind of freaky. No, just kind of freaky, creepy scary and just weird....makes me seriously cringe and feel sick. That's not normal boy humor, is it? Ds doesn't want me to say anything to the adults and doesn't want me to make a deal out of it. Ax-boy makes jokes about threatening w/an ax or hatchet but I guess it's common knowledge that it's a joke and ds doesn't want me to say anything about that either. I don't know why ds wants anything to do w/this troop but he says that some of the boys are pretty nice. There's just a few weird ones. I'm glad this whole situation was brought up because ds had never told us about some of these other things.

Last weekend, 13yo ds went on a scout camping trip nearby. One of the boys was chopping wood w/another boy and I guess started swinging at a moth or something....he ended up hittting the other boys thumb and the boy had to go to the ER for 6 stitches. This boy has always had poor impulse control. Anyway, dh does not feel comfortable having ds go on anymore scout camping trips w/this kid around (he feels like he would be putting ds in potentially life threatening situations) and wants to find another scout troop. We live in a rural area, the troop is very small, I think it maybe has a total of 10 boys. I'd like some outside advice on how to deal w/this. We're going to talk to the troop leader and the boys dad, who is also the boys patrol leader. I'm not quite ready to leave the troop and I'm inclined to allow ds to go on this weekends camp-out but dh is pretty livid and I'm wondering if I'm under-reacting. I'm pretty maxed out w/things at home right now and my brain is in perpetual brain fog.

I was talking to a friend of mine about a piece of legislation where I heard it could be construed as a hate crime to express a negative opinion about homosexuality. For the life of me, I can't remember what it was called, if it has been passed, or what exactly it was. Does anyone know what I'm talking about???:confused:

Anybody at all???

We've been studying how to tell which of our chicken eggs are fertile or not. The girls have researched how to build an incubator and really want to try hatching some of the eggs. I think the only thing we need is a temperature and humidity gauge and we're set to experiment. Does anyone have any helpful hints? We've never done something like this before, I'm a little nervous. Thanks!

There are about 8 eggs in one box out in the coop. We're hoping that one of the chickens will set them. Any advice on how to encourage this? Thanks!

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/air.force.one.2.996457.html This just makes me crazy!!!

I'm concerned w/what I've been reading and hearing about "terminator" seeds. I just saw an ad for the Survival Seed Bank, I'm just wondering if anyone has done any business w/them. Someone recommended the book, Seeds of Deception...I'm beginning to think the world isn't what I believe it to be. I mean, I know people think "conspiracy theories" are crazy but really, considering history and sin nature, these theories make more sense than the idea that any group of people (or gov't) is benevolent and looking out for the common good of the general population. Has that really ever happened in the history of the world?? It seems to me that there has always been a person or group of people looking to control others. Anyway, I'd love to hear if anyone know anything about this Survival Seed Bank. Thanks!

I just ordered a book on fasting by Jentezen Franklin. I've never been very successful at it before, I just love food way too much. I've been praying for salvation for my parents and my inlaws and if fasting can help my prayers...then I'm all for it. I'd just like to hear what the experience has been like for others. Thanks!!

I talked to ds today about it, he's going to do a research paper on thunderstorm safety. I learned quite a bit! It's a scary thing.

13yo dd spent the night at a friends house Friday night and they camped out at a spot they've been clearing out and making into a camping area since last year. It's about 50-100 yards from the house and you can't see the house from it. They did have a radio so they could communicate w/his parents. The friends father is their Scout leader and has a very "boys need to be boys" perspective and sometimes I'm not 100% comfortable w/his judgement calls. Anyway, around 2 am, we had a huge thunderstorm. The boys hunkered down in the tent. My best friend was telling me that that was the worst thing they could do, that they should have made a run for the house. I can see that the tent offered no protection, whatsoever, but is running out into the storm any better? I guess we need to do a unit on thunderstorm safety!

At our church, we call the pastor, "Pastor"...as in "Good Morning Pastor, how are you today?" or "I'll have to ask Pastor about that"... I've never encountered this anywhere but at this particular church. It used to bother me but now I figure, hey, if that's what they want, fine. The church has had 2 pastors that this has been the case with. Maybe the members are just old fashioned and this is what they are comfortable with. I don't know.

Praying here too!:grouphug:

I've had this kind of burning sensation on the left side of my chest for the past hour or so. It comes and goes, maybe every 30 seconds. It's weird. I do feel a little light headed and dizzy but it could be because I'm nervous about this. Should I call the doctor??

I thought I had read somewhere that plastic bags don't contain the mercury vapor-it goes right through it. I did also read, repeatedly, to cut the carpet out because it would be irreversibly contaminated and studies had shown that after the spot had been cleaned and there was no sign of the breakage, that in that immediate area mercury levels remained elevated for a span of time-I can't remember how long. There's also the story ( I think I read about it on The Mercury Project site) about a 23 month old baby who played on the floor of a shed where a box of 8' bulbs had broken...it had all been cleaned up and of course thoroughly aired out-but the child still came down w/mercury poisoning. I'll post the link to that story when I find it as well. Infuriating stuff, I'm having another "I'm mad as hell....(from The Network)" moment!!