My mother used to contract with builder's and cleaned model homes. I don't know if that's useful, since no one seems to be building anything right now... Then her information was left in the welcome to the neighborhood packet the developer's left for new owners along with an endorsement by the developer/builder. What about contacting rental agencies to bid on cleaning rental units between tenants?

Hee, something similar happened to me. I was on a message board primarily for Catholic women and saw a forum marked "Light From the East" and thought it was maybe for Orthodox because they used an icon as the avatar. Nope, but I had never heard of Eastern Catholicism before and was so confused! :lol:

The services of an Eastern Rite Catholic and Eastern Orthodox are very similar. An Eastern Catholic priest may be married, but I don't know about any other differences. I'd imagine they wouldn't have many if they are in full communion with Rome? Here's a blog written by an Eastern Rite Catholic woman who is married to a priest. She has a wealth of links to explore. http://remnantofremnant.blogspot.com/

I have one sibling, a brother. I would say we're very close(7-8). We talk on the phone a couple times a week, visit each other 1-2 a year(we live in different states), and enjoy being around each other. However, this was not the case when we were kids or teens. We became friends as adults and bonded. That bond was furthered by my pregnancy and a family situation where we needed to lean on someone who was going through the same thing. We were raised with family being very important, but the message didn't sink in until later I guess. :)

It looks like the original set from 1924 known as the the Bible Story is on Project Gutenberg. It doesn't have the color pictures, but you could get a closer look at it. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32736

Radio stations have offered this in the past. Air time in exchange for leaving mourners alone. It doesn't bother me as I suspect most people turn the radio off and let them spew venom to dead air as opposed to at grieving families and friends.

You can not do this if you have a dog. :glare: Or a toddler. :glare: Or a cat who thinks the middle of stairs that leads from the bedrooms to the main floor is the perfect place to puke and your DH gets up before you. :glare: I really do love our cats. Really.

Often the children of people here illegally are legal US citizens and eligible for certain benefits.

Not really, but kind of. This may not reflect well on me, but I was talking to a friend who was seriously stressing about K for her oldest dd. The local school was not an option for a variety of good reasons and her state doesn't offer school choice and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of charter schools. So, the other options were private schools. One was a good fit all the way around, but they would have needed a scholarship for her to attend. The other wouldn't take her for another year due to her age. It wasn't as good as a fit in some ways, but it was doable from a money standpoint. She was seriously stressed and venting, because she had no idea what she was going to do if the one school didn't offer a scholarship. My friend was working part time and has cheap quality daycare thanks to her mom. I suggested if the scholarship didn't come through she could homeschool her DD for a year and she could start K at the other private school next year. Her DD could already read, count, add, was learning subtraction at home, and her handwriting was on the level of what was expected from a K student. I mentioned a few ways she could do it cheaply and with minimal time spent, so she could still work. I was trying to help her with a solution, but I think I just stressed her out more. She had concrete reasons for wanting her DD in school. Our goals and priorities are different and we both want what is best for our families, but my suggestion wasn't helpful for her.

I used to be really scared of killing bugs. Mainly because I was sure the rest of their family was going to find them and be out for vengeance. Also because I failed at killing them often and then they would hide somewhere in my house. :glare: And because once I tried to kill a big one and it made a loud crunching noise. That was pretty much the last straw. For years I made my dad and then my husband kill any bug I came across. This worked until one day DH was at work. I grabbed a drinking class, put it over the bug, duct taped the glass to the floor, and left it there until DH could deal with it. It was big and I did not want it lose in my house! When I was pregnant I was pretty much on bed rest for 7 months. I found it more comfortable to sleep on a couch in our basement then in our bed, but I was scared to sleep in the basement. It's dark and the strange night time noises are stranger in a basement somehow. I would toss in turn in our bed or be scared and awake in the basement all night long. DH offered to move down to the basement with me to sleep even though he's 6'5 and our couches are not. I still said yes and slept much better after that. :tongue_smilie:

I don't know about your friends or their situations, but the few people I know who sound angry are often frustrated because it happens at the last minute and they have to scramble to find child care. Or they don't have enough sick/personal/vacation time(or none is offered), so they will be taking time off unpaid if their work will let them and facing consequences from that if they can't find a sitter. Your friends might just be going for dark humor after being momentarily put out by a last minute change in their schedule?

I have been inquiring and exploring since May. I go to Liturgy most Sundays, try to make the week day Liturgies when possible and affordable, and meet with my priest about every month. I've read, discussed, questioned, and read more. I haven't been baptized into the church and have told my priest I intend to take my time and he's all for that. I am still learning and unlearning so much, it's a process.

I'm the changer in my house too. DH refuses and the toddler thinks toilet paper is for unrolling and playing with....which is WHY I like it attached to the wall. He can't decorate the playroom with it that way.

Thank you all for the stories, thoughts, and resources. I'm overwhelmed! I'm also so humbled that so many would share their stories with me and that these stories are helping me be OK with DS' birth. I am hoping for a VBAC, but realize that may be tough. I do have a midwife who works in an OB practice and they are supportive of VBACs. I had no complications from the c-section, so from that end it's certainly possible. :grouphug: to all! Thank you.

It's amazing to read that other people had experiences where they were angry, upset, or paranoid during their c-sections. No one I know IRL had that reaction! I never felt it was traumatic, but when I started to think about doing it again I had a very negative reaction. I've been really upset and spending the last several days thinking about what I could have done differently. Very unlike me, I'm generally a what's done is done kinda gal! My water broke 36-38 hours before the c-section...during the kick off of Superbowl 2009 in fact. That Tuesday morning I had my DS.

Thank you! It does help to know that it's happened to someone else. Everyone I know who had a c-section thought it was odd I didn't really see him until I was in recovery and I've been so sad to think I did something wrong.

:grouphug: How terribly scary! Glad he wasn't hurt.

My first(and so far only) pregnancy ended with an unplanned c-section after my water broke, but I did not dilate at all...even after 3 rounds of induction medication. DS was born and I wasn't able to really see him at all. He was wheeled by my head while they were sewing me up, but I didn't hold him until I was in recovery. If you a had an unplanned or emergency c-section, was this your experience? Or is it possible it was my fault? I had HG my entire pregnancy and was unable to eat for most of it. I was somewhat irritable for a lot of that. Also just very weak. After 4 hours of laboring when the third induction(Pitocin after cytotec failed twice) took I was given an epidural in hopes that I would dilate. My BP crashed when I was given the epidural and I was given something(ephedrine?) to bring it back up. After about 4 hours sleep I was woken up to be checked and I wasn't dilated. I had to have a c-section and had a reaction to the second round of anesthesia and was given more ephedrine. At this point I'd not been able to keep any food down since I was admitted to the hospital, 36 hours prior. I was somewhat panicky and angry during the surgery and convinced that because they wouldn't let me see my baby that something was wrong and they(including DH) were hiding something from me. I let them know I didn't trust them and was...adamant and loud. I know now that I was being dumb, but I just wanted to see my baby and they wouldn't let me. So...my fault? A normal hospital procedure for c-sections? We're trying for another baby and I'm a little scared about having another delivery like that one! :tongue_smilie:

Thanks to everyone who answered! Thanks for this complete explanation. I misunderstood the original explanation just enough to be a bit...:confused:! Thanks again, I think I understand this practive a bit better now.

Something I can help with. I attend a Greek Orthodox Missions parish. Our Liturgy is in English, but certain things that are repeated more than once are done in English-Greek or English-Greek-English. It's a very small amount of Greek and everything is done in English first. We do say Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal in the English-Greek-English for instance. We are mainly converts at my church, but I don't believe that's the norm with the Greek Orthodox churches. We also have hymnals that provide the text and, where needed, music of the entire Divine Liturgy. If all else fails, call the parish. Someone should be able to tell you what language is used. According to my priest, many of the Greek Orthodox churches use English.

Is there a way to make sure these proxy baptisms are not performed on a person(like myself) or a family member? I have no LDS family members if that helps....

We had gerbils when I was a kid. They are escape artists and got out of their cage a lot. If you get a mean one or one that just doesn't like to be picked up, they will bite. I don't remember much else about them. We got ours from a friend who raised them.

My family isn't anti religious, so much as just not religious. I don't know how to explain it, other then they are fine with people being religious....if it's not them and if people aren't in their faces about it. I am considered odd for going to church weekly and sometimes more than that. They are polite about it to me though. My mom has said ONCE she thinks raising a child to be any one religion is abusive, but she hasn't said anything further because she knows that I'm not the type who will listen to that with no reaction. She knows if she pushes it or takes up that train of thought with DS someday her access to him will be limited. My dad is politely baffled and my brother is politely interested, but also baffled. My FIL is fine with it, but likes to try an argue that Catholicism would be better than Orthodoxy. DH, who is not fully on board for himself but super supportive for me and DS, tells him to can it. My MIL is hostile to organized religion, but again, knows to not push it with me. I'm just of the opinion that certain choices aren't up for family discussion(outside of myself and DS) and have proven that I just won't deal with it. We all get along fine and people are almost never rude or pushy...anymore.

My not dating prior to meeting DH was by circumstance, mainly being socially awkward until my early 20's. There was nothing religiously motivated about it. My parents wanted me to date! :001_smile:

My DH had a serious girlfriend before he met me. They broke a few months before we were set up on a blind date. I had never dated anyone. I was 17 and he was 19 and we've been together since then.