Does anyone go to a church where they have communicant's classes? How do they work? At what age? Thanks for the info. Susie in SWVA

What if both your child and their spouse needed to work to support their family, but didn't want the children in public school? I am a grandparent and this is our situation, sort of. My dd 28(homeschool grad) has a rather worthless BA degree and is working in an ER. Her husand works two, sometimes more, jobs. Dd would like to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner, but can only do it if I homeschool my grandson in a year or two. They can't afford to pay a sitter for two children (she is expecting in Feb.) I am very willing to do this for her. In fact, I'm looking forward to it. Susie in SWVA

We love St. Lucia buns! When one of my daughters took speech class in college, she had to give a speech using props. She wore a white robe, made a wreath to wear on her head and told the story of St. Lucia. Then she handed out St. Lucia buns to everyone in her class. She got an A! Susie in SWVA

This is not an answer to your question, but it is so funny, I had to share. My dd is going to her in-laws for Thanksgiving. FIL and 1 BIL are lactose intolerant - no dairy 1 BIL is vegetarian - no meat SIL has Crohn's - light on the fiber MIL has Celiac - no gluten DD is allergic to citric acid (it's in everything) - no citrus I have no clue what their menu will consist of, but DD is dreading it! Susie in SWVA

Here is something that I don't think has been mentioned. My daughter, now 31, has always had nasty eczema problems. I wasn't dairy. Finally, a couple of years ago, she discovered she is allergic (intolerant?) to citric acid! It has made a tremendous difference since she makes every attempt to avoid it. But, have you ever tried to find things that DON'T contain citric acid? I spend a lot of time reading labels before she comes home for a visit. Susie in SWVA

We did it. (Then our house burned down in February of this year and rebuilding will involve having another small mortgage for awhile.) We paid off our house in 15 years. My husband provided our only income, but it increased at a very substantial rate during those 15 years. During that time we raised and sent to college four daughters and adopted a son internationally. We lived simply, still do. BUT I don't feel that we really had to give up anything that really mattered. It can be done, but you have to decide what is important and necessary for you. Susie in SWVA

DD1 - attorney DD2 - CPA (4.0 all the way through college and grad school - summa cum laude) DD3 - forester, organic farmer DD3 - soon to be nurse practitioner Enjoy yourself! Susie in SWVA

Interesting you should ask this question. Just recently my son was memorizing Question 28 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q. Wherein consists Christ's exaltation? A. Christ's exaltation consists in his rising AGAIN from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father and in coming to judge the world at the last day. We had the same question. We suspect that the language was borrowed from the Nicene Creed. I will be interested to hear what others have to say on this use of "again." Susie in SWVA

Most everything! I know that is no help, but my list would be too long. I have had that cookbook for about 30 years (I'm on my fourth copy). I have raised four children on those recipes and my fifth is 11. Now my daughters are using the same cookbook in their families. Some of the recipes that sound a little strange have actually turned out to be some of our favorites. Susie in SWVA

One I found in the Coldwater Creek catalog and the other I found in the Territory Ahead catalog ( I wore that one for two daughters' weddings - with their permission, of course!) We had four weddings in four years. The first mother of the bride dress I made. Susie in SWVA

We have stayed at the Saltaire in Kitty Hawk several years. Older, but very clean and nice. Susie in SWVA

Sorry that happened to you. We have been roasting our own beans for years and have never had that problem. We do not have a local source, so we order our beans from Sweet Maria's and usually get about 25 lbs. at a time. I would definitely complain. Do you live in an area where there is a great demand for green beans? They could have been sitting around for a long time. Hope you get a good result and get all of your money back. Susie in SWVA

Mary Travers. But then I am 57 and was a flower child in the 60's. Susie in SWVA

This isn't something you could take to the birth, but (25 years ago) a friend (barely an acquaintance, actually) came to my house one morning shortly after my fourth daughter's birth. She cleaned my kitchen, made a nice lunch for my girls (and me), played with my children and then made them a fun snack before she left. It was wonderful. I'll never forget it. Susie in SWVA

Have you had any distressing events in your life within, say, the last year? Our house burned down in February and I have felt that way since then. It has been difficult to concentrate on things or make plans and just last night, my husband and I both said we feel like we are just treading water. I expect it will pass.

My dad owned one of the original Baskin Robbins ice cream stores. I don't know what they do now, but back then the ice cream cakes were just frosted with a different flavor of ice cream. That is how I do it when I make one.

Sounds great! Thanks for the tip. My daughter (age33) and I are great fans of disaster movies with one word titles. Sounds like a winner.

We adopted a little boy (now almost 11) and started all over again! Don't know what I'll do when I am finished with him - start a bakery maybe. Susie in SWVA

This is a warning to those of you who check out large numbers of books at a time. I had only four books checked out of our library (thank the Lord!) on February 14th, when our house burned down. The library charged me $15 for each book PLUS a $6 service charge PER BOOK. $84 for four children's books. Their comment was, "Oh, the insurance will pay for it." Sorry, it doesn't work that way. I noticed in another thread that someone mentioned having 90 books currently checked out. That would amount to $1890. Scarry! Susie in SWVA

I rarely post on these boards, but I am always here except for the last two weeks. On the morning of Feb. 14 our house burned to the ground and we lost everything. The cause was undetermined. We were in SC visiting our newborn granddaughter, so no one was hurt except for our dog who was badly burned. We are currently staying with our daughter and her husband who live about 8 miles from us. It is a very small house, so we hope to only be here another two weeks at the most so we don't wear out our welcome. I have gathered together enough books and curriculum so we can start school again next week. We need some kind of normalcy in our lives. I would appreciate your prayers. This will be a long, trying process. You all have been such an encouragement to me in the past. Susie in SWVA

Oh How I know! My current glasses are scratched badly and I am avoiding going in for a check up because I know I am going to need new ones. I have no-line bifocals and they were about $450. Yes, getting old is expensive. Susie in SWVA

Not that you wanted to know this, but my son is using Rosetta Stone for Spanish and loves it. (Remember me - our sons are at about the same point in LCII.) He is making slow, but steady progress. It is very different from LCII, but it makes a nice change of pace. Susie in SWVA, who loves Nova Scotia

Growing and selling at our local farmer's market is our daughter's full time business. She grows and sells flowers and gourmet type veggies. It is hard work! She absolutely loves it! Between that and her husband's business of editing/free lance writing (check out http://www.blackdogwriting.com), they manage to actually live and put food on the table! Amazing! Susie in SWVA

Does anyone know if the golden beets are as nutritious as the red ones? We grew the golden ones in the garden last year and turned everyone around here from beet haters to beet lovers. Susie in SWVA

I have homeschooled since 1985 with about a 2 year gap between 2001 amd 2003. I am currently homeschooling my ds10. My dds are 33,32,29 and 27. Susie in SWVA