How very sweet. Thank you!

Another vote for EdensGarden.com. I've been using them for a couple of years now.

Cymbalta made me want to drive off a bridge - literally. I have mild depression that comes out as severe irritability, mood swings, exhaustion, and brain fog. Cymbalta gave me a taste of severe depression and it scared the hell out of me. Lexapro is much better - just 10mg/day and I'm me again. I think it's just a matter of trial and error to find what works with your body chemistry.

I get this. I am that single mom. But at 16, I was the child of a single mom and I worked to feed and clothe my younger brothers. There was no spending money.

I'm dealing with this right now. I really can't stand Mickey, but that's what my daughter is choosing to go by right now. I pulled the Mom Card ("I gave birth to you, I named you Michaela, and that's what I'll call you!"), but if she wants other people to call her Mickey, that's her business, as much as I dislike it. Yeah, that mom waaaaaay overreacted.

Prayers for both of them!

I'm in Texas and never saw or heard anything on it. How awful. I don't find this act in any way compatible with the Christian faith. Martyrdom and self-sacrifice, yes. Suicide, absolutely not.

I thought this (really long) comment was better than the blog post (especially the part I bolded). James July 6, 2014 at 1:51 am My wife sent me this article. There are many excellent and quote worthy points here. I too was brought up in a very conservative American Christian culture, which, sadly, tended to shame the females for having bodies and to shame the males for noticing! Frankly, this did more to breed an unhealthy curiosity about the opposite sex than it did to promote purity. For years, I wanted to honor God with my thoughts and attitudes and I tried everything you can imagine, but I ultimately found that I was working from the wrong starting point. I later realized the mainstream church’s teachings about purity and modesty are horribly unscriptural. I read book’s like “Every Man’s Battle,†joined accountability groups, and listened to sermons on purity all the time. Yet none of this actually helped to have purity in a truly freeing way. I finally realized that the pornography industry and the mainstream American church are teaching the same message. The pornography industry says, “Women are an object of sexual lust–indulge!†And the church says, “Women are an object of sexual lust–suppress!†Both are teaching the same lie about the female body–i.e. that a man can’t help but lust after a woman’s body if he sees it. In complete contrast, the Bible affirms that we are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27; 5:1-2), and we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psa. 139:14). After Adam and Eve were created–still in their natural (nude) state–God declared His creation “very good†(Gen. 1:31). Is the female body “very good†or a temptation to avoid at all costs? I’m going to go with God on this one. In the church we make the mistake of defining purity as “not lustingâ€â€“but this is a far cry from Biblical purity. If you want “pure†gold, it isn’t enough to simply take away the dross. You have to have some actual gold! The same is true with Christian purity. It’s not enough to simply take away the defiling elements. You also have to have a positive view of the human body. You need to see how it draws you to seeing the image of God; you have to see how it points to its Creator. And once you see this, then the temptation to defile it–physically or mentally–is greatly disarmed. If you truly experience purity, then impurity seems absolutely gross in comparison. I’ve come to believe that “Every Man’s Battle†(and similar resources) is a terrible book if you’re wanting to develop Biblical purity. I have yet to speak to a man who has followed this book’s advice (which I tried for several years) who actually had a pure mindset toward women. Instead, they saw women as dangerous temptations to avoid, and they are unintentionally reinforcing the pornography industry’s teaching that “women are an object of lust†every time they bounce the eyes. For more thoughts on this book, you can read my Amazon review here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1P3YTE9X5PCIK/ref=cm_aya_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1578563682 If you want to cultivate a Biblical mindset about purity, modesty, and the human body, the best resource I have found on these topics is My Chains Are Gone, which can be found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20140521101735/http://mychainsaregone.org/start-here/#sthash.khMq5JKs.dpbs (The site currently seems to be having some problems, so this is the archived version.) Honestly, if you work to cultivate a pure mindset about the human body, the degree of clothing makes no difference. My issue with bikinis is not that they reveal too much, but that they put strips of fabric in two places, saying, “Everything else is okay to see, but not breasts and not genitals.†Is this actually a modest mindset? The only passage in the Bible that speaks of modesty is in 1 Timothy 2–â€I desire… that women adorn themselves in proper clothing with modesty and sobriety, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, what befits women professing godly reverence, by good works.†The Bible defines modesty on the negative side as “not with braided hair, gold, pearls, or costly clothing†and on the positive side as being adorned with “good works.†1 Peter 3 addresses similarly addresses this issue with wives, and it says that adornment shouldn’t be of “the outward plaiting of hair and putting on of gold or clothing with garments,†but “the incorruptible adornment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is very costly in the sight of God.†Nothing here about how much skin to show (or taking responsibility for someone else’s purity–an impossible task, by the way), but a lot about the heart attitude behind it! Just as the Biblical understanding of purity is very different from what we commonly hear in the American church, the Biblical understanding of modesty is also quite different. Different cultures around the world wear different amounts of clothing, and some even wear none at all. Cultural norms affect, to a large degree, what we find arousing. The extreme Muslims say that the entire female body is too arousing, so it should be covered from head to foot. To a certain extent, the American church is teaching the same philosophy about the female body, even if it wouldn’t go quite so far as to cover all of it. But honestly, this is quite degrading to men and women, and it is an insult to our Creator. I agree with your statement that the church should be the safest place to wear a bikini, and I would add that it should also be the safest place to go skinny dipping. Because Christians should be cultivating a pure mindset toward the human body in all its stages of dress, and as you said, the church should be the one place where men and women don’t need to fear being objectified and made into sexual objects. Once again, this issue is not how much skin is or isn’t shown. It’s about the “meek and quiet spirit,†which is true modesty. And it’s about truly appreciating and believing that each person is “fearfully and wonderfully made,†which is true purity.

Praying for you both.

We love, love, love the Institute of Texan Cultures. Fascinating museum about all the different cultural groups throughout Texas history.

Yes, many times. (Preacher's kid :) ) I highly recommend the Chronological Study Bible. It may help to read events in chronological order, and it has good historical and cultural notes to aid understanding. http://www.amazon.com/Chronological-Study-Bible-NKJV-ebook/dp/B0030FOZ44/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403880100&sr=8-1&keywords=chronological+study+bible

I use bookbub.com. It emails a list of cheap and free books every day.

I'm so sorry. Prayers offered up for you and yours.

Just thought of another one - I have always been deathly afraid that one of us will back over a small child. Thankfully, mine are taller than me now, but at any family gathering, I freak when someone goes to move a vehicle. I have to find every child and make sure they're okay. If I'm backing out, I try to keep all the kids in my line of sight, even if they're yards in front of me. It seriously scares me.

It must be BUNNIEEEEES! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT3MBYp5I-Y Cliffs, underwater or underground caves, snakes - I can't even watch these things on TV. ETA: Clowns. Clowns are just creepy. With apologies to any clowns here.