Oh! Sorry, I misunderstood.

Never mind smoking for a minute. Saying things at a funeral that upset the grieving widow so that she can barely keep it together is the issue. Such people need to be smacked. I would have had a hard time not saying Are you crazy?

Just a couple of thoughts: I don't know if the belief that suicide is wrong or a sin really influences someone who is severely depressed. If someone is that Ill, they are not able to reason with themselves: "oh, that is wrong, so I won't do it." They just want the awful pain to stop. It overwhelms normal thought and belief. It would be much easier to start thinking "it may be wrong for other people, but not for me because I am so badly off" or "I don't care anymore if it is wrong." So I really don't think that lack of faith is the problem. Another thought: I think that what TM May be getting at is that gray area between sickness and health where we are able to help ourselves with self-care: thinking good thoughts, reasoning with ourselves, eating right, being in community, praying, getting enough sleep etc. If we are mildly down, these things may be enough and these are good things in general. IMHO. But in severe depression they aren't enough and trying and failing could be worse.

I'm sick with a bad cold today, so I've had time to read this whole thread. I really appreciate the chance to learn about gender dysphoria from, especially, Ethel and Lucy. Thank you. As for the poll, I could not really find one option that suited me, but I generally agree with Eliana. And I thought the approach taken by the clinic at Boston Children's seems compassionate and also unhasty, which is important. Thank you also, Sadie, for those kind words for the EO ladies! Now for my question, I am puzzling over this. What interaction does depression and neglect have on this disorder? I understand that the recommended treatment is having the person be able to be, express themselves as, and live as, the gender they feel they are. But what happens if the person gets unconditional positive regard (=love & care) and the depression is treated? Will the gender dysphoria persist? Or may it in some cases go away? I M asking a genuine question-- I've read most of the linked articles and didn't find exactly what I wanted. Thank you! Eta: because I meant to say dysphoria, not dysphasia-- autocorrect!! I am learning but not completely ignorant.

YOU owe US a nickel!

"We all have our little foibles, and mine is the prompt settling of accounts."

I tried the app but I found that the tasks it came with didn't match up with what I needed, and the app made it too cumbersome to add/delete things, so I decided it would be easier just to use a note-taking or reminders app-- but of course I never did. :)

if you use your bank account or credit card to send money via Western Union, call your bank and let them know you are doing this so they won't hold it up due to concerns about fraud.

Longhand first, with a pen from our local bank (they make the best pens!), then revise onto the computer Pages program, then scriptwriting program. (I can't 'think' right on to the scriptwriting program.) At home I can only write if the dishes are done, and usually only if nobody else is home, unless I am really on a roll. :) Laptop on my lap on the sofa, or sitting at the dining room table. I also like to write at a coffee shop with the laptop, but that gets too expensive, so I also like a local public library. Writing poetry or prose I write in a notebook, then revise onto Pages.

No-- I agree with Tranquilmind.

I've read them both aloud to my DC, but they have not read them on their own (yet).

I do believe that being out in the cold, or sitting in a cold draft, can make your body less able to fight off whatever germs may be going around. But I don't think that a cracked window, when you are under the blankets, is enough to do that. :)

NAMI. They will have a chapter in your area, almost certainly. ((hugs))

Just a Nutcracker production with the kids at the initial Christmas party doing Irish step dance. Somehow I don't remember this! :)

I haven't seen Noah & don't plan to, but I think the way to approach it would be that it's not the Biblical story, but a meditation on the Biblical story by a brilliant yet unusual and exasperating mind. [i know one of the people who made it-- not the director but one of his team--was my high school sweetheart! So I know that it's not anything I would be interested in seeing. Oh, first love!]

OP, don't say 'bad judgement' about yourself. You are the mom and you used your best judgement. :)

Christian here (Orthodox) I am surprised at the results, because from our discussions I would have thought we are about evenly divided between Christian and atheist/undecided/agnostic, with a smattering of everyone else. The population here is much more heavily Christian than I thought.

Definitely weird. I think you are very right to be concerned. It already seems like it would be hard for her to get out of it.

Once again I feel that a journalist has not produced a complete article. At first glance, the story seems to show that two girls, one white and one black, both did graffiti and were unequally punished. If that is true, that is abhorrent. That should not be allowed. But some bits of the story make me wonder was going on. Why was the black girl punished for trespassing? Wasn't it a school bathroom? Why should a student not be allowed into it? Why wasn't the white girl trespassing too? And where do the shoes come in? I don't think it is clear what the actual offenses were. It's also not clear whether the black family was also offered the chance to pay and could not and therefore had a harsher punishment-- in this case it is punishment for being poor, while the article focuses on race. What exactly was going on? I don't think this journalist has researched the situation thoroughly enough to use it to make a point.

Throw it in the river.

Just popping in to say I don't really want to get into the discussion... but I am curious to see a photo of Dmmetler's child's 'snake cake'! :)

Re the OP's question about non-Christians quoting Jesus and telling us Christians how to behave, there's a sense in which I don't mind it, and a sense in which I do: 1. If a non-Christian is holding me to the high standards of Jesus, that is good for my soul: it is an antidote to my own laziness and hypocrisy. I don't mind that, even though it could be uncomfortable. but 2. If someone is using Jesus' words to in order to impose their own political views on me, I don't like that.

Just one thought before you spend the money. I have an Ipad with only 13 GB. Lately its memory was full and it was freezing, crashing, all the time. I wondered if it was time to replace. But first we tried wiping it clean and renstalling everything. We installed iOs8 also. . Now it works great. We have now reinstalled nearly everything and for some reason now there is a ton of extra space. I don't understand it myself-- DH is the computer person in our family-- but just thought I'd mention it in case it's helpful.

These are much 'gentler' dystopias than some mentioned above: Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed, and Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Below the Root and the other two in that series.

One doctor told me strictly that if I did not want more problems with my foot (stress fracture) then I needed to give away my shoes and get all new ones. :) She was right and I did. I don't mind that kind of advice.