Thank you for your reply. My quick google search said that effective march 2011, small businesses open to the public had to provide a public restroom. But I wonder if their being Mennonite exempted them? I don't know. I do know they were ready to accept my money and collect my taxes, so I don't know why they could be exempt from the bathroom issue. I am just mad :). I told them so too And have taken my business elsewhere.

Do you know if there are any laws that require a Mennonite furniture business that is open to the public to provide public restrooms? Do they have to abide by the ADA rules or are they exempt? I just had a terrible experience where the owner of the store wouldn't let me use their potty.

I have been gifted with a lot of baby items for our little one due in November. An older family friend and her daughter (she just had her baby a year ago), has given us some very expensive baby items, including a brand new Chicco infant car seat, lots of excellent condition baby clothes that her baby has outgrown, brand new blankets, bouncy seat, baby bath, etc. I feel completely unworthy and cannot decide on a proper way to thank them for their generosity. I somehow want to convey my truest and sincere appreciation, but cannot think of an appropriate way to do it. They are very well to do and do not need money for their gifts and would not appreciate if I tried to pay them monetarily. What can I do to show them how much their gifts meant to me? I appreciate any and all suggestions.

Update in post #1

I noticed earlier that my dh's eyes were dilated differently. One was huge and one was small. We came to the ER and are waiting for a CT scan. Any ideas what it could be? I am scared. Blood pressure and other vitals were fine. I will update when I can. UPDATE.....Thank you all for your prayers and kind words. After a full blood work up and a CT scan, dh is in perfect health. Praise The Lord! What they think happened is that he came in contact with an herbicide while working on our farm today and touched his eye at some point while the chemical was still on is hand. It wasn't enough to burn his eye, but enough to cause his pupil to dilate to an extreme level. His pupil is still bigger, but is starting to go back to normal size. I was so scared and was thinking the worst possible things. I am so relieved. Thank you all again for your good thoughts and well wishes.

Wow, thank you all so much for your thoughtful replies. Over the course of today, more information has come to light about the situation. We have found out that nephew has been to a therapist over the last few months and is on anti-depressant medication. He is meeting with his therapist again this week and has said that his parents are going with him to the meeting. At that meeting, he wants the therapist to tell his parents he is gay. He has not told the doctor about the chat site and some of the other things, but his older brother has caught him on the site and told his parents about it, which is why he has had his phone and iPod taken away. So, we feel that the parents may know more than we thought they knew. As such, my dh has decided to talk to his brother and offer support in dealing gently with this situation. We already offer a safe place for nephew and he is always welcome here, and is here a lot. I have not come right out and said to him that i know he is gay (because he is just not receptive to things like that from adults), but our kids make it known that we are a loving family and accept him the way he is. Hopefully over time, he will begin to trust us and know that we are safe for him to open up to. Clearly, he does feel that to a degree or he wouldn't hang out here as much as he does. To answer some of the concerns about his family... They do love him, but are really floundering over what to do in this situation. They are very well known in this town and have perfected an image that doesn't include a gay son. They have two older boys who are "perfect" and are extremely concerned about maintaining that image. Brother in law works for the school district and is the deacon of the church and the wife is running for public office in the fall, etc. Perfect image....so, this is really throwing them for a loop. However, this gentle child has been like this since day one so I am not sure why suddenly everyone is expecting him to be different. He is the child who for Christmas asked for pink dress up clothes and all the strawberry shortcake DVDs. Tell me why they are surprised now? My heart breaks for him and I do feel very angry and frustrated over how they are handling this boy. Thank you all, again, for your insight and responses.

Thank you all for your replies. Dh and I are struggling with knowing the best way to handle this situation. Just to clarify, we have no desire at all to tell his parents he is gay. Our only concern that we would discuss with his parents is that we feel it is so incredibly dangerous to be getting on these websites to chat and form relationships with random strangers. However, once they do any kind of research and if they really try to get to the bottom of what he has been doing, they will know that he is gay. It is just so hard to know what to do. He is always welcome in my home and I will do what I can to help him, but he has such disdain for adults. He doesn't trust them at all, and I don't know how to do more for him except to let him keep confiding in my kids. The risk I am running there is that he is starting to tell them more than I want them to know at this point. I am just so torn, because I know, as a parent, if it were my child, I would want to know. Thanks again for your replies. We will continue to think about this and try to decide the best course of action.

This may seem like a no-brainer to some, but I am having a hard time determining the right course of action in this situation. Long story, short....my 14 yo nephew (who has confided to my children that he is gay) has told my kids that he frequents a website called Omegle and has befriended many older guys and young men across the US. He has told them that if any of them tried to get him to meet them somewhere, he would go. He also said that one of the men/guys told him that if "comes out" to his parents and they give him a hard time, that he would buy nephew a plane ticket and set him up in an apartment somewhere. He has not told his parents that he is gay and swore my kids to secrecy when he told them, but they have told my dh and me. Nephew is extremely sneaky and does not have a good relationship with his parents (or any adults) at all, but spends time with my kids and confides in them, so that is how we know all of this. He has recently had his cellphone and iPod taken away, but he tries to find ways to call the men/guys to let them know why he is not able to text and chat. I am scare silly for my nephew. I have a thousand different scenarios running through my mind about what could happen. Dh and I want to talk to his parents, but we don't exactly have the best relationship with them and have absolutely no idea how they will respond. Unless they handle this amazingly well, nephew will know my kids told on him and I feel he will lose all trust in everyone. He has no one else to talk to except these other men on this chat site. Should we tell his parents and hope for the best? How should we proceed? Please help me think this through.

We are possibly moving to the Chattanooga area later this summer and I am having a hard time figuring out all the homeschool laws there. I have always lived in very low reporting states, so TN is throwing me for a loop. Can someone break it down very simply for me? Also, do you have any suggestions for homeschool groups in that area? Thanks so much!

We are possibly moving to the Chattanooga area later this summer and I am having a hard time figuring out all the homeschool laws there. I have always lived in very low reporting states, so TN is throwing me for a loop. Can someone break it down very simply for me? Also, do you have any suggestions for homeschool groups in that area? Thanks so much!

I am 14 weeks pregnant. Over the last few weeks, I have occassionally had a really hard time trying to urinate. It doesn't happen every time I go potty, but at least twice a day and sometimes more. I have to go, but when I sit down, it just doesn't come and I have to push pretty hard to start the flow, then throughout until my bladder is empty. I have no other pain...no burning, etc. I have a tilted uterus and in my previous pregnancies had this same issue for a very short period of time until the baby grew big enough to tilt the uterus into the right position. This time, it seems like it is lasting much longer than before. I have a call in to the doctor, but just wondered if any of you have experience with this. I don't think it is a UTI, but I have never had one before, so I am not sure. What say the hive?

The OP did not say anything inappropriate or offensive. She cannot control how someone else is going to interpret her words. There will always be someone who is offended by everything, no matter what, so there is no point in trying to mince your words so carefully so no one is offended. Someone will always be offended. You can't please everyone. Why should you try? The OP stated what she believed to be true in her case and it was that her children are different kids for being homeschooled. And she offered to give information to anyone else who was interested. Seriously, how is that a problem? I just don't get the "apologize and remove the post" suggestions. She is entitled to her feelings and should not have to remove the post to appease someone who shouldn't have been offended if the situation did not apply to her. The OP didn't say, "all you PS people suck and your kids are horrible." She just made a comment about her own life. She should absolutely not remove her post or apologize for her words. As for how I handle my own life, here and IRL, I always try to be kind and considerate, but my feelings are my own. If I make a comment that offends someone, I am not going to retract that statement. I try to always think before I speak (or write), but I am entitled to my thoughts and I am not going to go through my life afraid that something I say is going to offend someone and keep all my thoughts to myself. I have a right to express my opinion just as much as someone else.

It was your status update and your feelings and I wouldn't remove it, if I were you. You are perfectly entitled to writing whatever you want on your status and other people are perfectly entitled to interpret it however they choose. It is not your fault if someone took it the wrong way. I wouldn't offer any apologies, either. You can say what you want. I would, however, just let it die. No response at all. I will just say that I H.A.T.E Facebook. I loathe it and this makes me so thankful that I no longer have to deal with this stuff.

I feel the exact same way.

Bears? I don't know....I think you should go out in the rain and look for footprints. Then, report back to us :). It sounds pretty scary.

My suggestion would be to get him a really nice shadow box to hold his flag, medals, ribbons, and other military memorabilia. They can get quite pricey and come in all kinds of shapes, finishes, etc.

Recipe, please? Yum!!!

I wouldn't move her, but I would spend time each day taking her out away from everyone else, by herself, and remind her that she will survive without them. She is conditioned to her safe place and friends, so just spend time reminding her that she is safe with you, too. What helped our mare was for her to not know what I was going to do next....it kept her thinking about her job, instead of constantly thinking about the other horses. So, instead of the same old paces, I would change things up all the time. For example, arrive at your destination by figure eights, instead of a straight line, etc. As long as our mare is thinking, she was golden....allow her to get bored, and the whining and crying would start.

Oh.my.word! For some reason, this just struck my funny bone and now I can't stop laughing about it. Hilarious!

What a beautiful baby! Congratulations! Have you considered a chiropractor for your pain? They might help to realigned your pelvis. Hope you get relief soon.

The only thing that cleared up my severe adult acne was zest soap. Seriously. I struggled for years and finally, at my wits end, started using the soap in my bathroom. Amazingly, within a week, my face was dramatically different. I used it for about eight months, then started using bare minerals cleanser and moisturizer. My face is flawless now. Crazy, but true.

Are they pronounced differently? I always thought they sounded the same, just spelled differently.

Yes, in that case, I would just toss it. I thought it was the whole meal, and I am too cheap to let that go to waste :)

I would probably reheat it for a little while and go ahead and eat it. It would be too difficult to throw an entire meal away.

Could you bring it to a boil for a bit and then eat it? I am not familiar with that recipe to know if it can be boiled, but if it can, maybe do that. I would hate to throw it out.