Ha!! Me too! I think I may have detected a pulse. 🚙

I agree!!! I still love the ads. Lol! New stuff is always good to look at. I think it is perfectly reasonable to fund these boards with ads.

Yes. I am in remission right now, and doing all I can to stay there, but you never know. I have Hashimotos, fibromyalgia and a long grocery list of other autoimmune issues. Mainly, I try to be nice to me. I push myself HARD....but I also know when I need rest. We have been know to bed school. I had several years where I was bed bound but we still managed schooling. It can be done. It takes commitment and an iron will.

Oh, I hear ya! I have birthed and nursed 7 children also. Over the past 20 years I have gained and lost more weight an I care to even figure out. My greatest loss was 115lb. I am now in the best physical shape of my life....and boy, oh, boy would I love a quick fix to my battered belly and droopy books! However, the cost! Oh my, the COST!! I still have 4 kids needing to go through college, a business and a home to renovate....priorities! Anyway, I will just keep working out like a maniac! It keeps me from depression and it holds my anxiety at bay, so, having a nicer body is a great side effect. Now, MiF I had the funds, I would have some surgery in a heartbeat! I wouldn't want to augment, but lift and smooth.... My belly is a mess! c-section and a huge weight gain with my oldest made me look like an old balloon that lost its air....sigh.

Rose, I have been following this thread and just wanted to send you hugs. As an adopted kid who is probably a bit RADdy due to the trauma associated with my abandonment/ adoption I know what a tragedy it would have been for me to have met my bio mom as a teen. I probably would have done exactly as your son is doing and hurt my mom deeply. There is just such a psychological hole left in a child with RAD. Then again, I , like your son would have probably seen fright through my bio moms cr@p pretty quickly. I think he needs to get it all straight in himself. Actually, as I write this, maybe it would have been better for me and my mom if I had met and tried to foster a relationship with my bio mom back then. It would have gotten the cards on the table, no mystery, no wondering whys, no false ideas of who my mother really was. I met my bio mom a year after my mother died. I did have a relationship with my mother and I was there for her until the last minute, but it was alwaysr strained, always stressful, always hard. I never blamed her per se' for the situation, but I also never bonded well....I am still an arms length sort of person. I expect those around me to hurt me deeply, so I do not get too close. I am pretty outgoing and verbal, but not warm and cushy. I never can be. Anyway, last year I met my bio mom, 2 sisters and a brother. Also, an aunt. I was welcomed by all with open arms....and one sister has become a very close friend. Bio mom.........piece of work!!! Total piece of work! Truth and reality are not part of her world. She is very sweet, very smart, but as nutters as they come! Even as a full grown woman with adult children of my own, this is something I am working through. I wish my mother was around to help me with this. I wish I could apologize to her for being such a little sh*t. I wish I would not have hurt her the way I did, immaturely, selfishly, without regard for her feelings because I was so inside my own issues and not dealing with the full information...not even really understanding the psychological issues in adopted kids. I come from a time where kids were all resilient, and there was no idea that adopted kids might not bond properly, or might have abandonment issues. I do think it may pan out better that ds is getting a real view of the truth of his circumstances and may actually begin to see your side a bit....a big bit. I also hope he gets a good dose of bio mom, enough to see he really does want to be with his mother ( YOU!). Anyway, you and your family are in my heart and my prayers.

Thanks Hunter!!! This entire thread has so much interesting material....busy...busy clicking! Thanks! Faithe

I NEED MORE!!!! Please post more of your rec.s. These links are PRICELESS!!!!! Thanks Hunter!!! Pretty Please ...post more...or PM me.

Welp....that about summed it up......yep....!!!

I really think the opposite.....somehow, we manage a much more rigorous course when I let go of my plan and TEACH to my kids. I live in a state that is fairly regulated...and it is difficult to break out of the " school at home" mode, which very structured schooling ends up being....even if some of your subjects happen to be classical in nature. Relaxing your checklist and tuning into the day to day flow of your family, kids and lifestyle is not always easy....and relaxed does not me you let go of the reins and let the cart run wild....it means as you see the educational opportunities availing, you do not worry about the 6 grammar sheets that need to be done. It means you live within the flow and sometimes free fall. I find in my homeschool, we have seasons of relaxing our rein and going with the flow, and seasons of very focused, checklisted academic work. No matter what, we are a homeschooling family, which is our lifestyle...not just our way of educating our kids.

I picked TL 1&2 mainly because Memoria Press offers a class and I do not have to teach it. Eta: TL IS boring...but it gets the job done.

Perfect description of Lewis. Perelandra is a great read....and it is deep too. My teens love this trilogy, and I did too.

Ooh...ooh!! Read the Great Divorce....AAAAHHHHHH....I love CS Lewis!!