This has happened to me. I like to think I would be the kind of person who says something, but the few times it has happened I was left speechless. And then I beat myself up for it.

God calls us his children. That is how much he loves us (something I could not conceive of until had kids of my own) Is there anything that your kids could do that would make you stop loving them? There is nothing you can do that would make God stop loving you. God specifically calls David "a man after my own heart" and David did a lot of awful things- including murder. a lot of people in the bible faced terrible circumstances. I hope you can find a community of believers that will help you embrace this.

There are a whole bunch of plans at www.bibleplans.org. You can click on the day and it will give you the verses in whatever version you want.

I'm in. I am doing the chronological one.

You guys are crazy intimidating, but I am in for 2015. I've been sick this weekend, so I have almost finished 2 books. Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer - this was okay The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult - I am almost finished with this one and I really like it.

Huh. I'm 36 and I've never thought about it. Now I have to go examine myself in the mirror.

She will be grieving for a long time. You will have many chances to show her that you care and that you are there for her.

I don't know about the in progress download, but once something is downloaded, you can hold your finger on it and two options will come up. Remove from carousel or remove from device- you want to remove it from the device. I believe it can be redownloaded later.

I have an otterbox on my phone that is great, but dh has had two in the same time that have been completely destroyed. On my iPad, I have a Griffin (survivor?) I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. It has been 3 years and it is still going strong. My kids have dropped it on cement and spilled things on it and the only problem was that my 2 year old ripped off the flaps that cover the camera and speaker. It's not a huge deal. But if I had a kid that was hard on things, I would definitely go with the Griffin.

My name is Christie, not short for Christine or Christina, etc. I don't mind at all. I have been irritated by people refusing to believe that it really is my name, but they are few and far between. My parents are far from uneducated. I have a friend whose daughter's name is Abby Gail.

DHS as in the department of Homeland Security?!?! Yikes!!!! That is very scary!

They love Wild Kratts! And one thing they love to do is to set up their toy animals into zoos and take pictures of them!. Thanks, I will check it out.

Did you miss the part where they were there for 2-3 weeks at Christmas and taking the kids out for fun stuff every day? Yeah, I agree that grandparents have the right to spoil their grand kids, but they can't monopolize them at Christmas.

My kids have a crayola app that can take photos, drain the color, and use them as coloring pages. There are also stickers ans things like funny hair that you can add to the pics. Is there another app where you can mess with the pictures in fun ways? I am NOT looking for a "real" photo editing app, I'm looking for something goofy for a 4 yo and a 7 yo. When I try to search, all I come up with are real ones.

I know exactly what you mean! Stuff multiplies quickly! We have grandparents and great grandparents and a great aunt that is like another grandma, 8 cousins. We agreed to not exchange gifts with dh and my sibs- but my 4 year old cried when I told her that Uncle R wasn't on our Christmas list. Ugh. So then we had to add him, and then my sister because we couldn't do my brother if we didn't do my sister! My life is full when it is not the holidays! I don't have time for all this stuff!

We are doing it before we leave. The kids are getting kindles and it would be helpful to have them on the trip. I thought about taking a couple small things to open on Christmas, but suitcase space is at a premium, so we aren't going to do that. We are going to grandparents, so they will have things to open on Christmas.

I'm so sorry! Have you talked to your dh and told him how you feel? If you start now, can you name it a priority to save and make it to your family for next Christmas?

I'm glad I am not alone. My 7 yo ds is exactly like that. Exactly.

Me too. My MIL is furious that we are going to spend Christmas with my family. She says she told us in January that we were to be with her this year. Nevermind that she doesn't get to dicate where we spend Christmas or the fact that we have been there on Christmas for the last 3 years. (It just works out that way because my family is so far away and airline tickets are even more expensive than usual in December.) Fortunately, I don't feel any guilt. I'm just annoyed. That annoyance may or may not show itself when we get together with them on Saturday.

That's what I thought. Until my 6 week old was rushed via ambulance from a small town hospital to a children's hospital in Chicago. Until I held his tiny hand while he had a spinal tap, nevermind the gazillion other tests. Until I spent a week in the hospital with hardly any sleep. They would hardly let me feed him because they kept thinking they would have to rush him into surgery. Final verdict: probably a virus that was so minor we didn't even know we had been exposed. He was exclusively breastfed and was born a week late. He's healthy now. In fact, besides that week, he's never been to the doctor except for a well child visit. Neither have my other two.

My first got sick at 6 weeks, we went from doctors office to ER to small hospital to large children's hospital in one night. He was in the hospital for a week and in the end, it was "just a virus." He did have a spinal tap but it wasn't the first thing they did. I didn't completely isolate #2 and 3, but was more careful than with my first. I won't take my kids to the nursery at church until they are a distraction in the regular service (about the time they start crawling)

I read somewhere that kids stories have to get rid of the parents somehow or they can't have the kids go on the wild adventures. It makes sense.

If you go with the how to eat fried worms book, it could be accompanied by a "dirt cake" (crushed Oreos and pudding) with some gummy worms sticking out. You could even stick it in a flowerpot.

I would give them a list of books and some small kitchen items. I told my family that I wanted spoons and a tiny cutting board for Christmas. They gave me funny looks, but hopefully they will get them!

I am so sorry. That sounds really, really hard. I have no advice, but you have my prayers and good thoughts.