I use a Kavu Rope Sling bag. It has 2 main pockets so I use one for my stuff and the other for baby stuff. You can easily fit diapers, wipes, a change of clothes, and snacks. It also has 2 small pockets I use for my keys and my phone. I also like it cause it's hands free.

We did both of these books with our high school girls at church last year. They are excellent! They do not take a ton of time each day, but delve into some great topics. I liked that there was a variety of different things brought up. Start with Salvaging and then Even More.

I second Wunderlist. You can access it from your computer or devices. It also has recurring tasks which I love for routines like house work and things like that

I have these and love them! I wear them as backup for my Diva cup or by themselves on light days. I love not having to worry about leaks, especially at night. Someone asked what you do with them afterward...you rinse in cold water, wash with the rest of your laundry, and then hang them to dry. Super easy!

My husband and I both attended TN Tech but that was almost 20 years ago (man I'm old!). We now live near Knoxville. I personally like TN Tech campus better. its not as spread out as UT. Cookeville definitely has more of a small town college feel even though it is growing.

I used to live in Chattanooga and now live about 45 min from Gatlinburg so I can offer opinions on both. Chattanoogas aquarium is definitely the better of the two. It is 2 buildings - one freshwater and one saltwater. We would usually go to one in the morning, eat lunch somewhere fun downtown, and them go to the other building. However, it is expensive and they do not offer a homeschool discount. There are other fun things to do that have already been mentioned. Gatlinburgs aquarium is not as big as Chattanooga but they do offer a homeschool discount. If you show proof of homeschooling you get $7 admission per person. Depending on when in March you are going, Dollywood may not be open for the season so you may be able to take that out of your consideration. However, if it is open, they usually do their Festival of Nations around that time and it is really fun. They have food and performers from various countries. We usually go at least once during Festival of Nations and count it as a school day. Also, Cades Cove is fun and doesn't require a lot of walking which makes it great for any time of year. You drive an 11 mile loop and there are various spots along the way where you can get out and walk to old cabins, churches, etc. There is a waterfall hike off the loop as well that is 2.5 miles and is really pretty. Usually we see deer, bear, and other wildlife as well.

I am more on the Sevierville side of Knoxville but grew up in Sparta, TN and went to college in Cookeville so know a little about that side of the state. I'm not sure about homeschool options there because I was in public school growing up. There are all kinds of homeschool things in Knoxville though if you don't mind driving. Like the others have said their are co-ops, classes at the zoo, i think there is a homeschool band/orchestra, and other events. Check out the SMHEA (Smoky Mountain Home Education Association) website and I think they have a listing of what is available. Most of the towns are not designed for walking/bike riding everywhere unless you live right in the center of town. I grew up in a very small town and there were sidewalks to walk or ride right around the courthouse and for a few blocks in either direction, but not near where I lived. But, we lived out in the country on 5 acres and had a creek and woods in our backyard to explore so we had plenty of time out of the house and in nature. Maybe just choose your new home carefully and look for something with some land where you can get outside? Taxes are good - we have no state income tax - so you are saving some there. Property taxes and things like that just depend on what county you in. Some are lower than others. Colleges are good. As others have mentioned we have the new program where graduating seniors can go to community college for free. This is the first year for it so I'm sure there will be some kinks to work out but its still very exciting.

You count the same way you count birthdays. Subtract the year you were married from the current year and that's your answer. So, 2015-1988=27 On your anniversary this year you will be married 27 years.

We just came back from a trip to Universal Studios and Island of Adventure. We stayed on site and it was awesome. All onsite guests get free Express Passes which get you on the rides quicker. With it being a holiday and as busy as it will be, I would recommend trying to stay onsite at least one night just for the Express Pass. It is good from the day you check in till the day you check out, so just one night will get you a 2 day express pass. It was busy when we were there and many rides had waits over an hour, some up to two hours, but we didn't wait longer than 15 minutes for anything with the express pass. We were able to do a whole lot more in less time than we would have been able to do otherwise.

I taught World Geography for 2nd-3rd grade using Expedition Earth from Confessions of a Homeschooler. We did a different country each week. We located it on the map and then they filled out a fact sheet with what continent it was on, capital, population, language, religion, etc. We learned how to say Hello in each country's language. They colored a flag while I talked about landmarks, customs, etc for a few minutes. Then we did some sort of craft or recipe from each country. We only had 1 hr a week and it was very full. They loved it and the kids still talk to me about it. For our last class, I created a jeopardy board with all sorts of questions about things we had studied - they had to locate countries on map, name the continent it was on, say hello in that language, lots of other stuff and then their final jeopardy question I gave them a handout with all the flags and they had to label as many as they could. Both of the teams only missed like 2 or 3 flags each. I was impressed!

The Aquarium does have a homeschool discount. I think it costs $7 per person. Your HSLDA card should be fine for proof.

You just need to bring proof of homeschooling. If you have an ID card from your umbrella school or co-op that's all you need. With the homeschool discount it costs $7 per person.

We just did a field trip to the Gatlinburg Aquarium with our co-op. They had a scavenger hunt that they handed out to our group. If you call or email ahead of time and tell them you are a homeschooler they will probably give it to you.

We just did a field trip to the Gatlinburg Aquarium with our co-op. They had a scavenger hunt that they handed out to our group. If you call or email ahead of time and tell them you are a homeschooler they will probably give it to you.

I asked my husband when he got home last night and he said he didn't know about cabins on the lake, but there are nice cabins in Townsend on the river if you wanted to be on the water.

I don't know if you will find any cabins on a lake near Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. Most people come for the mountains and hiking and things like that and that's where most of the cabins are. Sorry I'm no help

My son had this exact same thing happen. They did an x-ray to determine where the permanent tooth was. Since it will be several years until it comes in they put in a spacer. They will check his x-ray yearly and when the permanent tooth is close to breaking through, they will remove the spacer so it can come in properly. If he didn't have the spacer done, his other molars and teeth would have closed the gap and we would be facing major orthodontic things in the future. Getting the spacer was a super easy procedure and didn't take very long. The worst part was getting the mold done so they could get it made. My son has a bad gag reflex and he had to hold the clay in his mouth for x number of seconds and I really thought he was going to throw up all over the tech. She just kept telling him only 20 more seconds, 15 more seconds, etc trying to get him not to focus on what was in his mouth.

My husband and I have worked with the youth group at our current church for over 5 years. Previously we have worked at other churches we've attended on and off over the last 10 years. My son is not yet old enough for youth group. I work mostly with the high school girls. We text & talk on facebook often. Several of the girls meet at my house for Bible study once a week. We have also done fun things on occasion like going out to eat, going to a movie, etc. I know most of my girl's moms - some better than other. All of them have expressed their thanks that I am willing to be involved in their daughters' lives. They know my values and beliefs and know that if their daughter talks to me about a problem she is having I will give them Godly advice that will not contradict what they are teaching at home. Like a previous poster said, I don't think any of them have ever come to me with things that would have been necessary to tell their parents. Usually they ask for advice in dealing with other girls at school, teachers who they have problems with, questions about college or how to decide what to do with their future, or just general questions about Christianity. Most of these are things they have also spoken to their parents about, but they want a different perspective. They do know that if they ever told me something that I felt they needed to involve their parents, I would let them know that. I would also offer to go with them to speak to their parents if they wanted me there for moral support. I love my girls, pray for them daily, and am proud of the changes I see them making in their lives to become more Christlike. When my son is old enough to participate in youth group - and even at his age now - I would be more than happy for him to have the same kind of mentoring relationship with an adult that I knew shared our beliefs.

I understand what your saying and can tell that you are frustrated. But why did you mail the landlord a check if you didn't have money in the bank to cover it? I don't think the landlord did anything wrong in this situation. But, I hope everything gets worked out and you are able to move soon.

We actually were out walking in a tourist area one day and saw a woman with a monkey service animal. My brother in law is a nosy person and asked the woman what the monkey did. She had really bad arthritis and didn't have good use of her hands. The monkey did things for her like open bottles, pick up things, etc. She gave us a demonstration of him opening a bottle of water. It was pretty cool but I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

Try Rose Gordon. I've enjoyed all her books. They are set in England in the 1700 & 1800's

We went through infertility treatments and ultimately adopted our son. During that time, I was a member of an infertility & loss board. One of the women there makes memorial jewelry. Her website it http://www.hopeofmyheart.com/

Thanks for the hugs. Glad I could help!

We had this happen to us last year although we never actually had him with us. Our son is adopted and his birthmother was pregnant again and asked us to adopt the baby. Everything was progressing and things looked good. She went into labor 2 weeks early and we got a call from our attorney the day after he was born saying that she had decided to keep him. Our situation is a little bit different in that we still have contact with her because of our first son. We are friends on facebook and I wasn't expecting how much it would hurt me even now seeing pictures of him or hearing about problems she is having parenting. She doesn't have the best financial situation and even though I know she loves him and is a good mom, sometimes I have a hard time with feeling like we would do a better job as parents. It's a real struggle for me. About your friends, for me, the first few weeks were really hard. I didn't want to see or talk to anyone. Of course, everyone grieves differently, but even though it's not a death or a miscarriage, it felt that way to me. Also in our situation it really rocked my faith in God. We were not pursuing adoption again when she contacted us to adopt and we really thought it was a total God thing for us to have this baby because of how quickly everything worked out. She gave us 7 weeks notice and we managed to get all our paperwork, etc done in that time. I really struggled with why God would drop this situation on us out of the blue and then take it away. I have worked through it and feel closer to God now than I have in the past, but it was a long road. One of the hardest things for me was that since we never brought him home, several people in our lives didn't feel that we had a reason to be upset. Also, continue to support her in the months to come. It has been just over a year since we had our adoption loss and I still have days where grief hits me - if I see babies that are close to his age or just things that remind me of preparations we had made. His birthday this year was really hard for me and I wasn't expecting that. Also, we had a full nursery prepared and clothes bought. We had carseat & stroller, etc. We decided to move on and try to adopt with an agency since we already had our paperwork completed, but we had bought gender specific stuff since we knew he would be a boy and now that we are open to either sex with the agency, I had to take the bedding and some clothing and blankets and stuff back to Babies R Us. That was a really tough day. I about lost it when the cashier asked me the reason for the return. I managed to hold it together till I got back to my car and then I just broke down. I don't know what your friend's plans are but if she has to make any returns or things like that it might be nice to offer to go with her or even to do it for her if you can. We had had a diaper & wipes shower so a lot of that type of stuff and some of the clothing that we had (my son had picked out a specific outfit for his little brother) and some things that we didn't have receipts for I packed up and mailed to the birthmom because she had not been planning on taking a baby home and wasn't prepared. It was really hard for me to do but somewhat soothing at the same time. I don't know how to explain it. If she plans on sending things with him, you could offer to be there with her while she sorts through and packs things up. I think just offering to be there for her when she needs you is the best thing you can do. Letting her cry and listening to her talk without offering a ton of advice is good too. I know I just needed to vent and question why? even though I knew my friend didn't have the answers. I just had to get it off my chest. Our situation was a little rough since she is our son's birthmother and we love her and don't want to give him a bad impression of her or make him think we were angry at here so we had to be careful what we said about the situation so it was nice to have friends I could just vent to without being judged.

We adopted our son through Bethany and have been waiting for a 2nd child for over 6 months now. Our first adoption was from a Bethany office where we lived previously, our son ended up coming from another part of the state, and we have now moved and are working with a 3rd Bethany office. I do not feel that Bethany is coercive at all. Over the 9-10 years since we began our first adoption, we have met numerous caseworkers, birth families, adoptive families, and adoptees. Not one of them has had a bad thing to say about Bethany. I also know that in all the offices we have worked with, the majority of birth mothers that they work with never place their children for adoption. They get counseling to help them see what it would take to parent vs. what it would take to place for adoption, they look at what resources they would need to parent and Bethany helps them secure those things if that is their desire. The Bethany offices we have worked with have provided rent, grocery money, transportation, assistance applying for insurance, baby furniture and equipment, etc for mothers who are parenting their baby. They do their best to help them succeed. Only after they have explored all the options, do they work with the birthmother on choosing a family. Even then it is not a set decision. She is able to change her mind even after the baby is born. In our state, the birthmother has to appear in court to surrender her rights after the birth and then has 10 days to change her mind. At anytime during that period - even if the child is already with an adoptive family - she can stop the process. One of the reasons we chose Bethany as our adoption agency is because of the care and concern that they have towards the birthparents. And just to be clear, we have an amazing relationship with our son's birthmother. She is one of the strongest women I have ever known. She gave us our son and last year, she became pregnant again and contacted us about adopting that baby. Once he was born, she decided that she couldn't go through any more loss and decided to keep him. We were disappointed, but she is an amazing mom to her other children and we knew she would do a great job with him as well. I just wanted to throw that in so people didn't think I am only defending Bethany because they gave us a baby - we've experienced it both ways.