Oh, now I'm jealous! I just moved away from DFW...would have been there in a heartbeat!

Not. We went camping last weekend and are going to a state park next weekend, so this weekend is reserved for putting in a new fence! It's exciting, since we are doing it in preparation for a new puppy, but wow...is it going to be a LOT of work! :svengo:

:iagree: Very well put! We tithe because we want to support and be a part of God's work, not to receive a blessing. I'm not a prosperity gospel kind of gal, and DH would agree with me. Televangelists sometimes really get my goat, for that reason. That said, I do think that Christians have a responsibility to support their local church and other ministries to the degree that they are able. God wants us to be a part of His work, and voluntary tithing is a way of doing that. If you are giving to receive back, you are giving for the wrong reason. ETA: I'm not sure I'd count giving to a televangelist as tithing, anyway. I think that we tithe to the local church, we give beyond the tithe to other ministries just as a gift and out of any abundance we may have.

Pay off all available debt here! Best to completely own what you have in this economy. Any left over would be stashed in the safest possible investment I could find. That's all after tithing, of course. That's got to come first no matter what the economy looks like.

DH loves his...it has literally made him sleep better, be able to give up a CPAP and have better overall health. He used to do them twice a day. Now, he only uses them as necessary. DH uses NeilMed (that you can get at the local pharmacy), and he buys the packets. They work too well to switch! Only tip I'd have is don't do it right before bed or you'll have drainage while you are sleeping...yuck. He always does it at least 1 hr before bed.

I would definitely not let the dc spend the night, even if it hurts MIL's feelings. It's too risky, esp. if you both have noticed something "odd" about the uncle. If it were me, I'd say that the kids have had a big week, they are tired and so are you, so spending the night is not a good idea for this weekend. Offer to come over (w/o the kids' overnight bags!) and bring the kidlets to meet the new relatives, then beg off early to get the kids home to bed. Barring that, say that you really need this three day weekend together as a family, and you'll need to come over another weekend. You're going to have to say something to MIL soon, though. This is going to come up again. Does uncle have any sort of problem? Mental illness, inability to keep a job, any possible drug/alcohol abuse? It isn't normal for a man of that age to be living with relatives and not working. Find something, blame that, and only go towards the nebulous "weird feeling" if you are not understood. Tough one...hang in there. Follow your gut where your kids are concerned!

I agree with Melinda...I believe God makes good things happen because it is an essential part of His nature to do so. The Bible doesn't just say He is loving...it says He IS love. For me, it's easy to believe that He brings good things, as that's who He is. That said, there is more to God's character than just that. He is also just, omnipotent and true. He cannot/will not act outside of His essential character. So, we have to remember that if He does have a role in allowing the bad things to come about (which I believe He does, if only from the perspective of allowing us the consequences of sin), it is for our good and is done in a loving way...His ways are not our ways, and we often just don't get it! That's faith...trust in the light of both the good AND the bad! Love sometimes involves discipline, which is something that we all understand as a parent, or doing something for the child that hurts at the time but is done for his/her good (think, vaccinations, for example). God is no different. Sometimes, to accept His love means that we have to accept the bad things that come our way, knowing that only HE is omnipotent and all-knowing and understands why the bad things happened. My infertility, again, is a good example. My problem is likely caused by a drug taken by my mother during pregnancy. OK, so do I blame God for not intervening? I could, I suppose, but I'd miss the fact that He didn't step in because He chose to use it for good in my life. It's certainly not pie in the sky thinking to see that it brought me closer to Him, and that my adopted children were meant to be mine! Punishment? No way. Loving involvement in my life, giving me a ministry I cherish, drawing me closer to Him? Absolutely! Way different thinking, IMO, than to assume that God brings bad to punish someone...:D HTH.

I'm really tickled to see how many of you know about this and can offer feedback! Thanks to all of you!

I've seen some coupons for produce, and some deals where you get free produce when you buy salad dressing (or something like that). I've recently gotten bagged salad, lemons, clementines and apples on coupons. It's not frequent, but it's out there. There are also sometimes tear off pads in the produce section that have coupons for produce. I've actually seen it listed on the GG list that way...look for tear off pad near the cheese, for example.

I second the message board comments! Cut and paste your post here right on over there and see what the other military members have to say. There are lots of them, and I'm willing to bet there are some in your area. I remember military families doing well with the GG, but who knows? It's great for me, but it is kind of like a home school curriculum. One size doesn't fit all...

Thanks, Margaret...that's the title I was trying to come up with! Boy, I must really be tired not to remember that one! :o

MUS does have placement tests, and you can often get the curriculum used here on the sale/swap board. Also, they have customizable worksheets and review pages on their site for free. We used those even before we bought the curriculum!

Where I come from, there is no cost to adopt from foster care, and she should keep adoption assistance (not taxable!) and Medicaid until she is 18. (Do you need outside legal representation? Is that what you are concerned about?) If she is designated special needs, you can also get the maximum adoption tax credit back...around $10,000, and it's a tax credit so it's not taxable. ;) Check in for more information with your social worker...she should have clarified all this for you by now. Insist on it...you need all the clarity you can get on the financials, yesterday! Don't be overly concerned about attachment disorders. They are rare, especially with a child as young as yours who has been with you for as long as she has been! Research it and find out the warning signs, but don't expect it to happen. It probably won't. RAD is rare, attachment problems more common but still are rare. Does she seem bonded now? She'll likely stay that way! Statistically, adoptive children have no more problems in adolescence than do biological kids. Adolescence is just tough, period! Their issues may take a slightly different form, but they aren't necessarily more troubled because they are adopted. The "who am I?" question takes on more significance. The more open and honest you are from the beginning about her adoption, the better off she'll be. Details, esp. bad ones, aren't necessary...but don't keep secrets, either. It's her life and she deserves to know about all the pieces of it. Adoptive parenting books run the gamut. There are tons of them out there, some good, some bad. Check in with your local library first, and don't head for those books on RAD. Go for the ones that discuss openness in adoption (you'll need it in your situation!) and how to parent a toddler through adoption. Get children's books on what it means to be adopted...start reading those with her before she can read herself, and you'll become comfortable with the language you'll need to have discussions with her when she is older. I'll try to think of some specific titles later...I'm brain dead now after three days of DH's traveling, and can't think of anything at the moment! :D

I love that, Kelli. You said it far better than I did!

:iagree: That's not the God I know! I'll give you the same answer I gave my mom when she lost her mom and dad to cancer/alzheimer's in the same month: Bad things happen because there is sin in the world, not because God wants us to suffer (for purposes of growth or not!). People who believe that God "causes" or "allows" these things to happen have it backwards. God hates death, illness, abuse, etc. more than we do. He would prefer that none of these things existed (and someday they won't!), but does not stop them because to do so would mean intervening in the thing that caused them in the first place: our free will to choose good or evil. Our ability to choose to accept or reject Him is what makes us human, and He does not choose to take that away from us. If your friend wants to blame God for something, tell her to blame Him for loving her enough to let her choose to accept or reject Him! ;) Now, God DOES love us enough to be there with us when we suffer and to help bring some good out of terrible experiences...I think that is the meaning of Romans 8:28. He is bigger than death, bigger than sickness, etc. and He loves us enough to use our life circumstances to His glory. IMO, that is what He means when He says that all things work together for good in the lives of believers: He means that He makes it so! Tragedies, illnesses are the consequences of global sin in the world (for which ALL carry the blame) and most of the time have little to nothing specific to do with the suffering individual. To get more specific, I'll use myself as an example. I cannot conceive. Does that mean that God cursed me with infertility so that I'd receive just punishment for my sins? Nope. He grieves with me over it. However, He is also there to make lemons out of lemonade, so to speak! I now have five beautiful children through adoption/stepparenting who bless my life tremendously...and whom I've been able to help pull out of fairly desperate circumstances when I adopted them. Does that look like punishment for sin to you? Nope...looks like God's loving compassion to me! :D I'm a bit passionate on this subject...sorry for the soapbox!

How about MUS? We have Singapore and MUS here...I use Singapore for DS7 and MUS for DD8. I've not done it long enough to be an authority on both, but I can say that next year I plan to supplement DS's math with DD's since she is a year ahead of him and the programs appear to be complementary. I've got an engineering friend who already uses both together, and she says it is working great. HTH.

Good advice, Penny...thanks!

If you are talking to me, we have six. When we were buying six papers a week, we actually had seven since my mom lived with us.

Great, thanks ladies! I'm hopeful I can find the right blend of services. My younger two are in speech therapy with the public schools...I just asked the gal today if she knew of anyone who offered this in the area. She said that it was possible that the OT she works with might be able to offer it, once we get the testing done. Any thoughts on this? Should I just stick to the private doc and travel, or give the OT a shot?

Just thought of something else...portion size is a big way to save with coupons. Buying more of a smaller size with a coupon sometimes makes a big difference, esp. when you are talking about store brand vs. name brand. That said, do a comparison with the store brand as you shop...sometimes they ARE actually better than the name brand even with the GG (but it's rare in my area). Also, the GG will list store brands when they go on sale, even if you can't use a coupon for them. Best sales end up on the GG list, coupons used or not.

Laura, I'd suggest that you get on the GG boards and ask for people in your area to comment on their savings. They can tell you (and will, in frank terms I'm sure!) the advantages/disadvantages to the GG where you live, and they can also tell you which lists are the best to purchase. Some stores are better than others! When I first started, I spent a lot of time hanging out on the GG boards learning the ropes. They were very helpful. One of the best tips I got was to file my coupons as whole inserts, and not to cut them all out. Since the GG list tells you exactly where to find the coupons you are looking for, this works well. I just staple all my inserts together (like pages to like pages) and file by date. When ready to shop, I pull the inserts I need and clip only the coupons I want to use. 20 minutes to prepare to shop, tops. I couldn't do it otherwise with four kids, homeschooling and a traveling DH! Oh, and another tip...rainchecks are your friends! I won't shop on Sunday unless I have to, which leaves me with Monday or Tuesday afternoons most weeks. If things are sold out, I get rainchecks and get the stuff the following week. If it is a really hot item, that also gives me time to order more coupons (I use www.thecouponclippers.com). Good luck!

Oh, that is just terrible! He does publicity for my former employer (an adoption agency), and I have to say he and his family are amazing. What an awful thing to happen to them all, and that poor boy! My heart just sinks for them. I'll be praying.

Buy more papers! That's where the vast majority of their coupons are found. Skip the printables altogether...the higher value coupons are usually in the paper. I get a minimum of 3 papers a week...used to get 6 when I was building my stockpile. The $1.50 or so per paper is easily made up in the purchase of just one or two coupon items at the rate you save with the GG. The other tip I'd offer would be to take more than one trip to the store, same day or not. Our stores here will only double 3 "like" coupons at a time (meaning per checkout), but don't care if you shop every day or even twice a day. So, if there's something I have lots of coupons for and really want, I'll keep on going back or shop with kidlets and give them a handful of coupons to try out!

Well, I'll chime in here since I've been doing the Grocery Game for years...I'd be willing to bet you my weekly grocery budget that they were the same or nearly so! I kick hiney every week using the GG, and I was a "savvy shopper" even beforehand. Saved enough my first year with the GG to pay for DD to go to private school for a year, just on the grocery budget! This past (and very average) week, for example, I spent $109.13 and saved $117.26 at Harris Teeter. The register wouldn't let me check out until they had a manager override! :D In case you are wondering what was in the cart, I'll tell you it was some meat, some produce, some cleaning supplies and tolietries, and a few healthier boxed foods like cereal and pasta. I once got over $800 worth of groceries in one day...but only spent about $200! If you look at the GG list on any given day, you may see that pileup of stuff you'd never use. The thing about it is, there are just plain ole weeks like that no matter what you do! Sales run cyclically, everything comes up about once every 12 weeks. So on the hemoroid creme weeks, I just don't shop at all. I've built up a stockpile that allows me to do that and still have everything I need save maybe bananas, eggs, or something like that. You have to look at the overall picture, not the specific week.

Can you give me some idea of what is involved and whether or not it can be done at home? I'm not suggesting putting together a program myself, but rather can I implement part or all of the treatment in a home environment. I'm a bit worried because DD is headed for a developmental eye exam (thanks, Kathy, for directing me this way!) and the closest providers are in Charlotte, over an hour from my home. I have three other kidlets with special needs of one variety or another, and DH travels! Should I have to go weekly or whatnot to Charlotte with the whole bunch, I may go completely insane. It will be worth it, as I'm now convinced this the answer for DD. However, if you check back with me in a year, I may be completely bonkers from the stress...my twins do NOT do well in public places. Waiting rooms and long car trips are my worst nightmare! :banghead: Thanks,