My oldest dd has gone into labor and she's trying for a VBAC. I'm headed out now to be with her. She and I would appreciate labor prayers for her. So far it sounds like she's doing very well. Will update when I get back home. Thanks everyone!

heartbreaking.

Thinking of you and your family... many hugs.

Sorry this is a bit of a ramble: We've been looking to adopt a dog since late fall and thought we had found the right one for our family. We met her back in Dec. at an adoption event. She was heart-worm positive, which meant we would have to wait to get her until she was cleared. We loved her, she was such a sweetie. Not hyper or anything. We applied to be accepted for adoption by the rescue and that took about 2 weeks because of the holidays. No problem, we weren't in a hurry because we knew we'd need to wait. There were some other dogs we were interested in, but this one we liked best. Yesterday her foster was able to bring her over to our house for a visit. She's still about a month away from being released. Anyway, we had reservations that she may be just a bit too timid for our family. She's good with children (I keep my grandson 2-3x perweek) and didn't need a fence, which we don't have. But, I dunno...I just had these reservations that perhaps we might overwhelm her. We want a dog as a companion for our 13yr old. This dog would be perfect for my dh and I if we were empty nesters, but I'm not sure she's right if we still have a young teenager at home fulltime and a grandchild. Doggie also has 2 other families interested in adopting her, but we're first in line. I just felt that it was wrong if we're having 2nd thoughts to hold them up, so I sent the foster an email. I found another 2 doggie possibilities last night...of course, they may not be right either. But, I'm worried that by telling them we're not sure this particular dog is the right fit for our family that we may lose are chance of adopting a different dog from them. Also, I have another question about adopting from a shelter. There's a 3rd possible dog at a shelter not too far away. But, my concern is that the shelter often has very little information about the dog's sociability compared with rescues, where the dog usually lives with a family/household. I don't want to get a dog that ends up nipping at my grandson because they just don't know these things at a shelter. Is that assumption pretty fair?

My daughter had a subchorionic hemorrhage early in her preg. She's due next week Praying for a sticky baby and strong uterus. Praying for your dh too. Talk about bad timing!

I loved the Ecolodge in Sweden.. I would love to buy a place in the woods, and put one of those in.

I'm so sorry. This is exactly the same problem we had (although we never had/caught as many hives). It was very demoralizing. We ended up moving and as we were preparing to move our one last hive, we found them all gone. We gave all our equip. to a friend who seems to have much better luck with her bees. My only thought given you live in KS - do you have the adequately sheltered from the wind? My friend (who lives on a farmette) surrounds hers with straw bales.

OMG!! he's adorable. I love a baby with hair.

how wonderful!! such happy news. Congrats, MissMarple welcome to the grandma club! I'll have to go look at her siggy.

me either. I could use a good laugh today.

congrats.

Yes... my kids always give me a hard time when I turn off the radio when traffic gets congested or I start driving in an unfamiliar area.

Yay! A Fellow weaver!... a table or floor? I learned....I learned... um.. .I'm sure I learned *something* new today... because I remember one of those "I never knew that," moments while listening to the radio..but now I can't remember what it was. :closedeyes:

Thank you Joanne, I've taken some classes here and there, with interruptions for grandbabies. I'm not even close to finishing. But, for me going back to school was hard. At least some of the classes...particularly math. I was never a really good student... but I found that trying to remember math concepts I learned at the beginning of the semester would not stick through to the end of the semester. I did pass the class (yay!), but I was sweating bullets. I think I"d be better at classes geared towards liberal arts... I still remember minor details about history/literature and philosophy that I learn. It's those things that get me very excited. But jobs are few and far between for a philosophy degree.

I'm wondering if this thread should be pinned? There's so much good advice and many of us are looking around and wondering what we're going to do with the rest of our lives, post homeschool/child raising.

Joanne... how do you look for someone in this field?

It's so true.... and while it can be a major pain sometimes, I'll take what I can get of being Dr. Mom.

I agree. Look into certification programs. My dd is looking at PT Assist. via a certification program at the local CC. It's a 2yr program.

Sadly.. the old saying is true here... "The Church would be a great place if it weren't for all the people."

Very sad. I don't follow the movement too much as I'm not involved with it...but it's still sad to see people victimized by church leaders. Cheryl Seeloff - haven't heard her name in a long, long time. I think of her from time to time and hope she's okay wherever she is.''

I'm so sorry.

oops, thanks for the clarification. Read the review. Not sure what to make of it, but I didn't like his liberal use of "scare quotes" :rolleyes:

I hadn't seen that and the truth is I probably wouldn't know how he'd missed the point since I am very unfamiliar with the Koran and hadn't watched that particular video. However, I do get my hackles up when someone is taking pot-shots at people they don't agree with. That's just intellectually lazy, IMHO. Thanks for the heads up on both counts. I think the thing is that everyone is going to have a POV that *someone* will disagree on. But, I definitely get what you mean that when you find a flaw in thinking in one area it's hard to trust them in another. BTDT. I'm excited about the google chat part (which I probably will only listen in on) because then we can hear other POVs on each of these pieces. It seems that Within's specialty is Western philosophy and thought. But, you've reminded me, I have a friend who is a scholar in Islamic philosophy. I wonder what he'd make of that particular video you mention.

Sounds wonderful! Count me as one who is beyond ready to move out of the DC/Balt. Metro area. I'm hoping to come. I have to tweek my carpool duties for that day, but it should be okay barring other complications.

I'm joining in (a few weeks late) and thought that maybe a few people here would be interested. It's a long project but looks like it will be quite good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWzmo4saWnA David Withun is a history teacher of a classical school going for his MA in Humanities.