I expect that security is more easily managed at their residence compared with a public hospital. Since she most likely had a vaginal birth she could easily go home and rest. I went home within 5-6hrs of my first being born at a birthing center. Sounds the same there.

Christ is Risen! Truly, He is Risen! We had a lovely Pascha. Holy Saturday we had three people become Orthodox - 2 through baptism and one through Chrismation. I think the last time we had that many people at once was when I was Chrismated with two of my kids and another gentleman. We tend to tricking them in throughout the year rather than saving them up for one day :). We don't do Agape Vespers at our parish (it's at the Cathedral downtown) so we have moved that tradition to the Gospel Reading for Pascha. I think we had about 10 languages (German, Hebrew, French, Russian, Romanian, Swahili, Georgian, Portuguese) I can't remember them all. My dh also read part in Koine Greek. It seems like every year we have a few different people. It always ends with Father reading the whole thing in English and a friend interpreting with ASL. It always makes me cry a little, it's so beautiful. Last year's Pascha had a black cloud due to some difficult circumstances for me privately dealing with a difficult person at church. It was an internal battle just to go the services, and I missed several of them. This year Holy Week and Pascha were like a gift. First time ever we were almost the last people to leave and got home just before 5am. I can't believe I had that much energy, but the kids wanted to visit with Father and I was enjoying a chat with Matushka. I woke up at 10am with family beginning to arrive at noon for Pascha Pot luck and my first thought was "Why did I think that was a good idea??" We had about 16 people over for pot luck. Mostly it was family, which was just as well. The weather was cold and cloudy. My original plan was that we would enjoy the outside... but nope. It took me 2 days to recover but it is so worth it. Even though Bright Week is such a joyful time there's always a little sadness. I miss my church friends after spending so much time together that week leading up to Pascha.

definitely checking it out too. Thanks Xuzi Edited to add: Definitely like this Default better... it's much crisper than the muted colors.

I kind of like Phillip. But, I think the odds are on either Albert or Charles. Just saw some FB chatter. Gosh I hope it's not Charles. I'd take Phillip or Albert.

While I think that's pretty funny... I don't think mega churches have a monopoly on questionable behavior/culture.

Same with Orthodox I agree with those who said that Mega-Church is a Evangelical Protestant phenomenon and has more to do with the structure and service type rather than just a number (although lots of people is a given). I don't think there are Lutheran or Presbyterian Mega-churches- but I could def. be wrong.

That is an interesting question! I think the largest church I ever attended had about 700 members (attendees??). I never would have considered that a mega-church. Certainly it's about the numbers, but it seems to me that there's a different feel to a mega-church. Not sure I can put my finger on what I mean though. Definitely needing the pastor televised would be a clue. Multiple pastors- more than 3-4 (senior, worship, youth pastors are norm in many churches). How approachable is the senior pastor? That would be a factor to me. The other thing I think of when thinking of a mega-church is that it is more "seeker friendly" which to me (rightly or wrongly) means the message is a bit more watered down. They don't tend to use a lot of the traditional trappings of churches so as not to offend visitors.

talkers here... but we have pretty elaborate coffee hours after services because we fast from all food/drink in preparation for communion... so we're hungry! LOL. Children's school is after services so parents will often talk while they wait for their kids. Also, our church members are geographically spread out. So staying after services for fellowship is part of the normal routine at my parish. Not that everyone stays. There are people who leave right away and people who stay. Just depends. Back when we were Evangelical Protestants it was very normal to stick around after services and fellowship. Some times it was the only time we saw them during the week and we wanted to catch up. Are you close enough to your church to take 2 cars.?

That is a score in my book! LOL I definitely notice that my kids are very well behaved when there's a boy/girl - friend in the house. But, these are older kids than your son. The only time my kids have dated that young (2 of them have) it was over in a couple of weeks. Your son has lasted longer than that. So, not much advice.

So very sorry. Many hugs.

My master bath is currently gutted after 2 days of demo. I'm having a linen closet removed to enlarge the MB. Changing a standard 1970s tub with a deeper soaking tub. Redoing all the tile and floors. The closet will have minor work done and then we're adding a 2nd closet to an existing wall (we have serious storage issues here). I found them via my BIL because he's an electrician and works with a lot of renovation jobs. I really like them and feel comfortable with them (husband and wife team). I double checked them online just to be sure. My one issue is that they are very, very slow for response. I started this process in mid -Nov. and she couldn't even see me until late Dec. Then it took over a month just to get an estimate from her. So far, that is my only issue. She'll often say "I'll email you this or that tonight." and 3-4days later I'll send a reminder email that she never sent it. One of the things I do like is they are cost conscience. When I told her I was considering Formica for part of my kitchen counters she didn't bat an eye and said, "They have lots of nice choices now." She gave me a cost estimate for materials and when we went over she suggested other places to look that were much cheaper. It's not done and we've just started. They're estimating 6 weeks to finish. I'm expecting hiccups because this house was previously done by a DIYer who made a lot of mistakes.

okay... so I guess they're still working on it and it isn't me. I'll just keep doing it the old -fashioned way. ;)

has this been discussed yet? Are they still working on that function or am I just doing it wrong? I checked on the Site News forum. When I click on it there's a search function, but it always says "no results". When I click on "overview" nothing comes up.

yup...and they gotta get that selfie first.

oh this is so funny. I'm taken back to my childhood and women on TV who complained about their husbands not being romantic enough in the bedroom. Now,, it must be that they can't cook for her. I know I'd *love* it if my dh would cook something other than eggs and take-out pizza for me.

This was a lovely audio remembrance by Peter Sagal: https://www.npr.org/2018/04/17/603211630/peter-sagal-carl-kasell-was-kind-down-to-his-bones

completely accurate. :)

Sad about this. I started listening to NPR in the 80s when I was preggy with #1 and terribly sick and I never stopped listening. It was my only link to the outside world as we didn't have a TV. https://www.npr.org/2018/04/17/528656453/npr-newscaster-carl-kasell-dies-at-84-after-a-lifelong-career-on-air RIP

I'd never heard of him, or them, before all this came out on the news... but it's all just awful. And I agree. We can't know what is really happening in people's lives. Perhaps there were early clues to friends a family that we'll not know about.

oh my mama heart breaks for you. I hope you can get some replacements.

and writers, since I know we have one :) My dh was watching Romancing the Stone the other day and he noted that it is incredibly sexist (ya don't say??..). It got him wondering how the romance genre must has changed along with our changed sensibilities. I read all of 3 romance novels back when I was about 14. Back then it was basically falling in love with your captor type stuff. It was usually the dark and brooding bad guy (remember only 3 novels at 14yrs old, so I'm pretty limited in my knowledge). I can't even watch long ago enjoyed tv shows (like *MASH*) because it is so sexist. I used to love Frasier, I rewatched the series as recently as 3-4yrs ago. I tried watching it last month and now Niles creeps me out. Funny how we change. I know we talked about older popular shows a good 6months ago. But, I'm wondering about romance novels.

I've held on to my children's phonics program and a few read-aloud books. It is bittersweet. Hugs. But what fun to be moving to a new place and begin your next chapters. Enjoy that part.

I see you!! It's working for me... although I think you're using a new (similar) name.

My youngest was 4 days away from turning 12 when my oldest had her first. I also wasn't ready to be a grandma. She was still working towards her PhD (still is actually) and so I started babysitting 3x per week. It was an adjustment because I still haven't had the "empty nest" years. I think I'm a pretty good grandma. Probably not the best, but I think that's partly because I do see them so often. My youngest LOVES being an uncle. He's the cool uncle since he's not that old or busy with his own life like the older siblings are. My grandkids (I now have 3) love their uncle T.

Probably not a good time to buy a mattress is when you're in extreme pain from what you expect is your old mattress. But, I bought one of the Purple mattresses. I'm hoping it arrives next week, but it looks like it may be the week after that. :( https://purple.com/mattresses I looked at all the ones you guys suggested and looked through several reviews. One of the reasons I picked this one is because it looks like it is a good choice of side/back sleepers (I move around). While the Saatva got consistent great reviews, the price-point was just too much, even in my misery. My husband strongly suggested I don't go too cheap... and we haven't had good experiences with memory foam type mattresses. I get it 100 days to decide (another contributing factor), and I can update this thread if people are interested. sincerely - Debbi (who walks like an old lady every morning).