Also, I'll be praying for you, your husband, and family. Dealing with depression is very painful and isolating for everyone involved. (((Hugs)))

Cutting out excessive sugar is a health benefit to anyone, but I am wary of it as a solution to depression. Better diet, exercise, good sleep hygiene, etc. can all help with the symptoms of depression. But most often there are serious chemical imbalances in the brain, especially if the person is suicidal and had suffered at the level for much of their life. I tried to "cure" my long-term depression last year by eating clean and exercising. I lost 30 pounds and got in great shape. Still thought about killing myself quite a bit. Now that I am seeing a pychatrist weekly and taking medication for the first time in my life, I am finally able to see that how I thought about myself for most of my life is not "normal." Diet and exercise can't cure everything.

My girls are similarly enamored with "Let it Go." I'm waking up to it being belted out by my four-year old each morning. We've been reading different illustrated version of the Snow Queen from the library during this frenzy, and I can across Ruth Anderson's "The Snow Princess." It is different, but with similar themes and beautifully told and illustrated like Sanderson's other work. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316779822

Maybe use coke and mentos in place of baking soda and vinegar. To build a quick mountain around the coke bottle you could use spray foam (the kind you use to fill in cracks) instead of paper mache.

I second several of the suggestions. I have similar age kids, and they love sibling stories since they all identify with a character. Over the last year, we've enjoyed: All-of-a-Kind Family The Saturdays Half-Magic The Moffats Several of The Little House books The first couple Chronicles of Narnia (a bit of a stretch for the youngers) 101 Dalmatian (Doggy siblings!)

I just started the Curly Girl regime. I bought a sulfate free shampoo/conditioner and a silicone free curling cream. I stopped using a brush or comb on my hair. I only use a very wide-tooth comb on my hair while in the shower. I stopped using a regular towel on my hair and instead wrap it up in an old pillowcase. I only blow dry with a diffuser until my hair is 60% dry. My hair has gone from very dry and frizzy to ringlet curls in a week. In fact, I feel like my hair is getting over moisturizered, but I think it is just that I don't know what it feels like to have hair that actually has its natural oils in it.

I grew up well below poverty level, but thankfully never knew real hunger. Both my parents were very economical, and my mom was a great cook who could make food stretch well. Also, we always had a garden and some livestock, even when we lived in town. My dad hid chickens in the old garage behind our house despite city ordinances. We eventually moved to the country and next door to my grandfather's farm, which had woods and a pond. Between a huge garden, livestock, fishing, and hunting, we were well off for food. Despite generally having a good food supply, we did NOT waste food. We were not forced to eat things we truly disliked as kids, but we had to try it. If it was disliked, someone else ate it. You could eat other parts of the meal, but you didn't really get other options. Every part of a food source was used. I remember having to clean turkey necks for the tiny scraps of meat. We ate livers and hearts. We would butcher our own hogs and make scrapple from the leftover bits. Leftovers were not thrown away, and if it really did become indelible, it was given to the hunting dogs or hogs. Eating out or store-bought baked goods were huge treats. Often times at meals, we would figure out the price per person for the meal so we would all be aware of how much we were saving to eat at home and from our own produce. The funny part of the whole situation was that despite being so poor, we ended up being able to grow/raise so much of our own food that we were able to donate quite a bit to a local food pantry. We had a huuuuuuge garden (a solid 1/2 acre or more) that was generally the responsiblity of the kids to weed and water. At the end of the summer, the food pantry would send a huge moving truck to our house so we could load it with fresh corn, watermelons, cantaloupe, and cucumbers. Thanks to some amazing parents, my take away from my food experiences as a kid has been not to waste and to generously give away food to others. I still have overwhelming guilt anytime I eat out to this day, but that is about the worst of it.

Those for points seem to better describe a liberal arts education than a strictly classical education, but I still like them!

Sorry for all the typos. I'm on my phone.

In fact, Pope Pius X, an icon for traditionalist Catholics actually broke the rubics on the age at which you could give communion. At the time, the Eucharistic was not to be given to those who had not reached the canonical age of adulthood, which was 12. He began giving communion to younger children, even one famous 4 year old girl, Nellie of the Holy Eucarist. He eventually changed the Canon for the whole Church, but well after he had changed his own practice. I find it ironic that traditionalists who revere Pope Pius X are in such a frenzy over a much smaller departure from rubrics from Pope Francis. I mean, you can not compare changing eligibility for recieving the Most Blessed Sacrament with one small change to a once yearly optional rite.

The rubrics state is should be men. It does not state they must be Catholic or even Christian. It is also an optional rite so it does not even need to happen at all. Also, the Pope is free to make an exception to these rubrics as he sees fit. Other bishops or priests are not free to do the same unless they have permission from Rome. Might some clerics chose to ignore the rubrics in the future because of Pope Francis' example? Sure, but I think they would likely do so anyway. Pope Francis clearly felt that the Church and the world needed to see an example of him serving the marginalized despite their faith affiliation or gender. He is totally free to make this decision, and I personally agree with the need for such an example.

I am surprised the decision was made so soon, too! I am soooo excited!

We all had strep, followed by influenza a...it has been almost 4 weeks of non-stop illness. I am surprised my husband is still here!

Oh, I'm glad there was some type of explanation for your initial experience with the church secretary. She certainly couldhave still handled it better, but at least it is more understandable. Yes, a Newman Center is a Catholic center at a university or college that specifically ministers to college kids, though everyone is welcome. Often times masses there tend to have more contemporary, praise and worship style music during mass, social activities after mass , etc. My 19 year old BIL who lives with us goes to a Newman Center mass evey Sunday night at 10 pm. They have pizza after mass and hang out. It's a little late for my taste (;-p), but it is always packed!

One last thought on confession....don't put your cell phone in your back pocket! A good friend of mine went to confession recently and forgot her cell phone was in her back pocket. She sat down and started confession and unknowingly called her MOTHER-IN-LAW! Yes, she butt-dialed her MIL in confession. While Christ and the priest will not be shocked by anything you ever say, I'm not sure if that extends to MILs. :-) So turn off the cell phone!