We are going away for a big family reunion type thing this weekend with DH's entire family. I'm stressing out. I don't look the way I want to look, weigh what I want to weigh, my clothes aren't all that great, my hair doesn't look good, my contacts didn't come in time, I tried a new makeup that made my face breakout... you name it, I'm feeling it. Help me. I don't know what to wear. I can't buy anything but I do have a few good things in my closet. My biggest problem is jeans - I have one pair that fits ok, some that are too big, one with a huge hole in the knee, and some that are too small. I don't have any other pants that fit well. My khakis are ok but aren't very comfortable, they just aren't big enough for comfort, I guess. And there is no give in the material, so even though they don't LOOK too small, they feel restricting. Does that make sense? The rest of my pants are either way too big or way too small. Mainly I'm trying to figure out what to wear on Saturday for the whole big party thing, and Sunday for church. Though I would like to look nice the entire weekend, Friday-Monday. Any help here would be wonderful... Oh, and with the hair...I had a perm but it's been like 7 months since I got it, so my hair is looking awful. :( I don't have a wonderful straightener (mine was like $20 from WM and I have no intention of dropping mega bucks on a straightener ever, much less now) and it isn't quite straight but it isn't quite wavy either... I may just have to stick with ponytails all weekend I guess??? :glare: And my bangs are hitting my glasses, which is making them flip out all the time, even after I straighten them so they won't. So my hair is another thing that's stressing me out a bit... :glare: Anyway, yeah. I'm just having a hard time here. Why is it that I do this when I'm going to see people I don't see often? Why, after 10 years, do I still care so much about trying to dress to impress DH's family? :tongue_smilie: this is me (first pic - it was right after the fast, though, the beginning of Feb, so I was about 10 lbs lighter), only I have to wear my glasses, like in the second pic... http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m520/bkb2001/IMG_0423.jpg http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m520/bkb2001/IMG_1095.jpg

I find it ridiculous as well.

It just depends, I guess. I think it depends on the family relationship, mostly... The only time I went into labor (well, my water broke, anyway) was with DS7, and we told my in laws because we were living in an apartment very close to them. :) We called my grandparents at about 8am our time, when I had been there about 3 hours. (Still wasn't feeling anything, though). My grandparents said we could have called at 3am, because they were driving down to be here when he was born, but I figured they would have time. (And I was right, since they still were here a full 15 hours before he was born, AFTER their 17+ hour drive :lol: ) The other two have been scheduled c/s so we've known when they were. Then everyone knew. Never had people calling the hospital though... the whole thing with people calling (that multiple PPs have mentioned) baffles me a little. I guess we're private people and everyone knows that, so they don't bother us. Once the baby was born we always called someone and then let it travel through the grapevine. With DD I sent out a text with her name and a picture.

What? No, handmade gifts are TOTALLY FINE. Most people (around here, that I know anyway) are very happy to receive something handmade. It shows a lot of thought.

I've never seen a letter provided for anyone. Maybe because we don't get many (I think we've gotten 3 over the course of our married, adult life so far), they just don't bother me. I don't necessarily find them effective, I'm not saying that I do - unless someone has some rich family who hands out money for any reason :lol: - my family isn't like that. But I do think that it is possible for them to serve a purpose. Like I said before, those last 2 contributors wouldn't have even known I was going otherwise. And why should I expect all the money to just come? I don't know, I really don't like that idea - just expecting money to fall into my lap without even trying to do anything for it. We have some people who go on missions trips and complain because they haven't raised any money, yet they haven't done anything to try and get any money! They haven't been saving any of their own money (which, in my case, wasn't possible anyway, and I'm sure that is the case with many others as well), they haven't been trying to get people to help them out by sending letters, they haven't been fund raising, doing any silly little fundraisers like bake sales or car washes, nothing. They are just sitting around on their lazy bums thinking that all the money they'll need will just show up one day without them lifting a finger. Honestly? That attitude REALLY ticks me off. So I have to do SOMETHING. I can't just sit and let the money come. I think it's disgusting to expect something like that. I've made myself mad just thinking about that sort of laziness... :rant: I think this sort of thing must make a big difference. We are often involved in service projects - feeding homeless, building things, etc - not just walking 'door to door' or down the street, whatever, and trying to 'win people to Jesus'. Not that it is impossible. I just think we need to serve people. And I wouldn't be comfortable with a solely evangelical trip either. :)

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Ok, I PROMISE I'm not trying to be mean or rude or snarky or anything! Here's my question: I needed $800 to go on my trip. I was given exactly that amount. My two biggest contributors I did not send letters to. One of my smaller contributors I also did not send a letter to. But the last 2, which provided my last $100, I did send letters to. Doesn't that speak to the effectiveness of the letters? What would have happened otherwise? Glad to hear it!! :)

I looked and didn't see a thread yet... Here's ours... http://wp.me/p1Mck9-2w

I do agree with you. I don't go on all the missions trips we offer simply because they are offered - so I definitely can see where, in the one I have been on (as well as the one I'd like to go on) is something that I felt God was pushing me toward. So I guess, I say that I'll send my kids off as soon as I can on a trip, but at the same time, I won't make them if they have no interest. We had a kid with us on the last one who I think had no interest in coming - just that his parents made him go. He was a bit of a pain the entire trip! :tongue_smilie: So I definitely think it's important to take into account the child's interest level!

That sounds awesome! :) This is what I have found a lot of the time - that those who go on trips come back changed, many times more than they actually changed life for someone else (though, many times, service projects and the like DO provide a lot of change for people - I'm talking more evangelizing-type 'change'). I don't see why, as long as they are actually going over and DOING something, that isn't ok. I'm really glad that your DS had a good experience with it! I do agree that missions should start at home. Our youth group alternates trips in and out of country each year. Our church itself goes on multiple missions trips each year - a lot of them involve building schools, homes, and the like in other nations. But yes, I do definitely think that, as a whole, we should not view missions as something to do once a year or when we go somewhere - it should be where we are. Service should be where we are. I definitely get that! :) You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but how much did the out of country missions trips run? I'm just curious. I know that sometimes they can be quite pricey, but with travel and the like... Idk. I guess to me, $1000-1200 is really expensive, and any more than that and kids wouldn't really be able to go. (Usually a missions trip is only about 25 people anyway). Are you talking more than that? If so... :svengo: Idk, maybe the trips we do would be considered to be more vacation-y. We went to NYC this summer, it was my first missions trip - up until now, the kids were too small and the ability just wasn't there. But we drove up on Sunday, did some sightseeing on Monday (Statue of liberty, Ellis Island, Canal St. :lol: , Times Square, and the Empire State Building), and then Tuesday-Saturday afternoon we did service work with the NY Dream Center. We had a little down time here and there - Thursday evening we went to ground zero and wall street, and Saturday evening we went back to Times Square to do whatever. Sunday morning we attended their church service and headed home after. The trip was comparably cheap, though, and was in country, which is nice since I don't have a passport yet. :D I do kind of want to go to Ecuador, where we do a lot of other missions trips, as well. DH went to Haiti to build houses in February. I would like for our kids to start going on missions trips as soon as they are old enough. I would really like to do one of the trips with Compassion, where I visit Thailand, where our girl lives. (Our girl we sponsor, I mean). Maybe someday, if I get the opportunity. :) Anyway, I'm really finding all of this interesting. I do hope that the vacation for wealthy teens aspect isn't the norm... :glare:

Totally not trying to hijack here, but thought I'd chime in... Honestly? I can't remember. But the AG does also refer to itself as a denomination, at the same time it calls itself a fellowship of churches. ?? It is pentecostal. What is charismatic?

Our board of deacons all have to meet the guidelines laid forth in 1 Timothy - husband of one wife, various other things listed there, etc - and they have to be 30 yrs + (DH was grandfathered in, because he was voted in under the old law of 26+), and they have to have been baptized in the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues. We are AG. Which, on a sidenote, is not a denomination, but a fellowship. :tongue_smilie:

:bigear: Just curious. Awhile back, someone asked about missions trips for young teens. A lot of the replies were 'absolutely not'. I'm just curious about why, and if it would be different for older teens. And what about adults? (Not from a permission standpoint, but would YOU go on one?) Some had also mentioned they weren't fans of missions trips. I'm just curious as to why. :)

No. Our dog is a 60ish lb labradoodle. So, no shedding hair to worry about, but she's bigger than my kids lol... just too big to be on the couch.

:lol::lol: Idk, maybe... :lol: Your sparkly vampire comment made me think of that picture where Blade is in the background behind Edward/Bella and the caption says 'What we all wish would have happened' or something like that. :lol: Sorry, it just made me laugh and think of that . :D

:D I don't like hot weather bc I'm hot ALL the time. But I don't like really COLD weather either... today it was close to 80 here, but it still wasn't too bad. Idk, 80 in October feels different than 80 in May to me... or I'm just nuts :lol: And thanks for all the encouragement!!! Its weird how exercising can make me feel half dead at the same time I feel good! :lol:

You, are a WONDERFUL person. Just had to say that. :D (I had my share of people tell me how disappointing it was for me to not nurse, so its just nice to see this. Despite the fact that my decisions are long ago made, it helps because some of them STILL say stuff about it!) Anyway, it brightened my day. :)

and thought I was going to die. :tongue_smilie: or throw up. or pass out. or all three! That's all.

I'm not trying to...I just want to be sure that everyone is making up their OWN mind, kwim?? Like, I feel like there is a lot of 'WE do this because it's what we're supposed to do' type thing...without mentioning that everyone isn't necessarily 'supposed' to do the same thing.

I may be alone in this, but I feel like it's a little bit, um, legalistic to not participate in anything on Sundays just because it is Sunday. I don't see why a sports games or recitals or anything like that would be considered to be 'work' anyway - isn't that the deal? We aren't supposed to 'work' on Sunday? In which case, would you never let your dc have a job that required them to work on Sundays?? I can see if that is the ONLY day that you and your family can have 'family time' (whatever that even means! :lol: ), but I would think you could enjoy being together as a family just as easily at an hour long soccer game as you could sitting at home doing whatever 'family time' constitutes. It's still being together. ?? I'm really not trying to be rude, I just think it's kind of odd. If it isn't taking someone away from church, who cares? Oh, and in response to the Wednesday night thing - pretty much all churches have Wednesday night services/activities. Our church has bible studies, book clubs, youth group, and kids stuff (royal rangers/mpact girls) on Wednesday nights.

:D love bleach, and Momo is adorable. :) :lol: Well, DH and I don't dress up - I would if I had any reason to (Dh probably still wouldn't :lol: ) but I just don't. The last time I dressed up for Halloween was my senior year in high school, 12 years ago. I was 16 and dressed as a french maid. :D DH said I should have kept it... :lol: DS7 is going to either be Batman or Iron Man. DS5 will be the other, Iron Man or Batman. (they still have last year's costumes, and DS7 was Iron man and DS5 was Batman. No word yet whether they are going to switch or stick with the same one.) DD is a princess. :)

Around here no one does the shot anymore. My grandma said something about it, back in her day, but that's all I've ever heard about it. It can be kind of painful for the first few days once the milk comes in (I guess that's when it is? A few days after birth.) I wore a bra all the time, and it's important NOT to stand under warm water (like just stand there, because of the warm water helping with the pain... obviously, you have to take a shower lol) or express any milk at all for temporary relief. It only works against you in the long run. It goes away after a couple days or so maybe...I'm sorry, I actually don't remember how long it is...with DD, she was in the NICU and was unable to cry (respirator), so I think that made everything dry up quicker! So my last experience with it is almost 6 years ago. Hope everything goes well! And don't worry about not being able to nurse (not that you are - I'm just saying, just in case. :) ) - I know that a lot of women consider it uber-important, but I've seen no noticeable difference in health or 'bonding' between breastfed or formula fed babies. :)

This is why I can't watch when DS5 does anything. :lol: I would be going insane!! Just hurry up already! But he actually does a REALLY good job at the things that he does - I just let him go with it. He's still really young, I know, but I'll probably just keep it that way. He'll know when it is necessary to hurry up, and when he can just take his time.

Our community soccer league has all games on Sundays, except for occasional tournaments for the older kids. We've always done the games. Our earliest games started at 1:15, so we would leave church at 12. Now, our games are all at 3:45, which takes away all conflict. So technically, yes, we do games on Sundays, but they have never conflicted with our church schedule. Nothing around here happens on Sunday mornings. :)

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