Most excellent! Everything that I've been thinking the past week. Thank you very much for sharing it.

:svengo::svengo::svengo:

I have found your thoughts very helpful and not bunk at all. :)

We enjoy it. :)

I will try to answer any other questions that you have as I have time to. Someone else asked about costs. There is a one-time purchase of the robot kit ($395, I think). Every year there is team registration fee around $250 and the Field Set-up Kit around $65. Then there are other fees that will vary by team: t-shirts, anything need for the presentation, hotel fees if you must travel for your competitions, and meals if you have overnight trips. I believe that many teams have various fundraising projects, for example a bake sale. Some teams have sponsors. I hope this helps! :)

Simka, thank you so much for the link. I have a few questions that I hope you or another Orthodox can answer for me. Whenever someone links a book, I always read the 1 & 2 star reviews before I read any of the other reviews. There were only 4 "bad" reviews, but the points made in them seem to question the accuracy of the book from an Orthodox view. If anyone has the time to read the 4 reviews (they are fairly long!) and the comments posted on them and can give some feedback, I'd really appreciate it. :) Also, is there anything similar to the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur that the Catholic faith has in the Orthodox faith? Thank you!

A WTM Camp!! :D Anyone else picturing something along the lines of the camp in Parent Trap where the PARENTS get to spends weeks away at camp? *sigh* that would be so much fun!

It's my new favorite word! :D

This year will be the first time that I attend a convention. I am not interested in looking at the vendors (though I probably will since they'll just be sitting there!). The ONLY reason that I will be going is to hear SWB. That's it. If she weren't going to be in Philly, then I wouldn't even consider going. Books are nice, but I want to hear SWB.

:grouphug: I just want to say that I understand. I don't really have any advice other than to say that you have to do what's right for you and your immediate family and try not to worry too much about your extended family. There are several of the "for Dummies" books on different religions and branches of Christianity. I love my Catholicism for Dummies. It has answered most of the questions that I had pertaining to the Catholic faith. I have searched for a similar book on Orthodox Christianity and have not been able to find one. Maybe someone can suggest a specific title.

Where I grew up in Southeast Texas, they came in during dry times AND when the ground was saturated...which in Southeast Texas was pretty often. And yes, they do fly. But you know what fixes that?? A Big 'Ol Cheap Can of hairspray. :lol: Glues their wings to their bodies so that you can: A. Throw a shoe on them B. Get someone who doesn't mind the "crunch" to step on them (& remove them!) For perspective....we have recently moved to the Northeast. Eastern Shore of Maryland. While we haven't had *much* snow, it has been terribly COLD....unending COLD for this Texas girl. While I like snow, the past month Texas has had highs in the 70s & 80s............and we're still in the 40s.

You mean there are people who don't sort? :001_huh: I sort. I put all the produce together with the potatoes in front so they'll be in the bottom of the bag. I put all the meat together. The rest of the cold stuff is just grouped in a big pile. All cans, then boxes. Oh, and non-food items next to last. Bread & eggs are last.

No, it's not, but it's better than the only other one I could find that showed Orthodox as a split branch way off from the tree trunk!! (It was an actual "tree" that was used.) I didn't realize just how many different Family Trees there were!! :001_huh: My preferred is similiar to the one that Parrothead found, that shows an even split in 1054, but I couldn't find a good link to it. :)

:iagree: Yes, justamouse, you understand me perfectly.

In searching, I found this chart of different denominations. I have at home the Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Time Lines that I use as a reference. When I searched "family tree of denomination", I found many other websites that broke each denomination down into a more comprehensive family tree. I didn't know it was even more complicated than *I* thought it was! :001_huh: I think that what we do with our new found knowledge *IS* our choice, in that we can choose *how* we use it. For *ME*, I will continue to learn and grow in faith and *I* choose to sign up (is that even the right phrase?) for RCIA classes because that is where *MY* knowledge has led *ME*. You (and everyone else) have a different lense (your life and your knowledge) that you see through. We may not view the knowledge the same way, because at this point in our journey, we're not supposed to. I'm thinking of the blind men and the elephant......the each touch a different part of the same animal and come to very different conclusions. Only if their sight was restored would they all see the same thing. Maybe we are like the blind men and will not see until our sight is restored (return of Christ). Maybe we can only see what we are able to see. Maybe what is true for one, is not true for the other.

:iagree:I fell and fractured my elbow when I caught myself on my hands and had almost no swelling. The took x-rays and told me then that there were soooo many small bones in the wrist, that I could have small fractures not showing up. The doctor treated my wrist as if it was broken.

Colleen, I have been reading this thread with much interest and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for starting it. I finally got up the nerve to come right out and tell my DH that I wanted us to begin RCIA classes at our local parish. I have for many, many years been drawn to the Catholic church. One of my best friends in junior high was Catholic. My sister's husband is Catholic and they were married in the Catholic church. My step-mother's family is Catholic. I was raised Baptist. My DH was raised Methodist. We have primarily attended Methodist churches the 17 years that we've been married. I always pushed aside the draw I had to the Catholic church because I was raised to believe it was "not quite right with God" and that was the reason for the Protestant Reformation. In 2006 we began homeschooling ala TWTM. In 2007 as part of my research for my DD's freshman year, I printed out a copy of Martin Luther's 95 Thesis. As I read them, the thought kept running through my mind that Luther did not want to leave the Catholic church......he wanted changes.....he wanted corrupt officials & practices (that were relatively new) out of the church. I remember leaving my office and finding my DH and asking him to read them, thinking that maybe my draw to the Catholic church might be affecting my interpretation of the 95 Thesis. Well, he thought the same thing I did. For nearly a year I struggled with whether or not it was *right* to continue to go to our Methodist church believing that it was founded on incorrect information. (I don't think I'm saying this very well, my son is on the other side of my laptop fussing at this math!) I ordered for myself a Catholic study bible and Catholicism for Dummies. And made many, many phone calls to my sister who has since her marriage converted to Catholicism. I begin research into church history. I found timelines of various Christian denominations, a family tree if you will, and wondered at the mess on the Protestant side and how straight those trees grew on the RC/EO side. Having been raised Baptist, I'm very familiar with how often that particular denomination splits. Every town that I've ever lived in has had splits within the Baptist churches. In my hometown alone, from 1977-1989, we had 4 new Baptist churches break off from existing ones....and not because of growth in the church. That experience may be part of why I've always been drawn to the Catholic church. There was only 1 in town. As a previous poster mentioned, once I had my eyes opened, I felt that I could not ignore what God was showing me.....and still I waited and researched nearly 4 years before coming right out and saying that I thought that we as a family needed to talk to the local priest about RCIA classes. I truly believe that God meets people where they are in their walk. I also believe once you have knowledge your are obligated to use that knowledge. Now, that doesn't mean that anyone reading this should convert - that's not what I'm saying at all! I simply mean that God impressed on *ME* this knowledge, and that *I* am obligated to follow up on it......that it would be wrong to ignore it and Him. And I've tried to ignore it thinking that this draw would go away. I've researched thinking that I would find other answers that would allow me to stay in the Methodist church. The Catholic church is where God seems to be leading me and my family at this time. I don't know why, but I know that I'll be more peaceful about it once I stop fighting him on it! Good luck on your journey.

Beautiful post. Thank you so much for sharing.

When we started homeschooling I made it a point to divide all of the household chores. Now, since I am The Mom, I get first choice on chores. :lol: I really, really, REALLY, don't like to load/unload the dishwasher. The kids do that. I really, really, REALLY don't like to fold all the "whites" (socks, undies, undershirts, boxers, etc...)....do DD folds the whites and delivers them to the appropriate person's room. I don't mind folding towels, but DS needed a laundry related job, so he's in charge of folding, putting away, and straightening towels and linens. Everyone sorts laundry into one of three hampers: "whites", lights, and darks every night after showering. When the hamper is full, I will wash & dry all types of laundry, but I only take care of the clothes that *I* don't mind folding. Each person is required to gather their folded/hanging laundry from the utility room and put it away.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

The menu-mailer is a weekly menu with shopping list that is emailed to you. Like I said before, it's been years since I subscribed. I have no idea if this is still offered. I took what I learned in the freezer menu and applied that to the menu-mailer (which is NOT freezer menus/recipes) and started changing the weekly recipes into freezer recipes. For whatever reason, it simply never occurred to me that I could break down any recipe into "stages" if you will, and bag each stage separately, placing all stages into 1 gallon sized zip-loc bag. :001_huh: One thing that I really, REALLY like about Saving Dinner is that she uses a variety of spices. Combinations that I *never* would have thought to do or try......and they're great! Cumin is now one of my favorite spices and I'd never used it before purchasing the freezer menu or the weekly menus.

I've never heard of the book! I purchased the big Freezer menu. I think it's volume 1. It has 22 recipes in it. It was rather pricey to purchase all of the grocery items necessary to prepare all of the recipes, but I confess, I only did that once. The deal that I made with my family was that we had to try it one time. I printed out each recipe and slipped them into sleeve protectors. As we pulled each recipe out of the freezer to cook, I took notes on what the family did/didn't like about each recipe. The next time I went to prepare those recipes for the freezer, I followed my suggestions. I think there were only 2 that we didn't prepare: Salmon with Dill and something with Lamb.....because I couldn't find lamb at the grocery store and the salmon was SOOOOO expensive! Anyway. We decided those were pretty good and got us out of our cooking rut, so I subscribed to the Body Clutter Weekly Menu Mailer for 1 year. I printed out the weeks that I thought sounded good and made them........as a Freezer Meal. I took what I learned about creating freezer meals from the Freezer Menu and applied to the other recipes that we like. That was over 4 years ago and we still use many of those same recipes. As a side note, when I first purchased these, the separate meat menus were not available (fish, pork, chicken, etc) so I created my own in Excel. I customized them to the recipes that we liked, and print them out whenever that particular cut of meat is on sale. I love freezer meals!

Title please? :)

I would register early. Registration opens in May. The theme for 2011 is Food Safety. I would start researching now. I also agree with keeping the team small your first year.

:lol: :lol: :lol: