Oooooh!!!! Interesting point!!!! I didn't even think of that! I could see her being Judas too even though I like her. Hmmm... I'm off to think more on this.

This is my family.

AMEN!!!! I'm so happy for you! God is so good!!!!! Thank you for keeping us posted!

Just showed this to dh... the first thing he asked was, "Where is Daniel?" Thought that was an interesting question. Anyone else notice he is missing from the scene?

Thanks for posting this! Can't wait to show dh, although knowing him, he's probably seen it and analyzed it to death already! :lol:

I'm Jen, and I'm 36 with 2 boys. Since the birth of my 2nd child, I'm the heaviest I've ever been (aside from pregnancy weight), and I hate it. I'm tired of being flabby and without energy. My recently yearly physical also showed that my cholesterol is 1 pt. below borderline. This is frightening to me. I truly LOVE food, so this will be a challenge for me. I'd like to lose 30 lbs. as my ultimate goal, but I'm going to aim for 15 during this challenge. I'd like to take it off the right way in order to keep it off. So, I'm going to start using a salad plate as my dinner plate, drinking more water & cutting out the sweet tea to maybe once a week (this could kill me), going out for a walk at least 3x/week as well as push-ups and sit-ups at home the other days, and beefing up the fruits and vegetables. I definitely need support in this since losing weight is mentally hard for me (and harder physically now that I'm older). Food has been a comfort to me for years, so to be honest, I'm a little scared about this challenge despite knowing it needs to be done.

I have to agree with others who are saying to not help her. If you do, you will be enabling her, and changes will not be made. Tough love in this situation is the best love you can give her. She's an adult, and it's time to learn that she is responsible for her actions. All of them.

I love Asher, Jude, Joel, and Tobias the best. Levi is a great name as well, and I don't think of the jeans first. My friend's name is Natan (NAH-Tahn) for Nathanial and his sister is Katura.

We spend about $98 a month for 2 phones, 700 shared minutes, unlimited texting on one, and free Verizon to Verizon calling. We're about to change our cell phone to become our home phone, so it will probably go up $20 a month for a bit of a better plan. It beats what we're currently paying for phone though.

I love how the OP posted this question because I come from a family where there are such high expectations, and we are made to feel guilty if we don't call our mom often enough (to her standards) or if we don't include her in certain events. I finally had to move away (and so did my middle sister) because we couldn't take the suffocation & guilt any more. I can't tell you how many times I'd have to defend myself for not inviting my mom, and her response was, "But, I'm your mother; you should want to include me in everything especially because of the grandkids." Ummm... no... It's a mentality that has been passed down for years from mother to mother. I have vowed to not do that to my boys, and I've actually started counseling this past year because I found myself repeating some of the destructive patterns, and my boys are still young! I just cannot make them feel the way I've felt. It's not fair to them or their spouses when they reach adulthood. Since moving away (4 years ago), my mother has begun to learn that we do/can/will function without her, and she is not entitled. I do worry about her expectations as she gets older though because she has a lot of debt and has such poor spending habits. I don't want to absorb that - we can't absorb that, and neither can my 2 sisters. But the fear is still there. As someone else mentioned though, I hope that I can raise my kids in such a way that they'd want to keep in touch with us, but not feel obligated to do so because I've made them feel that way.

Congratulations! Such wonderful news and a fantastic blessing for you and your family!!!

I'm so sorry. Saying prayers for your heart as it struggles with this news. :grouphug:

Congratulations!

Although I feel completely daunted by this task, I've been saying for too long that I need to lose weight/get in shape. So, having accountability would be very good for me! I'll just need to go buy a scale... :)

I'm not ready in terms of being prepared, but I am eager to get back to our routine. Having guests in the house for the past 10 days has thrown us all off. Tomorrow is an odd day though because ds starts his equine lessons, so I have to drop my youngest off to at the sitter's, drive to the farm, do the lessons, get the youngest, drive home, and then after that we'll tackle a math game and some read-alouds. Not as structured as a normal day, but still doing school stuff. Tuesday we return to the regular schedule after I prepare tomorrow night. :001_smile:

WAIT!!! Excuse my ignorance, but crock-pots are lead-based? :confused: I LOVE my crock pot (Rival)... someone enlighten me please.

I wonder if she was referring to unschoolers? To an outsider, unfamiliar with homeschooling methods, it could appear that these familes are doing nothing because they aren't schooling in ways that "look like school" (meaning they don't necessarily use curriculum and schedule school time as say a classical homeschooler would). This doesn't mean the kids aren't learning though. I don't believe I've met any "imposters". Every one I know homeschools, and each family does it in their own way. I know unschooling families whose kids are clearly learning. For them, every day is an adventure, and there is always something new to learn and explore. Personally, I can't wrap my brain around it (maybe the former teacher in me?), and my children thrive with structure. But for many families, this is a viable option. Interesting question...

The content in this is very depressing and raw, but I've yet to meet a teen who hasn't liked it. What about Night by Elie Weisel? It's not fiction, but it reads like a novel. I used to teach it in 8th grade Language Arts.

Wow... I'm so sorry to hear this. Saying prayers for her and your family. :grouphug:

I have a 2.5 year old who will be 3 in March. I've found breaking the teaching up for short chunks works well with my youngest. He is often in the room with us: coloring, doing puzzles, working with blocks, or looking at books. It has taken us a while to get to the point where he can sit still for 20-30 minutes, and it took me having to constantly monitor him and build up to the time we're at now. Once I do a lesson with my oldest, I move him to an independent assignment (usually math, copywork, phonics) while I play with my youngest. Then I switch back to the oldest for a bit. I continue to cycle this way through the morning. We all have a break and a snack together; lunch is also together. Some days my youngest naps, but that has been waning of late, so we're working on keeping him in his room for longer and longer times to teach him that everyone takes quiet time in the afternoon. If I was unable to complete something with my oldest during the morning, I use the quiet time to get it done. It was extremely difficult when I first began homeschooling last year, but I've found that following a set routine works very well for both kids. My youngest seems to have figured out the flow of the day, and he's starting to understand that I can't always be with him. Granted there are days (and weeks) when everything I've just explained is nonexistent, and that's when I feel as if I'm losing my mind.

I'm just as weird as you! I often think about the characters in the books that capture me long after the books are complete. I will also go back and re-read a book or series to "reconnect" with them. Books have always been essential to me, so it's easy for me to lose myself in them.

Workboxes are working remarkably well for us! I hardly hear the complaints this year that I was hearing last year. Plus, they are doing a great job keeping me on track because I am forced to look at ds's work daily and keep myself planned (which is something I should be doing right now! :lol:).

Can you send some of those decluttering vibes my way? I have no motivation right now, but so much needs to be accomplished.

I have so much to do right now... school to plan for, a HUGE stack of coupons to file in my binder (super doubles start Wed), rooms to clean/organize... I could go on. Yet, what am I doing? I'm sitting here on WTM! I cannot get motivated today. At. All. I think I will blame it on the fact that I'm spent after having my mom and (very difficult) step-dad here for 10 days... Their bickering, needs, and the natural drains of the holidays have sucked me dry. Please pray I'll be motivated soon! :001_unsure:

Hope the chiropractor is able to help and overall you start feeling better very soon! :grouphug: