Why do I have a morbid curiosity to tempt myself and read one of those blogs now to see what happens? I don't read blogs much anymore. This raw blog, No Longer Quivering, snapped me out of several harmful mindsets, one being that there's a formula "out there" for a perfect home life, parenting style, homeschooling method, etc. That blog helped me to start thinking for myself. I don't usually feel the urge to read about someone's perfect life anymore, or to find a formula to have my own perfect life. We just *are* now. I like to focus on peace and operating from a place of rest of soul. Reading those blogs might rile me up, maybe not though. *Shrug.*.

I think it was Purple Rain in 8th grade. I had the hugest crush on the guy.

I don't want to argue, but I didn't notice anyone doing that, only sharing disappointment vs. satisfaction in worship. If we can't talk about our disappointing experience because it might be someone else's satisfying experience, then we can't have much of a conversation.

What's going on in this thread is expressing shared experience - God IS everywhere present, but Jesus also calls us to worship in Spirit and in Truth. This thread is full of people seeking and finding the worship in Spirit and Truth. God was with them before and He's with them now and they are more satisfied to worship Him and participate with Him in a sacramental way. They/we want to talk about that. It is good for us to talk about it.

"Why are churches so frightened to hold Christians accountable and demand that we seek a deeper life with Jesus even if that is the hardest route and out of the "norm" and most importantly, NOT COOL? Isn't that what Christ demands of us? Isn't that how God wants his people to be?" When I encountered Orthodox Christianity I was astonished at the "hard core Christianity" I witnessed both in present day Orthodox Christians and the ones who have gone before us and ran the race to win: martyrs (from first century to 20th century modern martyrs), miracle/wonder-workers, humble priests and bishops, ascetics, faithful lay people who pray and fast and read Scripture daily and sing hymns and pray all day long, those who give generously to the poor, the persecuted, and on and on and on. The worship is the most beautiful, reverent, Christ centered worship that even my wildest imagination couldn't conjure up before I attended my first service. The choir is in the back off to the side and the alter is front and center. The Gospel Book is walked out of the alter in reverent procession and adorned beautifully. The Holy Communion is also processed reverently and held in a beautiful chalice. The whole service (besides the sermon) is sung in a beautiful chant that takes your mind and heart off earthly cares and puts you right into The Kingdom. The sermon is a small focus, as the service centers around the Gospel Reading and The Eucharist, not the priest or the choir. Come and see - all are welcome.

Can you post the link? This speech is so beautiful, I want to link it on FB.

We have a cool setup in my state, such a thing as part-time status. As long as we are part-time we can test as homeschoolers, which in my state has to be done once a year starting in 2nd grade. We have choices as to what are acceptable tests. I like the balance my state is ruled by.

I wanted to voice my support in a public school program we have in a district near me. It's a set up designed for homeschoolers who want some classroom participation for their children. They offer classes which are great for a group such as science, art, Story of the World, choir, Lego robotics, music theater, debate, yearbook, etc. They offer this great block class, 3 hours long, which is similar to a unit study. They have a science topic and they do science, writing, and art based on that topic. I signed my kids up for a few classes and they are loving it; I am too. I think this will help me to focus and excel more in the 3 Rs.

Lord have mercy on all of you. May your husband's memory be eternal.

Lord have mercy.

Lord have mercy! (Hugs)

This "executor" is the middle child of Grandma and she is behaving very strangely. We will find out more tomorrow.

"For even in the sacrifices which Abel and Cain first offered, God looked not at their gifts, but at their hearts, so that he was acceptable in his gift who was acceptable in his heart. Abel, peaceable and righteous in sacrificing in innocence to God, taught others also, when they bring their gift to the altar, thus to come with the fear of God, with a simple heart, with the law of righteousness, with the peace of concord. With reason did he, who was such in respect of God's sacrifice, become subsequently himself a sacrifice to God; so that he who first set forth martyrdom, and initiated the Lord's passion by the glory of his blood, had both the Lord's righteousness and His peace. Finally, such are crowned by the Lord, such will be avenged with the Lord in the day of judgment; but the quarrelsome and disunited, and he who has not peace with his brethren, in accordance with what the blessed apostle and the Holy Scripture testifies, even if he have been slain for the name of Christ, shall not be able to escape the crime of fraternal dissension, because, as it is written, He who hates his brother is a murderer 1 John 3:15 and no murderer attains to the kingdom of heaven, nor does he live with God. He cannot be with Christ, who had rather be an imitator of Judas than of Christ. How great is the sin which cannot even be washed away by a baptism of blood— how heinous the crime which cannot be expiated by martyrdom!" St. Cyprian of Carthage - Treatise on the Lord's Prayer 24. This quote is used for reflection of 2nd Monday of Great Lent. I think that's so timely you asked this very question just before Lent (on the eastern calendar.) We are heading into Lent and the Church reminds us of many humbling themes at this time of year. The brother of the Prodigal Son was jealous of him, much like Cain was of Abel. They are similar stories about heart conditions and which one is pleasing to God (humble, innocent, repentant) and which one does not please God (angry and jealous.) Here is a link about the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (this Sunday) if you want to dig deeper: http://oca.org/saints/lives/2013/03/03/3-sunday-of-the-prodigal-son Sent from my iPhone - please forgive any grammar/spelling errors. Regarding Q#2 - I would say we don't know if the family of Adam and Eve were literally the first and only family on Earth at the time, but it's the Spiritual lessons that are important to us as Orthodox Christians how these lessons and stories and characters point us to Christ.

The willy-nilly stipulation is that the person acting like executor is saying that DH's sister can't have the van unless she gives away her personal car. But there's been no mention of a will or a reading of the will. The children of Grandma are saying that Grandma wants DH's sister to have the van, but the one who is acting like executor gives this weird stipulation with no mention of a will. The person acting like executor is just acting power hungry and saying stuff like, "tread lightly," to my DH. There's been no mention of reading a will or if there is a will, but just "Grandma said." When DH asked why Grandma would want his sister to give away her personal car the executor person said, "well it's the charitable thing to do." Like it was obvious to do that, but it seems ridiculous to us (the younger generation.) We are trying to find out if someone has already filed probate because now they are saying there's going to be a 90 day hold on the van. ??? Just seems weird to me. I hope they put everything in the open soon so we are not all so confused.

True. I'm in Seattle that is why I suggested it. I see your point though. It's so dreary here. That's why I NEED a convention in Feb, to get a re-charge. A sunny place is a much better idea and drinks with umbrellas. :D

<3 the way you think!

Schedule it in February near a large metro area, Seattle for example, and they'd be golden. Do I hear a new enterprise calling?

Idk who the executor is. One family member is acting like it, but this person is also dolling out silly stipulations willy-nilly.

We recently had a death in my DH's side of the family. There's been so much wrangling about "stuff" already. No one has mentioned if there's a will or if they will read it aloud, but there's lots of talk about what Grandma wanted. Is this normal? What's normal? Her 3 kids are all saying that Grandma wanted DH's sister to have her van, but then they are holding it back for 90 days because of this wrangling going on. Grandma's kids say DH's sister should give away her car to be charitable. It seems weird to put that stipulation on DH's sister, especially since she's a single mom and poor and she has a teenage daughter who could really use the other car. I'm just wondering if they should just read the will, if there is one, so everyone knows exactly what Grandma's wishes were. Can someone with experience/knowledge about these things chime in?

IDK if I'm "younger"...I'm 41 with 4 kids. I've got 5 lbs. to go until I'm "normal" according to the height/weight charts. The no sugar, starches, grains + bone broths lots of eggs, fats and veggies, has given me the best results.

Sorry, I'm jumping in late, and I'm not an expert, but I have personal experience. About 2 years ago I embarked upon a quest to loose weight. I had about 20 pounds to loose to be in the "normal" category for my height. I lost 16 pounds from running on a treadmill and eliminating refined sugar. As I relaxed my workouts and ate the occasional dessert, I gained back 6 pounds. This regimen was very hard work and I only lost like a pound a month. But, slowly, steadily it came off. Then, slowly steadily it came back on. Recently, I started this diet to regulate my digestion and heal my gut, it's called GAPS (another version is called SCD.) It is zero refined sugar, very low starch, zero grains, and only specific beans, fruits, and vegetables. I have lost 7 pounds in one month! This is unheard of for my body. I have not been working out like crazy either. I go to Zumba class whenever I can make it, but it's not consistent. I would highly recommend this diet. It has done wonders for my digestion too. I am feeling great in every way. It took a couple of days and my digestion was good, then it took a week or so to get used to not eating grains, etc. I failed a couple of times and it disturbed my digestion and might have slowed down my progress, but after I messed up, I just got back on it, and it's been smooth sailing ever since. Here are a couple of links for anyone who is interested in this diet: I recommend the Introduction Diet first until digestion is normal and you feel good about adding in foods. This will be different for each person. For me it was 3 days and I started adding in eggs and avacado and quickly went straight to the full GAPS. I use this list to help me to know what things are "legal" and "illegal" since I'm not really knowledgeable about what is starchy/sugary and a difficult carbohydrate to digest. I also bought a cookbook titled, "Internal Bliss." It has lots of good recipes and instructions on making bone broth and fermented foods. I hope you find your way to a healthy weight.

Orthodox Christian worship is the most reverent, holy, peaceful worship I have ever participated in. I believe it truly is worship in Spirit and Truth. There are no instruments or microphones in my parish and the choir sounds like Heaven. The worship services are my favorite thing (if it can be called a thing) about my church. May God bring you to a peaceful place.

I <3 almond flour pancakes. I eat them almost every day with honey on top. I'm doing GAPS or SCD. It's basically grain and starch free eating. I'm doing it to heal my gut and for good digestion. So far it works except for during menstruation when everything in my gut goes haywire for about a week.

If my denomination, or I like to say tradition, didn't have real life human examples who lived a life worthy of the calling of Christ, I would question my tradition. If there are no, or not enough good examples to look to for emulation, help, support, etc. something is amiss in that tradition. The tradition should bring about a saving faith that produces works worthy of Christ on the cross. Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." I see that in my faith tradition, Orthodox Christianity. It's everywhere from the beginning to the year 2013, and it's vast! The magnitude of Saints who have lived the life going from glory to glory and who did do "greater works than these" is so enormous that I will never be able to read all the stories that are written. There just isn't enough time to read them all. This is a testimony to the authenticity of the tradition I worship and commune in. If your faith tradition has the stories, then read those and find encouragement in your tradition. I don't bother myself with reading too many stories of those who are still living, or admiring their lives too much. I have made that mistake before and I've found myself disappointed. There are enough stories of those who have finished the race to win to keep me busy the rest of my life. Here is a link to the Saints of the day for Orthodox Christians. I believe my tradition brings about the type of salvation Jesus taught us about. As for other traditions, I can't speak for them.

For petite I like Gloria Vanderbelt at Kohls. I need petite "short," I'm 4'11". I love to wear yoga pants. I wear a long sleeve top that covers my tummy and lands at the lower or mid hip.