I feel that the general attempt of the Protestant faith to distance it's self from the Catholic faith is tragic. So much rich heritage and heroes of our faith are just over looked and forgotten by most Protestants. The sacraments are mostly scriptural and Protestants often don't understand what a sacrament is and so they shun it in ignorance. Please take note I am not using absolutes here and I am indeed a Protestant myself. I believe the biggest difference in expressions of faith between the 2 is the Catholics practice of asking the Saints to intercede for them. I side with Protestants on this issue. No where in scripture is this exampled or condoned that I am aware of. However, I know that a lot of Catholics don't practice this and in all honesty I don't fully understand how this came to be a practice of the church. We currently attend a non-denominational church. Though I have attended a number of churches over the years. When I was in YWAM I worked with a Catholic priest in Trinidad, CO who believed in the gifts of the Spirit and openly prayed in tongues. I believe so much rich heritage has been lost that truly is just solid scriptural traditions. I was raised in a Baptist church though in my teens bounced around a lot exploring the different denominations. I now consider myself charismatic/non-denominational though our family has attended which ever church fits us best where ever we have lived. Over the last 4 years my dh and I have been studying and implementing into our family culture the celebration of the church year: Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, etc. This is so much fun!! We really live our faith all year long. I am able to go through the Bible every year this way. Plus we recognize several of the Jewish holidays and even have our own little celebrations when they fit in. We have also started learning the catechism with our children. Our resource is Big Truths for Little Kids. We have studied the sacraments and even the stations of the cross (Though we skip Veronica). We really have worked to make it a point to understand the different denominations and we take what we like from all of them. If you look at them and think about it you can group them in modes of the soul. Our soul is our will, mind and emotion. And we all have one that stands out as our strongest soul attribute. It is usually how we deal with life and it affects out processing. A mind person needs to understand and work things out, a will person just gets stuff done no matter what and needs to be doing and productive, and an emotional person is just that, emotional. They are more sensitive than the others and their emotions affect the way they process and deal. The Catholic and Lutheran churches really focus on the will. They have more traditions that they follow and rules. Their faith is often expressed in the will. The Baptist and Methodist are very mind orientated. They work to explain the scriptures, to understand and reason it all out. The Pentecostal and Charismatic are more emotional. They are more open to emotional and less structured expressions of faith. (Though I know there are the Pentecostals that don't wear makeup, jewelry, etc... they would be more will/emotion. They're a little harder to put in a box;).) This is all a VERY broad description but I think pretty accurate in a stereotypical way. (I hope that I haven't offended anyone.) And I think it helps to explain why there are so many different denominations. We as humans are most comfortable expressing our faith in a way that is familiar and applicable to the way we function. And I think that the different denominations is a result of that. This is a subject that I am pretty passionate about. I have experienced great freedom and enrichment in my faith as I have sampled and experimented with traditions from several CHRISTIAN denominations.

Timberdoodle suggests using Phonics Pathways after 100EL. The first 1/3 of the lessons will be way easy and we ended up just skipping them. Phonics Pathways goes through 3rd-4th grade. The book says 4th but I feel that it is closer to 3rd. Maybe what a public school 4th may be. "Phonics Pathways includes the phonics rules that other phonics-based programs do not. It also contains spelling rules in the lessons as well as quick-reference spelling and pronunciation charts. Phonics Pathways is logically laid out with virtually no teacher preparation involved." I ended up liking Phonics Pathways better than 100EL and so only used 100EL with my first child. I can't say enough about it. My only addition to it would be that to build fluency you will need to keep easy readers on hand. You can get ahead in the lessons (the decoding) and the child can get behind in their fluency. So I work hard to have interesting stuff to read around and to make sure I don't get to far ahead on the lessons in comparison to the child's fluency. My ds could decode the lessons with ease but when we put it all together in an easy reader his fluency was much slower to come. You'll also need to keep a notebook or penmanship curriculum to go along with it. 100EL has you practice specific letters but Phonics Pathways leaves that up to you. It just says to work on writing and spelling without giving specific assignments. HTH;)

My #4 (who was almost 2 weeks early) came after I had ripped everything out of my closet... emptied my dresser to move it.... and on the hottest day of the year... My dh walked in from work and wanted to know WTH I was doing ripping our bedroom apart. I had to pee, lol... sat down and gush, my water broke...:glare: I looked at dh told him my water broke... what a mess. I called my midwife and arranged to have the baby at her place because I had effectively erased all sense of peace and order in my home. She has a water jet tub and so it was great. Baby out in 2 hours! My sister and dh had piled my chaos in corners and I just had to deal with it later. IMO babies never come when we want them to!:glare: Now that I think about it # 3 came after a really long day of cleaning.....

Satsuma Perfume Oil is my all time favorite.... been wearing it for 10 years and have never tired of it!!! It is from The Body Shop. Satsuma Perfume Oil

I really respect Prof. Mullen's battle against the fear factor.... Motivation by fear is something to be leery of!

This link goes to lectures from UC Berkley from a Professor Mullen there. It refers to global warming and climate change. He instructs and advises presidents and recently met with all the candidates and instructed them on the subjects of global warming and climate change. I was fascinated on his ability to explain things like one farmer talking to another. From an extremely liberal college from an extremely liberal man ( in my opinion) these things are not what I would expect to hear, WOW. If you have time sit down and listen and tell me what you get out of it. If you think it is worth while pass it on to your friends so we all can get educated on this subject. This lecture and many others are available. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orWz_CWel4s

My dh took one for the team in December last year. The urologist he used does the procedure a little differently and sews one end of the 'tube' in a fold of skin or something (sorry, I don't really know how to explain it). The urologist said that this method is 100% reliable. He actually made some comment like if your wife gets pregnant you may want to consider it immaculate conception. I really should call them and ask for a better explanation of the procedure just so I know... I did get all of this info filtered through my husband who often grunts as a form of communication. :D

:iagree: My ds 6 has been in speech therapy for a year now. Our therapist explained that once the child learns to read they really take off with their speech because they can see what the word 'should' sound like. So with this in mind it would be imperative that you correct her phonics.

:iagree::iagree::iagree: We currently attend a non-denominational church. Though I have attended a number of churches over the years. I believe so much rich heritage has been lost that truly is just solid scriptural traditions. I was raised in a Baptist church though in my teens bounced around a lot exploring the different denominations. I now consider myself charismatic/non-denominational though our family has attended which ever church fits us best where ever we have lived. Over the last 4 years my dh and I have been studying and implementing into our family culture the celebration of the church year: Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, etc. This is so much fun!! We really live our faith all year long. I am able to go through the Bible every year this way. Plus we recognize several of the Jewish holidays and even have our own little celebrations when they fit in. We have also started learning the catechism with our children. Our resource is Big Truths for Little Kids. We really have worked to make it a point to understand the different denominations and we take what we like from all of them. If you look at them and think about it you can group them in modes of the soul. Our soul is our will, mind and emotion. And we all have one that stands out as our strongest soul attribute. It is usually how we deal with life and it affects out processing. A mind person needs to understand and work things out, a will person just gets stuff done no matter what and needs to be doing and productive, and an emotional person is just that, emotional. They are more sensitive than the others and their emotions affect the way they process and deal. The Catholic and Lutheran churches really focus on the will. They have more traditions that they follow and rules. Their faith is often expressed in the will. The Baptist and Methodist are very mind orientated. They work to explain the scriptures, to understand and reason it all out. The Pentecostal and Charismatic are more emotional. They are more open to emotional and less structured expressions of faith. (Though I know there are the Pentecostals that don't wear makeup, jewelry, etc... they would be more will/emotion. They're a little harder to put in a box;).) This is all a VERY broad description but I think pretty accurate in a stereotypical way. (I hope that I haven't offended anyone.) And I think it helps to explain why there are so many different denominations. We as humans are most comfortable expressing our faith in a way that is familiar and applicable to the way we function. And I think that the different denominations is a result of that. I'm sorry for hijacking the thread.:blushing: This is a subject that I am pretty passionate about. I have experienced great freedom and enrichment in my faith as I have sampled and experimented with traditions from several CHRISTIAN denominations.

When an institution decides that it knows better than I do what is morally acceptable and by it's very structure undermines my parental authority I, without a doubt have NO tolerance. Call it discrimination if you like. But really I think you misunderstand me. That was a one liner sentence but the last word says it all. Indoctrination. As for allowing my child to have a gay friend, I don't know. My oldest is only 8. I don't think they even know what a homosexual is. And that is how I want it. What 8 year old needs to be grappling with the complexities of sexuality and what my religion deems a deviation of sexuality to boot? We will cross that road as prayerfully and humbly as possible when we come to it. As for other sins, it depends. How much sway does that friend have over my child? Who is the leader and who is the follower in their friendship? The Bible does call all sin equal in God's eyes. What hasn't been mentioned yet is that different sins have different consequences in the physical and sometimes in the spiritual realm. Just like if I were to plant corn, corn would grow and if I were to plant peas, peas would grow. Different sins have different consequences. Would I allow my daughter to hang out with a friend who is very seductive in her dress and actions toward boys? No. The fruit from that sin can be very dear indeed. The physical fruit from lying or gossiping isn't as tangible though it can be just as destructive. And again we'll tackle the specifics when we get to them. She's only 4 right now. It's all hypothetical at this age. I can tell you that I will endeavor to honor God. I also realize that it is unhealthy and "inbred" (and by inbred I mean a faith that can not reproduce it's self... a me and mine on our way to heaven attitude) to totally shelter a child from the world around us. They have friends that come from homes that aren't Christian but at this age it is all monitored.

:iagree: Its kind of like saying, "There are no absolutes."

:iagree:

I agree with you. However, as a Christian I am obligated to vote my moral center. I am obligated to yank my kids from school to keep them from deviant sexual indoctrination. I am obligated to support my local pregnancy care center. And when asked I am obligated to say, "Yes, the Bible says homosexuality is a sin."

Kathleen, I appreciate your effort to make yourself understood. I agree with you that no man can earn his way into heaven nor can he do anything to cause God to love him any more than he is already loved.

There are always people willing to bend the rules. As a WHOLE (I'd say 98%) of those 3 faiths interpret it as a sin. And in centuries past is has most certainly ALL ACROSS the board been interpreted as sin, the church has never swayed on this until the recent PRESSURE of society.

I disagree with Kathleen and it is interpretation of scripture like this that leads to conclusions like Susan has come to. I think that your intentions are good Kathleen but they are a very Roman Catholic view of scripture. Which you may very well be. Or maybe I have misunderstood the point you were trying to make. Whether you are RC or not history shows us that disagreements over scripture interpretation has caused many church splits. Scripture does say that aside from Christ there is nothing good in us but you left out that we are made in the image of Christ. That is why there are perfectly wonderful, generous, loving, sacrificing people in the world who aren't believers in Christ. Every human has the capacity of the Living God written in their very being. Are we little gods, NO but we have some of his capacities on a small, small, small level. It is easy to worship the created instead of the creator because a piece of the artist is ALWAYS in his art. Yes, sin entered the world and corruption reigns but mankind is still made in God's image and so it still shines through. The good in each of us whether you are a believer or not is the image of God shining through. I could write a book on this but someone already has. The title may sound pagan but I assure you it is not. Listening for the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality by J. Philip Newell

I know this question wasn't directed to me but I felt compeled to answer. No, the Bible is VERY clear on all types of sin and homosexual behavior is one of them. There is NO misunderstanding it. That is why Jew, Muslim and Christain ALL agree that God says its sin.

Yeah it is WAY slow for me too tonight.

You know it is such a hard thing, that is why I didn't really go to in-depth with advice. I agree that her dd's behavior is unacceptable and intolerable. And as many have said at the heart her actions are NOT Christian. There was so much advice on this that I just felt compelled to voice what hadn't been already said. I did suggest getting her into a sound church because the dd would be advised to obey and love her parents. And further teaching of the scriptures would eventually lead her to peace on the issue. In my own situation it wasn't resolved. There was a lot more at work than just differing lifestyles. My home was abusive and at 13 I went to live with relatives. I started to regularly attend a Baptist church with my relatives and did come to have peace because I came to have better understanding of the scriptures. I also have to say that all the health classes I had in school compounded the situation. You learn that smoking, drinking, doing drugs and multiple sexual partners isn't healthy choices and then you go home to it. I had a real fear that my parents were going to die from their lifestyle and go to hell. My father passed away before I was 21 due to his lifestyle. I think another option would be as a parent to explore your child's curiosity and convictions. To attend church with your child if they are seeking. How is this any different from exploring a child's fascination with snakes? I know some of you are like... snakes... religion...:confused: but what I mean is that we encourage our children to seek and explore and this isn't any different. BUT because there are moral and spiritual convictions involved the knowing can be burdensome when undirected and forged alone. And if you can't agree with your child's conclusions you still have an obligation to them to direct them to a trusted, safe spiritual environment.

I have a couple random thoughts. I remember when I first came to faith and at 11yo realized that my parents were headed to hell. That may sound harsh but that is exactly what was in my mind and I did some serious acting out. My parents were not anything like what I assume you are like Summer. They were smokers, drinkers and swingers. But regardless of the extent of sin in someone's life if you haven't any faith in Christ the Bible says you are going to hell. This may be really bothering your daughter if you do not share her faith. I basically instigated huge fights with my parents over the sin in their lives and tried to exert my will over them any way I could. Second it may help to REALLY study the Sabbath. The Sabbath is Saturday and as Christians our family does not observe it on Sunday but on Saturday. Church is for the service of the Lord, furthering His kingdom and so going to church and working in a Sunday school class is breaking the Sabbath. We don't observe the Sabbath like the Jews but it is a day of rest for us and if we do anything it is a family activity. Third I would get her involved in a Church that has "good fruit" in your community so that she can get some mentorship and teachings. She clearly needs some solid direction in interpreting the scriptures.

No, you are not wrong. I agree with your stance on this 100%

I hate housework and constantly sabotage myself by avoiding it..... just to be honest. :willy_nilly:

:iagree: In my home this could come down to a huge disagreement and if my husband persisted I would drop it to be done with the conflict. And if we got fined I would just be able to say, "I told you so.", nicely of course. We have had more growth in our relationship when I respond this way to these situations than when I try to force my will on him. As my husband's helpmate part of my role is counselor and when he doesn't choose to heed it and things work out badly it just teaches him that he shouldn't disregard my wisdom/gifting/gut-feeling lightly. Someone has to have the Executive Authority in the end and if you are a Christian believer than that someone is your husband. I started out my marriage as a control freak and as the Lord has helped me to deal with my fear and unbelief this area of my marriage has gotten easier. My husband's umbrella has holes in it... that's just the way of it but God's umbrella doesn't and as long as I obediently stay under God's umbrella I am in His Will whether my husband is or not. I am thankfully blessed with a husband who has learned from the times when I have been able to say, "I told you so." I know I would have a much harder time if my husband was more controlling or a lord-it-over type of man. And this whole scenerio has been reversed and I have been the one to learn the lesson. My bottom line on this: As a wife it is also my responsibility to teach my children submission to authority and faith in the Lord when the authority over you isn't necessarily making the right decision. Correction: No, I didn't realize the OP had called the cable company and they know it is still connected. I still stand by my thoughts though on the issue of authority in a home.

I had a couple of pm's asking questions about my first reply to this thread and so I decided to post here again with some info. I want to preface this by saying I am not a doctor and your health is your responsibility. This is just info I have either come across or my own personal experience. Recently after my 4th child I experienced a lot of weird stuff in the baby exit and actually just started PT to strengthen my pelvic floor muscles, my doc determined that the plumbing would work better if I had more tone... nice huh? :001_huh: PT for what? That should be exciting... I was getting a yeast infection every month when I ovulated, I had an allergic reaction to Monistat 7, and I got a UTI all in like 4 months time before I went to the doc. The reason I avoided the doc is because I don't use a GYN, I use a midwife. I had to search out one who fit my list of requirements. I had 3 of my children at home with a midwife and lean towards natural remedies. I will just start with an ailment and type away what I know to try naturally, and hopefully something will be of use. I'll also link some websites. I'm a terrible typist so I'll try to make sense. I will cut and paste from some websites to simplify. First I have this book called The V Zone By Colette Bouchez A Woman's Guide to Intimate Health Care. It has great info. No info on the wear and tear a woman's body goes through with aging and child bearing but good info on yeast, bacteria, UTI and STD's. A good place to start if you're interested in knowing more about your V ZONE. Bacterial Vaginosis: The bacteria that is dominant in the vagina when everything is working NATURALLY produces hydrogen peroxide. Isn't that just amazing?! This bacteria is lactobacillus. It keeps the environment of the vagina acidic and essentially sterile. It is the gatekeeper of the whole feminine ecosystem which is quite complex with many micro-organisms. BV can be caused by stress, allergies, hormones, medication, change in diet, and your sex life- particularly if you have an uncircumcised partner with poor personal hygiene. Symptoms: It smells terribly foul and fishy. Discharge is excessive, thin, gray, sometimes yellow and cloudy. It burns and it itches like mad! Burning and stinging is present especially after urinating. BUT some women may have BV and not necessarily have all these symptoms. I've had it without the really strong odor so I thought I had a yeast infection when I really had BV. Studies have also shown that up to 50% of women diagnosed with BV by a doctor never noticed any symptoms. Treatments: The key to treating a UTI or bacterial vaginosis or yeast infection is to first restore the vagina's natural balance, which then allows the body to fight the infection and heal itself. So FIRST, no mater what you are dealing with you should get a pro-biotic supplement to help restore the right bacteria to your system. Here are 3, with the best listed 1st and so on. Pro-Biotics 1.) Ultimate Flora Vaginal Support Formula by ReNew Life: http://www.luckyvitamin.com/item/itemKey/54214 This is THE BEST!(www.luckyvitamin.com is the cheapest online source I have found for ALL of the supplements I buy, they just can't be beat!) 2.) PB-8 aka PB8 by Nutrition Now: http://www.luckyvitamin.com/item/itemKey/51318 This is good for both men and women and what my GYN recommended. 3.) Yeast Defense by Nutrition Now: http://www.luckyvitamin.com/item/itemKey/51358 I've used this to totally clear up yeast infections. As soon as I feel one coming on I use this and it has kept me from getting one. Hydrogen Peroxide Flush: Vaginal irrigations with 30 ml of hydrogen peroxide (3%) were prescribed in the evening for a week. You basically gently douche with h2o2. Here is the Medical Study link to show that yes this works and is SAFE - short read; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14676737 Here is a link that describes one persons experience and how they did it; http://www.healthboards.com/boards/s...d.php?t=452540 Another testimony; http://www.longhaircareforum.com/for...d.php?t=175421 Vegsource has a lot of threads on this. There's other natural things you can do. I've read that you can use vinegar & honey, yogurt, tea tree oil and so on. I personally feel that peroxide and pro-biotic restoration is the way to go. It uses what our body naturally produces to keep a women's V zone healthy. Here is a link with other treatments; http://www.bacterialvaginosisrecurre...that_work.html Urinary Tract Infection: Every day little bacteria try to climb up the urethra to the bladder and are washed down when you urinate. Kind of like the itsy bitsy spider, lol. Unfortunately sometimes they make it. They can be helped along in many ways, intercourse helps bump them along, poor fluid in-take resulting in less elimination, pregnancy can make a women more susceptible, swimming in contaminated lakes and pools. Left untreated a UTI can move to the kidneys. Symptoms: A strong, persistent urge to urinate. A burning sensation when urinating. Passing frequent, small amounts of urine. Blood in the urine or cloudy, strong-smelling urine. Upper back and side pain. Fever. Treatment: This can be treated naturally. It is important to be cautious and give yourself a limit: If you are not feeling better in 36 hours you go to the doctor. The purpose of treating it naturally is to avoid the use of antibiotics. Cranberry Supplements and Garlic Cloves: I bought Super Concentrated Cranberry Fruit 1680mg in softgel form from Wal-Mart. I took 3 softgels 3 times a day with 2 full glasses of water on a mostly empty stomach. Then I would take one large garlic clove and cut it into several pill size chunks and swallow with a glass of water 3x's a day with a meal. If the garlic causes stomach discomfort you could take it in a supplement form. It's just cheaper to use cloves. My grandmother has a catheter and her urologist has her on cranberry supplements to prevent her from getting UTI's. He explained that the cranberry makes the lining of the bladder like tephlon, nothing (bacteria) can stick to it. The garlic is a natural antibiotic. If you treat a UTI this way it is important to continue to treat yourself even after the discomfort is gone to ensure that all of the bacteria die... just like when you are on antibiotics. When I treat myself this way I take the cran and garlic for 7 days. Again if you don't notice relief from the symptoms after about a day and a half to two days then GO TO THE DOCTOR. Yeast Infection: The info on this is basically the same as BV from above, except that you have a runaway yeast instead of a runaway bacteria. A yeast infection can be caused by many things; pregnancy, hormonal imbalance, diabetes, lack of cleanliness. Symptoms: Most women associate a thick discharge that looks like cottage cheese with a YI, although only about 20% experience it. Since not everyone gets the discharge, the easiest way for a woman to tell that she has a yeast infection is that she itches in and around her vagina. A lot. The itchiness may be accompanied by a burning sensation, and her vulvar area can be red and swollen. It may also burn or be generally painful for her to urinate, and sex may become painful as well. Treatment: I have treated yeast infections successfully 3 different ways. I have used over the counter medication like Gyne-Lotrimin. I discovered that I am allergic to Monistat 7... that sure had me all freaked out and uncomfortable. I thought I was going to die from some WEIRD creeping crud!!! My preferred method of treatment is what I mentioned above. Ultimate Flora Vaginal Support Formula by ReNew Life OR Yeast Defense by Nutrition Now. I prefer these because an over the counter medication treats the symptoms but doesn't treat the cause. However, if I don't catch a yeast infection in time I treat it with both because honestly the over the counter provides relief much faster when you have a full blown infection. Feminine Hygiene: Most girls learn this from their mom's but I will post these links anyhow because there are always a few that haven't gotten this info. It's also just a good refresher. http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/womenshealth/wome3261.html http://www.healthcenter.vt.edu/pdf/FEMININE%20HYGIENE.pdf I hope this helps and that I haven't totally overwhelmed anyone or driven someone crazy with all of the grammatical errors that I am choosing to ignore. It's late and the caffeine has worn off.

I have found that REAL FOOD is not cheaper at Wal-Mart and the quality is notably inferior! When I buy produce at Wal-Mart it is less flavorful and spoils much earlier in general. I think they probably buy the "seconds" that the other stores reject at a discount. The money I may save by shopping at Wal-Mart is lost in the poor quality. The only food I buy at Wal-Mart is chips, soda and chocolate. I am 20 miles from any other major retailer for household supplies so I do purchase things like toothpaste, shampoo and so forth from Wal-Mart. I NEVER buy raw meat from Wal-Mart because they zap it with stuff (I believe they put it under a x-ray type thing) so that it keeps longer. If I buy raw meat I buy it farm raised when I can afford it (it is actually cheaper if you go in with a couple families and just purchase a whole cow) or from our local Safeway who guarantees not to zap it. I have a Costco card but rarely go these days because of the gas prices. I keep my ear out for when others make the trip and then I give them my list. So I buy all of my frozen meat, diapers, wipes, t.p., motor oil, dish soap, and often bread from Costco. Wal-Mart is one of 3 options to me locally. My husband used to work for Safeway which is a grocery store here on the west coast and we almost always avoided Wal-Mart in favor of supporting his store. During his time in the grocery field I learned alot about Wal-Mart's impact and they are terrible for the economy! Just check out http://walmartwatch.com/ . Berkeley put out their results from a study that found, "Paying less than 1% more each time you shopped at Wal-Mart would translate into a 10% raise for all store employees." Yeah!! It just makes you sick!!! My husband is a hunter and so the gun thing isn't an issue for us... we actually lean the other way. My local Wal-Mart has had the same disabled employees there for YEARS. Our issue is that Wal-Mart worships the dollar at the cost of the wellbeing of their employees and our economy! I recently saw a news report that said their stock is doing GREAT because of the declining economy. We're seeing a pattern here. So I do shop there but I get all that I reasonably can elsewhere.