What a woman! :001_smile: Best wishes to you all as you snuggle with your precious new wee one. I'm sure dd is quite the proud big sis.

I'm not sure I understand what "original link" you are referring to and exactly what you are implying. I first viewed the youtube from a link on Drudge Report, but found it again to post here by putting in "Warner Gillmore homeschool" at youtube. I really don't care where I originally saw it, but politicians should be more careful what they say in private if they present a totally different view in public. What is more likely to be the true belief? Edited to add: Okay, it wasn't a link from drudge report, I was mistaken. You can see here where I first saw of the link and follow it to where I originally read it. I just wanted to clarify that, but still don't see the point.

WSJ Opinion Piece on Obama/Acorn I know this is an opinion piece, but it's still relevant to the discussion

Link to interview on youtube

Yeah...I prefer to be ignored by . :001_smile:

I've shared this before, but will post it here again since it is relevant to your question. I tracked down my Greek professor from college to ask him a similar question. Here was his answer: HTH, Dawn

Wowzer...that was a big boy! :001_smile: Best wishes to mom and baby! Thanks so much for letting us know!

Our current church does not have cell groups; however, a former church did. We had a very pleasant experience, but ours was run by one of the teaching pastors. That, I guess, gave it more accountability than if it were run by a layperson. Though I'm sure the negative issues do occur, I don't recall hearing of any such issues. I think the main concern would be how much "interviewing" goes into picking the leaders of the groups. If they are open to anyone, then there might be more issues. But, I think most churches rely on elders, deacons, pastors, etc to facilitate these groups in order to make sure they maintain the vision of the church. Most of the churches relying on this form of small group meetings are larger churches wanting to provide discipleship in a way that makes sure no one falls through the cracks. In our case, we were encouraged to join a group that was made up of other young couples our age. I think we were able to choose another group to join if we wanted, but we were excited about making friends who were on our path in life. We were fortunate to end up with a solid, like-minded group. I think that the tricky balance would be having enough variety out there for people to choose where they feel comfortable without ending up with everyone gravitating to one particular leader or group.

I've been thinking about it and prayerfully considering it as well. We have company with us for the next week and a half so I'm not sure if I can inconspicuously start until after that time. I've been thinking of the verse: I need more earnestly in my seeking, if you know what I mean. :)

I love reading the status updates and commenting on them when appropriate. I rarely feel clever enough to come up with one of my own, but I'm trying. :001_smile: I love being able to keep in touch with old college buddies. We give each other virtual high fives--or in our case "Hotty Toddy" cheers--when our college team is doing well.

I'm taking a board break but couldn't resist peeking in to play WW. :001_smile: This is an old Christmas morn photo of dd.

Here is my reasoning behind posting the opinion piece. I respect the writer's honesty. I wouldn't expect a liberal to be "at home" in the middle of a McCain rally. What I liked about the article, though, was that she was able to recognize her preconceived notions as such and, for a moment, look outside of herself. The message I took from the piece--and you can't get it unless you read the full article--is that we can all stand to share a little more empathy for those different from ourselves. This board is a community of moms and dads working hard to do what's best for their children and their families. That "best" is different for each of us. We have great differences from homeschool philosophies to political parties. In November one of these candidates will win, and one will lose. In January we will have a new President. Most of us have lived long enough to have had presidents we have rallied behind, voted for and loved as well as presidents we loathed and even wailed when the announcement was made in his favor. Hopefully, we will live to see many more presidents, some we will love, some not so much. Most of us have made our choices and are not wavering on them. It would be nice if we could exercise a bit of empathy when looking to the other side instead of trying to find opportunities to convince those we find there that they are wrong or stupid for the choices they have made. This is just my personal opinion piece for the night/morning. :001_smile:

Here's another interesting New York Times article.

I do LOVE it. I remember the first time Dh and I watched...it was so much better than anything we'd seen in a long while. I was cheering ecstatically when they won the Oscar. The songs are hauntingly beautiful.

I'm watching, nervously laughing...my dh wants to know where they got their curriculum. :D

Yes. I'm afraid Obama's past connections concern me a great deal more than Palin's.

Awesome! I hope all goes well and that it is a home that you and your family will love. edited to remove party smilie, since there are already so many in this thread....don't want to get the thread deleted for excessive partying.

This is actually a commercial, but it cracked me up. LL Cool J + Old Spice

I'm from MS, and when I lived in CA people constantly expressed surprise that I didn't have an accent. Now that I'm back in MS, people ask where we moved from and say, "I knew you weren't from here; you sound like you're from somewhere else." :001_smile: However, when I am with my immediate family I fall into a bit of an accent. Also, I use phrases like "might could" and "fixin' to" that give away my southern roots.

I don't disagree with you. I apologize for posting in haste, as I have tried to abstain from these political threads because I get too hot-tempered. I mistook your original post to suggest that there was no longer any threat or concern needed to possess a strong military presence. I agree with TXMomof4 that even when relying on diplomacy first, our words mean nothing without a strong military to back them up. I also understand the despair over the need for more personnel as my father has already served twice in Iraq. The first year he was deployed, the second he volunteered just for this reason--a group of soldiers had no maintenance crew for their vehicles and equipment.

I don't know the facts about Bush's pledge for a humble foreign policy, though I do know that the first time he ran was in a world pre-9/11. Also, Putin is a very dangerous man, and I wouldn't be so sure the cold war is dead for good, especially with the moves he's made lately. I saw where the Russian polls support Putin and Obama. That doesn't make me comfortable. Of course the rest of the world would love to see us diminish in influence and strength. Some people are raised to hate America from birth. Some people gladly choose to die in order to kill as many of us as possible. That is not something you can assuage with rhetoric.

We also rarely get a chance to watch movies, but the two most recent "hits" on our list have been: Bella and The Painted Veil.

My 14 mo old has transitioned into one nap per day. He usually goes down around 11 or 12 and sometimes sleeps three or more hours, though it varies. It kind of limits what we can do during the day, but I have to agree with Nancy--it's been a very good thing. We put him down around 8pm, and he sleeps fine. For over six months now he has regularly awakened each night around 1, but goes back to sleep. He was doing that before going to one nap, so I don't think it is related.

I hear that July is the best time; however, a lot of people are re-evaluating their choices right now, and may be ready to try something new. I'd give it a shot.

At first I loved reading every day from the Burgess Bird Book. Now I am SO READY TO FINISH that book. Ugh. It has been a fun introduction to birds and a gentle study coupled with internet resources, but man am I tired of Peter Rabbit and Jenny Wren. Thankfully everything else is working well.