thank you for your well thought out resonse.

I am not an atheist. If I were, I would have no problem saying it. to tell the truth, i don't know what i am. If you knew me IRL, you would assume I'm christian (we go to church most sundays, celebrate christian holidays, etc), however I do not believe the majority of things christians believe (other than my belief that there is one true god). the link on my sig is one of the most thought provoking things I have run across in a long time. That's why its there. Some of what is on that site rings incredibly true to me, other things, not so much. I do not feel the need to agree with something 100% to find enough value in it to want to pass it on to others who may be interested. Not everyone on this board believes in religion. If someone does subscribe to a particular religion or belief system and if it challenges that type of person's faith, i would think they would welcome the opportunity to refine their beliefs. an unchallenged faith wouldn't be much of a faith, imo. what I am trying to do is figure out who I want to identify myself with. The only way I can do this is by judging people or groups of people by the actions i see. even though i can't exactly define my belief system, i know what i want my life to look like, and when i find someone who exhibits the qualities i would consider admirable, i want to know about his/her underlying belief system (even atheists have a personal belief system, btw, it just does not involve a belief in a god). the converse is true, also. when I see someone who exhibits qualities i consider, well...not admirable...i want to know about that person’s underlying belief system as well, so i can steer clear of it. i have no anti-religious agenda to push. I have seen on this board that many have a religious agenda to push or maybe an anti-anti-religious agenda, so I understand how perhaps any sincere inquiry is met with suspicion.

Diane - what a scary time for you. I'll be thinking of you and looking for your update.:grouphug:

You're right...it's not...I'm the one who said blood test and I was wrong. Thank you for clarifying.

Thank you for the replies. But how does one who professes chrsitianity incorporate this "lying is a sin" and "ends do not justify the means" (except in the extreme circumstances noted), into his/her life? We are not in Nazi Germany, nor are any of us (I hope) in the act of defending our homes from armed invaders. How does this translate into speaking the truth and not using "sinful" means to achieve "good" ends in day-to-day, humdrum life? Do christians shun hypocracy (which I define as a kind of lying), call it out when seen amongst other believers, and exhort each other to speak truthfully?

did they do the "swab down the throat" for the strept test? That can be neg, but a blood test positive. I'd ask for a blood test for strep and continue pestering everyone until your kiddo gets a diagnosis. I would also consider taking him to a peds hospital ER if he gets any worse. we live in a rural area and when my ds was sick with a mystery illness I drove 1.5 hrs to Chicago to a peds ER. They see so much all the time that the chances of a missed diagnosis are not as great as the ERs/docs who see primarily well children or minor peds illnesses. I will add, though, that although I am an RN, I tend to panic w/my own kids and sometimes think something that is, indeed nothing, is a major thing. So take my advice for what its worth, maybe w/a grain of salt.

I guess you don't understand where I'm coming from. I am honestly questioning how Fundamental Christianity would fit into my already existing belief system, which includes a belief in the christian god and jesus. I am trying not to "guess" how people incorporate these specific things into their life by viewing a few examples from the outside. If I were actively investigating athiesism (which I have already done) I would pose the question on any predominantly athiest board I belong to. If I were posing the question to another religion that I had a sincere desire to investigate I would probably do the same.

I guess I should have phrased my question as "What do Christians believe about...." I'm wondering how individuals view these actions, and how they incorporate the bible's teachings into their everyday lives in these specific areas.

and hypocracy? From a Fundamental Christian standpoint, are some sins worse than others? TIA ETA: Also wondering if christians believe that the ends justify the means.

Okay, I once banged my head on dh's weight set, knocked myself out & required stiches in my forehead because of a mouse. Not because I was grossed out though, it startled me by running across my flip-flop wearing foot! Mice come w/the territory around here. We set traps and we just adopted a cat.

I make pork quesa dias (don't know how to spell it). I slice my pork chops thin, put tortilla in a pan to warm...sprinkle some grated cheese, add the sliced pork. cook until pork is warm, cheese is melty, & tortilla is brown. Fold in half. cut in triangles & serve w/salsa. My family eats it up

Instead of my signature, I have "please ask for photo ID" written on the sig line of all my credit/debit cards.....Of course this won't help with online stuff. You would be surprised, though, how many times I've made purchases and the checker either doesn't even flip the card over to look for a sig or flips it over, and runs the transaction through w/o asking for ID. Of course nowadays there are many merchants who use the scanner thing that we run our own cards through, so the checker never touches/sees the card. We have only been the victim of fraud one time and we caught it very early (it was our Sears MC) and they erased the charges no questions asked. We were alerted because a vendor called us at home when the billing address on the cc didn't match up with the shipping address for the $500 worth of perfume ordered over the telephone.

let me know how it goes if you show up at your polling place and demand to vote...

I was a nanny. It was the hardest job of my life. I detested those children. I hated getting up early to get there before the mom (a TV news personality) and dad (forget what he did) left for work and could not wait until I could leave (I was live-out). I had a contract, but was paid in cash as I was an undocumented worker at the time. The contract had all sorts of silly stuff in it (how, exactly to do the kids' laundry, how far down the street to push the buggy, etc.) and stated I was to give one full month's notice prior to leaving. I gave them 2 weeks when I wanted to quit and didn't mind breaking the contract, because I knew they couldn't do much about it since they knew I was undocumented when they hired me. Well, that first part sounds harsh, but it is true. I did take care of the children and play with them, but they were brats and I was only 17-18 yrs old.

I gotta give a big thumbs up to the first 5 on your list (my ds watch them at grandmas and then educate me on all sorts of stuff). Both boys would be very excited to receive any of those.

Same here! We have an agreement not to say anything about either candidate that is disrespectful. We do debate some issues, but make sure the kids know that both of these men love their country and are trying very hard to do what they feel is right for the United States. We have also talked quite a bit about how this will be a historical election, regardless of who wins and what power the president actually has or does not have and who actually makes the laws that affect us.

We just got Make it Work! Native Americans http://www.coopersquarepublishing.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=^/DB/NBN/NBN.db&eqSKUdatarq=1587283018 from our library. Every section has a hands-on activity

Thank you, Tibbyl for pointing me to infoplease! I clicked over there to check the population the year I was born and found so much cool stuff. For instance, unemployment in the year of my birth (US) was 3.8%, the federal debt was 368.7 billion, and I was born on a Monday. I was also surprised to learn that the US is the 3rd most populous country in the world,

I totally forgot to suggest Beakman's World. Its a very funny science series. http://www.beakmansworldtv.com/

my dc went through this stage too. I agreed to stay within "voice range" If I was in the other room, At first, I would sing so they could hear that I was still by them. I also had to tell them if I was moving rooms. For instance, if I was sitting at our diningroom table, which is directly behind the couch, and ds was watching TV, if I got up and went to the kitchen, I would say, "DS, I'm going to the kitchen now" so he wouldn't look up, see me gone & panic. Everyone in our family is now in the habit of updating other family members when they change rooms or go outside:). Now dd4 is kind of going through the same thing. She'll holler out "Mom?" and I'll answer "I'm in the bathroom" (that's where I usually am, right?) and she'll say "I love you" and go back to whatever she was doing. I know she's just checking to make sure I'm still within voice range. I also let them go to sleep with the light on in their room, but that may not work for kids who can't sleep with the light on! I don't make a big deal out of it because I know that this will pass and pretty soon they'll be teenagers hunkering down in the backseat of the car because they don't want to be seen with their goofy old mom.

Do you want educational suggestions, fun suggestions, or a combination? For the combo category, I would suggest the Schoolhouse Rock DVD. My ds7 & ds8 both like it. I got it from netflicks and put it in with no comment or explanation. About 10 minutes into it, my ds8 said, "Hey, you could learn something from these, couldn't you?" Just for fun, my boys like Ben 10. We don't have cable so don't get the Nick shows...both like these (it does involve aliens & a boy who puts on a wristwatch thing and turns into different superhero-type creatures, just in case you're not aware and/or don't like that sort of thing) The other TV show that my boys like (surprisingly) is the old Little House On the Prarie shows. Now that I look at the above list, it seems a bit odd...make of it what you will.:001_smile:

Well, we do dinosaurs all the time since my ds7 is fascinated by them. We go to the library 3 times a week and he always gets at least one book about dinosaurs. We also do spiders & insects all the time due to ds8's interest, and well, I guess we do "play babies" all the time for dd4 (I can't think of what school subject that would line up with). These are subjects I don't have to worry about "working in" because we will all be experts in short order.

I have taken the kids on holiday to where my family of origin lives. Usually we go in spring or summer, but last year we went for Thanksgiving. DH did not accompany us & spent the day w/his extended family. No complaints from anyone. We may do it again this year.

I am also one who thinks CP dolls are creepy.

I already work part time as a critical care RN. This past month my dh was on vacation (yes, for the whole month) so I picked up more shifts. He did the majority of the housework, hs'ing, and built me a beautiful deck. He is an intelligent, college-educated man. Loves our kids as much as I do, is just as committed to hs'ing as I am and very capable. I married a partner, and he remains a true partner, especially when it comes to our children. Sometimes when we are both home on days off, we "tag team" the kids and it works great. We tend to come at things from different angles (especially math) so the kids really benefit. I'm a little more organized than he is, but he always has his eye on the big picture. I think he would do great as a SAHD, and the children would continue to thrive just as they do with our current arrangement. .