:lol::lol::lol: I remember when my first was born and I was determined to be a "no toy gun" mom too. He once chewed his grilled cheese sandwhich into the shape of gun. :tongue_smilie: It is just one of those things you can't fight.

We have a whole nerf gun arsenal!!! We buy new ones for our kids for christmas and birthdays and we all get into the fray! :D My two rules are that everyone playing has to wear the safety glasses and no intentionally shooting someone in the face. Other than that...game on! I never thought I would have so much fun with a toy. Here's hoping he reconsiders as they are a BLAST.

Well I have officially read all 17 pages of this thread :tongue_smilie: and I see good points to both sides of the argument but if it were me (and who knows, maybe one day it will be)... I would not necessarily shut the girl out of my life completely. I would be willing to take her to church with my family, meet her for lunch/coffee (just the 2 of us) and speak into her life in a positive way, witness to her, offer a compassionate shoulder to cry on, etc. But I would not let my ds DATE her. That way my ds WOULD see me (a mature, experienced adult) being a compassionate individual and not turning my back on a person with a troubled background. He WOULD get the "life lesson" of seeing how compassion could possibly make a change in a person's life, etc. But I would not let him put his heart on the line and then possibly make some bad choices because his brain was clouded with the hormones that "first love" induces. A mature adult showing compassion to a troubled teen is one thing. An immature, inexperienced 15yo boy in a romantic relationship with the same troubled teen girl is something entirely different.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

I agree. Some things in life you just cannot handle without the help of God. I have never lost a child but I can say right now that I would not be able to handle it without God.

It is already Christmas here! Praise to our Holy God and all thanksgiving to Him for the wonderful gift of His son!

Your ds is only 15yo. You have EVERY RIGHT to your opinion on his girlfriend. If he was an adult then you might have to back down but sorry, I don't believe that a 15yo should be making all their own decisions. My mom was VERY vocal about my boyfriends, the ones she liked and didn't, and yes, at the time I acted like an indignant teenager about the whole thing but as an adult I THANK GOD FOR MY MOM'S "INTERFERENCE" or who knows what I would have ended up with? I distinctly remember arguing with her about one boyfriend in particular... defending the loser like a typical teenage girl... but inside my head i was SO GLAD she cared and it gave me the excuse I needed to break up with the guy. I did not want to admit that she was "right" so I got to say she was being "unreasonable" and "making me break up with him." Sometimes you have to save teenagers from themselves. You are his mother. You know best. If something is tugging at your heart about this girl, trust your instincts.

On this we can agree. After it was over I felt ... I don't know... weird. Like, did I just read all that correctly? Her other novel "Her Fearful Symmetry" was even WORSE. That book was weird AND disturbing.

Ah yes...the moodiness...I forgot to mention that I act like a psycho each month. :glare: It sounds like this is just another one of the joys of being 40....great. I think I may look into some natural remedies for the symptoms especially the breast tenderness (which is unbearable) and the moodiness. It is making me miserable. Any suggestions?

The Heretic's Daughter was GREAT!

:lol::lol::lol: And I think I will re-read The Book Thief and Eat, Pray, Love because I LOVED both of those books! :D

So I turned 40 last summer and ever since there has been a change in my cycles...mostly in terms if PMS symptoms. They have gotten increasingly worse...the awful headaches, the bloating, the cramps, etc. And I have also noticed that mid-month when I am ovulating my breasts are so tender I can hardly wear a bra and holding my baby girl is painful. Is this a normal part of 40+ life? Or is this something I need to see a doctor about? I guess I should mention that my cycles are still normal in terms if time and menopause typically starts in the mid-50's for the women in my family. so what says Dr. Hive?

The author is David Platt . it is called Radical: Taking back your faith from the American dream.

That is a really good idea!

As a former high school teacher in an inner city school...I get it. Every year on the first day of school the teachers have to play a game called "How in the Heck do you Pronounce THAT?" I felt badly for those kids because one day they are going to have to put that name at the top of a resume and it is not going to look very good at all. It was like the parents went out of their way to come up with the most bizarre names and unusual spellings with random hyphens, capital letters and accent marks. I wanted to grab one mom and shake her and tell her "You can't put an accent mark on a T !!!" And of course the teenagers would get all bent out of shape because I do not know how to pronounce something like: Jim'Meyah Jam-uari De'Undrika Ron'Tes Mikhlale Pe'irrie' (pronounced like the water...yes, folks, that is TWO, count 'em TWO accent marks) You can call it creative if you like. I call it cruelty to children...and maybe to teachers too. :D

I called the cable company and canceled our service. Problem solved. We only use our TV for occasional DVDs. No one died. :D Best decision we ever made!

All this and more! It could have been about 300 pages shorter... after reading through the torture scenes I think the author needs therapy.

Me!!! I love gift cards!!!!!

We ALWAYS watch "It's a Wonderful Life". :D

I will make a french toast casserole and sausage links. Yummy!

Well, you really need to read the book to truly get it but a quick summary involves a one-year commitment to: 1. Pray for the whole world through the year (if you go to this website they will send an email each day about a different country/people group you can pray for and by the end of the year you will have prayed for the whole world:http://www.operationworld.org/prayer-movement-sign-up ) 2. Read through the entire Bible in a year. This website will send you the scripture for each day right to your email: http://www.bibleplan.org/ 3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose (set a cap on your spending and give everything above that to someone/something for the purpose of God's glory). 4. Give of your time in another context (meaning outside your normal city/town/area). For us this goes together with #3 as we will spend our time and our money in a ministry here in Malaysia. This is the one we are still working out the details on but most likely it will be with a local orphanage since adoption is so close to our hearts. 5. Commit your life to a multiplying community. No more church shopping/hopping...no more going to church just to "receive"...commit to a group of believers and grow in Christ together. This one is the hardest for us as almost every church on the island is of the charasmatic/prosperity gospel mindset and we are not. We have gone to different churches and have yet to find a fit. So we are still trying to figure this out...maybe a home/cell group? At any rate...that's the gist of it. The book explains it so much better. You can read the first chapter for free here: http://www.radicalthebook.com/resources.html Be forewarned...it will challenge you! :D

Have you read the book "Radical: Taking Back your Faith from the American Dream"? How did it impact you? It has made such a huge impact on my dh and I. We have been slowly moving our lives in this direction and this book has really helped to bring it all together for us. We have decided to take the author's challenge and are working toward putting all the details together. What about you? Anyone else onboard?

It has made such an impact on my dh and I that we are taking the author's "challenge" presented in the last chapter... don't want to give it away :D

I forgot about Outlander. Yuck.

I once admitted that I don't like Karen Kingsbury or really very many christian fiction authors in general and I was nervous to admit that. :D