Well, I live on a tiny island in the Indian Ocean...no acres of farmland for me! This summer... we moved into a new home I am taking two grad school classes I am leaving to visit the states for 2 weeks we hang out with friends go to the night market watch movies piano lessons swim, lay in the sun, rinse, repeat and we have been finishing up our home study and have our final court date to finalize our adoption of Natalie next week So, nothing much. :D

This is my experience as well. Most of the charters in Michigan are quite good. The ones in or near Detroit though, at least most of them, tend to be pretty bad. The schools associated with the National Heritage Academies in Michigan tend to be some of the best.

I saw on another woman's blog: There are no unwanted babies, Only un-found parents." Then she had the word ABORTION wih the B and the R crossed out and a D and P replacing it to spell ADOPTION. As a mother of two adopted children, I really liked it!

This is the kind of thing that can start a very heated discussion (BTDT) but a good starting point for anyone interested is Romans 1:20.

Has anyone ever converted because of ME? Heavens no. It is my job only to plant the seed. It is the conviction by the Holy Spirit that draws them to Christ. But has there ever been anyone with whom I have shared my faith that came to faith after that? Yes. Many.

Another cyber high-five for you!

I can definitely give an answer to her question but it would be a MAJOR thread hijack. If you are TRULY interested in an answer feel free to PM me. Wouldn't want to proselytize someone who isn't interested, ya know? ;)

well it was a balmy 95 degrees here today...rather cool for us. :D

my point exactly. where is the line between offensive sharing of faith and not offensive? For some ANY sharing of faith is offensive. For others it would have to be really in your face for it to be offensive. so for Christians who feel it is their God-given duty to share their faith, you have no idea where on the tolerance spectrum any given person falls. Am I speaking to a person with ZERO tolerance for the word GOD? Or do I have more leeway? You never know so really, you just roll the dice and hope for the best.

what she said.

oh I am so sorry... :grouphug: from one kittie lover to another

Well, not exactly. The Jews DID want him put to death because he DID offend them in many, many ways (i.e. challenging the Pharisees, claiming to be God, etc.). They saw him as a trouble-maker and a heretic and they wanted him out of the picture. Now of course his death was preordained by God BUT who was RESPONSIBLE for his death? The Jews (for demanding it)and the Romans (for going along with it). It is one of those "what you meant for evil, God used for good" moments. So he WAS put to death for "offending" others but the results of that death (and his resurrection) is our salvation. NOW...one quick question...because I see a huge variety of viewpoints here... what, in your (collective your) mind is the difference between "proselytizing" and "sharing your faith/witnessing"? Some seem to see a big difference while others see no difference at all.

PM'ed you

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I am super busy this weekend and NOW you post a great thread?? :D I can't do a lengthy response but here are my views in a nutshell (and I doubt they will surprise anyone): To paraphrase John Piper: There IS such a thing as absolute truth whether it suits you or not. It is objective and it exists outside of you. You do not create it or define it and one day we will all bow to it. As for morality: Good is that which pleases God. Bad is that which displeases God. If one does not believe in an absolute standard of good or evil by which which to establish morals, then morality becomes nothing more than majority rules. So then if the majority of people in a society decide that a certain thing is OK then it becomes OK until the pendulum swings in another direction. So without absolute truth, morality is nothing but group-think and majority opinion. Kind of scary if you ask me.....

yep. It is going around here. Both my boys had it and about 5 of their friends had it all last week. There isnothing you can do but wait it out and try to keep them comfortable (and away from other kids as it is highly contagious). You'll all get through it. :grouphug:

:iagree: What she said...

Isn't THAT the truth.

November is kind of pretty but Nova? No way. Reminds of the Chevy Nova.

yeah, we bought a few of those and I hated them. We are all sitting there like Lego Gold Miners panning for gold...scooping up legos, dumping them in the square things then shaking shaking shaking until they were all sorted by size. We got them all done. But the first time my boys dumped them all out so they could play with them and NONE of us wanted to do the shaking thing again, they went in the next garage sale. :tongue_smilie:

And I always find it interesting that people believe we can each create our own truth AND we can each be right. If something is true then doesn't that automatically mean that the opposing belief is false? If I say there is a God and you say there isn't, we can't both be right. And when you claim there is no absolute truth, you just made an absolute truth statement. So you can't really say "we can all choose our own truth"... the best you could hope for is "I have no idea what truth is."

Well, no. I would not be offended. I assume that what you believe...you believe to be TRUE. I mean, who INTENTIONALLY believes a LIE? So if you tell me you are an atheist I assume that you believe atheism to be true. Why else would you believe it? And if you knew I was NOT an atheist and talked to me about atheism I would assume that in YOUR mind you are sharing TRUTH with me. How could I be offended by that? At worst I would think you were misled but I would not be offended simply because you believe something different than I do and tried to tell me about it. Now, obviously there are those that go FAR beyound just "sharing" their beliefs (I call them christian bounty hunters but this could apply to any group that goes oveboard) and that is why I mentioned the need for them to be less rabid. But really, unless they are purposely trying to offend you, "pass the bean dip" works wonders.

We're supposed to organize them???? :D After the initial build we just toss them in smallish rubbermaid totes. No rhyme or reason, just off the floor!

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