This is why we stick to individual sports and activities. Team sports are just too intense where I live. Tennis, gymnastics, dance, martial arts, etc. are more our style.

This can get confusing between Eastern and Western parishes. Orthodox Christians and many Eastern rite Catholics cross their arms over their chest to show they are receiving the Eucharist. If you attend an Eastern rite Catholic parish, just ask the person next to you what is customary. Well you could do that no matter where you go, I suppose. May God bless your journey as you seek your House of faith.

I am not into country music but I am into death with dignity and love and I think Joey is showing us how it's done. I really admire this family. I only see updates when Rory makes a new blog post.

I think it is a great habit as long as it's not a family meal. We usually eat and read at lunch and weekday breakfast. It is a great way to slow down really fast eaters, too.

Lord have mercy. Praying for your dh and you.

I am not sure if this is the same article pp mentioned upthread, but this article is coming from the angle that I am talking about in this discussion.

I have a friend who is amazing in her capacity to take on many things at once. She never describes herself as busy. She is a charter school teacher and she homeschools her kids. She has 4 children in her home including a foster child. She plays fiddle in 2 bands. She runs youth group at her parish, operates 2 home-based businesses, is creating a web based writing curriculum, teaches music, and heads up a non-profit. I have no idea how she has so many irons in the fire. She always makes time for outings and coffee dates with friends and loved ones. She even hand draws her Christmas cards! I truly do not understand how she does all that she does. I once commented on how busy she is and she said, "I never think of myself as busy because I love everything I do." I have so much admiration for her.

The thing I see happening with those I know who are chronically busy (myself include in a former life), is that they feel pressure to be this way. They are anxious. They worry that their kids aren't getting enough of the right activities. They worry that they might miss out on being part of "something special," so they feel compelled to volunteer hours of their time and resources that may not be available. They feel that society esteems the busy, the productive, the go-getter, the rain maker and they work hard to be in this group. I frequently see people listing all the things they accomplished in a given day on Facebook to a chorus of kudos and head pats. I have friends who repeatedly complain that there's no time to clean their houses, make dinner, read books, go to church, etc.. They will resolve to change and simplify one minute and the very next moment tell me about some great new opportunity that they want to make time for. It's as if they cannot see their inability to say no. Learning to say no was probably the most useful skill I've ever learned. I haven't had nearly as many panic attacks since I realized that I am just as valuable if not more so when I say no to things that make life too complicated and busy.

Oh boy. This is a huge pet peeve for me. I hope I don't offend anyone by my response. I honestly don't like the "busy" phenomenon. Who doesn't have stuff to do? Why should we define ourselves by how much we have to do? I hate when I ask how someone is and they reply with "busy." It seems like an avoidance tactic to me. A way to avoid being present with oneself and others. Busy is not a qualitative description but a quantitative one and it seems to be important to people who seek external approval for their existence. Forgive me if that sounds harsh.

We celebrate Theophany (Epiphany) in the Orthodox Church with a Divine Liturgy and blessing of the waters as this is the feast day of the Lord's baptism and the public revelation of God in the flesh. We sing special hymns and everyone gets blessed with holy water which we take home in flasks for personal use. We often have a separate service for the Greater Blessing of the Waters in which parishioners walk or drive to a nearby large natural body of water to bless it. Then the braver and healthier among us dive into the freezing water! It is customary for us to have our homes blessed after Theophany and before Great Lent.

My tried and true planner is a mead composition book. I have tried leaving it for more expensive, tabbed, dated, and designer planners, but I keep going back to the trusty comp book and mechanical pencil. It looks boring but it gets the job done.

I like annual, monthly, and weekly routines that provide a lot of structure for a non-scheduled daily experience outside of appointments. I like being able to spontaneously go ice skating or swimming or shopping when we have checked off our tasks that need to get done first. I am not into having a meticulous daily schedule. I need daily adventures.

I know a girl who was home schooled all the way through and got into English Language and Literature at Oxford. She credits Veritas Press for her success. I think they do transcripts and possibly hs diplomas.

Breitbart is also conservative news but notice how they don't use the word "terrorists?" http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/08/12/armed-black-panthers-march-in-waller-count-texas-oink-oink-bang-bang/ Coming back for additional details: Even after a cop was killed, news sources did not characterize the neo black panthers as terrorists. http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/08/texas-deputy-executed-2-weeks-after-new-black-panthers-promised-to-off-the-pigs-at-local-rally-video/

Exactly. It wasn't even covered by mainstream media. That doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Where was the terrorism outcry when the neo black panthers, armed to the teeth, marched through the city streets calling for cops to be killed last spring? https://youtu.be/feY0diCOp-Y

I don't mark my bible but I was raised in a religion where we did. We used the special blue chalk sticks that wipe away easily. http://christianscience.buysub.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=chalk+holders+

The black panthers were not terrorists but it seems they should've been labeled as such according to the logic I'm seeing here.

The news here in Oregon keeps accurately labeling them as militants. Terrorists are a completely different kettle of fish. Terrorists would have killed unsuspecting birders and taken hostages. I agree that the militants are not helping themselves with their tactics and they have zero of my sympathy, but they haven't lived up to the terrorist hyperbole either. I'm good with them being tagged as militants or militia men, but I will not call these people terrorists.

They were anything but peaceful in my town. They threw feces at the cops and resisted removal with bodily harm. I guess it just depends on where you live. These guys are packing and talking crazy talk but they are still doing an occupy protest and not terrorism at this point. I doubt they've even flung their poo at anyone, yet.

I had a wonderful stepdad who came into the picture at age 5 and I never knew my biodad really but the wounds of abandonment were there, nonetheless. Not a special club but we all definitely gravitated toward each other in high school. I think we were what might have affectionately been referred to as "the losers." I wouldn't want my teenager to hang with my teenager self! :(

It's like the cowboy conservative version of occupy wall street meets earth first. Not terrorism until they actually terrorize. I tire of the hyperbole.

I waited in the freezing cold for AAA to come and tow my car for 1.5 hours. It would have been sooner if I'd given the right street name. I hope I can get a rental tomorrow.

I'm sorry you're hurting. I don't believe my love or any human love has the same transformative power as God's mercy. I believe love does heal but I also believe that it is not up to me to judge when or how that happens. Sometimes what we see as the presenting sign that someone just needs enough of the right kind of love for healing is merely an indication of something else hidden that we may never know of or understand enough to really see or touch in any meaningful way. We are all so complex in our brokenness. (((Hugs)))

I'm not Denise in Florida, but I wouldn't celebrate the Nativity and Incarnation of God as man the same way I would celebrate a created human's birthday. They are simply not the same thing. The Incarnation is truly a mystery that mere mortals cannot begin to really understand. I am not worthy to bake a cake for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The best I can do is welcome Him and the gift of the Nativity into my heart and change to be more like Him as a result.