Today I went to a Christmas Brunch with some ladies from my Bible Study and we were supposed to bring a white elephant gift "Just something you have lying around the house...nothing big". So I bring an extra Pampered Chef melon baller that I have and put it into a small gift bag and go. Fast forward to the gift game (the one where you draw numbers and then you can rob other people or change for a gift on the table) and people start opening their gifts they get and they are NICE. They are EXPENSIVE. And they are certainly stuff that hasn't just been lying around the house. Can you say humiliating?:001_huh: I've never been so embarrassed in my entire life! I'm really glad I didn't bring these: (because I was truly going to) slippers

:iagree:This. AND--I agree with you as well that if she isn't willing to support herself when she can then extra money from other people isn't helping her at all.

just prayed.:grouphug:

No don't throw away the sheets!!! It could be a gentle hint to him that you aren't up for....well you know. ;) Whenever you just want sleep--start taking the sheets out of the linen closet while he can see you. :001_smile:

What kind of food coloring are you using? I like the gel or the powder because it doesn't necessarily change the consistency of what I'm using it on.

Never. It's when we have amazing conversations and I'm not willing to give that up.

$5.25 / gallon. :glare:

We are there every year and every year in some way it all comes together. God is so good to us! Sometimes Christmas is very "lean" and other times (like last year) we have so much. Our income is based on giving from the US. If people give--we have money. If they don't--we'll then we have each other! Either way we have had amazing Christmases. We do a lot of Christmas baking and movies and decorating. We have a night where we all get together with friends and go caroling which is so much fun! We do the Christmas parades here and also the "burning of the devil" which is the official kick off to the Christmas season here in Guatemala. Lots of traditions takes the focus off of gifts. We've always had wonderful Christmases.

It's been over 2 years since we've been back and we've been in Guatemala now for 6 years. When we flew into the Chicago airport and I saw "Welcome to the United States of America" I literally cried. I love our country! Be prepared for some major culture shock though. It's hard on our family when we go to places in the US to shop (and we have Wal-Mart and beautiful malls in the City here) and see the excessive amounts of stuff. It gets a tad overwhelming. Are you going back to Germany?

I would send them to ps. I would get super involved in the classroom and volunteer for whatever I could and then I would afterschool them and holiday school them so that maybe he could see things differently. But I would never home school if my dh was against it.

:grouphug:Strider: My dh grew up in a home with a schizophrenic manic-depressed; OCD dad who was prone to panic attacks and heard voices regularly. PM me if you want to ask me anything. I'll be praying.

Oh yeah? Well... I just made 3 pumpkin pies; 2 french silk pies; 1 peanut butter pie; 1 pumpkin roll; 2 banana cream pies; and some gluten free ginger snaps. MmmHmmm...NOW who rocks?!;)

:iagree::lol:

So cool! Are you going to have some time to sight see? Do you have a list of things you want to see?

:lol::lol:Yes!!! I love that!

:grouphug:Sometimes it's so hard being a parent. I'm praying for your healing as well as your family's healing.:grouphug:

OOOOOh! A bread machine! Mine has almost had it with all the teams I've had to cook for over the years. Why don't you use it?

Awww...thanks you guys! I really am excited! My dh asked me what would I do with it if we ever moved back to the US and I told him I'd wrap it in a blanket and carry it on the plane like a baby. What else do you do with it????;)

I just wanted to share because I'm so excited that I am being gifted with a red Kitchenaid Professional 6-quart stand mixer! :D God is so good to me! I've always wanted one but never expected to get one since they are decidedly out of our price range. One of our prayer supporters felt led to buy me one after reading about all the cooking I do for our teams and the street people I cook for as well here in Guatemala. Anyway--just in time for holiday baking! I'm just excited!!!!

Not only does he get a good job but his dream job? Yeah--I wouldn't worry about the weather. I would just move.

Non-Traditional Holiday Movies While You Were Sleeping Steel Magnolias Home Alone (just the first one) Sound of Music any Pixar movie Miss Potter Traditional Scrooge (the musical one with Albert Finney from 1970) Charlie Brown Christmas Holiday Inn White Christmas It's A Wonderful Life Miracle on 34th Street (the Natalie Wood one) The Polar Express A Christmas Story --I'm sure there's more but I can't think of them right now!

We don't buy for nieces and nephews in either side of our family and they don't buy for ours. It's been that way for years and we like it that way. They don't need anymore stuff and if we do anything we do something for the whole family--a game or a movie or some passes to something. We only buy for our kids. If we have extra cash we buy for each other. We ONLY use cash for Christmas. We NEVER charge anything. So each Christmas is a little different depending on how much money we have.

I agree with Strider. Telling him that he can't play with the other boys when the 8yo is around isn't fair to your ds. I would find a way to supervise. Make your house/yard more of the hangout if possible for your ds's friends so you can better supervise what is happening.

I think we'd be entertaining! 5 gringos from northern Minnesota living in Guatemalan highlands homeschooling and trying to continue to adjust to the culture. Let's not even get into the spanish speaking; the open-air market shopping; the having to restructure a menu because you can't find everything you need to make it work the real way; immigration:glare:; working with the homeless in a 3rd world country with absolutely no help from anyone for them; the stray dogs; running a co-op for other missionary families; and the fact that my dc are awesome! Yeah--I'd watch us. Would I put us on a reality show? Nope. Too invasive and I'm not a publicity hound.

We've had to take it fairly regularly since it's the only thing that kills some of the parasites and amoebas we can pick up living here. It's not fun. But--take live culture yogurt with it! So many of my friends here get so sick directly after taking cipro because of how harsh it is and kills all the good bacteria as well. It's been a lot better for us since we started with the yogurt too. Keep up with the yogurt 3 times a day for about 5 days after taking the cipro. Just so you know--we haven't had any long-term effects and we've probably each taken it 3 different times in the last 6 years.