https://www.facebook.com/BlessedLittleGroomingCompany/photos/a.859347397463278.1073741827.847446198653398/893932484004769/?type=1 She put up a Mother's Day for those with pets image while her own children were taken away. I cannot fathom how that would feel. To equate people's animals with children. When your own children had been taken away but your animals were still there. Maybe she has a business partner who is simply terribly insensitive and that person put it up?

I'm praying for you, Caden, and your family as well. Thank you for sharing. I hope no one else ever has to face what you are facing now, but you are helping me learn how to better support others when they do. God be with you.

The grandparents are helping out tomorrow. And helping us figure out the cars and mechanic situation Monday.

Yeah, in my broken down car. Boo hoo hoo. Poor me. (That was the first thought that went through my head when I read your post, and it made me laugh and feel better, so I wanted to share)

Yeah, she has no clue. At all. And she is a very nice girl. Just oblivious and doesn't pick up on things until they are said very firmly. And my family isn't big on saying things firmly, which is a problem I'm working on getting over. She would babysit if I out and out asked, but she's moving far away now. We have other relatives pretty near, and they do help out a lot, whenever I ask. I just have to remind myself that my kids really are a joy for their grandparents to be with and that I'm not burdening them by asking for babysitting a few hours a few times a month.

Thanks for the support. My husband's schedule is in process of changing now. Should be much more reasonable in the next few months. I probably should get a baby sitter sometime soon. We have some who would be very willing, especially now that my little boy is moving out of the "separation freakout" stage. Maybe midweek next week my car will be fixed and I can go clothes shopping or something. That's been put off for a very long time for myself. There's no way I'm taking those boxes to the post office. They can sit in our basement until she takes care of them. If it isn't when she comes back through in a couple of weeks, they'll stay there. I should have set up firmer boundaries in the very beginning. She lived with my Grandparents prior, and they warned me, but they love her, too, and so their warnings were very gentle and I didn't understand until I was already feeling resentful. Not happening again.

Edited to protect the privacy of others, even those who drive me crazy from time to time. This was a vent about being exhausted and stressed out by busy family, car troubles, unintentionally insensitive relative, and bureaucracy. Thank you all for your support. I'll take good care of myself.

About correcting other people's children, I will if it's bad. Like a neighbor teen came out of his house saying the n- word loudly as we I was in the yard with toddlers. He had on headphones and went the other way, but I was fully ready to ask him if he (a black teen) wanted to be the one who taught my (white) daughter that that was an acceptable word. He hasn't done it since, so I think whoever as in the house did bring it up to him. Clearly that's not a mild swear and I wouldn't correct for one, but I can see that if someone were actually as put off by "crap" as I am by the words that offend me, it would be natural enough for them to mention it to my child. Then again, after 10 year old me listened to a whole sermon on the evils of saying "gee whiz," I never took seriously anything else that pastor said.

One idea for a way to get your kids practice with the Bible and foreign language is to have them study verses in the foreign language that they have already memorized in English. When I've done that to supplement my other language studies, it has been a helpful exercise, allowing me to learn new vocabulary without the tedium of using the dictionary and giving me insight into grammar and how those words are actually used. And for what it is worth,pastors in my denomination do study Greek and Hebrew for two years a piece, but none that I know can actually read the Bible in those languages. Rather, it gives them the ability to look at specific words and, more importantly, to understand the act of translation and how that could affect the final version we have.

You may be able to go to a judge and swear out a warrant yourself. If you have video or some other evidence that clearly shows speeding/reckless driving, that would help tremendously. I don't know how it works in other places, but here if if a civilian witnesses a crime that the police don't see, the civilian can go to the judge instead of the police officer and give the facts and evidence. Here you have to pay court fees, something like 20 - 50 dollars, but it sounds like your neighborhood would be willing to chip in. Ask an officer if they know the procedure for this (you may have to ask a few to find a knowledgeable one), or call a public line for the courts to ask.

When I went on medication for different period issues as a teen, my dr and mother both said I would be taking hormones to help balance things out. My mom did explain as she handed me the pack that they were also used for birth control, but we just referred to them as hormone pills so that none of us felt awkward. Just to add to the "it isn't weird to give these to young teens" perspective.

Our area has a tradition of the flowers and my family wore red roses to church on Mother's Day. After my grandmother died, my father planted a white rosebush in our yard so that he would be ready for the next Mother's Day. The visitation and funeral were hard, but seeing him do that (and he didn't make a deal of it) was the hardest thing for me. A complete tangent, but this thread brought back that memory for me and I needed to share.

How does quirky friend feel about alienating others? I wouldn't be surprised if she finds it hard to connect and goes into silly/entertaining mode to make it feel like her not fitting in or interacting normally is her choice. If it's something like this, I'd suggest your daughter talk gently to her about it, maybe introducing a code word like a pp suggested. It sounds like your daughters other friends are kind and would be understanding of the girl if she was trying to control herself.

This is awesome! The church we are leaving has about 30 members in attendance each Sunday, mostly age 70 plus. The church keeps up its membership by a revolving number of old people growing disenchanted with their church, joining this one, and staying there until death or time to get angry and move on to the next church. Obviously, we didn't realize how bad the situation was when we joined. The thing that let us know was when there was a meeting about how homeless people were using the church's water hose to bathe. Quickly they decided to plant briars in the area where this activity was taking place. A few weeks later, I saw the church budget for the first time and realized that this accidental shower ministry to the homeless had been the church's ONLY outreach. And an end had been put to that! (I'm very sorry that I didn't speak up during either of the meetings, but everything happened fast and I was new and distracted by small children as my husband couldn't be there, and by the time I figured out what was happening, it was done). All that to say, simply proclaiming the word through biblical preaching is not enough. Proclaim it through the life of the church, through your ministry to the community. Follow the example of Ottakee's church, not mine.

Our county has enough kids on free lunch and breakfast that it is cheaper to give it to all than to hire people to deal with money and such. I'm not sure what we will do if we send our kids. Probably cut a check for a donation to the school. Figuring that out is no biggie. The issue I have is that they make all the busses get there in time to let the kids have breakfast. I get why, but that means the elementary kids get picked up about 6:45 in our neighborhood. I really don't want to be a car drop off mom, and walking this particular route would be a death wish. Grr!

i was discussing nursery policy with a group of church moms and grandmas at a Bible study. Many of us are involved with the young children The conversation was bizarre to me. One younger grandma was insisting that many churches are moving to a policy of "no diaper changes except by parents." She said that one reason at some churches was that teenagers were helping change diapers and that they noticed that some boys were circumcised and some weren't. Apparently this was "inappropriate sex ed." The same woman was horrified at the thought that she, as the 2-3 year old Sunday School teacher, would have to give any help to potty-training toddlers. She just told parents that their children should be able to do that themselves. So people stopped bringing their kids to her class because they don't want their kids to have accidents right before church. My point in the discussion was that I think that 2 deep policies are good and background checks are good insurance cya, but that if I don't trust nursery workers enough to change a poopy diaper or help a toddler potty, I don't trust them enough to leave my children in their care. I won't be part of a church that has paranoia as its official policy any more than I will be part of one with blind trust as the official policy. This church does need to improve and enforce existing policies. For example, I don't know, when I'm helping little ones to the bathroom adjacent to the classroom whether I should leave the door ajar for accountability or completely closed for the children's privacy. Thankfully, two of the children are mine and I know the other moms well enough that it's not really an issue at the current time. Wow. I spend way too much time these days thinking about the potty!

Without seeing any context, I may be wrong, but just from what it says here, he's not talking about you. Unless you are "waging war" against public schools, he's not knocking you. He's not calling conservatives vandals, he's calling those attacking public schools vandals. Most homeschoolers I know want public schools to be better.

. I liked your post because I'm glad you are here, not because I like your situation. I hope you can find something for your son that the doc doesn't know about. I'd write more but I'm writing on my phone now.

Thank you very much! I've had to do the weighing produce thing before. I know my kids will LOVE that! It's good to know about lunch breaks. I was more in Eastern Europe before, and there it seemed anytime could be a break! Good lessons for impatient younger me; now I guess I'll get lessons in daily organization, which will also be good. McDonald's seems to be better everywhere else. I'm not sure what that says about America. On my first living abroad experience, I went there with my other expat friends for lunch on Thanksgiving. Perhaps pathetic, but it was a fun taste of home. I know the kids won't remember much, but we will, and we will take pictures for them to have in the future. And I can at least hope that it leaves very pleasant associations in their minds. Awesome article, thanks! And thanks for the color comparison, too. We may resort to that, but I'm also really good at making do and making up sign language as needed. Does anyone know how helpful a knowledge of German might be in the area? I'm a little rusty, but my German is much stronger than there's any hope of my French becoming in the next few months.

I've got that pulled up now and will be looking into it for sure, thanks. Thanks, I just put that book on hold and will be searching that blog. Ha! I think you might find a few other folks already trying to sneak into our baggage!

Thanks so much, Laura. We'll certainly be making sure of our insurance. I'm really looking forward to exploring different small shops. I've found that can be a big part of the learning experience. Thanks especially for the advice about darker colors, shoes rather than sports shoes, and speaking softly. While we are Americans wherever we go, I'd rather not stick out like a sore thumb or bother my new neighbors unnecessarily.

Do any of you have recommendations about books to read or blogs to follow? My family (husband, me, will be 3 and will be 2 yos) will be going to the north of France this fall. Excited would be an understatement and I'm confident the whole thing will be a positive experience, but of course I want to prepare. I'm studying French (my husband is ahead of me on this) and reading what I think would help. Bringing up Bebe was an interesting read and I'm looking forward to seeing whether the author's observations hold true in a smaller city as well. As the time draws near, I will be focusing on making sure I have basic medical and food language down, using Google Maps to find at least a grocery store and a place for the kids to run around near our apartment. I would really like to read more about, basically, the mundane details of living with kids in France. Stuff about doctors, playgrounds, grocery stores, public transportation and such. While I can figure that stuff out on the ground, if need be, I'd rather be able to hit the ground running, so to speak. Some of my friends have given me advice about preparing children emotionally for the experience, but I'd welcome thoughts on that. Also, if any of you have recommendations for not-to-miss experiences for the area, I would love to hear those as well. Oh, and if there is anything that would be considered rude or offensive in the area, I'd like to know and avoid that. My husband's schedule should be fairly light and the kids and I will be completely free. We won't have gobs of money to spend by any stretch of the imagination, but we have been saving and preparing for this. My husband and I (independently of each other) have lived abroad before, but never in Western Europe and never with children. Our family goals are to get a taste of living overseas with kids as we think about doing so more in the future, to give our kids a positive basic experience and understanding of "there are different countries with different people speaking different languages, and that is cool," and to spend time together, enjoying each other (husband will have WAY more free time there than here). My husband and I both want to strengthen our French skills and if the kids pick up on it, so much the better. Thanks for any advice or information any of you have. I'd be happy to give exact city information via PM if any of you are very familiar with the area and would be so generous as to share with me.

Curious George, Daniel Tiger, and Backyardigans are all on Amazon Prime and, I think, are all appropriate for gentle little eyes and ears. Especially Daniel Tiger. The most recent season isn't on Prime, but there are way more than you could watch travelling, especially if your little one would prefer to watch the same thing over and over at that age.

How does he respond to your husband? Perhaps part of it is that he has misunderstood what it means that "he is a man." If this is part of it, maybe your husband can talk with him about proper respect and be very intentional about modeling how a man treats someone. You mentioned that he spends a lot of time around people from a different cultural background. Kids pick up on a lot. Is there any talking down to some people there? It is especially hard for young kids to sort through which things are good and which are bad when they see them happen at a religious place. You may have to counter some things explicitly.

I used to be strongly YEC as a child and now believes that God uses evolution to create and sustain life just as he uses the laws of physics to create day and night among other things. Just speaking about the "Christians must decide what to believe" idea that is really difficult to understand from an outside perspective; when I say this, I don't mean that everyone must decide what is science. I mean that each Christian person is responsible for deciding how to interpret Genesis and other Scriptures. On person may feel a strong conviction that no matter what science says, we must believe Genesis literally. I will disagree with that person on a theological level, but I really do respect that belief. Others find a way to reconcile faith and science, as I hope I've done well. Still others don't find it important enough to research whether they should change long held beliefs. I don't quite understand those folks, but I know and respect many like them. Then there two more groups: those who actively twist science to try to support YEC and many, many more who believe and actively promote these ideas. I don't respect the POV of the first group and would have trouble relating well to those involved. I used to be part of the second group, so when I meet them I wish they would step back and think about why this is important to them and whether they really believe there is a huge active conspiracy. Most of them in my experience have simply been working from a limited and very skewed set of information.