I am not sure one needs a graduate degree to figure out the problem. Spiritual abuse's root issue is called the wretched man syndrome. It's when you think you can live a holy life by putting yourself under a law system. Only laws of dos and don'ts can only end up driving you to do that which you don't want to do. Paul describes it Romans 7. If you are under grace, you are not under the law. Instead you live out of the love of Christ which is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost when you believed. It is not uncommon to find pornography, oversexualized marriage relationships, perversion and even suppressed homosexuality, child abuse and such when you are placed under a conservative view of marriage that promotes excessive amounts of children, shaming of sex talks, conservative clothing, suppressive female roles, and dominate male roles. The flesh is weak and what is told not to do all of sudden becomes aware of the desire to do and then bam you a dumb kid stumbling on child porn and completely becomes sucked in some insidious evil. If one had been taught to mind the things of the Spirit instead of the law, well a child might have been more equipped to avoid such a disastrous trip down pornography mountain. The fact is a child getting access to pornography on the Internet can lead to broken and messed up view of sex and exploration. Here is a very interesting talk on the facts and reality that our children can be one click away from perversion. although I don't agree on the solution offered, it is eye opening.

Um we must have the same teacher...?? We got a very similar thing and I was thinking it was too much but I guess it's the new norm. A flower, soda, candy, homemade card and oh yay a gift card to one of her numerous favorite places etc. each to be brought in on a different day. The letter was worded the same. Wow, I feel like schools are becoming standardize in so many ways that it's creeping me out. Well, I think the gift cards is a bit much. A free redbox movie code will suffice.

The Albuquerque zoo is nice. The Botanical garden and the aquarium is a combo park and it was a lot of fun. Both are very inexpensive in comparison to what most zoos cost. A train goes between all the parks. We really enjoy stopping at all three. The zoo is filled with exciting animals. We really enjoyed the seals, the koalas, and tigers. My kids also enjoyed the enchanted giant garden with fun castle, dragon and giant ants. The aquarium had beautiful tanks filled with amazing fish, Sharks, sea turtle, etc. There is a fun touch tank where you can touch sharks and rays. We had fun in Albuquerque.

I think to understand why He chooses to manifest His love or to express Himself in a particular way one has to understand why He has allowed such darkness into the world. I think hearing a testimony from a believer who has suffered many great tragedies and still gives glory to God helps to shed light on why God chooses to do things by His Word and Spirit in this broken world. Warning: This testimony might be offensive to some.

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I will say that the femmy cup doesn't open inside me very well (at least the way I think it should) and yet because of its design it did not leak. This was my biggest worry. I could just see myself getting frustrated trying to figure how these things open up inside and create that necessary vacuum seal. Many reviews of other cups say there is a slight learning curve. I picked the femmy cup based on the reviews that you didn't really have to get it perfectly placed and opened right like the other cups. However, I haven't tried it on a heavy day yet. It has one of the largest capacities supposedly compared to other cups. I got the low cervix one. It's very comfortable and nothing sticks out like I have read in reviews of other cups. I can't even feel it's there. There is a loop on the end to make it easy to remove. The no spill design works too.

I am trying out my first cup. I got the femmy cycle. I got it on my last day and it worked fine. No leaks or anything. I am nervous trying it out on a heavy day. Not having to go to the bathroom every hour will be worth it if this thing doesn't leak. I don't know what took me so long to try this.

I have bought one terrible vaccuum (@ 70-85 bucks) after another. I finally spent the money on a Shark. Love it. I got the navigator DLX. I am plenty happy. The difference of just fifty dollars was worth it.

We did a two day/one night trip last summer. Crazy. But worth it. We stayed in Flagstaff for the night though. It's just much cheaper to stay there. There are two ways to leave the Grand Canyon. Taking US 89 is more scenic in my opinion. It's not any longer really even though it looks like it is longer. We took US 89 on the way back and you get lots of views of the Grand Canyon. Plus there are volcanos too everywhere as you get closer towards Flagstaff. Sunset volcano park was beautiful. If you find you do have time, there is a very short (5min) lava trail hike that was awesome. There are ancient adobes buildings too off HWY 89 that you can go inside and explore. You can see many of the volcanos from the Hwy if you don't want to stop off or if you don't have the time. the Grand Canyon park has an okay museum in the main area. We picked up a free junior ranger book there. There are amazing lookout areas on the main path area around the main museum. They have a great bus system to take you to the many trail heads. one trail might be more than enough for a short trip. Honestly we didn't do any trails in the Grand Canyon. My kids are very young though. The US 89 drive has plenty of scenic pull off areas to stop and see many more spectacular views. If you take US 89, there are a couple more museums off the road too. They are small but nice. The views were great at those places. We drove through the Grand Canyon area mostly the first day and then headed back to the hotel in Flagstaff and then the next day we trekked back up to Sunset Volcano park and Wupatki National Monument. Those really aren't far from Flagstaff. Of course Flagstaff has Walnut Canyon too which is a great hike. I don't remember anything really exciting from the other route. The other route(180) brings you right to the main entrance of the Grand Canyon Village, where US 89 takes you to 64 to the Desert View entrance of the Grand Canyon, Both ways will bring you to the Grand Canyon Village. I just think 89 is way better. I can't believe we saw so much in two days and one night. We were so beat at the end of it. Have fun.

My son made me feel bad buying paper plates after reading some cat in the hat book, so I use a wicker like plate and throw a cloth napkin over it. This is just for sandwiches and snacks. Things like that. I moved all my dishes to the bottom cabinets except cups. This allows DS6 and DS5 to put all the dishes away. We only do dishes once a day most days for a family of six. We eat a lot of fresh whole foods so I guess that's how we cut down on all the dishes. I just don't care to cook really. Now if my husband is in the kitchen cooking....two loads of dishes automatically. He knows how to use every dish in the kitchen. It has to be some kind of talent, but boy, he can cook. Yum.

You might like Jelly Telly or Iamflix. I love that Jelly Telly is content that I can trust. I don't have to worry about the kids stumbling upon something inappropriate. Plus it's so cheap compared to Netflix. We were streaming from Xbox and the ads were awful. I am glad I got a Roku and found jelly Telly and iamflix.

This past month I lost 10 lbs. this is a huge accomplishment for me. After three kids, I have put on some weight, and it's hard to diet with kids. (I had 50 lbs to lose...now 40.) They can push your buttons and when i am hangry, I am not the best me. Here is somethings I did this month that was easy and key to my success. -macro nutrients 50% fat, 20% protein, 30% carbs. -recorded everything I ate and recorded my workouts on fitness pal. With fitness pal, if you workout particularly hard you will have calories that you can eat back. So if you are allowed 1690 calories on a sedentary day but you worked out burning 500-1000 calories, you have some more calories to eat. I wouldn't suggest eating them all back but I didn't restrict myself from eating some back if I was starving. -yes, you can lose weight on a high fat diet. It's not crazy talk. I am shocked myself. My fats came from avocados, nuts, coconut oil, butter, yummy sausage. My carbs stayed around 90-130 g a day. I went too low carb at first and was nauseous. If you feel fatigue and nauseous, up your carbs. I think it's better to lower your carbs slowly. -I was working out on a machine similar to an elliptical. I worked out probably too hard though because I injured my back. I averaged 3 one hour workouts a week burning 700-1000 calories at each workout. -calorie window. This eating in a 8-10 window is something that took time for me to master. This is my first successful month. I skip breakfast and workout on my fast. I did allow myself a coffee with stevia and a dash of unsweetened almond milk first thing in the morning. They say 20-60 calories doesn't really break your fast. -big salad lunch. I ate a super big salad everyday to break my fast. If I had a great workout, I ate a sweet potato too. -I am working to give up wheat products. I was 75% successful. I know the key to my success is to have substitutes on hand like rice when I make pasta for my kids. Ugh, I can be so lazy. -going to bed by 10:30 aka getting the rest my body needs. For February, I plan on adding weight lifting and giving up wheat products 100%. Why wheat? I learned that wheat affects the health of my bowels which is directly related to my emotional health. I think with finding what works is by listening to your body. Try out diets. See how they affect you. Low fat diets made me depressed. Eating too much protein makes me sick. This low carb, high fat diet makes me happy. I can see myself living this way forever. I think that is what makes a diet successful. Finding healthy habits that you can live with happily. Grace and peace.

On does God exist debate: One can not help someone who denies the truth that lies within them. You don't need a scripture, a science book, or anything to find this truth. It is manifested within. Now who is the real God? Ask Him that question. He will answer the seeker. if you want to know if Genesis thru Revelations is His word, open it and read it. Ask Him questions. Keep reading. Ask more questions. Keep reading. And so on and so forth. Why does God allow confusion? It's called grace and longsuffering. Proverbs 2 1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

There are a few free episodes from a few different Great Course series on Amazon Instant video. You don't need prime to purchase the free ones. It will give you an idea if she likes them.

For us the most positive way to regulate screen time and to make it more of a natural habit is by filling their day up with other things to do. Plan for its purpose. This is just my situation but there is no waking up to screen time. They play a little in their rooms because they are early risers, then eat and do chores, We then go to the gym for an hour or so. We come back home for lunch. Then we start school where there is iPad work intermitten throughout but I use the timer that turns the ipad to a passcode screen after ten or so minutes. Then they switch back to their textbook lessons. We usually finish up with school around four thirty. We eat dinner early so I usually get dinner ready and let them lose on their iPads. Once we sit down for dinner iPads are put away. So you see the day is just jammed pack that electronics just don't have time to absorb the whole day every day. My son could play all day on electronics, so I understand that some kids just can't self regulate. My daughter doesn't play with her ipad sometimes even though she can. I also heartlessly delete games and apps that I feel are not as productive as others and/or are taking up all my kids attention. Good luck finding a plan. Its trial and error.