I'm so sorry for your loss. And I know her passing was much more peaceful having her dear friend with her. We should all be so fortunate.

YAY! I saw a co-worker having some the other day, and I had to get some. It's been years. My dad used to eat them. I ate a can the other day. I was sitting on the kitchen floor just scraping them onto crackers. It was a good day. :) I had no idea any one else in the world liked them. :D

ah, no, I couldn't see the video. Poo on that. That's just rude.

I'm grateful for pumps. My nipples were rubbed away and bleeding. I pumped for a couple of weeks to keep my milk supply up while I was healing. I got pumped milk from my friend who was producing Gallons of milk! Her own daughter was having open heart surgery, and she was pumping to have enough. I was glad to have it, and so was her daughter. I was exhausted. I pumped extra every day so I could go to bed at an earlier time that usual so my husband could feed my daughter before bed. I was happy to "let go." I loved breastfeeding. I breastfed 4 children over a year each. I breastfed anydarnwhere I pleased, and darned who had a problem with it. However. . . . Why can't pumping be ok too? Why can't it be ok to tell women they don't have to be a full-time pacifier if they'd like an alternative? (I saw this for women who "feel" like full-time pacifiers. Not that every women who breastfeeds exclusively is a pacifier) I think this is what the ads are getting at. Edited to say: I couldn't see the video. . .but I'm not sure what the hubbub was about. Letting a women get a needed-break. . . doesn't seem bad to me.

Hi, all. I'm hoping to start making my family a dessert every weekend--anything from pistachio salad to cakes, whatever. Can you share some of your quick, fun, easy family desserts? Not anything unrealistic. Stuff you actually make :)

What particularly are you worried about for Turkey? It's amazing. I'd go there, myself. Tomorrow.

Aw, :grouphug: Don't be hurt. I know it's easy to take it as a personal comment about you somehow not cutting it. . .but sometimes our kids want/need something different. My oldest two have started public school because we're in an excellent district, and they're very happy. (My youngest are still at home. We started last year) We afterschool still, and support homeschooling (yes we do!) but what my children have access to here in the schools is more than I can do for my multiples at home. I do feel they're getting a better overall experience at school at this point. If that changes, they can come home. I was also glad that they're having the opportunity to learn in new ways. My oldest wasn't great in math, she was doing her level, but . . . just not terribly hot at it. She's learning some things in her math class that's making her a much better at math. They're getting the opportunities to learn different things from different people. There are benefits. I didn't fail, and neither did they. Neither did you :) Best of luck deciding what's going to be best for your family!

Thanks all, for the advice. I'm taking all of the advice I reasonably can. This is miserable!

Thank you!

I'll look and see if I have the anti-inflammatories. I don't think any of the local D.C.s are open till Tuesday. I'd have to wait til Wed. at any rate because I work all day Tues :( Thanks!

I've been having terrible back pain in two specific areas of my back for almost three days. I thought I was just sore, or sitting too long working, but I think these are back spasms. What can I do? This is horrible. I have trouble even pulling up the covers at night! Thanks for any suggestions.

I'm very glad for this child, then! Will she be supported in one day finding a same-sex mate and be told that she is just as much an important, loved, pure human being as straight people and that there's nothing wrong with her in terms of her sexuality? If so, it would be the first time I've ever heard of it happening in the conservative Christian community.

I edited my previous response with some links and information on how to find more scientific studies on the issue.

Hundreds. What exactly do you want to know? Here are a couple of links, and you can follow the links to the scientific journals if you like. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/10/27/2401941.htm (transsexuality) http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1941-01350-001 (an interesting abstract you can follow up on) I think the most dominant theory running now is that sexuality is not solely based on genetics, but by hormonal influences in the womb and environment as well. This is just a fascinating, accessible, but long read, about homosexuality in non-human animals http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/magazine/04animals-t.html shorter one, but just as interesting. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2026133/Gay-zebra-finches-attached-faithful-heterosexual-pairs.html If you go to Google Scholar (scholar.google.com), you can find just as many articles as you could possibly want on the issue. I'd stick to the well-respected, peer-approved journals, however.

I know two homeschooling young men, who are very clearly gay. Very Christian families. I hear some of the women talk about it from time to time, always insisting, "Oh, I don't think they're gay. They're just. . . a little different." They're gay. People recognize it, but can't acknowledge it. It can't be! Not these Christian boys with the good families who love Jesus! One's father keeps going around to all of the big anti-gay events and writing anti-gay letters to the editor in the paper. I just wonder how those boys are going to deal. I hope they can find their way out to happy relationships some day.

Oh, sure, I think trauma can do all sorts of things to one's sexuality. It's just that I see too often people claim that homosexuality is deviant and a sickness and it's easy to say, "see, they had the trauma of molestation and now s/he's gay" and use that to indicate that only emotional/psychological damage makes you gay. My brother-in-law was molested by his priest. In his case, it didn't make him gay, it made him suicidal. He hanged himself at 13. Perhaps the cases that the woman mentioned, that every gay person she knew was molested. . .well, maybe they were gay and that the people who molested them were attracted to that! Maybe young gay people with no support or help are more in danger of being molested. Now, I'm NOT saying that is the case in any of these that the woman mentioned, but I'm making the point that correlation doesn't equal causation in either direction. Molestation doesn't make a straight person gay any more than it makes a gay person straight. Trauma, however, can totally wreck just about any part of your life.

It's been a trope for a long time that homosexuality is brought on by molestation. I will be glad when this runs its course. Correlation does not equal causation. None of the gay people I know has been molested. All of the people I know who have been molested by different-sex predators are heterosexual. And that is also anecdotal evidence. Molestation doesn't make you gay.

When I was having my second, my new church (which was very small) wanted to throw me a welcome baby shower. A week before the shower, they decided it was to be a joint-shower for both me and a single, teen mother-to-be (who did not attend the church, but was the daughter of one of the women throwing the shower). Honestly, I felt a little put out, but didn't say anything, and said it was absolutely fine. And it was. And I'm glad the girl got to have something to help her out and enjoy in a situation that was far less ideal than mine. It gave me a new perspective on showers, I think. Go, rejoice with your friend.

Thanks! I'm glad I started it too. It's been very helpful. And it is always nice to see that one is not alone in wresting with/changing mind about certain issues.

See, that's lovely! This seems reverent to me. I asked in an earlier post whether an atheist could meet the reverence requirements (my hubby--atheist, went to Mass every Sunday, served as altar boy, etc.), but I sure would rather it be met by something like this. Anyway, I didn't get an answer until yours. I think it's nice. We can't join Scouts, but it's still nice :)

I think that's fine. I think this is part of reverence/respect for people.

Ok, how about equally profound. To me, taking care of people is more than worshiping a deity--of course I don't believe in deities anymore. I can see how some people view it differently.

Not asking you, but more of a passing thought. Reverence merely means "a deep respect for". Couldn't one show reverence for nature or human life or something like that? I'd think that would be a much more profound thing than reverence toward a deity. Too bad :(

I can see your point, and I do agree that it will change, but. . . just can't now. Yes, my tax dollars are going to the military, but me not paying taxes won't help--it'll get me arrested. Me not putting my son in Scouts might not help either, but it's willfully opting out of something I'm not required to do anyway. Furthermore, he's an atheist, so far as he last told me. He's not welcome there. I'll let the believers inside of Scouts change it, if they really want to welcome us and GLBT folks. I don't see that as hypocrisy.

No, no, I understand. I'm sure many don't have an issue with it. But my conscience would get to me. And I would feel bad about it. I second Tangerine's point. Some can let it go. This one sticks in my conscience.