Krissi - Can you describe how yours is different? I ask because I emailed the pastor of a church I found here but they are no longer meeting. He asked about what we are looking for and recommended an OPC church here locally. I just don't know what to expect. He thought we'd like it even though we definitely said we are credobaptist. :bigear:

Wow, to me "tiny" would be like 50 people, so...wow. That's small. I always wonder with teeny tiny congregations, who is paying for everything? Were they in a building of their own, or in a house? Who pays the pastor's salary. It was good to hear that it went well over all though. We visited a new church on Sunday too. It was a So Baptist and was pretty much what we expected. I had a wave of sadness come over me missing my current church, esp in the music area. I have always been one to love the music that fills the room and lifts your soul toward God. And our current church is blessed with some very talented singers. I really missed it. The church is in the process of voting for the new pastor, so they are in a transition and some things I have heard give me pause about it. I just didn't feel like God was saying "this is the place!" Next week we will visit one I am really excited about. It's also So Baptist, but Reformed. We've already listened to some sermons online and like it. It's 30 full minutes away and my Mr. Punctual will want to leave 45 minutes before to make sure we are there on time. His motto is "If you are not 10 minutes early...you're 10 minutes LATE!" :rolleyes: Good luck as you continue your search. Will you visit that baptist one you found next?

Why, oh why, do I open certain threads? :ack2::leaving:

I'm surprised to hear that about Sears. My appliances are all Kenmore and will. not. die. I SO wish my fridge would die. Well, I take that back, I'd like to keep it for in the garage, but I might have to look seriously at that stimulus for a new fridge!!!

:iagree:Agree on the HB eggs, and the peanut butter or cream cheese smeared on a waffle is great too. I don't even see anything wrong with pb&j for breakfast. My kids really love a waffle w/pb, topped with banana slices and drizzled with a little honey. But I haven't tried this in the car....might be too messy. I also agree on the baggie full of snacks. My rule is that that is your snack bag for the day and if you eat your M&Ms before 6am, so be it, but you won't get any more. I've done this with plane trips too. What's in there is what you get for snacks for the WHOLE day, so eat it all now, or save it all, I don't care, but don't ask me for snacks. BUT, I do choose what goes in the baggie of snacks.:D So there will be a cheese stick, a trail mix of raisins/nuts/goldfish/pretzels, a granola bar, and one sugary treat like gummies or small candy. Don't forget the wet wipes!;)

:hurray::party::boxing_smiley: :glare:

This is good to know! My ds is turning 5 and we are just now investing in some. He has a Fisher Price pirate ship so I got him a Playmobil pirate set, but now for his birthday I got him the knights that defend the castle or something. I'd LOVE to start investing in the Romans and other sets too. Thanks for confirming that these will be used for a long time to come!!:D

You're right! I pulled my daughter from ps in 3rd grade so I had to notify obviously. I had not yet thought about it with my son because he's just turning 5, so it looks like I'm all set!:D

Pigs in a blanket or corndogs - kids will eat them cooled, pasta salad (not too many veggies), stuff tuna/chicken salad in cherry tomatoes (my kids LOVE those!), turkey & cheese or pb&j sandwiches cut up in fun shapes with cookie cutters

I don't even know how the kid would even have 40 friends!!!:001_huh: Myy son is turning 5 next week and I was going to scramble to scrounge up 10 kids for a party, and even then most of those were siblings of the kid he liked. He has never been in preschool. He's also the youngest of my homeschooled friends kids, so trying to plan a birthday that can make everyone happy was making me nuts. And then there's the expense! Those jumpy places are about $10/kid, then you have cake, food, goodie bags, decorations. Why not save the money and take them shopping to get what they really want?! We've decided to meet one friend's family at Chuck E Cheese because we've never been and he's always wanted to go. He only cares about this one friend anyways, so they will have a blast together. The night before that we will go to grandma's and have a family dinner and let him open his presents. My dd turned 9 this year and we had an awkward pool party mixing new homeschooled friends with her old ps friends. We won't do that again and will simply encourage her to pick 2 girlfriends and go to a movie or something.

This site give you all the info on what to do about notifying the school. You don't have to do so until he is 6, and then you'd notify the district office/superintedant, not the local school.

Gonna come back and check that out when I have more time this afternoon, so thanks! Leanna, I got your pm - THANKS - and will check that out too!!

Stephanie, I agree and also just said "what's going on here?" myself! God is doing a mighty work in us, that's what! You know, I think I could easily overlook the infant baptism thing. I do not think DH can. Thanks for you thoughts!!

Well, I have read lots of threads here!;) One of which then pointed me to the URC website that has a section called "lessons". I was able to listen there and learn I guess the basic tenants. That's where I heard the explanation and scripture referenced in support of paedobaptism (if you look under the lessons where it says baptism - it's audio and loooonnnnggg), then I read MacArthurs points against it here. So that helped us decide about that. Someone else mentioned Theopedia, which is like the Wiki of theology. It's searchable, and I found easy to read and understand, also full of links so you can click around but stay within the one website to learn. And it's readable, not downloading tons of audio and video. That's where I could search for "dispensationalism" and learn about it and it would then link to "covenantalism", etc. They kind of compare these theologies side by side and mention the big names so you kind of get an idea of who is who. Then there's the Center for Reformed Theology. Lots more to learn there. I have listened and read on White Horse Inn, Bible Bulletin Board, The Spurgeon Archive. I have a HUGE list of books, but I can't really afford to buy much right now so I am relying on Mr. WW Internets to help me learn. DH and I also banter back and forth during the day while he's at work. He and I are big fans of The Wretched radio show and The Way of the Master too. Hope that helps. I have also been googling lots of churches and will click on their "what we believe" links up to their associational level, so I have read a lot on the OPC and PCA websites too. I'm having FUN learning about theology from all these old dead guys.:confused: What's going on here???:D

Hi Sunflower, I read your recent thread too, and gleaned some valuable insight from it. We have studied why babies are baptised and simply do not find it biblical. I listened to an online talk on URC, took notes, looked up the scripture myself, and simply to not agree with this practice. So there you go. I don't have a problem saying we are definite credobaptists. The next thing I am studying is dispensational/covenantal/new convenant. I think we lean toward new covenant, but am still studying this business of saying the moral law of Moses (Ten Commandments) was not to be adhered to unless it passed through Christ. Which it ultimately did, but still not sure what is the point of saying that that old law is no longer valid for us. I can't agree with some major points of dispensationalism, nor covenantalism, so I am seeing that maybe new covenant is the way to go. Still studying. Oddly, there are a couple of Ev Free churches in our area, but I can't get any idea from their websites about this stuff. There is one (:confused:) Reformed Baptist also that I am guessing we might visit but it's about 30-40 minutes away which is not as desirable. Then there is the option of finding a good ol' Baptist church that is more Calvinistic/Reformed/Founders in it's theology, but it's hard to find them based on what they chose to put on their website. I was thinking about you visiting that church on Sunday and I hope you will post about your experiences! I anxious to hear what you find out.:D

Okay, this is why I need help! Maybe we're not dispensational. I may have spoken too soon on that. I read that John MacArthur is disp so since we have yet to disagree with him in what we're read, I assumed we were too. So I have scratched that and am no going to Theopedia to see if I can figure out the difference between dispensational and covenental.

I posted in the DS social group but that's not active I guess? Anyway no one has responded yet so I thought I'd post in general. Okay, so a little background. Dh and I are new to the Dark Side. We both have been Christians for a long, long time, but are just now finding our way to the Dark Side:D. We are wanting to move on from our church. Tired of the "cool and relevant and casual" atmosphere. It's turning emergent and we are NOT happy with some things we are seeing. It's also a mega-church and I believe we want something smaller. In the 8 years we've been members, we have never even met our pastor in person! And instead of a pseudo rock concert, we'd like a much more reverent worship service in terms of music. We are definitely wanting a Reformed church. I have looked some at Presbyterian (OPC and PCA) and from what I can tell they both subscribe to paedobaptism. We do not and will not. And I don't think we can attend a church and just "agree to disagree" on this. (please, don't start a debate on this, that's not what this thread is about) For this reason, do I rule out Presby? So what other denoms should I look at? Reformed Baptist I assume, and maybe Evangelical Free? Even some non-denom churches can be reformed I'm guessing. I still have SO much reading and research to do, but finding a church is a top priority right now. If you were looking right now, what are the important points that you would want to find agreement on in a Reformed church? We are credobaptist, premil. If it helps, we'd probably attend John MacArthur's church if we could! :tongue_smilie: TIA!!!!

My head is spinning... :001_huh::willy_nilly: I am reading, listening, reading. But that doesn't help to find a church. Dirtroad pm'd me a church in my area (thanks again Paula!) that is Presbyterian - PCA. Looks like a nice place, but very different from what we are used to. We come from a So Baptist background. My dh can barely clap after a song much less raise his hands during worship! ;) We are now in a great church - it's a mega one - that is slowly but surely turning emergent we think. I have always been in mega churches so it's hard for me to imagine a tiny church. And my head is just swimming with all the denominational possibilities to try out (we are in a pretty large metro area so we have a lot of choices) while at the same time trying to narrow down the ones that are the best fit. Each one has a problem I think, so Lisa your advice to pray and pray and pray some more about it, and then drop the idea that you will find the "perfect" church is very good. BUT, what do you compromise on? i.e: I can't get on board with infant baptism. I have some sources to do more research on why/how that's even biblical (not to start a debate, just using this as an example) - so would this be something that we might have to compromise on? If so, how is something like baptism a peripheral concept that you'd agree to disagree on? Not meaning to start a debate on this particular area, at all, I just keep hearing things like "yes, that denom is good, but keep in mind they do this or that". It seems to me that you either feel like the policies, procedures, beliefs, etc of the church are biblical - or they are not. Can you see why my head is spinning?!?!:tongue_smilie:

This sounds like my worst nightmare. "Hey, you, tall fat girl...pair up here with this tiny little skinny guy". OMG I would have DIED!:glare: My son is very small and thin, he was a preemie, and we were also encouraged by the nutritionist at the Endocrinologists office to add fat to everything. Butter, milkshakes, oil, etc. My pediatrician was appalled at the poor eating habits we'd encourage, not to mention the fact that my dd and the rest of us DO NOT need the added calories. I do buy him full fat milk (but he's still just 5 yo) but that's about it. Otherwise we focus on healthy eating. No amount of fat added to his food did any good anyways.

A friend of mine hosts a Moms and Mimosas party the morning school starts. They all seem to LOVE getting rid of their kids.:confused:

Betty, you aren't in the Austin area are you? If so I'd be on your doorstep in a heartbeat. Is there not one person you can call to help with the kids? I know that a few hours does not make up for weeks of stress and sleep deprivation, but you need to find some help. Would your husband support you getting a babysitter, even twice a week, to help with the kids so you can catch up? I am so sorry. I wish you had an outreach ministry you could call, but I know where you are coming from. My group reached out to an abused mom as she left her husband and we have been providing her with food, childcare, money, even a car. But when you are "just" a stressed out and tired mom, it seems there is no one to call. I am sorry for that. :grouphug::grouphug:

Excuse me. I had a small brain bubble. ;) I have been reading SO MANY threads and websites that I am getting myself confused and I mixed up your thread with the earlier one about "what denom do I fit?" WHEW! This has all got my head spinning too!:D So nevermind my previous question about denoms and I will keep a watchful eye on this thread for more understanding about choosing a reformed church. When I looked at the link you provided it didn't seem like it was a widespread group, just a few? But I still think you should continue to investigate if you got a good feeling from the pastor.

Okay, so... Bear with me here, since this is a "what denom - or demon or denim - am I" thread, not a dark side thread, I think this question is relevant. I posted earlier that we are in a similar situation, possibly feeling the "call" to change churches. We want a specifically expository preaching/teaching style and are not Anglican or Orthodox in any way. So we lean in the bible/baptist category most likely. But we are also learning more about the dark side and feel like our belief may be changing and growing in that way. SO out of curiosity I clicked on the above link for Evangelical Free because I have no idea what that is. You mentioned that was you first exposure to reformed or Calvinist ideas, but when I look at that website an the ones for the EFC in our area, they are so generic, no mention of reformed ideology at all. I am so confused. If one is not specifically tied to a denom (I like denim), how else would you look for a new church but to check out websites, and when they are so generic, then what? I know also word of mouth, but as you know this is a difficult thing to discuss with friends.

Mac-n-chz (homemade) and fruit salad. DD is having a sleepover guest who is picky. This was the best I could do with her limitations. :glare: Tomorrow, crock pot Pot Roast! :drool:

Doritos?