Oh how sad!! Oh that poor poor woman. I am praying for her and for you in your suffering. I thank God that Wolf stopped for coffee! Gosh, you just never know what little choices you make in any given day can mean to your life. Wow! I'm so glad he is safe. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

My friend Donna D. She is the first homeschooler that I ever met and she is the one who made me believe that I could do it. If it wasn't for her encouragement, I never would have believed it possible that I could homeschool my kids. Thanks Donna! :grouphug: mua!!

My kids have just about every race under the sun in them and we learn about and celebrate each one. It's a beautiful thing to be a "child of the world" and to embrace every part of themselves.

Okay I went to Home Depot today after doing some research online on the models that you gals were gracious enough to recommend here. The Home Depot unfortunately only had mostly GE's, a smattering of Maytags and two LG's which I've never even heard of and one called Americana I think it was. The LG's were the most expensive and they were nice but since I'd never heard of them I didn't spend much time looking at their features. I did notice that they looked pretty solidly built. I researched the Maytag model number that was recommended here and I liked the features on it, but they didn't have that model at the Home Depot, but they had another one that was kind of similar. It had the quiet feature, the sanitizing cycle, the automatic sensor of the dirt, jet blasts and what not. It had tough scrub, double life motor and a bunch of other things that i can't remember now. It is on sale right now for almost $100.00 off of the original price ($499.00) but I remember y'all said that I should look for a mid-range one. Does that price range qualify as mid-range or low end?? The sale is only good until this wednesday so if I'm going to get it I have to make a move on it quick, but I just don't want to stumble into it either and be disappointed. It had all of the features that I wanted on it and then some, but I just don't know if they price point is too low for it to be good quality?? And worse I can't find any reviews on it online anywhere. It apparently is a new model just out and so there aren't any reviews on it yet. :( What do you ladies think?? What would you do in my shoes? Thanks for the advice. :grouphug:

:iagree::iagree: I was thinking about something along these lines as well. My family has managed to preserve it's culture rather well (even without homeschooling) in this country in spite of the influences of the larger culture around. In our case, I would say immersion had the most influence. My family lived in a latin neighborhood which made preserving the language/culture of the motherland very easy. In our case too story telling had a lot to do with it. My great grandparents, grandparents, aunt, uncles etc all were very active in telling our "family stories" to the children and through that vehicle passed on our family history as well. I know my family's stories back to the early 1800's just from them telling me the stories when I was growing up. I could see how homeschool would be vital in passing on culture because you have that opportunity for immersion as well as for story telling and instilling your culture in your children in a way that a child who goes out to school wouldn't have. Especially if their children's parents work outside the home. I could see homeschooling as a tool for passing down culture, but to argue it as a culture in itself might be a tougher sell IMHO. I mean, just within homeschoolers there is a lot of diversity. Classical, unschoolers, religious backrounds etc. It might be too broad a genre IMO. Good luck on your paper. It sounds like an interesting topic. I hope you'll post it up here for us to read when you are finished. I know I would enjoy reading it. :)

My personality online is the same as IRL with the exception that I try to be more careful of my grammar and spelling here. ;) :D

That's a great song! I love that one too! That's a good one to get stuck in your head though. :)

:lol::lol::lol::lol: Oh please tell me that you are English. I can so hear what you wrote in my head in an English accent. hehehe Well, the one thing I can say for the poor menstruating women is that it seems they were in pretty good company "outside of the camp" hehe There were a lot of other folks out there too according to Levitical law including men. I was thinking about what it meant to be "outside of the camp" and of course I can only look through my eyes at it, but to me it seems I guess it would be how you look at it. On the one hand, one could see it as banishment and as of something of shame, but on the other hand I guess you could see it as a time of respite and a break from your ordinary duties and responsibilities. I mean if you're "outside the camp" you're not in there performing your normal activities for spouse and family and at that time of the month that might just be a blessing in disguise. :) With all of those menstruating women together though it would make for some interesting conversations/interactions I would think. ;) :D

That's good!! And really true too! :) It does to always seem to be the songs you'd rather not get stuck in your head. I once had that song T.V. Dinners from Z.Z. Top stuck in my head for a whole day. I thought it was going to drive me absolutely insane!! To this day I can't stand that song!! :glare:

That's an excellent point!! Thank you so much for posting that. I think about that too. I've been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series with my dd and I am constantly struck by how isolated she was on her family's farm and if anything it caused her to be closer to her family and learn the lesson how we all need each other. She was also homeschooled and she turned out just fine I'd say.:) She even got her own t.v. series. ;) :)

Truer words were never spoken...er... I mean written. ;) :lol:

:lol::lol::lol::lol: My son too! hehe And the doctor just had to be Austrian too! I read that whole article imagining the voice of Sigmund Freud in my head telling us that we must all pick our noses. :lol::lol:

Oh I didn't take what you said personally. :) No worries. :) Wow! You really read a lot into the verse. I didn't even think of it that way at all. More like, it's bloody, smelly etc. Yes it's natural but so is pus. :ack2: Personally it doesn't bother my self esteem at all, but I can see where you would have an issue with it.

LOL I'm sure they had lots of things they could have used as an analogy. I didn't write it, just quoted what it says. :)

When my son was born he was choking a lot on the fluids that were in his lungs. The pediatricians advised me to let him sleep in an inclined position so that the fluids wouldn't choke him. The specifically recommended the car seat since it had one of those wire stands that can keep it stationary and from rocking. He turned out fine. :)

perfect!! Thanks! :) Thank you. I didn't know they were all the same. I'll look at the prices of them. :) Yes that is why I started this thread. I started with trying to read reviews online and I was overwhelmed by the number of brands and models there are out there! I figure that getting some models to start with here will help me a lot in the research and review phase. Thank you ladies for all of your input. It is greatly appreciated. :grouphug:

Thank you. Good to know.:)

I think the reasons that Jesus' crucifixion was so brutal (and I'm sure there are many more than I am stating) are because 1) That is the real price of our sin. That is why God's grace is so amazing because He was willing to pay that price so that we could be reconciled to Him. 2) because nobody would be able to look on at that and say that God didn't really love them, didn't really care etc. He gave up EVERYTHING for us. Sin is no joke. The Bible says in Isaiah that our righteousness is like filthy rags, "literally like dirty menstrual cloths" that is what our best attempt at being good is!! Imagine the dirt of our sin and the deepest darkest places in our minds and hearts. All of us are capable of all kinds of evil and that is why the price for our sin was so great IMO. God is omnipotent but being all powerful is not the same as being able to do anything. There are certain things that God cannot do because of the holiness of His nature. For example the Bible says that God cannot lie. Even though He has all power, there are things that go against His very nature that He cannot do. He is just and He is holy and in order for sinful man to be able to stand before a holy God our sin has to be dealt with. God cannot change His nature in order to accommodate our sin. There is a good example of this in the OT recorded in 1 Chronicles and 2 Samuel, where the ark of the covenant is riding in an oxen cart (big no no, it had to be carried on poles by the priest only) and the oxen stumbled and the ark looked like it would fall out of the back of the cart so this man Uzzah reaches out to keep the ark from falling and he is struck down dead as soon as he touches it. God is holy and even our best intentions won't change that. That is why we needed so great a sacrifice for our sins so that we could stand before Him and dwell with Him again the way He originally intended with Adam and Eve. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Matthew 27:51 that says when Jesus died the veil of the temple that separated the Holy of Holies (which housed the ark of the convenant) from the Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom. God was declaring that there was now no longer any separation between God and man because the sacrifice of Jesus was enough to completely remove our sins and restore us to righteousness. That is why Jesus can claim that He is the way the truth and the life and no man can get to the Father except through Him. God indeed has a great love for us. :)

Thank you so much!! That's a lot of good information. :) One question if you know, if I were to have someone come and install the new dishwasher do they take the old one away?? I actually do have one but it doesn't work. It has never worked since I've lived in this house (13 years) but since I've always hand washed the dishes it wasn't a big issue and it was useful for when I'd wash the dishes; I use the dishwasher like a big drying rack. :) But I would need to dispose of it to fit a new one.

I have never heard of the brand Asko, where did you find/buy it?? I too cook a lot and mostly from scratch, bake etc. That's the main reason I'm having trouble keeping up with the dishes. hehe So yours is a heavy duty one then?? How does it handle regular dishes?? Are the cycles rough? I think it was Ethel who commented earlier that her dishwasher chips the dishes. May I ask how much you paid for yours?? Thank you for your time. :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to write in such detail. I really appreciate it. :) Thank you also for the suggestion about the consumer reports. I'll check my library. :) May I ask how much your Maytag was?? For me, I'm used to washing things by hand and I wouldn't have a problem with washing pots and pans or even the flat ware by hand and let the dishwasher do the rest. My main concern is that they come out clean. My mom has a dish washer and it doesn't get the silver ware as clean as I would like it. It looks like it has stuff stuck on it still. yuck. I usually wash the silver ware before I use it (when she's not looking of course) when I visit her.

Thank you so much ladies for the replies. Please keep them coming. A few more questions... Is there a time of year that is better than another for buying a major appliance as far as getting deals (Black Friday excluded)?? What type of soap/detergent do you use in your machine?? What price range should I be looking for to get a good one that will last for years to come that works well?? Thanks again. I always wash dishes by hand so buying a dish washer is totally new territory for me. Thanks in advance.:)

Do you know what model you have? Thanks. :)

How much was it to purchase the warranty? Thanks. :)

Thank you ladies for the replies. May I ask how long have you had your washers and do you know what the warranties are on them? Thanks. :)