You look gorgeous! And no, your new phone DOESN"T make your butt look big. Blessings, Lucinda :)

I'm the youngest of three. I'm the only one to homeschool and also the only one to graduate from college. Don't know why, but I'm a bit of an over achiever. My big sister (middle child) says I do everything in my life just to seek attention LOL, but I honestly don't care what others think about the personal choices I've made. Our older brother is 100% supportive and encouraging and I try to be the same to him. Blessings, Lucinda

Airbake pans for the cookies, but stoneware trays for everything else... except my baguette pans for artisan breads.

Also, my brother's appendicitis at the age of 12 was preceded by a lot of nausea and vommiting. Better to go have him checked out and be wrong than to have a ruptured appendix. :001_unsure: I hope you have already taken him in by the time I post this message. Blessings, Lucinda

Horses must touch your soul like no other animal I think. I've never owned one, but as much as I love my own pets I can only imagine the love I'd have for a horse. You must truly be heartbroken. I'm so sorry for your loss. Please accept my sincere condolences. I will remember you in my prayers today. Blessings, Lucinda

Yes! This is exactly how I am and how I feel too. It's not important to me that I have the latest and greatest, the shiniest and the best, but I do want it to be clean and orderly. Our homes are a reflection of us, just as our husband's jobs are so much a part of their identity. But even so, in the long run this is all just temporary. That's how I keep myself from getting too wrapped up in the house thing and allowing myself to get stuck in jealousy. It would be so awesome to get the remodel we've been waiting for, but I know it isn't as important as other things right now. I try to keep in mind that it's all about the people in the house and not the house itself. When we come to the end of the road and have the opportunity to think about our lives, our thoughts won't be on the houses we had, the money in the bank, the toys we accumulated or places we've been -- our thoughts will most likely be on who we loved and who loved us. Blessings, Lucinda

"Rosanna" by Toto was my favorite, but there were a lot of others too. I was a big Bonnie Raitt and Dire Straits fan back then. That was soooooo long ago! I hate to think of how long ago it was. Makes me want to cry. Blessings, Lucinda

I bought a tall flour bucket that holds up to 25 lbs. from King Arthur Flour and it works really well. Its made of plastic and the lid has a tight seal like this one. Mine also has a handle, but it looks like they don't offer it now. You might also check with a local bakery to see if they have recyclable storage containers for sale. Sometimes they buy products in large containers that can be used again for storage. Happy baking! Blessings, Lucinda

I think it would be awesome to live in the land of my ancestors, which is the British Isles. Most of my family came from England, Ireland and Wales. I think I'd prefer to live in England, or possibly Ireland. Either way, the rest of the region would be close enough to visit often, as would be the whole continent of Europe. I've been to France, Denmark, Sweden and Holland and they were amazing adventures. I can't imagine being able to go to these places on short notice like I would if I were living in the UK. Also, my body doesn't tolerate heat well, and I've always thought it is because of my ancestry. I have a feeling I'd be perfectly happy in that environment. Blessings, Lucinda

Hey Virginia, I was thinking the same thing! LOL! Lucinda

Oh, I forgot to mention the kitchen countertops. They are white formica with little gold specks just like the ones your grandma used to have in her kitchen. ;) Lucinda

I live in a house built in 1944 and we have not yet been able to start on the improvements we planned when we moved in to the house five years ago. An unemployment gap and the economy have taken their toll on us, so we are behind on those original goals. My kitchen is very outdated. We even have a portable dishwasher that we push across the room once a day to plug into our old outdated porcelein sink. (It really does a good job on the dishes though, so I'm thankful for it!) We also have cupboards that have no doors because of a blotched up paint job that never got finished. When we moved in to the house the kitchen had rust colored kitchen carpet from the seventies. We did pull that up and get it out because it was so hideous and unsanitary, but we could only afford cheap tile squares to replace it. The bathrooms were last updated in the 60's, and they are so small you can barely turn around in them. The carpet in our house is old and outdated too. I.can't.wait.to.rip.it.up!!! Trouble is that when we rip it up we know we have to deal with ugly floors underneath, and we can't put new floors in until the old baseboard heat is torn out and a new forced air system and heat pump are installed, which we can't put in until the electrical is updated. Sooooo new floors have to wait until we can afford the whole package. There is an entire upstairs that we plan to remodel and finish one day, but it will have to wait. Our bedroom is upstairs and it is the ugliest room in the house. Despite all this, I'm very thankful just to have a home with payments we can afford. I watch HGTV and drool over the homes, but once in awhile it really gets to me when a couple walks into a home with a beautiful kitchen and they say it will "have to go" because it's so outdated!! I'd give anything to have that outdated kitchen they are looking down upon. We in America don't realize how very spoiled and how very privileged we are. Please don't get me wrong...I don't mean to sound negative toward those that do have a wonderful home with a shining new kitchen. I'm truly, truly happy for everyone that does. I'm just at peace knowing that I don't need to have that in order to be a happy person. We have so much to be thankful for in our lives, and that goes way beyond our dwelling place. Blessings, Lucinda

PS starts the day after Labor Day. We school year round with a break in July and Christmas, but the official new school year begins the last week in September. The only reason for this is because that's when we started the first year. Blessings, Lucinda

Hi Lynn, Like all the others, I just want to encourage you not to judge the whole church by what happened. This may not be the case, but often times a volunteer takes care of phone calls for the church office and/or for ministry leaders because they are working elsewhere, out on appointments, or whatever. This lady may be lacking in social skills, but was a volunteer going down a call list. You know, "Check!" ...on to the next, "Check!"...etc. Having said that, anyone that handles phone calls within the church (volunteer or not) needs to be careful about how they come across. They are the "face" of the church to strangers and new comers. If you give feedback to the pastor hopefully that will be considered more in the future. If you don't speak up, they may never know. Whatever the case, I hope you don't give up all together. All of these posts have such wonderful, encouraging advice. I hope that you take it all to heart and persevere. Blessings, Lucinda

We have an open adoption situation too, and our dd knows her birth parents. After going through some family therapy with a reputable counselor, we decided to create some ground rules about visits. We had to do this because bio mom especially has issues and isn't always dependable. The main ground rule is that birth parents must have a relationship with us in order to have any contact with our child. They must go through us for any visits. If we don't feel it is in our child's best interest we have to say no, even if it hurts us and hurts the bio parent. Every decision is based on what is best for dd, and anyone else's needs will follow. As much as we care about the birth parents (we know them personally) and hate to see them hurt, we have to stay focused on what is best for dd. I'm going to boldly suggest that you and your husband meet privately with the bio dad and talk about the whole picture as you have described in your post. Give him the situation through your perspective. Let him know that you know he loves his daughter, but that her needs are more important than his. Lay out rules and boundaries. Then he has to cooperate or not see her at all. Then you have to put on tough skin and follow through with it. In a perfect world your dd would have loving relationships with all of you. Maybe with some work and guidelines things will all come together for you. But as long as you allow him to be wishy washy he will continue on the same course. Our counselor told us that some relationships may have to wait until our dd is grown and mature enough to make her own choices. Until that time, we have to protect her -- even from those that truly love her and don't mean to hurt her. FWIW...I hope our situation benefits yours too. Blessings, Lucinda

but we would go to the store and forget to take them! So I decided to put them in the trunk as soon as we empty them. That was two weeks ago and doggone it after the last major shopping trip we realized we'd left them in the trunk! So now I'm thinking I'll put them in plain sight inside the car for pete's sake -- then hopefully maybe I'll remember to take them in and use them. Oh, as far as what they are made out of...I think they are like the Kroger bags mentioned. Some sort of fiber material that I don't recognize. We shop at Winco and Fred Meyer here in our area and we bought them there. (Fred Meyer is owned by Kroger so they have to be alike or similar.) Blessings, Lucinda

Our late in life surprise was actually adopted. I was 45 when she was born and was already a grandmother at the time. Dh and I felt "called" to become her parents, even though our youngest son was 19 yo at the time. Dd is actually a blood relative of mine, and she has always felt like mine from the start. We are Mommy and Daddy and we love it. The rest of the family loves it that we have our little girl too. They are extremely supportive. At 9 yo she is an aunt to all of our grandchildren, and she gets a hoot out of telling people so. Having a split family is truly awesome. I happen to think there will be special rewards in Heaven for this, although to tell you the truth there are some amazing rewards here on earth too. Blessings, Lucinda

Every room should have a focal point, or something that draws the eye into the room - the main thing that you see when you walk in. The accent wall should be the wall that has that focal point. Complimentary colors are the colors across the color wheel from each other. Here are the basic ones: red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange. You'll notice that these are combinations of warm and cool colors. Don't be turned off by these basic combinations, you can use variations of them. For instance your navy blue goes beautifully with rusts and browns - a variation of orange. Remember that colors in various shades work well together, for instance you don't have to use a vibrant or dark shade of a color necessarily. You could choose a pastel shade if you want to. Yellow can also be translated to gold; green to olive or sage; red to burgundy or pink, etc. This is just a start. You can also use neutrals combined with a limited color palette. Hope this helps. Blessings, Lucinda

Sarah, your letter should be shared with your pastor. I've learned from others that anytime we feel passionate about something it's because God has put it in our hearts. You have such excellent points that need to be made rather than pushed aside. As the former office manager in a church I agree somewhat with the idea about sending long e-mails. Busy pastors don't always want to take the time to read long documents. But on the other hand, coming from someone in the congregation that is new and who doesn't speak up often will be in your favor. Therefore, imho, I think you should send it. I'd suggest that you say at the beginning that you know it is a long letter, but that the topic is so valuable it will be worth the time to read. Maybe also suggest that after he reads it, thinks it over and prays, you'd love to follow up with a personal visit. Maybe even invite the pastor over to your house for dinner to talk about it with you and your husband together. Bless you for reaching beyond yourself and thinking about the needs of children in the church. Your letter really inspires me to want to do the same. Lucinda

:iagree: I'm trying to break the habit, but it's a hard one! Blessings, Lucinda

it sounds to me like yours is the victim of a really GREAT mom! The fact that you'd even poll the board is awesome. Keep up the good work. Blessings, Lucinda

Thanks you for the clarification on that one, Pam. I also misunderstood your meaning when I read it, but now it makes more sense. I would only add that all too often with parenting disabled children (of any age really) that grief has to be on hold because we have to jump in and take care of the needs of the child and the family. Life goes on and there isn't always the time or the place to deal with grief and emotions. Eventually there just has to be a safe place and time for letting down and processing those feelings. Unfortunately some parents aren't able to do that, for whatever reason, and they just push the feelings back. I'm thinking like another poster that maybe the reporter caught this father at a moment of letting down and dealing with his personal grief. Blessings, Lucinda

$4.23 here in the Portland metro area. :auto: Lucinda

I could have said the same thing as you. Whether it's in a theater, on a carnival ride or even a swing in the playground, I get motion sickness now that I'm older. It seemed to start after having my children. Do you suppose that could have some bearing? It's a weird problem for sure. My husband thinks I'm a weenie and my kids have all been disappointed, but if I give in to them I'll end up hurling up my lunch. So in a nutshell, no Diana, you are not an oddball. There is something to this! Blessings, Lucinda

along with some prayers for a quick recovery. :grouphug: Blessings, Lucinda