Jenamarie

No. It counts as an accident.

D'aw, I want Wingnut as a second councilor. We could do some awesome "modesty" lessons while Backroads nurses her little one without a cover!

From my reading of it it seems that the "States should get to decide!" people got their way, and the "Federal government should recognize same-sex marriage!" people got their way too. States get to decide if they recognize them. If your state *does* recognize it, you can receive federal benefits; if it doesn't you don't.

Seeing a little old lady pushing a heavy-laden shopping cart out of Costco (and judging from what was inside, it looked like she was getting ready for a party of some sort), and seeing a young man with tattoos all up his arms, ear gauges in his ears, and spikey dyed hair rush over to her and push her cart to her car for her (which granted wasn't far, since she was in a handicapped spot), and then load the groceries into her trunk for her. And then just about any time I'm out driving and a firetruck or ambulance goes by, and all of the cars pull over.

This could easily be interpreted as skirting the issue, though. There are uncomfortable things in history (both church history and general history), and I don't think there's anything wrong with "dwelling on it" for a time, and trying to understand what might have lead someone in the past to make a decision that doesn't sit well with us today. Understanding the context wherein the decision was made can help us understand our past better, as well as prepare us to make wiser choices about our own future.

Unless she can find a direct quote from the wife (a journal or some such), then all she knows about the circumstances about their marriage is speculation, which can make it seem either good (there was genuine affection between them), or bad (the "stolen childhood"). Early marriage (either with both spouses being young or just the wife being young) used to be FAR more common than they are now. One of Laura Ingalls Wilder's cousins married at 13. (she's mentioned in On the Shores of Silver Lake I believe). And her own husband began courting her when she was 15 and he was 25 (not as huge an age gap, but still something that would be frowned upon by today's standards).

Or play on the internet.

Guided tours of meeting houses! Pretty cool!

Loving Elder Holland so much right now. Loved his attempt at Spanish!

I understand, which is why I said for *some* people it can be hard to overcome such situations, and we need to be sensitive to people's reasons for leaving, even if we've seen others stay and thrive in the Church after dealing with the same difficulties. We need to keep a watch out for situations in our wards that could lead to unnecessary harm being done to struggling testimonies (bullying, gossip, etc. and yes I realize it will be impossible to prevent *anyone* from being offended). We should do what we can to make church a safe place, and not a toxic one.

This unfortunately happened in the ward I grew up in. A young man and his family joined the church and started attending our ward. He lived within our ward boundaries, but not within the boundaries of the school all the other boys in his Deacon's quorum attended, so he only ever saw them at church, and the rest of them saw each other all the rest of the week. For whatever reason these boys started bullying him. It started with whispered name calling, then escalated into physical bullying. They didn't limit their behavior to just him either. They harassed me (I was 6 years older than them) when I was waiting outside the Bishop's office, saying nasty, vile things, and they harrassed a few other of the young women. For whatever reason, the YM's presidency was slow to try to address the issue, and many parents finally had to confront the Bishop to get him to put a stop to it, because the YM's presidency just wasn't. Unfortunately though, the damage had been done, and this young man's budding testimony was effectively squashed, and by the time the Bishop was finally brought in to intervene the family had already stopped attending, obviously not wanting to subject their son to such treatment. Because of that situation I'm slower to judge a person who says they left the church because they were offended. There are some instances, such as the one I saw, where church literally becomes a *toxic* place for a person, and it can be difficult for some people to want to return to a place that is more associated with feelings of isolation and negativity rather than with the sweet feelings of peace that a church environment *should* be known for.

Or perhaps, rather than being "bullies", the progressives are shocked, dismayed, and disappointed that those who at other times so loudly proclaim that the family is central are arguing so strongly *against* celebrating them. Why is it "diluting" to ADD more to a celebration? Why is it wrong to want ALL students to be able to participate in a joyful celebration of the people they hold most dear? Why is it wrong to want ALL students at a PUBLIC institution to have at least a small part of their family's cultural traditions celebrated in the place where they spend most of the hours of their day? I LOVED learning about Kwanza and Hannaukuh (sp) in school. I LOVED learning about the special foods and traditions that surrounded them. My Christinanity was in no way diluted, rather I learned to love and appreciate others around me whose lives were slightly (or a lot) different than mine. I learned of our differences AND our similarities. I learned that I'm not an island. I learned that I could be missing out on something pretty awesome if I only found acceptable the things that fit into my own culture's mold. Jesus said love everyone, even if they don't celebrate Christmas or come from a traditional household. I see taking their feelings into consideration in situations like these as showing them a small part of that love.

They're not obliterating Mother's Day, they're just not "celebrating" it in school anymore, and replacing it with what I think is a wonderful substitute, a "Family Day". Many many more generations of public school kids *didn't* celebrate Mother's Day or Father's Day because the holiday hadn't been invented yet. Did they somehow grow up to honor their parents less than those who *did* celebrate it in school? It's not as if the holiday doesn't exist outside of the public school setting. I homeschool, and I didn't include the holidays into my school planning at all, just wrote it up on the family calender. Didn't stop me from getting special hand-made cards and sloppy kisses from my kids Mother's Day morning. There are a lot of social trends that have come and gone from public schools, and the world keeps turning.

Nobody's "taking it away" though. They're just not celebrating it at school. The kids can still make their mom breakfast in bed and buy their dad a tacky tie outside of school. And especially considering how NEW Mother's and Father's Day are, in the history of families, and that they were created more to sell greeting cards than celebrate mothers or father's, it's being un-celebrated in a place outside the actual family home isn't something I can really get my dander up about.

I agree. And we're talking about *kids* here, innocent persons who had no say as to the makeup of their families. Little Suzie isn't the one who decided drugs are more important than raising a kid, her missing parent did that and now she lives with grandma. her family doesn't fit the "acceptable" mold but she loves her grandma and people get up on arms when her school tries to let her know she is just as much a part of a family as Johnny-has-two-parents. Talk about absurdity.

I agree. The school district I grew up in let out for Summer break the week before Father's Day, so while my mom usually got some sort of heavily-glued macaroni art, or a tissue paper flower every Mother's Day, my dad got *zip* (at least as far as school projects go). I would have loved to have had a combined "Family Celebration Day" so that I could make something for all of the important adults in my life.

Boy, I sure people struggling in their faith aren't reading this thread. So much judgment. Hang in there, whoever you might be, who is struggling in their faith.

Yes. An infant or toddler on a hot day in the middle of a lonely (no other people near by) parking lot? 911 immediately. A school-aged child at a gas station with a window cracked? I'd assume mom or dad was just inside paying for the gas and would be out shortly. I'd keep an eye out but not call 911.

I'm disappointed that this thread wasn't *actually* about there being no more purple dinosaur. I loathe Barney.

But when the divorce *is* final you can go to the Temple to be sealed to your child. Also, keep in mind that this whole process is set up the way it is to maintain order (as best as possible) in the (earthly, man-operated) Church. "His House is a House of order" etc. So while things may not be going according to your preferred timetable, you can trust that Heavenly Father knows good and well who this child belongs to. :)

IMO, you won't convince him. He won't allow himself to be convinced. That would mean admitting he was wrong, and he's trying his hardest to convince everyone (and probably himself, too) that he was right. I agree with beefche, unless you have kids together, your commitment to him is done and over with*, so just let him be. (*unless you DO owe him something that's spelled out in the divorce decree, in which case limit your communications to things related to those commitments ONLY. Period. You don't owe him anything more than that)

She should have taken the plea deal. She did something incredibly stupid and, yes, criminal. However, I somewhat agree with the supporters that the law as written (sex offender *for life*) is a bit heavy-handed. I wish these types of laws could perhaps be written to allow a time-limit, say of 5-10-15 years or so. If the guilty party commits no other sexual offenses within that time frame, then they can be removed from the sex-offender list. (and I'd say the same if it was an 18 year old guy and his 14 year old girlfriend).

Bumping this up. They've got an awesome new one out now staring the missionaries!

I was uncomfortable changing around the other YW in my ward at Girl's Camp, for reasons unrelated to sexuality. I changed in the bathroom instead. A young man who's worried about being "checked out" could do likewise, or wait until he's alone in the tent to change.

Ditto. My 8 year old too. She just loves Pres. Monson and she could tell he was sad.