Jenamarie

I like lilred's version of the letter. I would honestly leave out any kind of "defense" of the LDS church's beliefs, beyond stressing our belief in Jesus Christ, as I feel it would likely fall on deaf ears (just judging from the initial e-mail she sent you that you posted here) and would likely be responded to by her telling you all that she "knows" about the LDS church that is false, which I don't think is the direction you want to go in. Just my two cents.

Well, the Priesthood in Christ's day (12 Apostles) were lay people as well. Tent makers, fishermen, Publicans, etc. :)

With Heavenly Father being at the Head. Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost fulfill His divine Will.

I found out what it means! (love Google!) It means that the chips are "dressed" in "all" of the flavors that that brand makes (or most of them). The most common combination is sour cream & onion, salt & vinegar, ketchup, dill, and barbque. So every potato chip flavor there is packed onto one little bite of heaven.

Last year I bought a blue dress from a thrift store, and some devil horns and red fish net stockings from Hot Topic and was a Devil in a Blue Dress. That's so cool you get to trick or treat at work!

To answer my own questions. What did you LOVE to get in your Trick or Treat bag as a kid? Mounds, Hershey bars, and 3 Musketeers What did you HATE to get in your T'o'T bag as a kid? Those "Mary Jane" candies that came in the orange wax paper wrappers. Yuck. What are you planning to give out to T'o'T'ers this Halloween? Hopefully a mix of chocolate (KitKats, Hershey bars, Snickers, etc.), Twizzlers, and either mini cans of play-dough or Teddy Grahms crackers for the toddlers and teens.

It's never too early to talk about Halloween candy! It's less than two months away! So... What did you LOVE to get in your Trick or Treat bag as a kid? What did you HATE to get in your T'o'T bag as a kid? What are you planning to give out to T'o'T'ers this Halloween?

Hey, did you know in Canada you get fun-size bags of potato chips and little cans of soda in your Trick or Treat bag on Halloween?? Why don't we get cool stuff like that here in America?

I wish I could answer, but I really don't know. Even my DH (who is the Canadian in our family, I'm 100% white bread American) can't answer me, and he grew up eating them! And ketchup chips.

Do they have to be Lay's brand? Cuz next time I'm up in Canada I plan to bring back boxes and boxes of Ruffle's All Dressed potato chips. Yuuuummy!

Thank you every one! I am really so so excited! It's been hard holding it in! I waited because most miscarriages occur during the first trimester (which ends at 14 weeks gestation) and I didn't want to have to go through "un-telling" people if that ended up happening to me. I did have some complications early on that certainly *looked* like I was heading for a m/c but thankfully the baby is fine and dandy and growing away. :)

Yesturday I hit 14 weeks, and am therefore out of the first trimester and can "go public"! We are expecting kiddo #3! (or kiddo #last, as I like to call him/her, as this is our last one, we're pretty sure) My due date is 03/06/09, which I just think is the coolest due date ever! Besides being mathematically awesome, it's also the day before my birthday! Just wanted to share.

To address just one small part of Evangelical's post: Exaltation ("becoming a god" or becoming like god) is *absolutely* open to non-Mormons. If, while in the Spirit World (a place where the Spirit goes post-death but pre-Judgement), a non-Mormon person accepts the proxy ordiances performed for them in the Temple, then the door is opened to them to all of the blessings and rewards the Father has to offer. The Lord does not play favorites.

What an adorable little rolly polly boy! Congratulations! Sons are awesome.

I remember learning about that in Seminary, but no where else really. The significant roll Adam-ondi-ahman will play in the Last Days, and Adam's meeting with all of the Bishops (it is the Bishops, right?) is very rarely mentioned in church, and I've always wondered why. I found it to be fascinating. And Article 10 of the Articles of Faith makes a bit more sense when you know about that doctrine.

I'll agree with Elphaba, that I was most certainly taught the whole "we'll become gods" (small g) growing up in the church. I even remember talking with the kids in one of my Primary classes about what kinds of creatures we would create for our planets (lots of fairies and unicorns and dinosaurs ) And the whole "God was once a man..." thing was mentioned MANY times in my years growing up in the church. I'm actually quiet surprised that it's now considered a "speculative" doctrine. (but then, maybe I don't have a difficult time understanding how God could have once been a man AND have always been God. The whole "one Eternal round" thing I think answers that. God's time as a man WAS NOT his "beginning", He's always been who He Is, just as we've always been who we are, and niether He nor US are any less divine because we've been human. It comes with the territory, IMO.)

Has anybody here ever read The Starlight Crystal by Christopher Pike? Gives an interesting perspective on the whole "one eternal round" thing and the "once a human - always a God" thing. I found it very interesting. (even though Pike is obviously not LDS, he unintentionally deals with some very LDS-related themes, IMO)

Cool! I really hope mine arrives today too, since I think we ordered ours on the same day.

Yes you do.

Uuuuh, somewhat. The Sealing ceremony (Temple Marrige) can either be both a Spiritually AND legally recognized "wedding" (meaning you walk in single, walk out legally married, and also married in the eyes of God), or it can be solely a Spiritual wedding, of sorts, where you're being Sealed to your spouse so that you remain married after death. However, you still have to be legally wedded first.

Congrats on your new baby MorningStar!

Just an FYI, a friend of mine lives in this kids' town, and this is NOT the only team he plays on. He plays on other, much more competitive teams! This weekend he's already pitching in THREE games. That can NOT be good for that kid's developing arm. Here's an ESPN article with more details (and a bit of snark ) ESPN Page 2 - Kreidler: Let the kid play ... somewhere else.

I can't believe that after this weekend the next "holiday" is going to be Halloween! Need to get working on my costume!

This thread is freakin' awesome! I mean it!

We used to use All, but since they switched to the concentrate it just hasn't seemed to get our clothes as clean. The dirt still comes out, but they don't come out smelling as fresh, and because we use cloth diapers we can't use dryer sheets (leaves a film on the inside of the dryer that can get onto the diapers and damage them).