Backroads

So, I'm pregnant. When I found out, I bawled, and my husband said it was the type of tears I reserved for disasters. Yes, this was not planned. In fact, we were done. It was a conscious decision to be done and we were planning out the rest of our lives. Part of the issue is one of our other children has cystic fibrosis, which is a genetic roll of the dice. Everyone we know in the CF community who has lately dared for more kids has been unlucky with the odds. It's been a week now, and I am struggling to feel any sort of happiness. I understand surprise pregnancies can be emotional, so I'm hoping this will pass. I know babies are blessings. I know women who would love to be in my position. I just didn't think I'd be so miserable.

I too have seen this. It's... Weird. Especially because everyone who know the young couple's jobs can see the discrepancy in lifestyle.

If this were pure service mission, I would not hesitate to help in any way I could and have done so in the past. Not out of duty toward offspring but because service. But religious focus is another matter entirety. While I have pondered this and have decided that spreading the word of Jesus is good, hints of "but that doctrine is bad" is a debate of adults. I'm with Manners. These are adults and thus another matter entirely. You don't really owe them anything. Oh, I think a kind "best of luck and I'll be thinking of you" is always very nice. But indeed, they're established adults. While I certainly would think highly of you if you helped financially, I wouldn't think less of you or even give it much though.

'Round my parents' neighborhood can often be seen an elderly gentleman walking. He dresses very much like a hippy, with hair to his waist and a Dumbledore beard. He still manages to look very proper on Sundays where apparently he has some auspicious calling.

In my humble opinion, liberal arts are exactly what I am teaching at the elementary level. Here's how to do math. Let's practice constructing coherent sentences. As one goes up things become more involved. They're good skills, but really ought to be mastered before college.

Update: All is well. Husband isnt thrilled about it, but is at peace with the policy and entering a church building.

I am viewing it as an adventure, a challenge of sorts. However, tonight was leftovers found in the fridge. 😁

This is what we're using if we need to. Husband squirrels away cash, and it's safe to say he always has around $1000 if not more.

I thought briefly about classifying this in "Support in Hard Times" but it's more like Irritating Times because I think we will make it through... So, because I have no qualms about destroying a company, I maliciously declare Wish.com stole all of our money. Husband enjoys browsing the site, once order a dish drainer... and left the debit card information. The other day an order was placed through his account for no less than seven gold-melting devices of which we really have no use. (A search of the internet revealed similar stories with the site in the past few weeks.) Anyway, this completely drained out our bank account. I know, I know, don't leave debit card information online, yada yada. Still happened, now we're dealing with the aftermath. They promised a refund, but we won't get it for two weeks (hopefully we will get it then...) We have filled out the fraud paperwork with our financial institution. Sort of hoping once they complete their work we might get a credit til whenever, but I'm not relying on that. A lot of bills have been already paid. I went grocery shopping and filled my gas tank the day before. We have a freezer filled to the brim with meat, plenty of rice and beans, and actual fancy packaged food storage items. The zuchinni continues to grow in the backyard and is probably planning a hostile takeover. Plus, relatives and people who tolerate us if worse comes to worse. Husband gets paid in two weeks. Hopefully we will also get our gold-melting money back at that time as well. While we do not have the ideal emergency fund saved up, we do have some savings to work with, probably enough to even go about our daily lives if we wanted. But because I have an anxious, worst-case-leaning personality as well as an overactive imagination and just some pure curiosity of the "can I pull this off?" variety, I kind of want to handle this as in extreme circumstance. Suggestions on how to survive on zero/virtually zero money for two weeks?

Trouble sleeping, found this. Wife not sure if Husband should include mission on resume. (#4 on advice column) Got me curious. Those of you who served missions, have you/would you?

Social workers are angels.

I had a roommate (church member) who often had her boyfriend (church member) spend the night. They slept on her bed, clothes on, atop The covers, in order to stay "safe." None of my business, but always struck be me as too close for comfort.

I'm actually in favor of this. I don't mean to sound all social-ish, but sometimes I think if we're already paying these taxes, let's get something out of them.

I often think about doctors. Don't get me wrong: Being a medical doctor is a noble thing for which I am grateful. But, golly! The tuition money, the time invested, the gamble to see if you can even get through all the hoops of finding a school and a match and yadada and eventually an actual job... I was getting my hair cut last night. My hair lady's son-in-law was trying to get into medical school, last time I checked in. So I asked, how was medical school going? Medical school wasn't happening. Son-in-law dropped that plan, used his medical-ish bachelor's degree to sell medical equipment, and wasn't doing too poorly doing so. I said that sounded like a much better idea and she agreed.

A tangent post to a post I made elsewhere. In reference to said post, I'm not entirely sure of Husband's plans of whether or not to return to a church building. He has made comments that he thinks he is being more passionate than committal on his feelings, plus he has wound up working the past couple of Sundays... he has calmed down on our kids attending, again blaming passion over actual practical events. Thanks for your thoughts. But onto the meaning of this post: All of this has made us want to get serious on really making the home first and foremost in our gospel living. I confess that while we live a reasonably church home (prayer, scripture reading, and such), we rather feel we have been dabbling, doing the basics while Sunday meeting is the big thing. I feel CFM does intend to put responsibility back on the family. I'd like ideas on how to better do this. What are you doing in your own homes? Bonus question (because I don't want to make another post) I'm trying to better loving, respectful boundaries with extended family. To say it right out, introspection over the past couple of years has me wondering if I am more concerned with what my family of origin thinks than what I am thinking for my family. Not that I don't think it's wrong to request/accept good advice, mind you, but I would like to change my general mindset for how I consider my own family.