Gwen

Faith does not come from any person, it does not come from a book, it does not come from historical events, etc. That is a truth for anyone with true faith. Your faith in god does not come from the bible or the testimony of others. The spirit of god testifies of truth when read or spoken. The spirit (personal revelation) is where faith resides. You have faith and believe the bible because the spirit testified of it to you, not because of the words of the ppl that translated/wrote it. Or at least I hope that is the case. Faith based on ppl or things will quickly die. Faith based on personal revelation, the spirit of god, is the kind of faith that survives and changes the heart and ultimately actions.

You have to be engaged to someone that is temple worthy before you can submit your papers. In addition to the paperwork they will ask for a letter from you and your ex wife. You will receive a sealing clearance. That means your first sealing will be in tact on paperwork and your ex wife is entitled to all individual blessings of the covenant. You will not be sealed to her in the next life, your sealing was destroyed at the time of the divorce. You (or she) will not have claim upon that sealing covenant (eternal marriage) after this life. If your ex wife chooses to remarry then she will obtain a sealing cancellation. Similar process. Sealing clearances, cancellations, divorce, etc do not change the status of a child sealing to parent. All paperwork must go through the bishop and then the stake pres. How long it takes depends on the ppl involved. For some it takes yrs for others weeks.

If a letter was read it would have been read everywhere. No such letter has been read here. The only "background check" I know of that the church does is if records are annotated.

i don't know of any such policy. i was required to meet bsa standards. sounds like a unit that wants to be exempt not the church.

Beautiful!! Congratulations to your family.

In the situation you described, someone was just fired for doing that, I would not do it. I have no problem telling the customer that either. Other situations make the customer happy. I had a friend working cashier at a fast food place. Some woman's order came up $6.66. The woman freaked out and started to panic. My friend, quickly said something like "Let me double check your order....." read back the order, applied the senior citizen discount, gave her the new price, and apologized for the "mistake". Made the woman happy and they went on their way.

Out of curiosity how serious of a relationship is it? Have you talked about marriage? Are you going on a mission? She needs to follow what she feels the lord is telling her is right. If that is risking losing her family then that is what she has to do. In my experience the lord never gives us a smooth path. This life is to be tested. It's not a test if it's easy. As for what she should do..... That's between her and the lord. I would say right now she needs your support on whatever decision she makes. If you are really serious and you haven't been thinking about a mission maybe it's time to lead by example. Take a leap of faith of your own and go. Gives her time to sort her life out. Stay in regular contact and see where things are when you get back.

Is there any evidence this action is being taken because it's a church group? Would the response be the same were it some other group? According to this they would react the same way to any kind of group. I don't think this is an attack on religion. I think it's more about "how can we sap more money out of the ppl" If I want to start an epilepsy support group to meet in my home every week..... sure for a fee. Regular la leche league meetings.... sure for a fee. Bible study? sure... for a fee. Now if an investigation is done and there is evidence they let some other group meet with no reaction but they attack this one.... then I will jump on the bandwagon of "attack on religion". I maintain the ordinance is stupid and needs to be changed. Especially the number of more than 3 ppl. lol My family of 8 having FHE every week would be a violation of that code.

Telling someone "you can't do this here" is not the same as telling them they "can't do this at all, anywhere". Residential neighborhoods are just that. Saying you can't have a church in your home does not mean you can't have a church. Follow the rules and have your church. There is no infringement on religion by having zoning laws, ordinances, or requiring permits. If you don't like the rules go through the proper channels to change them. I would like to say for the record I don't agree with the ordinance. I think a person's home is their home. If it's a structured church and not an informal gathering it changes things but if friends get together then more power to them. They should not have to get a permit to have friends over. But rules are rules and they chose to live in an area with insane ordinances. So follow them or follow the rules to change them. Don't complain when you break the rules and then get caught and have the fines associated with breaking them.

The person who had the dream will be the best at saying what it means. Though not always accurate it's often a good spring board to look at "common" meanings of things. I like this site.... dreammoods.com Behead To dream that you or someone else is being beheaded signifies poor judgment or a bad decision that you have made and regretted.

I agree with everyone else go with a solid floor, I can't wait to get my carpets out. If I were renting the home I'd want solid floors. We'd lose our security deposit off carpets alone with all my kids and I'd be a horrible mom always worrying about stains. Let the tenants buy throw rugs or slippers. This is kinda off topic but not really, it's flooring. We are looking at doing some tile and doing it ourselves to save money. I've come across this brand SnapStone. Right now it's what I want to put in when we get to that point. It takes away all the concerns I had for doing tile myself and should be a money saver for us. Has anyone used it or seen it in a home?

It's a fine line. Though I don't think anyone should care if they are not creating undue noise or parking problems, and it's an informal group. here you can have homes that have that many over every week for football games - noise and parking issues. I think you should be able to have who ever you want at your house. At the same time there are zoning laws and permit laws for a reason and the rules are the rules. Now if this couple is claiming to be a church (rather than an informal group) and that is the location of their church "building" that's another story. If they went as far as to try and deduct their home on taxes as their church location I would be upset about that also. If you are a church and have 50+ followers rent a building, get your permits, and hold your meetings.

welcome neighbor.

You need to get a lawyer. The man she is cheating with, his wife called child protect? Why? Not sure I follow the logic there. Did she call on you and your wife? Is she trying to get at your wife and you are in the cross fire or is it directed at you? I am in now way condoning verbal abuse. I know personally the damage it can do. However, find me a parent who has never had an inappropriate outburst at their child. We all make mistakes and say things we shouldn't. The question is what do you do about it. What have you said to your children? If you call them worthless, threatening to hurt them or just yell "I told you to turn off the tv and help set the table" type stuff. Not that I'm saying one is ok and the other is not but they are different. I have never known anyone to lose their kids over yelling at them when they won't pick up. You need a lawyer if child services is really involved. 2 things, one you need personal protection but the other is if the claims are found to be false (no serious abuse that calls for child services intervention) when you are in the process of divorce can cause the accusing parent to lose rights. My point is given the who filed the report could strengthen your case for custody in spite of your shortcomings. Another thought. Why do your kids ignore you? Children are a reflection of their parents. If you ignore each other the kids will ignore you. You make it ok to treat each other that way. You may be a better father on your own. When you have kids you need to do all you can to work things out but you have to balance that with what is best for the kids. The proclamation on the family says that children have a right to be raised by 2 parents, in a loving home. (Obviously not an exact quote) You don't have a loving home. Which of the 2 commandments is most important. 2 parents who are married or a loving home that sets a good example for them? If she is using the kids fb accounts to chat with him then the kids know about the affair. Don't think your kids are that clueless. I don't know the details of your situation and don't know what is best for you. But you need to sit down and seriously consider some things and the long term consequences of them.

Then shouldn't it be "Vort's latest words on the subject"? As for the op, I think coffee and tea taste gross so I avoid it in any form.

The article said something like working on a singing career. I'm guessing she is a stay at home mom and aspiring singer.... which sounds easy enough to let your nails grow but doing housework with nails like that can't be fun. When mine get to long I catch them on everything and it hurts.

fair enough, I apologize for not being clear enough from the beginning. lol ugh

Ppl with no arms do take care of themselves. I saw an interview with a mom with no arms and she did everything for her baby that I do for mine. I was amazed and she has accomplished great things. In the same breath she is doing what any mother does, what she has to. I do not think a person who chooses to have limited use of their hands is the same as someone that has that life forced on them for whatever reason. My point is no one sees a mom with no arms and thinks "what a wasted life, i bet her baby is nasty. oh and how does she wipe?" So why think that of someone else? I don't understand the leap in thinking. Ppl adapt, by choice or force they deal with the life in front of them. I put very few ppl on a pedestal and I throw very few under the bus. It constantly baffles me on how the world decides who deserves what. She set a goal and accomplished that. good for her. That's it. I don't know how she lives the rest of her life and that article didn't say. I never said you (or anyone else on this site) said she was a wasted life or dirty. I read the article, I read the comments in the article. I was saddened by the comments that did say the things I commented on. I commented on how that saddened me and I didn't understand how ppl make the judgments they do. lol sigh, I need to go back to not reading comments to articles. lol

The only way for it to no longer be unusual is if ppl start asking. lol It was designed into the program for a reason. We need to use the programs the church has given us.

Maybe part of it is I'm from the south. We can turn anything into a conversation. Say hi to someone waiting in the line at the bank and you will end up in a conversation. So yes "you wouldn't believe what this idiot at work did" or "the kids are sick and i got puked on 8 times today" are conversation starters. lol

For the record I didn't say you did. I was commenting on the comments on the article, which I stated from the beginning. Personally I couldn't stand my nails that long or even close to it. I hit a point when I don't function well and have to cut them. I can keep them clean but I catch them on things and it hurts. I don't find it attractive at all either. But I do admire her commitment to her goal. It is quite an accomplishment and to still be able to live life.... if it's what makes her happy good for her.

Seriously, everyone should be treated the same. I didn't say put her on a pedestal as some role model or hero. That wasn't what I was comparing. My point is why do we assume she is dirty and nasty and has poor hygiene. Ppl function independently in all kinds of situations that are near impossible to the general population. She is on par in that it's hard to understand how she does some day to day things... that does not mean she does not do them. Yes her condition is a choice. That does not mean she has made the choice to be nasty. When you say "didn't cut nails for yrs" it leaves a connotation of being unclean and lazy in personal hygiene. That's not what she did. She had a goal and a plan and she worked toward it while living the rest of her life. How is that so bad? When an athlete wants to break a record and their world stops for the record. All they do is work toward conditioning themselves for that goal. Everyone thinks they are heroes. Why? They accomplished nothing else in life but that. This woman worked toward her goal, and according to the article is raising a family while keeping up with her responsibilities (chores) and what not. So she is disgusting, dirty and a wasted life? Just because you don't like how her nails look is no grounds for judging her. That judgment and assumptions is what I object to.

For the most part I agree with you FT but..... lol I don't know a man that doesn't come home from work and want to tell his wife all the details. My husband comes home and tells me about all the trials they are putting in and bleaching chemicals and issues with wood chips and pulp, etc. No it's not my favorite subject in the world. The subject of wood chips doesn't excite me. But that is his life. That is what he does. He goes and works very hard to support our family. His work isn't always fun and glamorous and easy. He needs to be able to talk about that. I willingly listen. It's important to me because it's important to him. I know the kids made a mess and got sick and threw up on me 10 times today isn't the most fun conversation and I'm sure no man really wants to come home from a day of work to that conversation. But the reality is that is her life. That is what is going on. She needs to be able to talk about her life too. What she is often saying behind the play by play of her not so pleasant day is "This is my life. It's not glamorous, maybe not even what I planned. It's what it is. I need some support and understanding. Help me not lose myself in all the throw up, to not define myself as one that it's ok to throw up on. I need a friend, partner and help meet too." As mom's we also talk about all the mess because we are worried about it. If I'm giving a play by play of how one of the kids has had a fever for 2 days and such that's important. I'm worried, maybe it's worse than I thought. I'm worried about dehydration, etc. I need to be able to talk it out and process it, get another point of view and make sure I didn't miss something. These are our children and should be the most important part of our world. To dismiss that and tell her you don't care or want to hear it (or that subject is "nothing to talk about") is to tell her her work isn't important and your children aren't important. That hurts. All that said you are right. For the sake of both of them (her probably more than him) she does need other things to talk about.

I don't find it particularly attractive but I don't see a need to judge her over it. I find all the comments on the article sad. Just because her nails are long does not mean she is dirty. I'm sure she cleans them and keeps them smooth like everyone else. I find the longer my nails are the easier they are to keep clean. Just so much judging her on the value of her life. Just because they don't understand how she does some things doesn't mean she doesn't do them. I am amazed at how ppl with no arms function independently, but they do. I don't see ppl rudely asking them how they wipe but they want to ask her? She accomplished something that she obviously really wanted. Good for her.

If you are looking for something to help you build your testimony and "progress" as goals toward the priesthood does for the men I would suggest looking into the personal progress program. Yes that is the program for the young women but there are opportunities for any sister who would like to do the program and earn the awards. It would be a wonderful way for you to better explore the gospel and your value as a woman in the gospel. You can officially work with the young women's leader and mentor a yw that does not have the home support or just use the resources and do it unofficially (making all the changes you want) for yourself. You do not have to be called into yw's to help out and participate in personal progress. I'm not sure if it's common for others outside of yw's to work on it so you may get some odd looks when you request it. Show them the back where it talks about others wanting to do the program, I can't imagine you wouldn't receive some support.