Does anyone have any really...

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

Wow, that is really good information!  I think that will come in handy with our kids, especially Emma. 

I wish I had been here for the chat!   I had an appointment that I was at instead, which was good, but still bummed about missing the chat.  I am sure there was even more great info.    

I will definitely start putting some of this into practice!  I do agree that it is helpful for working with any child. 

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

That sounds so awesome!!!!  I filled out the survey but never heard anything.   That sounds like a really awesome vehicle!  I am sure we could have a lot of fun with that!  The only problem would be giving it back again.  I am pretty sure I wouldn't want to part with it, which I'm sure is what they are banking on.   But hey, if you make a good product, people are going to want to buy it.

So, enjoy ladies, and keep us updated on all the fun!

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

No matter how you slice it, this is an extremely difficult situation.  First, I have to say that even though many of us have had similar situations, none of us have had the exact same situation, and I don't think that it is fair to judge one another's decisions on how we handle the situation.  Just as it is Jessica's choice not to forgive and to have nothing to do with her father, it is Ana's choice to forgive her father and have some semblance of a relationship with him.  For me, I went 19 years holding on to anger and resentment before I realized that the only person it was hurting was me.  I did not want to be angry anymore.  I did not want to be controlled any longer by what happened to me.  Just to give you a very brief idea of my situation:  my biological father (my mom's first husband) was an abusive, womanizing alchoholic.  He regularly got drunk and came home and beat my mom.  His negligence allowed me to drown in a lake at age 2 (my mom had to do CPR).  And I am in counseling to work through sexual abuse that happened at an age when I was much too young to do or say anything to help myself.  When I was about 3, he left mom and my brother and I for another woman.  When mom remarried about a year later, he gave up all rights to my brother and I, and my dad adopted us as his own.  He has been my dad for 26 years.  I have had no contact with my biological father or any of his family during that time.  I know that I have other half-siblings out there, and part of me wants to know who they are.  I do agree with Holly that there are situations when it is simply not advisable to have contact with someone whose behavior is especially harmful.  And I also know that my family would feel hurt and betrayed by my contacting his family and I respect that.  It is something that each person has to decide for themselves though and do what they believe is right.  I am still working through the process of forgiveness.  The thing is, forgiveness is not a feeling.  It is an action, and a process.  I don't have to like someone, and I certainly don't have to like what they did.  Forgiving someone does not in any way say that you condone or are ok with what they did.  It is saying that you will not allow what happened to control you.  Is it easy?  Absolutely not!  And it is something that I do not have in me to do alone.  But I know that it is possible, and it is necessary.  I will not allow bitterness, anger or resentment to affect my life, my family and my relationships.  I will choose to set my heart free, so I can live and love to the fullest.  And that is my choice.

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

Well, I am not exactly new here anymore, but I never officially introduced myself on here.  So, here goes-

My name is Lisa.  I am soon to celebrate the second anniversary of my 29th birthday .  I am an at-home mom, as well as an independent consultant for Arbonne International.  I have been married to my beloved, Randy, for 6 years and we have 2 children- Emma is 5 and Timothy is 3.  Randy is a farmer- wheat, corn and soybeans.  No livestock, unless you count our puppy, Belle.  Emma is enjoying kindergarten, and I am enjoying a little one-on-one time with Timothy.  Emma loves dancing, art, princesses and horses.  Timothy loves cars, trucks, trains, tractors and tools (yes, your typical boy).  Both love riding in the tractor/combine with Daddy and Pa (grandpa).  I love spending time with family, watching movies, reading, writing, scrapbooking (when there is time), knitting in the evenings while relaxing and watching a movie with Randy, and chasing the little rugrats around the house and the yard.   I feel very blessed to be able to enjoy the contented quiet of a small town with a big yard, and my beautiful family.  If you have any questions, comments or would like to come and clean my house, please feel welcome to respond or pm me.  Take care and have a lovely day!  God bless! 

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

I agree, Holly.  Nothing is accomplished by name-calling and being hurtful to one another.  I mean honestly, we have had experienced enough hurt in our lives without pouring more hurt on one another.  Whether you agree with one another or not is really not the point.  The point is that we are all people, we are all women and mothers.  We are supposed to be here to lift one another up and support one another, not tear each other down.  Yes, this is a really sensitive, emotional, difficult subject.  Believe me, I understand!  But pouring out anger and frustration on each other is not going to help.  Just know that I love you both, and I am here if either of you need to talk.  Every person needs to deal with life in the way that the feel is best, and I pray that each of you are able to deal with your situations positively in your own way. 

I also want to say thank you to everyone for the support, advice and love that I have found on this site.  That is the thing that has made this site different, and I would love to see that continue.

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

Our world is so thoroughly ridiculous!  Yes, I can see how all of my friends and I were irrevocably damaged by watching Sesame Street.  I don't know about anyone else, but I really don't recall sitting around with my friends discussing the psychological problems of the characters or the state of the economy.  We enjoyed bright-colored, funny-looking characters that taught us letters and numbers and how to be a good friend!  Honestly!  If people took half of the energy that they spent worrying about what kind of potential subliminal messages someone might get out of a cartoon, and put it toward actually interacting with their children and talking about things that you think are important, just imagine the impact!

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...

Some of my faves were Barbies, My Little Ponies, my Cabbage Patch Kids (one regular and one home-made, both equally loved)....

Also, does anyone else remember Dolly Pops?  They were GREAT!  They were hard plastic dolls with hard plastic clothes the snapped on and off.  I played with those for hours!  Wish they had those now.  Also, we had this awesome thing called the Merry-Go-Copter.  It was kind of like a train track thing that you put together, and it had little rolling people and a helicopter...it was super cool.

A lot of our toys that weren't broken my parents still have for our kids to play with (being careful to be age-appropriate).  The Fisher Price Little People back then really were little (CHOKING HAZARD) but I don't recall any near-death experiences with them.  What we REALLY loved was taking Silly Putty and "lifting" faces from the newspaper and sticking them over the faces on the people.  That was cool! 

Also playing outside all day with imaginary games (Star Wars, etc.), riding bikes, roller skating, playing every conceivable version of tag, playing on the swings, coloring and other forms of art, Play-Doh...the list goes on.  Really, as long as you are careful to give kids toys that are appropriate for their particular stage, there is a whole lot of fun to be had.

As Holly said, Hot Wheels can be trouble, but Timothy LOVES cars and has a carrying case to keep his in.  He knows if they get left on the floor, they get put in a time-out.  So far, it's working.

Mostly, kids just need to use their imaginations and have fun.  That is my favorite part of watching my kids grow...it is SO fun to see those minds at work!

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 57:9-11. 

glitter-graphics.com ...