ex10

Oh my. Have a busy couple of days at work and look what happens.... Thanks, JerryB for clearing up the misconception. My daughter is not gay, just wondering how to reconcile her christian faith with being involved with gay friends because of her interest in theatre. sheesh....I want to be a good parent and give her sound advice. I just thought maybe someone else here might've encountered the same issues. Guess I thought wrong. :)--> I don't condone homosexuality. But I do believe in respecting all humans. I work with lotza gay people and I know exactly how I function and treat others, etc. and I'm totally okay with it, and so far, my colleagues are as well. But I'm not 15 and trying to figure it all out. I thought maybe someone would have some words of wisdom concerning the whole subject.

Lovematters, No worries there. but thanks for the heads up.

ha! Long Gone. My daughter has already decided on UNT for college. She will be a junior next year, and if we can get her through Algebra II, I think she's well on her way. She's competing at the National Finals for theatre this year. Her team won state. Her thing is/was duet acting. Pretty good for a 10th grader. :)--> (Can you tell I'm proud of her?) Oldest daughter will be at A&M in the Fall. It suits her, just as UNT suits 2nd daughter. High school seems so much more serious than it did in my day... Thanks for the encouragement. By the way, number one daughter, who is 3 weeks shy of graduation, just got detention for dying the ends of her hair pink. She was gonna get suspended if we didn't get the pink out before school this moring. (Did I mention she is a youth minister at church, an A student, and attending A&M on an athletic scholarship?) Sheesh. Seems really stupid to be worrying about pink hair, when kids are struggling with much deeper issues. I just can't wait til my next child gets to high school.

outof, Thanks for your honesty and candor. One of my daughter's closest friends is an amazingly talented boy, who happens to be gay. She has been friends with him since 5th grade, and I love him to pieces, as do lotza other people in his life. He also happens to be Jewish, which doesn't help his social status much. Should she abandon her friendship because of "social pressure?" Methinks not. :)--> Our teens deal with much complicated issues than I think I faced at their age. I just hope and pray that they "find themselves" in the midst of it all. smooches.

Hmmmm. CM, I can relate. I want her to pursue her passion, regardless of the numb butts that stand in her way. Call me an idealist, but I do want to raise a child that is a contributing member of society. Long Gone, I do not attend a "fundamentalist" church. I do, however, live in Texas.

aye, chihuahua.... I don't know where to even begin to respond to this thread. First of all, I have to say that I know exactly how I personally feel about homosexuality in general, and the gay people I work with every day in specific. My daughter attends a very large public high school. One of the largest in the country, in fact. There is no gay "agenda" there. She is involved in theatre, which happens to be the aboslute love of her life and her passion. She also attends the yourth services at our church. She is struggling because some of the other kids at church are hassling her about hanging out with her "theatre friends," who are not welcome to hang out with her "church friends." It just so happens that a few of her theatre friends are gay. A scenario that is not likely to change as she enters college. Sheesh.....I'm just trying to help her resolve the problem she is facing. Her world, at school, is a microcosm of society at large, the way I see it. Since she is going to pursue her dramatic aspirations into college, I want to help her be the best she can be, in all catergoies of her life. Seems like the bible does talk about being a friend to the friendless, and such things. Somehow I can't picture Jesus shunning gay teenagers, or chastizing someone for hanging out with them, which is kinda neccessary working on projects, etc. Oi vey.......

Well, thanks for the responses. But I feel I need to make myself clear. My first post relays what my daughter said to me. I have not expressed my own thoughts here, expcept to say that she has a point. I am a Christian. I understand the concept of sin. --> What my daughter is struggling with is predjudice and discrimination of her gay friends, by religious Christian kids at school. Seems a tad bit hypocritical to me. Whether one views homosexuality as a choice, whether one views it as sin, is really not the issue, as far as I can see. Long Gone, that's hilarious.

Shell, thanks for getting it. :)-->

Dear Mark I am not assuming anything. I am looking for answers. As far as the answers to your why questions, I don't have to justify myself.

Hey, girl, whatever you can contribute is welcome!

My most precious 15 year old daughter is having a hard time with Christianity and going to church. Reason being, she has some gay friends. She says, she can't understand why all the Christians shun the gay kids at school. She has a point, and I tend to agree with her. She says, if God is love, then why would he make some people homosexual, and then totally lock them out of any kind of Christian spirituality? Good question, for which I have no pat answer.

If paw were God, I could listen to Abbey Road and be transformed, totally.

I confess to being closer to 50, than 40... OMG, what happened? I feel like I'm still my 18 year old self trapped in this 40 something body. I don't think I'm aging gracefully.....I think I'm still kicking and screaming, "how did this happen?????"

Thanks, shaz. Just shows to go ya, there ain't no "just getting over it." smooches, dear.

The way I see it, it's kinda a trick question. "Was it worth it?" Hmmmm. Maybe if it was just me, I'd say no. But..... My whole entire family was involved with TWI, and there is no doubt that our involvement changed the course of our lives forevermore. I guess my opinion is, it's an unfair question. Out lives are what they are, for better or worse. We made choices, and now we live with the consequences. Who can know if "it was worth it?" I did what I did and take full responsibility. For better or for worse.

Having been the recipient of VP's kindness is not a popular place to be as a poster here. He wasn't quite the monster that he is portrayed as being. if he was, he probably wouldn't have gained thousands of followers, ya know? It's really hard for those of us who knew him as a kind human, to reconcile all the crap. He was horrible, yet cool, all at the same time. How does that happen? Dismissing him as a sex abusing cult leader doesn't help his victims any. He was way more complicated than that. Yeah, he was horrible, but not always. He was also kind, charming, fatherly and seemed to know what he was talking about. Maybe he was the epitome of evil incarnate. Maybe he was just one screwed up human being, who alot of people loved and trusted, who never had to answer for his dysfunction. And unfortunately, it's too late to confront him and figure out why.....

Sorry wb, can't help you there. :(--> If it were me, I'd look around on the Net to scope it out. I do remember a quaint place on the beach in South Haven. I just have no clue what the name was, or if it's still there.

WB, Sounds like you like country getaways as opposed to city ones. ;)--> I love Chicago. Shedd Aquarium is totally fabulous, and all the museums, I could get lost in for days. Not to mention the great restaurants. But if you want something a bit quieter than the city, just a couple of hours north of you in Michigan, are some wonderful lakeside towns that keep a slower pace, and have wonderful vistas. Cool B&B's, too. Check out St. Joe, Holland, Saugatuk.....

Aw, have a great one, Hope, and enjoy Radar! What an awesome surprise!!!!1

Oh good grief.... Perhaps a "way brain attack" could be defined as an overeaction to the word "cult." :D-->

Abi I wasn't involved in TWI after 1987 when my first child was born. But we still lived in hubby's home town, and whenever someone left, they usually called us, or other K-zoo exes. So we had this gigantic network of exwayfers in Michigan that we kinda kept track of...sorta. But not wanting to be in charge of anything, or "coordinate" anything, we just sorta pointed people in the church, or maybe home fellowship, direction. Long story, sorry. :D-->

Also, lightning strikes 6,000 times per minute on this planet. 10% of the world's population is left-handed. A zebra is white with black stripes. The grizzly bear can run as fast as the average horse. No word in the English language rhymes with "month." The average person laughs about 15 times a day. :D-->

Did you know that Sir Isaac Newton was the first to arrange colors in a logical sequence, which became the color wheel that we still use today? He was a smart guy, that Sir Isaac....

geeze, I just now saw the flat stanley pics you posted for me, Steve. Thank you so much for doing that. It was fun having him, and the girls at work enjoyed him as well!

So what has Flat been up to since he left my humble abode??? I sure hope you've been taking good care of my buddy, Mr. Strange.