Belle

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS, MY VERY DEAR FRIEND!!!! I HOPE IT'S AS ABSOLUTELY WONDERMOUS AS YOU ARE!!!! Yoda says he's ready to PAR-TAY!!! Bring it on!!!!

This is from the "Are you a Christian?" thread but I didn't want to derail it any further. ;) Oakspear said the following in response to someone saying that the "Christian" countries were far more successful than non-Christian countries. Ahhh, and what constitutes success, anyway? This reminds me of the story of the fisherman who was happy getting up in the morning, catching fish enough for his family and enough to sell to afford his simple life, have a few beers at night and make love to his wife. Then some strangers come into town and tell him how good a fisherman he is and that he could grow a really good business. So the guy spends the next 10 years working 80 hour weeks; buying boats; hiring fishermen; getting incorporated and making tons of money. He was never able to be at home, relax in the evenings and make love to his wife because he was always so tired. Finally, he sold his business for millions of dollars so that he could get up in the morning, catch fish enough for his family; have a few beers at night and make love to his wife, which is all he ever wanted in the first place. Maybe that's why I'm content to not climb the company ladder. I have a job that I love, with people I enjoy and I get paid well to do it - best of all - I get to wear whatever I want to work and when I go home, my job stays at the office! Why on earth would I want to keep climbing the ladder and add to my headaches, work hours and stress?

My next one will be at the JOP followed by a keg party!

Glad it was great, Sharon!! Happy belated birthday!

LOL! We make all kinds of orthotics - yes, things you wouldn't want in your mouth. Knee braces, leg braces, back braces, etc. We also make helmets for the babies that have craniosyntosis and plaigocephaly. It's a really neat place. Below is a picture of body molds that were carved specifically for custom fit spinals. It's wild, there's every body shape and size imaginable hanging from the ceiling on what's like an extra-large tie rack. It's designed similar to the racks Disney uses to store and rotate through their costumes. The really huge bodies are too heavy to hang, so they sit on the floor. When I'm having an especially bad "fat day", I go sit by one of those. :)

I was YOUR idea, Jade! ;) I thought it was a great idea, too; just too impatient to wait for you to start the thread.

ROFLMAO, Raf!!!

Well, WN!, remember how frequently we would say someone was "embellishing", "exaggerating" or downright lying whenever they confronted US on something that TWI was doing or having us do that was ridiculous? We can't really blame them for not being able to see through those TWIt colored glasses, now, can we? ;) I vividly remember when our HFC's announced that TWI does not, nor have they ever had a policy on debt. I said that was total b.s. and a few other choice things.... wimps, I believe was part of the vocabulary. ;) Anyway, my HFC's totally straight faced and deadly serious had the gall to say, "We never gave anyone grief over having a mortgage nor did we ever force anyone to sell their home, Belle." I let into the wife when she said that and rattled off FOUR - count 'em FOUR - confrontations and probation and/or M&A couples they had been directly involved with. THEN mentioned Paul Brooks saying that one couple loved their house more than they loved God because they refused to sell it. She was right there standing next to him when he effen said it!! It must be some sort of psychological phenomenon, but vaden and his friends probably have the same sort of problem when it comes to telling the truth about how TWI really treats people.

What, pray tell is your god's good pleasure here? Has he sent you to save us? To convert us to whatever it is you believe your god to be? To make us ashamed for speaking ill of those who have raped and pillaged the flock?How about starting a thread or two on topics you want to discuss instead of telling us how we shouldn't be discussing the things we do? You just might be surprised at some of the responses. Your attitude thus far reminds me of something a wonderful boss of mine used to say when people came to her complaining.... "If you don't have a solution to the problem, then don't come to me complaining about it. Give me solutions; show me examples and THEN we'll talk." ;) Start a thread. Pretend we're all in the 'show me' state. :) btw, I don't think there IS a problem. GSpot has been serving coffee, cinnamon buns and sloppy joes for years before you got here and I suspect there will be a lot more gum put under the counters after you leave. [where's that puke icon when you need it?] Addressing the actual conversational points and not twisting everything around to your agenda will get you a lot better service here. ;) Also, not all of us have the same "preconceived notions" and I think mine are just as true as you think yours are, even though they are very different.

mdvaden - troll? I knew my memory wasn't failing me! ;) If he sticks to his standard m.o. then he'll be back to tell us how busy he is with his arbor and gardening websites and doesn't have time to address any of the replies to his machine gunning insults. Maybe he's related to smikeol? mdvaden & PFAL

Well, he doesn't have two heads in his avatar, but he may be two-faced. ;) I remember him coming on here a few times previously; condemning us and not sticking around to explain or discuss anything. He'll wait a few months and then come back and do the same thing yet one more time. I'm slow, but my memory does catch up to me eventually. I think this is even a different handle - it used to be mdvaden, I believe. Buth, hey, if the shoe fits..... ;)

If I remember correctly, MD Vaden is notorious for swooping in puking his judgement on everyone and then leaves. I suspect that he will not be back, certainly not to have any meaningful dialog about anything.

I'd also like to add for reference: Thanks for trying to "help" us.... <_<

Can't wait!!!

(((((Sunny))))) Thank you for sharing! What a strong, courageous woman you are. I hope you pat yourself on the back often. :) What an awesome life you must have now and it's only going to get better and better, I'm sure.

If you look around, we actually do and have done this. Mine, personally, is in the My Story section as well as the 2nd interview on GS Radio. Maybe you can tell me this.... Why do people come on here without looking around or reading threads, then automatically jump to the conclusion that they know what our problems are and what we need to do to "fix" them? What makes them feel justified in judging us and making assumptions about who we are and what we are? Why do they insist on lumping all of us into one bucket or label? Why are labels so important to them, anyway? What is the purpose for threads like this? Who the he11 do those people think they are?

djs, do you have the teaching where someone taught on forgiveness? Could you tell us if this happened, who it was and when it was? I'd be very interested in hearing it or reading a transcript of it. Thanks!!

SMALL flaws??? SOME secrets???? Couldn't be that the good actually came from the good, honest people who were in TWI DESPITE the man, could it?

And then there's the actual researchers at TWI who wrote things that vee pee put his name on and never gave credit to them for actually writing. :unsure: Awesome, as usual, WordWolf. :) Thank you!

Me too, SOGWAP. I actually became a drunk during the last year of my marriage and involvement with TWI. The stress of it all became too much and therapy was verbotten since that's craig's version of paying someone to listen to you, when you should have all your needs taken care of in "the household". Yeah, try telling some effen religious zealot that his "ministry" is a friggin' cult and that you've been trying for five years to get him to see it because, for some odd reason, you actually love the dope and want to save your marriage and would love to see him reconcile with his family who loves him more than any TWIt brain ever will. It was that or suicide for me at that time. :( Thank God for therapy and that I fought to get help even though my ex didn't want me to.

Good question. :) I wonder if, as cost of living and fuel prices continue to rise, we'll see more people sent packing, especially those with college tuition to pay and lots of kids. That's why the Brooks family will never be full time staff again. Too many kids for TWI to have to pay for. They'll cut the seniors with health bills and the families first, keeping the single folk and middle-aged couples who don't have kids and are past child-bearing age.

Not to mention the fact that we hardly ever studied anything about Peter.....it was all PAUL, PAUL, PAUL. He11, Paul was ABOVE Christ as far as TWI is concerned. <_<

HAPPY DANCE FOR THE !!!!!!!'s There's nothing better than working in YOUR garden in YOUR yard at YOUR house! My favorite is the redneck garden.

Ahhh, come on, George ;) You left a few off.... Chatting with fun people in the chat room Good sushi Trips to Japan and dinner with friends A pitcher of saki Getting a beautiful kimono for a good friend A good debate Being free to be a curmudgeon and still be liked :)

Excellent Topic, Sunny! I have to say that I have the best job in the world, though! I work for a small, privately owned orthotic company. I pretty much set my own hours. I get to wear blue jeans, shorts, whatever I feel like to work. They think I hang the moon and honestly appreciate the work I do. We're like family here. We run the gamut of conversations like you. This morning we talked abouth the Davinci Code movie and that tangented into talk about religion and how bloody a lot of "Christian" religions are....then to other fiction books based on fact. We actually do have quite a few conversations about religion, mysticism, energy and other beliefs. Every Tues-Thurs included American Idol talk. If you didn't watch, you were pretty much left out of the conversation in the mornings. Two of my co-workers are gay, so I've learned quite a bit about the gay community and lifestyle since working here. Politics is not usually a safe subject and we've learned who you can talk to about what. ;) And share jokes along party lines with the "safe" co-workers. We share dirty jokes and probably do and say things that would be considered harrassment in larger companies. There's a group of us who go to happy hour together about once a month. A group of ladies who have "Southern Living at Home", home jewelry, home purse, etc. parties. A group of guys who write and play music together. A group who play softball together. And, yes, we gossip, complain, whine and gripe together, too. It is a wonderful company with wonderful people and I couldn't be happier unless it was close enough for me to be able to go home for my lunch hour.