Posts by ndmom73

81

More connect-the-dots madness...

by cedars in

jw
friends

that's right, a knife and a baby in close proximity.... .

http://www.jw.org/assets/m/ijw13fr/502013178/ijw13fr_id-502013178_e/502013178_e_cnt_1.pdf.

anything goes, so long as you're proving how "wise" king solomon was.. .

ndmom73

I find myself thinking that the JW's can't surprise me anymore and then I come across stuff like this and I am beyond surprised. Try shocked and horrified. What bothers me most is that as a child this was also one of my favorite stories in the kids bible book, I can completely see my child self doing this dot to dot and thinking how awesome it was that the "powers that be" thought to give me some sort of entertainment. Meetings after all were so boring, something, anything to stimulate my mind would have been welcomed.

Children are so trusting and if your church and parents are condoning violent pictures then of course it is ok. I would run from a church that presented my children with this kind of thing but when you are "in" you don't even notice how mind controlling their tactics are.

21

Sparlock for xmas

by zombie dub in

one of my friends got me this for xmas:.

.

ndmom73

I would so buy one of these! Very clever :)

9

How to choose your religion

by Skbj in

jw
friends

it's old so you probably have seen it but i was doing some cleaning up of my inbox and found this that my husband sent me a while back and still made me chuckle.

.

ndmom73

Thanks for the smile today :)

72

What are the 3 most unusual things you have done?

by Lady Lee in

jw
friends

ok so we have all be jws so that isn't unusual.

supply pictures if you can.. i have ridden an elephant.

ok so it was at the zoo but it was still an elephant.

ndmom73

1. Met model Cindy Crawford at a Chinese restaurant in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Not that exciting but at the time I was a teenager and had her pictures all over my room so it was pretty exciting to me. ;)

2. Went to Alaska and went deep sea fishing. I caught a halibut that when held up was taller than me, granted I am only 5'4", but it was still a pretty huge fish!

3. I have a parking fairy. Now this might sound silly but I read the book The Secret and it said to envision something you wanted to attract into your life. The example they gave was always finding a good parking spot, since I was thinking the book was kinda goofy I just went with their example. I envisioned always finding the best parking spot. And it started happening. I read this book about 8yrs ago and to this day, 90% of the time I find a parking within the first three spots in the parking lot. It doesn't matter where I am or what time of year it is. I tell my kids I have a parking fairy and they think I am silly but I don't care because I never have to worry about finding a good parking spot. ;)

34

Is the grass greener on the other side?

by What Now? in

hi all.... so my mom phoned me up this morning and said she needed to talk to me about something.

she asked me whether or not our (worldly) family thought that my husband and i were witnesses anymore.

one, someone in my family said to her, "i didn't know you guys wear short dresses like that" - commenting on a slightly above the knee dress i had worn to a family event.

ndmom73

Hello, I guess I just wanted to say that having raised four kids in the "world" because I left the JW's as a teenager, I am extremely proud of my kids. They have great friends, and are all wonderful, amazing kids. Being in the JW's doesn't make you wholesome, in fact my personal experience is the exact opposite.

Raising your child(ren) to be good people has nothing to do with a certain religion, my kids have friends from many faiths. Some are Morman, some are Catholic, they vary from other religious groups and some aren't religious at all. Being religious doesn't guarantee a good kid, what does make a difference in my experience is keeping kids active in activities that they love. Finding kids from other backgrounds who share the same passions (dance, music, sports, art, etc) and whose parents are also involved in their lives gives kids a great support system.

I know the parents of the children my kids are friends with. We are not friends, we don't spend free time together, but we chat in passing, share contact information, add each other on facebook, whatever it takes for our kids to know that we care and are involved with their choice of friends. When my husband passed away, some of the first people to reach out to me and my kids were these parents. They brought meals, helped financially, spent time with my kids, etc.

Being a single parent is hard, but even in dealing with the loss of a parent my kids have continued to thrive and grow. They are happy, loving, giving, polite, caring, extremely well-adjusted children/young adults. To a JW my kids would be considered "worldy" and I couldn't be more proud of my amazing "worldy" kids. :)

28

Personal Updates

by Hortensia in

i am not particularly interested in the wtbts and their current doings.

or doctrine, or debates about god/evolution.

i am more interested in people, especially ex-jws like me.

ndmom73

Hello! My name is Lisa. I am fairly new here so you don't know me but since I am a very proud mom to 4 I will share with you how they are all doing. Not having a normal childhood myself, makes it that much better to enjoy the daily life of my children. :)

My oldest daughter just had a birthday and turned 22! She rented a hotel room to throw herself a party, myself and my younger children went for a few hours to swim and have pizza/cake and then after we left her college friends came and I don't want to know much more then that they had a fun time and thankfully didn't get kicked out of the hotel! lol She was also celebrating because she has been accepted to several law schools and is in the process of figuring out where she is going to go. She graduates from college this May!

My second oldest daughter just had a birthday as well, she turned 19. She goes to a college not close to home so she spent it with her friends. They took her to a barn dance and she had a fun time. Again, mom doesn't need to know the details as long as they were all smart and safe! :)

My only son is in middle school. He is in his school production of High School Musical. He doesn't have a huge part, but he does have a few singing solos. The opening night is tomorrow so I am looking forward to seeing it. He also recently participated in the middle school All State Honor Choir which was exciting for him because it was his first school trip which involved a hotel stay with his friends. :)

My youngest child is in 3rd grade. She is in dance and is excited because she is finally old enough to participate in dance competitions. Her first competition is in March. She is mostly excited because we have to travel and I promised her a hotel stay. lol Tonight we will be working on her class Valentines.

Funny, all such simple things but of course as a JW none of it would have been possible. Thank goodness for eyes wide open! :)

191

What is your religious belief now?

by jwfacts in

i have a new poll at jwfacts.mobi/pollsarchive/ as i am very interested to see what people have moved on to believe.

as this is considered sensitive by some, you can answer anonymously at the jwfacts.mobi/pollsarchive/, or answer on this thread.

this is what i have created in the list, but feel free to add comments, corrections, or options i have missed.. .

ndmom73

I answered Christian - associated with a denomination. I am a member of an ELCA Lutheran church and worship there on a somewhat weekly basis depending on the weather. If it is too cold I stay home, if it is too nice of a day we end up at the lake.

My faith is in my heart, I don't believe that you have to go to church to have that, it is sometimes even easier to find sitting on a dock watching the sunrise on the lake. I go to church because I have young children and want them to grow up with a faith family, I will most likely continue to go after they grow up because I enjoy the tradition, there is comfort in the ritual and a sense of normalness that I never felt growing up as a JW.

What is most important to me is that I have balance in my life and in the lives of my children. Going to church is just a small part of that balance. An even larger part is taking the time to help those in need, acceptance and love towards others without judgement, a thirst for knowledge, compassion and empathy, having a strong spirit, keeping a childlike wonder in an often harsh world, and knowing when you need to be selfish and nurture yourself.

I am not a fan of evangelizing, which to me means pushing your religious beliefs on to others. I am content with my faith and I respect those with other faiths or no-faith, just as long as they don't judge me for mine or try to convert me to theirs! :)

19

Blood Issue on Grey's Anatomy Tonight

by jamiebowers in

jw
friends

at 9 pm on abc.

previews in last two videos on this link:.

http://www.wetpaint.com/greys-anatomy/articles/greys-anatomy-season-9-episode-13-spoilers-7-things-we-learned-from-the-sneak-peeks-video.

ndmom73

Watching this right now on Hulu and about jumped out of my chair when they declared the kid a JW. Still watching, should be interesting. Will come back and comment when the episode is over.

------------------

Edited to add: Well it was a good episode although I am a biased Grey's Anatomy fan. :) Now that I think of it I am surprised this hasn't been covered in the many seasons prior. I think it was a fairly good portrayal, the family looked so conservative that I was surprised that the son was a long haired skater. lol That never would have happened in my home at least. But the statements did ring true also the way the wife subjegated to her husband to explain their beliefs was annoying.

"Your blood wouldn't sustain his life, it would condemn it."
"Living with it (blood) would be so much worse for him than dying without it."

Both of those lines from this episode stood out for me especially because since in the storyline his best friend didn't even know he was a JW. Many of my school friends didn't know when I was growing up and that is mainly because #1 I didn't personally believe in the faith although of course my parents did & #2 it was embarrasing. The reason it would be worse for him to live with the blood is because his entire family and JW friends would turn against him.

I have always wondered what would have happened if I had ever need a blood transfusion as a child. There were no parts of blood or other such things at the time. I know for a fact my mom would have let me die but I am pretty confident that my dad would have told the doctors to do whatever was needed to save my life. He was a JW for my mom but he wasn't devout and isn't one to care about rules especially concerning the life of his child. Thank goodness that wasn't ever an issue, but I feel so sad for the lives lost due to this backwards belief.

Spoiler which someone already mentioned above is that the boy dies. I was relieved that they didn't go into the families reaction upon his death because it would have made me sick to my stomach to hear their words of "praise to Jehovah, it is his will", etc.

39

My Dad's story

by coffee_black in

freedomlovers post about her dads letter got me thinking about my dad, in fact, it sounds like it could have been written by my dad.

every once in a while it really hits me that he is no longer here to talk to.

unlike most of you, i wouldnt have been afraid to approach him with questions or doubts.

ndmom73

Thank you for bumping this up, I really enjoyed reading about your dad. What an amazing man. I am touched by his strong dedication to your education, what an amazing gift. Although it is hard to look back and feel as if we let our parents down by our youthful decisions, I am sure he would be the first to understand why you made your choices. His love is always with you and your love for him could be felt in every word I read. Thanks again for sharing. :)

86

Mrs Punk left the family!

by punkofnice in

jw
friends

it's nearly 2 months now but mrs punk finally left myself (mentally diseased apostate tm) with my 2 non kingdum hell attending boys.. she left when my jw daughter moved out and they moved in together.

i don't think it'll be long before my daughter gets sick of her mum but there you go!!.

i received a call from mrs punk to say: 'i didn't leave you because of the religion!'.

ndmom73

Punk: well I see I am a day late and a doller short in posting, still trying to figure out my way around here. lol

Although my response is past the point of when all of this was going on, I hope that maybe something I wrote is helpful. As for your "roller-coaster" just remember that the loss of a marriage isn't too different from a death of a spouse. You will go through the steps of grief and it is normal to go from one extreme to the other. Use the outlets available to you, friends, this forum, family, when you need help ask for it. It will get better, maybe not as quickly as you would like but hang in there. Sending hugs your way. :)