I had such an amazing time meeting all of you!! Piph, Michaelina, Sabine, all of the people there...so much more love among those 30 or so people than among the JWs in my entire life. I really hope we can all keep in touch!!
((((Hugs)))))
kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
JoinedPosts by kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
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Last minute details for Apostafest
by Princess intomorrow is the big party.. the party is at 2pm, plan on staying as late as you want.that late.. i am going to make some signs to post along the route from the i-5 exit.
i'm not sure what they will say but i'm pretty sure there will be a scarlet a.be sure to look for them.
how do you turn off the red?.
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Shunning your Children
by missylissy ini dont know if im putting this in the rite place.... .
when a young jw teen ( 13-16) disassociates themselves, or is disfellowshipped, will the parents kick them out of the house?
or are they required to let them stay?
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kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
We had a little "apostafest" here today with four other ex-dubs who live in the same town. (It was fabulous btw!!) One of them was telling us how she left: she had a friend, the wife of an elder, who had a disfellowshipped and pregnant daughter. The family, including the daughter who did not live at the house, had just moved here from out of state. (The daughter was trying to get reinstated so moved when her family did so she could be close to them once she got back into the club.) The daughter was at her parents' house from time to time to do laundry, etc., nothing serious - she was all alone, pregnant and maybe 19 years old. Well, the elder was told that he couldn't be an elder anymore because his df daughter was spending too much time at his house. How did the elders know? They would drive by his house all the time to see if her car was there!! Is that sick or what? I suppose the good thing that came out of it is that it was the straw that broke the camel's back for my friend - it scared her - Big Brother come to life!
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Pacific Northwesterners! A little info please--we're moving out of Jersey
by ashitaka inhey,.
my wife and i have had it with this expensive gate to hell, and we're getting out of jersey.. so, how is it out there?
what state do you guys think is better as to employment, car insurance, taxes, schools, etc?
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kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
I've lived in Portland, Oregon and Kennewick, Washington.
Portland - Grey and rainy alot, but lush and green because of all the rain. Largest bookstore in the country (Powell's) and fabulous coffee. Lots of people interested in animal rights and the environment, very liberal. Too much traffic, too much crime and housing's expensive. But it's a cool place to live!
Kennewick - Eastern side of WA state, desert-like - don't think sand and cacti, think tumbleweeds and brown hills - not attractive at first but you grow to love the big open sky, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets and the adorable quail (especially when they have their babies each spring!). Not a great library, but they did remodel and the main branch is great, comfy chairs and a fireplace. People tend to be pretty conservative. Coffee has definitely improved since I moved here - there used to be only one lone Starbucks, and it was new and untested at that. ("Grande, half-decaf, non-fat hazelnut latte please." "Huh??") But it's grown and improved, and we now have the requisite one coffee place per three blocks in the main parts of town. Some are good, some are not so good, but they're trying! :-) Weather is GREAT - sun 300 days a year, and even the hottest days aren't bad because it's such a dry heat and because everybody has air conditioning - in Portland when I was growing up if it was 90+ we all just wilted and laid on the couch in front of strategically placed fans. LOW housing prices (I'm drwatson's wife, see his reply) and we have the strongest economy in the state right now. Not that it's easy to get a job, but it can be done. Low crime, hardly anything even approaching a traffic jam other than going between Richland and Kennewick at 5 p.m., and even that takes about 10 minutes instead of 5, so it's not bad. And you never, ever have to parallel park! This is very cool to me because I suck at the afrore-mentioned skill. I think I've had to parallel park one time in 7 years, and then I just got out of the driver's seat and let my friend do it. Okay, I really do suck, at least I admit it! :-) Local produce is available in the spring/summer both at farmers' markets and in local grocery stores - great corn, amazing cherries and apples.
Well, now you know what I care about (good coffee, good books and yummy cherries) - I suppose you could consider that you're living next to a (decomissioned) nuclear plant, that there's a chemical depot about an hour away that has tons of chemical weapons stored that if they ever get out will kill everybody...but if you're running away from chemical fall-out, at least you won't have to parallel park to buy your staples of bulk cherries and lattes!
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WATCHTOWER WARNING: Mobile Phones
by DevonMcBride in.
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2002/10/22/article_01.htm
they are now paranoid about mobile phones.
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kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
I wonder if the WTS has ever considered that their obsessive rules against contact with the opposite sex only make it more alluring? And when JW kids do get together, the first thing they do (since talking = dating and dating = marriage) is start making out cause they have no other experience with the opposite sex?? I swear, every JW teenage couple that I knew went "too far" before marriage, whether or not they ever told the elders. And if they told the elders, they were asked "where, what, when?" regarding every detail in order to humiliate them.
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The Secrets of Dysfunctional Families - The Goose
by garybuss in"mom, dad," he began, "i think there's something wrong with this pond.
"where exactly do you live, son?
on several occasions, he almost got up and new back to the pond, thinking that to die with his family would he better than to live with strangers.
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kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
Wow, that definitely strikes a nerve. Of course, the JW story would be the reverse, all the ducks in the big pond would be getting sick and then the little gossling would discover the healthy, safe little pond...
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Fw: As Bro Sydlick was saying the closing prayer
by NikL ini just had to pass this on to you.. it is an e mail that is making the rounds.. what do you think of this.... (beware!
gagging may be expected).
the 41,000 friends at the international convention in michigan .
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kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
Okay, so I know I won't be popular with this reply, but...
I always cried at assemblies, especially during the song right before the baptism. I mean, I really believed! And I think there are kind, good people in the organization who really believe and cry because it is such an emotional thing.
Okay, I'm ducking from all the irritated replies to my reply!
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Do you remember your last meeting?
by freedom96 inlast meeting i ever went to was a memorial, 6 years ago.
i remember it well, and it wasn't even my own hall.
it was so boring.
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kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
It was a Wednesday night, they were going over the All Scriptures Inspired book and there were some statements in there about the prophecies in Isaiah and why we knew they were written before the events transpired. My husband and I had had a lot of discussions prior to this happening, he was questioning things and (in typical Witness fashion) when I couldn't answer his questions I'd just get mad or burst into tears. But I showed him this paragraph in the All Scriptures book and he said "how do you know that's true?" or something to that effect. We got up and walked out...drove to the grocery store and ended up sitting in the car for an hour or so finally talking about all the questions and doubts we had, about the lies the society propegated (and we didn't know the half of it at that time!). By the time we got out of the car I knew I could never go back.
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A Great Ex-JW Reunion!!
by kitties_and_horses_oh_my! inmy hiusband and i left the organization almost a year ago.
since then, i've thought many times of a friend who had da'd herself about 4 years ago.
a few weeks after she'd da'd herself we passed in a bathroom at a local store.
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kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
Thanks everybody for letting me share my happiness! I'll let you know how things go when we get together (hopefully next week!).
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A Great Ex-JW Reunion!!
by kitties_and_horses_oh_my! inmy hiusband and i left the organization almost a year ago.
since then, i've thought many times of a friend who had da'd herself about 4 years ago.
a few weeks after she'd da'd herself we passed in a bathroom at a local store.
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kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
My hiusband and I left the organization almost a year ago. Since then, I've thought many times of a friend who had DA'd herself about 4 years ago. A few weeks after she'd DA'd herself we passed in a bathroom at a local store. She smiled and said, very kindly, "I hope you're feeling better." I had been really sick with a chronic illness, and despite her touching words she couldn't penetrate the JW defenses. I didn't look at her, didn't talk to her...felt terrible about it, but felt that I had done what I had to do.
Since we left I've looked in the phone book but her number wasn't listed and I wasn't sure where she was living. But last night I found her phone number on the internet. I called her today and it was so amazing. We only had a few minutes to talk - I was on my way to work, she was going out of town for the weekend - but we were practically in tears we were so glad to be able to reach each other and now we have this beautiful chance to have a true friendship based on unconditional love, not judgements. I apologized to her for the horrible way I had treated her years before...she was so kind, understood it was just my JW brainwashing that had taken over. We're going to get together soon (we now have 3 other exJws we hang out with, amazing in such a little area as we live in!) and I'm going to introduce her to the other exJW we know. She hasn't had anyone to truly understand what she went through leaving, and I just thinking about how wonderful it was to hear her voice makes me want to cry.
The best part? When I got home from work today there was a message on my voice-mail. "This is xxx, and I just wanted you to know how happy I am that you called me. Please know that you will always have family in me. I hope we can be really good friends for a long, long, long, long time."
This is so beautiful...true love...not like anything in the JW org.
P.S. - Her life has been going about a million times better since she left! Funny how that eems to happen to everyone who leaves... ;-)
Just wanted to share my joy!!
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Visiting with a JW today
by Dawn ini stopped by a store today to pick up a few things - forgetting completely about the big "convention" that is going on nearby.
while i was in the check out i noticed a number of people dressed up in the deli area with badges on.
so i thought to myself.........should i?
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kitties_and_horses_oh_my!
That was awesome! (I'm the one you came over to our house to meet me and my husband, wasn't sure if you knew my handle.) Anyway, you have guts and I totally think you rock!