Pharticus

Those were actually very helpful instructions on how to improve your marriage. I would love to see something like that for the husband. Traditional values have long been replaced with nonsense that has proved it doesn't work. If only we weren't so stinking selfish...

Then you need a better looking girlfriend....

As much as I disagree with him, he was funny.

I think I've discovered a new way to thoroughly embarrass my chitlins. Thank you!

My youngest daughter is 3 years old and I love this age because of all the cute (did I just use that word?!) outfits we can dress her in. But eventually they turn into raging hormones...

I believe this one trumps Voltaire: Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so. Proverbs 3:27

A different view: http://www.khouse.org/articles/1999/225/ I'm sure you'll love it, Astro. This is just part of the article: The Controversy Continues: Speed of Light Slowing Down? by Chuck Missler The field of physics worships at the altar of c, the velocity of light. It is widely regarded as the inviolate constant which affects all things: from our knowledge of astronomy to the very behavior of subatomic particles. Even the basic relationship between mass and energy is known by every schoolboy as E = mc2. For many years, and in many of our previously published materials, we have made allusions to the very controversial view, held by some, that the speed of light (usually designated mathematically by "c") has been slowing down.1 We have, naturally, received a number of adverse reactions from those who have difficulties dealing with this possibility. Evidence suggesting that the velocity of light, c, has been slowing down throughout history was first reported by Barry Setterfield and Trevor Norman for some years.2 Now two physicists-Dr. Joao Magueijo, a Royal Society research fellow at Imperial College, London, and Dr. Andreas Albrecht, of the University of California at Davis-are proposing that, immediately after the universe was born, the speed of light may have been far faster than its present-day value of 186,000 miles per second.3 They now believe that it has been slowing down ever since. The effects predicted by their theory are to be published in the prestigious scientific journal, Physical Review. "If it's true, it would be a very big leap forward that will affect our perception of the universe and much of theoretical physics," said Dr. Magueijo. One mystery that it seems to be able to explain is why the universe is so uniform-why opposite extremes of the cosmos that are too far apart to have ever been in contact with each other appear to obey the same rules of physics and are even at about the same temperature. It would only be possible for light to cross from one side to the other if it traveled much faster than today moments after the universe was created, between 10 billion and 15 billion years ago. Their hypothesis suggests it was so fast that it could have been travelling at 186,000 miles a second multiplied by a figure with 70 zeroes after it! Calculations based on the theory also give the most elegant explanation for the speed at which the universe appears to be expanding, which is thought to be just fast enough to avoid an eventual collapse to a big crunch. Instead, the universe would simply grow forever-though at a decreasing rate-and its ultimate fate, it is suggested, would be a slow, lingering death as all the stars burn out and every particle of matter within it separates. "It is remarkable when you can find one simple idea that has so many appealing consequences," said John Barrow, professor of astronomy and director of the Astronomy Centre at the University of Sussex, who has collaborated with Magueijo and Albrecht. It is disturbing that with this view continuing to gain credibility in some quarters, acknowledgment of the contributions of Setterfield, Norman, and others is conspicuous by its absence.

Great explanation and guide to removing "lag." I have some settings to change this evening...

Randall, you don't know what she is thinking and you don't know what "the look" meant. Speculation will destroy a relationship. When in doubt, ask.

My boy and I still split wood the old fashioned way. Granted it's lodge pole pine, but we both enjoy the exercise and the feeling of accomplishment.

Dean, I apologize for being insensitive in my response. Will you forgive me? The cry of my heart is to see you healed. To answer some of your questions directed to me, even the rhetorical ones: no, I do not have a degree in clinical depression. Yes, I do lack empathy. I made no assumptions about your prayer life. We are all spiritually sick in some sense for the simply fact that we are human. Your problem may be spiritual, physical, emotional, mental or any combination of these. I was merely commenting on the paragraph that primarily dealt with your triggers. That I do have experience in, although it's not a degree. My wife was abused as a child and is easily triggered by me. I mean well, but none the less I am her trigger for many things. We have struggled in our marriage for 17 years and only recently did I discover what was the root of our marital issues. Thus, I want to encourage you to look into the possibility that there may have been a very traumatic moment(s) in your childhood that is manifesting itself in your life as an adult. When traumatic events happen to children at a young enough age they do not have healthy coping skills to deal with it. It's just a possibility. Maybe that didn't happen to you. Maybe it did. I am sincerely and consistently praying that you would be healed from this. A friend recommended I read the book When the Woman You Love Was Abused: A Husband's Guide to Help Him Overcome Childhood Sexual Molestation by Dawn Scott Jones. It described my wife perfectly and helped me to understand why she reacts the way she does. There is also When a Man You Love Was Abused: A Woman's Guide to Help Him Overcome Childhood Sexual Molestation by Cecil Murphey. Maybe these books can help someone understand their spouse.

My initial reaction to what you have said: 1) You are ALWAYS responsible for your actions. You can't control your feelings, but you can choose how to respond to them. 2) The triggers are your issue, not the rest of the world's. As your friends, we will try to be sensitive about what we say, but ultimately you need to identify and deal with these issues. I suggest counseling or a program like Celebrate Recovery (available in many churches for free). We all have hurts from our past, but sometimes they continue to manifest themselves in the present. I'm praying for you. Gal. 5:1

Eph. 6:11-12 Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Not only can those things be distracting, but they can become consuming. There is so much deception that the truth becomes hard to find.

More great ping pong!!!

Proof there are good people out there down on their luck. Not everyone is a mooch waiting for a handout. Pay it forward.