sugarplum

I’m pretty sure that “guestbook” is a Bible. I’ve been to weddings where the couple had guests mark and sign their favorite bible verses, one used a journaling bible so guests could leave messages next to their favorite verse. That doesn’t appear to be the case here though. It looks like they are using the first few pages of the Bible as signature pages. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. 🤷‍♀️

I could be wrong, but I don’t think this is the source. The “base” dress looks totally different than David’s Bridals options. 🤷‍♀️

Eh, gotta remember there are young kids on social media (or people with the maturity level of young kids), as well as those with mental disabilities. My sister had a terminal illness and years before she passed away, she created a Facebook page with the intents of keeping our out of state family updated (she was waiting for a heart transplant at the time). It was just the easiest way as she was constantly getting bombarded with messages and she was trying to devote as much of her energy as possible to her husband and daughter. The page grew significantly over the years. When she passed away, there were over 300k following it. Despite her being an open book, and despite our family updating her last days and asking for prayers, we got messages very bluntly asking “did she die?” “How did she die?” We politely declined to answer since it was blatantly obviously how she died with only a glance on her page. The same person messaged 28 times in a 5 day period while we were trying to grieve and plan a funeral (my sister was sick, but her death was came unexpected). Some people just don’t have the ability to understand that it’s rude to ask those things. They could have simply asked Christina if she retired and it would have come across much better. But, I have to give credit...Christina has been my least favorite DCC in recent memory. I wasn’t a fan of her whiny excuses during her several TCC chances and got the impression she was lazy because she had an excuse for everything (I may be totally wrong about her and I hope I am, that’s just the impression I got from the show - if I ever met her in person, it would be without judgement and with an open mind and clean slate!). However, she didn’t seem bothered by the question. She answered it with a smile. Maybe she complained to a friend after, but she kept her game face on while answering and I totally give her credit for that. She could have ignored it completely. At least she acknowledged the person and killed them with kindness! She was the bigger person - kudos to her.

But wasn’t that written after she found out she was a TCC? I would expect to be featured on MTT as a TCC too. I don’t read it as she’s expecting to make the team, but typically they do feature everyone that makes it in to camp in some way shape or form...some WAY more than others (lol). To me, the article is pretty innocent, small town newspaper, that is proud of their local girl. 🤷‍♀️

I was thinking she looked like Carissa!

Her stomach was growling. She was trying to muffle the sounds. 🤷‍♀️

That’s one way to keep people out of your dance space! 😂

How did those braids not smack her in the face every time she jumped? 😳

I totally agree! Best of luck with your delivery!

I understand it too. I get my hair colored every 6-8 weeks. I need a pedicure terribly - I haven’t had one since the fall due to a foot injury. I was at the 4 week mark on my hair when our state was issued it’s stay at home order. It’s honestly not a big deal - I’m not going anywhere so only my husband and daughter are seeing my roots. But I’d still love the “normalcy” of getting my hair done (and 2 hours of quiet, alone, with the exception of my hair dresser, lol). I’d pay big bucks for a pedicure right now, just to get the dead, dry skin off. My at home methods aren’t working. 😂 But at the same time, it’s just a luxury I would like to have, definitely not something I’m losing sleep over. I think we all long for that return to normal. Sydney’s normal is just a tad bit more high maintenance than the average person. 😂

Photographer here. Believe it or not, it’s a VERY common thing for guys to hire a photographer to capture their proposal as it happens. I’ve been hired to do this many times. I always arrive at the spot he plans to propose early so I can find a place I won’t be seen and tell him exactly where to stand and which way to face. Once the proposal happens and they have some time together, I come out of hiding and have a mini photo shoot with them. Those appeared to be professional photos - I am certain this is what happened for this. It wasn’t a “faux” re-enactment. It was captured in real time by a professional who gave very clear instructions on where to stand for the best photos.

I thought Carlin was due mid-Feb? If so, she was only around 2 weeks early. Aside from the jaundice, it didn’t appear as though she had any health concerns. Don’t get me wrong - I wouldn’t bring my less than a week old child around a crowd of people, but I think it’s easy to forget that it’s their family. They see it as normal and don’t even think about the size. She’s a first time mom and wants to show her baby off.

I don’t think this is so much a “fundie” trend, but more of an instagram influencer wannabe trend. I have seen several other people do this very same thing and they are far from fundie. I think part of the problem is we live in a society where people feel if they don’t document, post, and share every single thing, it didn’t happen. While I don’t understand posting pictures of you holding your hospitalized child, I DO understand using social media to update on their condition. My sister (an adult) had a terminal illness. She was diagnosed at age 10. At 31, she was fighting for her life, and was constantly getting phone calls, texts, etc, wanting updates on how she was doing. Answering that many people daily was not only tiring, but it was taking time away from how she wanted to spend her time - with her very young daughter. She created a Facebook page and could post 1 update for thousands of people at once. It didn’t completely stop people from contact her, but it gave them an outlet to read how her days were, They could comment or message her with well wishes And she could read or respond at her convenience, if she did at all. I wish my parents had been able to do the same when she was a child and would spend months at a time in the hospital, but I don’t even think we had internet during those days. Haha!

If the sister is buying clothes, I highly doubt she feels obligated to do so. When my niece was young, I couldn’t resist the children’s clothes section of any store I went in. I loved buying things for her. I did it because it was fun and exciting for me because I adored her so much. I did it because I wanted to. My sister and brother in law were perfectly capable of buying everything that child needed. But that didn’t change my desire to want her to have everything cute that was ever made. She’s a teenager now, and my days of buying clothes for her are over because she’s too picky. But I still buy other things and do a lot for her because I love her and I want to. The same has been true for my daughter. My husband and I aren’t struggling. We are able to buy her anything she needs. But that doesn’t stop my mom, my MIL, or my sisters/sils from buying things for her when they see them just because they want to and want her to have it. It has NEVER been an obligation for any of us.

Normally, I’m right there with you! I get it! I depend on the screenshots of others. This just happened to be a time I had opened Instagram for the first time in ages, before coming here, and saw her stories about the guys building the wall, and then the stories of them painting.

She shared video on her stories. It appeared as though they were painting the new wainscoting they build in, not the whole wall. Ladder wouldn’t have been necessary, and the stuff could have easily stayed in the crib. I’m not sure that Carlin herself did any actual painting, but Evan and a few of her brothers did. I always paint barefoot. 🤷‍♀️

I hate monster bows, but i have to defend this one. The hospital I delivered at provided that exact same hat when my daughter was born. It's a regular newborn hospital hat with 2 slits cut in the front. Another hat is "fanned" and slid through the slits to make a bow. It's all from the hospital. Now...when they get home if they are still putting bows bigger than the baby's head on her, I'll join the riot. 😉

I couldn’t agree with you more.

Honestly? They likely don’t. 🤷‍♀️😂 But the phrase that was always preached to us is that we may be planting a seed when you put that gospel tract in their hand. You may not see the fruits of that, but the seed is planted and someone else may be the one to come along and water/nurture/sow that seed. I’d imagine that most people toss them before even reading it though. I’ve had them stuck in my front door before and they get tossed right along with the junk mail. I can see some situations where they could be useful, specifically with foreign missions with language barriers.

If their beliefs line up with those of the church they are visiting, most will welcome a family/missionary for at least a part of a service (Special music, preaching, or just introducing them to the congregation). Churches LOVE to hear how others are growing the “army of God”, so they don’t consider them useless or pointless because everyone is working towards the same goal. Some have bigger roles in that goal than others, but they view all as important. Typically though, those traveling to churches for support aren’t unknown to the church, or at least to the church leadership. I mentioned before about the mission organization that they are attached too. Churches are also part of this. A church will support a specific mission organization and most of those that come through their doors are with the same organization. So they have been “vetted” and are known to them, even if by name only. Those not associated with their mission organization have often come on recommendation of a sister church, or even through a personal tie with a church member. That being said, they may not financially support every one that comes through their doors in terms of regular monthly support, but they may take up a love offering for someone that isn’t on their support list.

I’m not positive, but I would think where they are attending now wouldn’t matter unless they left the original sponsoring church under bad terms. The original church that sponsored them would still be their sponsor/sending church. Growing up, a young family in our church became missionaries to Newfoundland. The husband had grown up in our church. Our church commissioned them, but once they were in the field, when they returned home, they attended the church that his wife was from. They would visit our church anytime they were in the area, but when they came “home”, it was where her family was located - over an hour away from us. We remained their sponsor and stayed in close contact. But again, I’m not familiar with CMC, so I don’t know specifically how they would handle it.

No worries! You would think it would be more prominent on there. 🤷‍♀️

Full disclaimer - I didn’t dig deep in the CMC website. I glanced/skimmed and looked at the FAQs. But I did see this, which kind of backs up the sponsoring church: (https://www.cmcmissions.org/about/faq)

I’m not familiar with CMC specifically, but just glancing at the website, it looks very similar to BIMI which I AM familiar with. This is the organization that more or less doles out money to them. But chances are, they still have a sponsor/home church. With BIMI (and I would assume CMC is similar), you can’t just go to the organization and declare yourself a missionary and want to join. There has to be a church/pastor that sponsors you. Depending on the field, BIMI also had specific qualifications before you were able to serve as a missionary in a certain field/location.

So we commonly think of missionaries as people who go into foreign countries, sometimes even dangerous ones, to preach the gospel. But missionaries can come in different shapes and forms. Some strictly plant churches - they build and get the church off the ground, then move on to somewhere else. The Rods “ministry” is providing printed materials for other missionaries or churches to distribute. They aren’t missionaries in the traditional sense, but fundies who believe gospel tracts are imperative to getting the word out will very much consider their ministry as part of the mission field. Exactly. The printing is the ministry. The singing/preaching they do is a “blessing” to the church they are visiting, it’s not their mission. But by doing those things, they get in front of congregations so they will be known, and as a result, they get more funding and more prayers.