Hee--Shelly is the mom. Genevieve is the new baby.

What's saddest is I checked the post twice. Well, welcome back Shelly's waist line! Welcome, Genevieve!

Hey Cindy! That's great news about Julia's friend. That's way too much for a kid in elementary school to have to deal with. But now comes the dancing and the fun.

I agree. She was in first grade when this started. She kept up with dance all along, as much as she could. Her parents were excellent about making her feeling-decent times as normal as possible.

How are your babies big and small?

I just heard from T that the older nephew signed up for his 7th grade classes next year. He's taking a bunch of AP classes and his electives are robotics and multimedia. He's such a cute little science geek!

sj, how is he in 7th grade already???

I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work. I hate group work.

I attempted to discuss some wrong-headed ideas (about the difference between fundamentalists and evangelicals) with a group-mate today (our group is working on presenting on women in fundamentalism, which, um, I happen to have some first-hand knowledge about). He finally waked away in a huff saying, "Well, I'm just telling it like it is from the Christian viewpoint." Um, honey, you better think before you make assumptions that I'm talking about it from a non-Christian perspecitive. And now I get to deal with this in the online classroom. Ugh.

OMG, you guys!! I just made an appt. for a consultation with a fertility doctor!!! HOLY SHIT!

This post may self-destruct soonish.

Oh ugh, Emily. They always mean well with those kinds of "surprises," but man are they inconvenient.

No kidding. I mean, we all appreciate the thought, but... Well, you know. Teachers: not actually as social as you might have thought, especially if you're an administrator.

And vw, word on the studying. Because really, who does? I mean, I've been known to spend some time over a break doing homework/studying -- but not nearly as much time as I've spent feeling guilty over how much I'm not doing. How is that productive, exactly? I've gotta tell you, not assigning homework is so freeing!

Holy nonspecific-in-case-of-destruction cow, GC! That's... major!

And vw, word on the studying. Because really, who does? I mean, I've been to spend some time over a break doing homework/studying -- but not nearly as much time as I've spent feeling guilty over how much I'm not doing. How is that productive, exactly? I've gotta tell you, not assigning homework is so freeing!

So glad this isn't just me. It just seems so ridiculous. And, I mean, really. We couldn't have pushed ahead *just* a bit to get through the material and have the test before break? I just don't understand the planning here.

sj, how is he in 7th grade already???

Time warp? I'm not really sure. A swear that a second ago he was a two year old jumping up and down saying, "Auntie Tcharah's here in her red car!" He couldn't pronounce s's. Now all of the sudden he's nearly a teenager.

Yay, GC!!! Best wishes!

Last month, my father went to visit a woman whose first child I'd helped take care of for a week several years ago (I think he may have been out of diapers, but still in a stroller). I thought, "Wow, Aurelien must be 13 or so now!"

Apparently he's 21.

Susan, are you around? I need you to point me to some of your fundamentalist/dominionist blog/other resources links.

I'm around now.

Vision Forum is by Doug Phillips, who apparently is one of the big mucky-mucks in the movement. His blog is revealing, and if you look at the books & media, All-American Boy's Adventure Catalog, and Beautiful Girlhood Collection, you get a good idea what they're about and what they consider appropriate gender roles. (Boys get to have WAY more fun in their world, surprise surprise.)

Visionary Daughters are two young women whose father is well-connected in the Vision Forum crowd who've written a book and produced a video on their view of the role of teen and unmarried adult daughters in the Christian family. They come across as sort of the princesses/beauty queens of the movement.

Stacy McDonald is a co-author of Passionate Housewives Desperate for God, another new book on women's roles. The interesting thing about her and her husband are that they're a blended family who came into their marriage both divorced with small children, but since that wing of Christianity is opposed to divorce and remarriage, you'd never know from what they say that their oldest children came from previous marriages.

Ladies Against Feminism has a lot of illuminating articles and links.

For a critique of the movement by other conservative Christians, check the True Womanhood blog or Under Much Grace.