Annette, I totally understand where you are coming from with your son going off to college. My daughter just started at the University of Utah. I didn't even get to go and drop her off. I don't drive and my husband couldn't get off work. A close friend (both to my daughter and to myself) in our ward coincidently was going to Salt Lake that weekend anyway and offered to take my daughter to college for us. Encourage your son to get involved in institute and with the student ward. He should be around some Returned missionaries and others waiting for their mission calls. That will be a good influence for him. Keep him in your prayers (i'm sure you are already). We can't give up on these kids. As far as the WSL goes, it takes a little time for your mind to adjust. Thankfully our pouches won't allow the binging that was so much a part of our lives pre-WLS. For me at least, when I got used to eating a lesser amount and my body and mind caught up with each other, I no longer desired or craved the foods that were taboo. Keep drinking your water and choosing good food choices and you'll do okay. Melody

Linda, feel free to ramble anytime you want. I didn't consider it rambling. I felt it was spirit filled testimony bearing. As today starts our fast for fast Sunday it was very pleasurable to read this. I've learned something recently (I can be a bit dense and slow at times). When we exercise and want to gain strength we learn "No pain, no gain". We often have to endure the pain to realize the gain from exercising. The same is true for exercising our faith. If we want to gain more faith we have to endure the "pain" that's involved when our faith is exercised to have our faith grow. Thank you for sharing something so personal. Love, Melody

I'm diabetic and not supposed to fast. In order to live the spirit of the law, I eat only just what will get me by. I don't cook or eat something fancy. SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE. Something like water and some cheese. Or a slice of plain toast. Also, remember you need to have a prayer that tells your Hevenly Father what you are fasting for. If you don't then the only thing you are doing is skipping meals. I had Lap Band so I'm not sure what the RNY requirments would be....ask both your surgeon and your bishop or branch president. I'm sure they would be able to help you from the physical and spiritual standpoints. Tammy

I know that I should probably know this, since I am almost a year and a half out, but is it ok to fast? Well, I am sure it is ok. I am just wondering if there is anything I need to do differently or special since I have had the surgery. Like going with out food, but still drinking water, but then is it still a proper fast? I have been wanting to ask about it for a long time and I feel I am missing out on blessings for not fasting. I would love to hear from you. Thanks, Amy

We don't post often on this board, but thought I might share with you sisters, especially the younger ones that have not got their children raised yet, one of the neat expeiences of being a mother with grown children. I only have three children that I gave birth to, at one point or the other all three have totally fallen away from the church. I now have two of them back and active, both girls. The only son is now totally away from the church, and he was the only one that would go to church with me as a teenager. You get the picture, we raise them one way, they end up having to find their way on their own. My eldest daughter is 32 years old. She got pregnant at 16 gave birth to her eldest child at 17. The Bishop at the time only dis-fellowshiped her because I pleaded with him not to excommunicate her. And he was Xing teenagers at the time in numbers (like 6 or 7 in a sweep). For those of you that live in Idaho and Utah, excommunication is not as prevalent with teenagers, but we have seen it to be very common in other parts of the country. I refused to insist that these kids get married just for appearances sake. I'm sure that many people thought I was doing the wrong thing, but I couldn't see how that was going to be the answer, nor did I have any intention of taking this young man into my home to support. Which is how I saw it at the time, he was 17 as well. Besides the fact that she was angry at him the whole pregnancy. My daughter felt that it was very important that she keep this child she was going to have, and wouldn't even consider me contacting LDS Social Services. Here again church folks thought I didn't know what I was doing. I actually got to where I withdrew from many of the sisters at that time in my life, because of disapproval, and judgment of my parenting. My husband and I were not short of income, so we promised to see that she and the baby were well provided for, she could remain in our home, and have everything she needed. We provided her with the rest of her high school education, while the father was finishing his. She even went to counseling to work out whether or not she should marry this young man, as he was insistent that they should be married when he got out of school. This they did just a few days after high school graduation. There son was 18 months old the day they married. The father had already arranged to join the Army, so was soon to have a paycheck and a way to take care of them. Over the next nine years, as an Army wife, she would keep coming into contact with other LDS folks in the Military, and once asked me if I was sending people to find her. I said no, but of course in a way I was, because I was always praying for her. Finally a visiting teacher came to her house when she lived at Ft. Rucker AL, that helped her find her way back to church, she revealed none of this to me, until after sometime she finally asked me what she had to do to have the dis-fellowship thing removed. I was actually surprised, and told her she just had to go to her bishop and talk it out with him. Very soon after she resolved the issue, her husband joined the church. They were sealed a year later in one of the European Temples, as they had then gone to Germany. I know I'm rambling on here, but the part I'm getting at, is this; I teach the the 4th Sunday lessons in my Branch RS. It's a bit of a job making the sermons into some kind of a lesson, but I've been doing it for about three years now, and sometimes I feel like they are good, and sometimes who knows. My daughter recently relocated to a new base in Germany putting her in a new ward. Most of the wards in Germany (due to the drawdown of the military) are now Germans and Americans combined, so there is a need to have folks translating at all times. My daughter was called to teach the same 4th Sunday lessons. And this past Sunday we ended up with the same sermon. My dear daughter had spent a great deal of time working on a lesson plan for this particular sermon, sent me a copy of it, she told me I was free to use it. Well I was so impressed, and probably my RS was as well, because it's the first time I ever stood in front of them with more than a group of notes, and a brief outline of where I was going with the lesson. I couldn't help but brag (bragging or praising the Lord) that my daughter had prepared that lesson outline. Perhaps only a mother that has had a wayward child can appreciate the joy this simple thing brought this old mother. I bear you my testimony, that if we wait long enough, pray hard enough, we will see what the lord has planned come to past. Linda Woods