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Yay! Welcome friend ♥️

@JanelleMLara 😊❤️😁

Yes, the last 4 years!

Thank you so much for watching!

Thank you so much for watching <3 I'm so glad it resonated- and you for sure are!

This means so much! Thank you ❤

Thank you for watching and for sharing your thoughts <3 I understand where you are coming from in basically every regard here. I've found that creating a community of friends who don't necessarily live next door but who I can talk to about things that interest me has been supportive. I voxer one friend in Alaska, and another in Minnesota basically every day!

@ Yes the internet certainly helps with finding people you can connect with 😊. One of my main interests right now is content creation (I have two channels), so feel free to reach out if you have questions. I’d definitely suggest trying to film on your phone, most phones are much better than a laptop. Especially for talking videos like this, good audio can make or break it. Your presentation is great btw!

@@ourportuguesehomestead I so appreciate this! I will absolutely check out your channels. I got a couple of comments like this on the video, lol! So my last two videos have been recorded on my phone. I truly hope that makes for a better viewing experience. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave feedback <3

Thank you so much for this encouragement 🙏

Oh my goodness! This warmed my heart to read. Thank you so much for commenting and sharing your experience with me. I am so very glad that you feel like you can deeply love the mother that you are! ♥️♥️

getting there 🥰

Thank you so much for commenting! Yes, it is hard to sacrifice our passions- and I love your use of the term “digesting”. I am so glad this video spoke to you ♥️

Haha I understand 😅 I felt very uncomfortable talking about it but mentioned the idea to a friend who was like “YES PLEASE RECORD THIS” 🤣 Wow, a step mother to four young kids! What a blessing and responsibility. 🙏♥️ I understand that feeling of isolation as well… I am one of only three women in my doctoral class, and just wish I had more women to discuss these topics with. I am sure you will manage to balance motherhood and your projects ♥️ it will certainly be a matter of good communication and support with your husband and village. I will be praying for you as you embark on this adventure! Thank you for watching this video!

@ amen, thank you so much! Gd willing you should have success with your family and degree (and with whatever you plan to do with the degree) as well and continue to build a faithful and loving home full of light 🫶🏻

Thank you 🙏

What a beautiful family ♥️ but being with children 24/7 is draining. Of course you need more. I do hope you manage to get that time to yourself, even if it’s just once a week to take yourself to a solo coffee date. That is kind of you to sympathize with your sister - im sure she feels very recognized by you. Many blessings as you continue your motherhood journey! Thank you for watching and commenting 🙏

Thanks for your comment and for watching :) I’m sorry you feel mentally checked out most of the time ♥️ that must be really difficult to experience. Do you think trauma played into your school experience as well?

@ Somewhat. I had some misfortunes happen to me when I was in high school. I went to a small Christian school where the teachers all knew us by name, so I had some teachers pick on me (one of them purposely gave me a lower grade cause she didn’t like me). In high school, I felt that nobody there wanted me to succeed, so I sorta just slowly stopped attending. I ended up finishing high school at a community college and then got my associates. I had a cancer diagnosis in community college, so I ended up taking a gap year. I’m 21 now and a junior in college at a small private university. I’m doing pretty well, though I think years of abuse and then a cancer diagnosis caused me to care less about academics.

Thank you for sharing your story. I am so in awe of you pushing past everything you experienced to still get a degree. Are you cancer free now? 🙏 I’m obviously not an expert, but you sound very smart to me. I wonder if there is a correlation between trauma and school performance, and/or trauma and IQ.

@ thank you! For now, I am in remission. I don’t think I’m dumb, but some things I do, I genuinely question my intelligence. Like, some very basic things I struggle to do (mental math for example). However, it’s not that I don’t understand it (I took calculus and thought it was easy). It’s more like I get nervous when talking to people, so I can’t fully focus on what goes on in my head. I think anxiety definitely holds me back a little. Im excelling in biology, and I’ve asked such great questions that I stumped my professor (who went to Ivy League college lol). So maybe I might actually be okay. Thank you! I subscribed! :)

@@Wolf-r9d Oh, I am so glad to hear you are in remission. Praise God. And yay! Thank you so much for subscribing! Being humble about your intelligence is actually a sign of intelligence ;) I am excited to see you around as I embark on this journey!

lol! I appreciate your honesty. I have taken a “learn on the job” approach to RUclips. I do not have a background in video editing … and don’t particularly enjoy it. (Which I suppose shows). However, I am attempting to improve with each go. My plan is to hire an editor as soon as I monetize. Moving forward though, I will record with the back of my phone camera rather than my computer. I hope that makes for a better viewing experience. Regarding my husband, I would not say he is *as* driven as I, but he is very driven. His passions are different from mine, but we have taken a “you, me and we” approach to our marriage (a concept adapted from the Gottman method of marriage counseling) so that we each have room to pursue our passions and also ensure we build a life together. I hope that helps! Thanks for your question, the honest feedback, and I’m glad you liked the insights!

@@JanelleMLara I am very curious to know more about this “you, me and we” approach you’ve taken with your husband. I’ve done some searches for some info myself but would love to hear more about it from you! Do you have a preferred resource? Ps. I love that you enjoy your commenters honesty and answer their questions without judgement ♥️

I am happy to share! I am certainly not an expert here so definitely also look into the Gottman Approach further. We got the concept from a marriage therapist we worked with years ago. From what we understand, it’s looking at the marriage as having three ‘priorities’. Obviously, there is the ‘we’. That’s the ‘us’ of a marriage, ‘our’ goals, ‘our’ dreams- what we want to build together, and what we believe God is calling us to as a couple. But often, we forget about ourselves as individuals (especially mothers). What are ‘my’ goals and dreams? What would I like to accomplish? After all, we are whole people, with our own God-given gifts, talents, and passions that deserve exploring and developing (obviously with differing levels of commitment based on our season of life). And the same ought to be true for my husband. So it’s important in a relationship for each of us to commit to fostering and supporting those passions in one another, as well. An example of How this plays out practically for us is my husband supporting me in going back to school. On Tuesdays I have an online class so he puts the kids to bed so I can attend. He loves soccer, so when he has a game I’ll do dinner and bath time on my own with the kids so he can play. That sort of thing. Then of course we have our goals and dreams as a couple which we both work towards, and includes the kind of parents we want to be, ensuring we nurture our relationship, etc. We are certainly not perfect. I have definitely vetoed some of his soccer game requests and it’s not like I’ve never heard a side comment or two when it’s his turn to do bedtime alone 😅 we just do our best and *overall* attempt to support one another while also being fair to our kids and marriage. I hope that helps! ♥️

@ super helpful, thanks so much for taking the time to reply! From what you’ve shared, it sounds like we’re already walking that path, I just didn’t realize there was a name for it I guess lol! We are also doing our best and it’s certainly not perfect (hard for my perfectionist part to accept ha) but so far it’s much better than how we experienced the traditional roles of family. At first it felt almost wrong to look at relationships differently, like we were betraying our families for not following the status quo or something.. did you experience feelings of shame or guilt around shifting your views? We didn’t work with a therapist but I can only assume that would help greatly! Motherhood and navigating that with my husband did not play out the way I had dreamed it would and it has not been easy by any means, but it’s been the most healing journey.. worth every second of pain to gain true inner peace, real deep connection with my self and others and to break the chains of codependency! 🕊️

@@user-hg9os4lw4g Oh I love this so much. Yes, I have experienced lots of feelings of guilt and shame... probably not because I wasn't doing what my parents did (growing up I knew my mother wasn't happy), but because I was taught there was basically one way to be a perfect parent. I feel very differently now, and my girls are also showing me differently, but it sure did affect me for a very long time. I am so glad that it sounds like you have found a true partner in life and parenting!

Hey there, yep- I was administered a test in high school.

You can easily notice it yourself by listening to her speak

​ @wiktoria41141 That is where you're wrong, I have good diction (in french), my school teachers and loads of people i've met told me so, and yet I consider myself stupid and I'm doing academically terrible The link between intelligence and speech is not as obvious as you might think

⁠@@Sparte_I understand… I didn’t mean the diction but how she’s putting her thoughts and sentences together. How old are you? Don’t forget to focus on your strengths and if it’s a diction for you that’s great!

@@Sparte_ So speech and communication is linked to something called verbal IQ. This measures verbal reasoning and linguistic ability. While 'EQ' (Emotional Intelligence) is also required for good interpersonal communication, this is not something measured by IQ tests. However, there do seem to be positive correlations between the ability to effectively communicate ideas (which is what I'm doing here and, what wiktoria has complimented) and verbal IQ, which is often found in high IQ individuals. Here's a source: Mackintosh, N. J. (2011). IQ and Human Intelligence. Oxford University Press. With all of that being said, it is highly probable that you are not stupid. Stupid people don't watch videos on IQ in their spare time <3 School is not for everyone. Thank you again for watching and commenting!

What an amazing idea :) I will absolutely keep this in mind as I am planning content for the future!

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!

That truly means so much ♥️thank you for watching and for your kind words!

"You can lead a man to reason, but you can't make him think." -Harry Binswanger-

"There can be no compromise on matters of knowledge, of truth, of rational conviction." -Ayn Rand-

more like a council of common sense

An atheist and a vegan walk into a bar. I only know because they told everyone in the first two minutes.

@izzykhach Come on, if you are going to make a joke, make it a good one. Try another. There are books filled with religious jokes.

@@atheistcomments Unfortunately there are churches filled with them too.

Hey there, thanks for your comment. No intelligent person has gone through life without reconsidering their beliefs. So yes, we have considered that, and simply come to a different conclusion.

@@JanelleMLara That's great but you are on the internet spreading "misinformation" to say the least. A god isn't a conclusion. It's pure fantasy make-believe. You know there are objections to religious claims, you know a god has never been demonstrated to exist in real-life. I think especially the girl in the dark blue, she's deliberately lying for sure.

Hey Tom, thank you for your insights. I completely agree. I would add that Catholicism and Orthodoxy are reflections of a classical education- which are neither children of the enlightenment NOR fundamentalism. It’s truly a privilege to be a part of this intellectual tradition!

Thank you!

@@JanelleMLara "I am primarily the creator of a new code of morality which has so far been believed impossible, namely a morality not based on faith, not on arbitrary whim, not on emotion, not on arbitrary edict, mystical or social, but on reason; a morality that can be proved by means of logic which can be demonstrated to be true and necessary. Now may I define what my morality is? Since man’s mind is his basic means of survival […] he has to hold reason as an absolute, by which I mean that he has to hold reason as his only guide to action, and that he must live by the independent judgment of his own mind; that his highest moral purpose is the achievement of his own happiness […] that each man must live as an end in himself, and follow his own rational self-interest." -Ayn Rand-

Hey there, thanks for your thoughts. To get to the heart of your question, I agree that we need to start by defining Christian Fundamentalism. I asked Chat GPT, and heres what it said: "Christian fundamentalism is a conservative movement within Christianity that emphasizes a strict adherence to what its followers believe are the foundational principles of the Christian faith. It originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a reaction against modernist theology, which sought to reconcile Christianity with new scientific discoveries, critical approaches to biblical interpretation, and cultural changes. Fundamentalism stresses the authority of Scripture and traditional Christian doctrines." It continued by stating that its primary key belief is "Biblical Inerrancy- Fundamentalists believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and literal Word of God. This means that the Bible is without error in all its teachings, including history, science, and morality." Which is what we discuss here. Your other thoughts- such as the Catholic belief in transubstantiation or the heinous way the Church handled the clergy sex abuse scandals, does not apply to Fundamentalism specifically.

@@JanelleMLara Thank you for the, somewhat strange, response. I have already made it clear that I fully understand the technical definition of fundamentalism. My premise is that the word may be used slightly differently to cover the insistence within Catholicism of certain dogmas and traditions and the way the church has always placed its own authority, prosperity and security above all else. It is important to recognise that dictionary definitions are arrived at through common usage of words and that usage often changes over time. The dictionary or current definition is not the final arbiter of meaning, it is a merely a guide. My proposal was that the word fundamentalism could be expanded to include other things that the church insists upon, despite being patently false or morally wrong. As for Chat GPT, why would I have any interest in what a commuter programme states from whatever data it was fed? Especially when it makes a clear error. The fundamentalist view of scripture did not begin in the late 19th century. Indeed, for much of the church's history, it was the only view. The church even imprisoned and killed people who wrote anything contrary to what the bible tells us. It doesn't get more fundamental than that.

@@Outspoken.Humanist Hey there, you did not make it clear that you understand Christian Fundamentalism. You stated, "However, Catholicism does insist upon certain dogmas and ritual practices.." as your only pseudo-definition.. which is not the correct definition of fundamentalism... but merely an assertion that Catholicism is, in fact, a religion. As for the rest of the comment, it it nearly impossible to have the conversation without agreeing on the meaning of the term... so I suppose we part ways here.

@@JanelleMLara You say I wasn't clear. Really? To quote myself, "Then we need to ask how do we define Christian fundamentalism? If it is only the narrow definition of a belief that the bible is God's direct word and thus without error, then Catholicism is not fundamentalist." How much clearer do you want me to be? Do you take issue with the assertion that Catholicism is a religion? That seems strange. I'm not sure whether you are deliberately misunderstanding me or if you struggle with English. Perhaps it's not your first language. I have not and do not have an issue with the standard definition of the term and I am not saying you are wrong. I am merely proposing a fresh idea. You don't have to agree with me but why not just say so? Why does it upset you so much? Anyway, thanks for playing.

Thank you so much for watching and commenting!

@@tinytank808 I feel the same way! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and for your compliment ♥️

Hey Theresa, thanks for your comment and for watching! I’m so glad you love it.

Hey Devon! They were *also* astronomers, yes.

Thank you very much for this thoughtful response. I truly appreciate it! I agree with what you say here. Humility, awe and wonder are certainly necessary ingredients when approaching God, and the Magi, for their part- displayed all of these. *Anything* when used to attempt to control or manipulate, can be sinful. It would appear that scripture scholars and systematic theologians alike agree that the Magi are examples of this devotion. However, the question is, can we Christians be welcoming and open to those ‘languages’ God uses to draw others to himself, *without* condemnation when it is not due- as we see here with the Magi?

Hey there, thanks for your comment. Where did you read they caught wind of a prophecy from the Jews during the exile? Thats not in the gospel reading nor does it explain the star.

@@JanelleMLaraWell take note that the wise men were gentiles. They were learned men. The only reason they would know about the star was because of the prophecy of the torah. " A star will come out of Jacob." During the babylonian exile this prophecy most likely would have been heard and pass down. Look scripture makes it clear astrology is not okay. It is not a practice of the saints of the church through out the years. There is no case to be made for it.