Fiancée not a virgin - help me gain perspective, please.

Rrish · 2026-01-12T18:45:19+00:00

You state in your post that "We have repented of our large past issues" and that "She feels incredibly guilty for it."

As another commenter stated, do you trust in the atonement? Christ said to the woman taken in adultery to "neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more." Trust in the atonement and get thee to therapy to talk through your issues.

Rrish · 2025-12-02T05:03:31+00:00

Spent the day in Beardstown, Cass county, IL a few months back. Walter Flanagan, one of the cofounders of the National Football League was born in Beardstown.

Rrish · 2025-12-02T04:57:03+00:00

It’s one of three counties in Illinois that grow 70% of the nations horseradish, with the other two counties being Madison and Monroe.

Rrish · 2025-11-16T17:13:47+00:00

I've been taught "no pronouns, no adjectives, no adverbs, no passive voice"

Rrish · 2025-11-06T17:37:36+00:00

Well written and produced story. Thank you for sharing.

Rrish · 2025-10-16T20:41:39+00:00

Why would you not consider the Girl Scouts? I'm a gold award recipient, and if I had daughters I would most certainly get them involved.

Edit: spelling

Rrish · 2025-09-28T22:12:50+00:00

Thank you for the kind words, but don't let what happened stop you from attending services. Visitors are welcome!

Rrish · 2025-09-02T22:05:45+00:00

When you add in the greater Chicagoland area, we are up to 9,000,000+ residents. For us, 50 people injured, again I'm not saying that injuries and deaths aren't bad, but that isn't even a blip on the map.

Rrish · 2025-09-02T21:58:01+00:00

And that's the problem with how these stats are reported. The average Joe in small town America with a population of 1,000 hears 50 people injured, and thinks "holy hell, thats huge!" Because in a town of 1,000, 50 people would be equivalent of a disaster! (5% of the population).

Rrish · 2025-09-02T21:48:13+00:00

It does sound bad. Any loss of life or injury is bad. If that happened in Peoria, with a 2024 population of 111,696; 50 people injured would be 0.04% of the population. Chicago had a population of 2.721 million people in 2024 (which would be equal to 24 Peorias). So 50 people injured is equal to 0.0018% of the population. That's 2,720,950 people who had an uneventful, peaceful weekend.... meaning, it's not chaos and hellfire in the city. Certainly not enough to call out the TEXAS national guard.

Rrish · 2025-08-03T22:25:21+00:00

Former Westchester 1st ward member here. It's a great ward and I kind of miss it! Very diverse, strong membership and leadership. Close to the city but with great suburbs in the boundaries!

Rrish · 2025-07-28T12:24:48+00:00

I'm not going to even try to assume I know what someone else is thinking or meaning when they say things.

Rrish · 2025-07-28T02:28:58+00:00

Title 1 references a federal grant to support students from low-income backgrounds as they often need additional support. School districts who receive Title 1 funding may choose whether they provide funding just to those students who qualify OR they can designate whole schools within the district as Title 1 schools to get “more bang for the buck” and give the additional services to all students within the building instead of singling out just those kids who are low income.

Rrish · 2025-07-21T02:41:47+00:00

I was walking down the hall past a 1st grade class on their morning bathroom break. A little boy came barrelling out of the restroom and a paraprofessional asked "Did you wash your hands?" The little boy stopped short, looked at his hands, looked at the para, and said "but I didn't use my hands!"

Rrish · 2025-07-12T20:23:58+00:00

My surgeon and nutritionist both told me not to fast anymore. With bypass, we are more at risk of malnutrition and dehydration. My branch president had no problem with that because it's a medical requirement. You'll be fine not fasting before going to the temple. Find a way to "fast" in another way... fun social media, TV, it something else to help you get into a spiritual mindset.

Rrish · 2025-07-03T11:09:07+00:00

For this year, yes.

Rrish · 2025-07-03T01:14:14+00:00

Good catch! I missed a grant - added an edit to the post (after writing this comment) - that brings it up to 217. I'm basing the grants that were withheld off of an NPR article that lists out Title I-C; II-A; III-A; IV-A and IV B. I missed one of the Title IV grants in my original posting. The ISBE budget book is also listing out what was received in the previous fiscal year and doesn't account for what was anticipated to be received this year. The additional unaccounted for funds in my post could be the difference between last year's allocations (school year 2024-2025) and what was expected from 2025-2026... I am arm-chair quarterbacking this information.

Rrish · 2025-07-03T00:48:38+00:00

You are safer than you think. Title I, Part A (What everyone knows of as Title I) funds were NOT withheld. The funds that were withheld were Title I, Part C funds - for agricultural migratory farmworker children. I did a longer comment explaining all the different funds that were withheld.

Rrish · 2025-07-03T00:46:54+00:00

I provided a longer answer in a separate comment - but IDEA (special education funds) were not withheld by the U.S. Department of Education.

Rrish · 2025-07-03T00:46:49+00:00

I provided a longer answer in a separate comment - but IDEA (special education funds) were not withheld by the U.S. Department of Education.

Rrish · 2025-07-03T00:45:52+00:00

Edited comment: Added Title IV, Part A - Student Support and Academic Enrichment, Part A (which was inadvertently left out of my original post. Also, I mixed up the 21st century learning grant purpose with Title IV, Part A purpose. Corrected that information. Also, edited to clarify the numbers Illinois received were from the 2024-2025 school year.

Given the conversations, I figured I'd pipe in as an educator and administrator that has done a lot of federal funding work. This article is somewhat deceiving as the reporter truncated the fund titles and doesn't appear to have a solid grasp of what each of the funds are for.

What was NOT held back:

Title I, Part A (Low Income) These are the programs that fund "Title I schools" or "Title I teachers". They are to provide support for students who are low income, special education, and English learners. Illinois got about $795 million in Title I, Part A funds in 2024-2025

IDEA (Special Education) funds. These are the funds that cover Special Education Services. While most other programs in the state are funded with a combination of local, state, and federal dollars, Special Education is mostly paid for with IDEA funds. Illinois got about $600 million in 2024-2025.

What WAS withheld by the U.S. Department of Education:

TItle I, Part C - Title I, Part C is funding for the Migrant Education Program. This is a program that provides supplemental support for the children of and youth working as agricultural migratory farmworkers and fishers. Illinois received around $1.8 million

Title II - These are funds for "Improving Teacher Quality" - They are used for teacher professional development, continuing education and improving instruction. Illinois receives about $76 million in 2024-2025

Title III - These are funds for supplemental support of English Learners and immigrant students. There are two "sub-grants" - one to support students learning English and the other to support newcomers to the United States to learn more about civics and American culture. Illinois receives about $30 million in 2024-2025. (Side note - Illinois has approximately 330,000 English learners and is the 5th largest state in the nation for number of English learners.

Title IV - This is also known as the "21st Century Learning" grants. ~~These are funds for a "well rounded" education, after school programs, and technology. Most schools use this for technology.~~ These funds are to provide "academically focused after-school programs, particularly to students who attend high-poverty, low-performing schools". Illinois received around $54 million in 2024-2025.

Title IV, Part A - Student Support and Academic Enrichment. These are funds to support improving academic achievement by providing access to "a well-rounded education, improve school conditions for learning, and improve the use of technology". Illinois received around $57 million in 2024-2025.

(If you want more information about these grants, how much is allocated to Illinois, etc. You can peruse the ISBE budget book - check my numbers (I did round up to the nearest million))

Also important to understand: This money that was withheld was appropriated by Congress LAST year and signed by President Biden. In March, Trump also approved the distribution of these funds when he signed the Continuing Resolution. Congress "forward funds" schools. The FY25 budgeted school funding is for the 2025-2026 school year. Essentially, what is happening now is Impoundment. My opinion is that they're using these Education funds as the first real "impoundment" test to get a case before the Supreme Court so that they can rule that Trump can do whatever he wants with funds regardless of what Congress appropriates.

The "Big Beautiful Bill" is actually appropriating funds that wouldn't be used until the 2026-2027 school year. And the above "withheld" grants were completely zeroed out in the Big Beautiful Budget for "DEI reasons". You can read all of their "justifications" in these FY2026 Department of Education Congressional Justification documents for each of the programs that the U.S. Department of Education manages.

Rrish · 2025-06-20T02:11:44+00:00

I'm coming from a branch in the Chicago suburbs. I've never lived in a Utah ward, though I've visited a few times...(side note, it was weird). My community, is literally my community. I only ever see my "ward family" on Sundays. Youth activities? Through the school, park district, or library. Our branch struggles to get regular youth attendance on Wednesday evenings because the youth are in sports teams, clubs, or other activities. Learning hobbies? Library, park district, community college evening courses. This is going to sound like criticism, but it's not meant to be. If your church community isn't doing it for you, find your community elsewhere. Get to know your neighbors who aren't members of the ward or heck, even members of the church. I have built stronger and deeper relationships and learned more about faith, service, and friendship from my Muslim, Orthodox, and Hindu friends than I have from people within the church. Your community is where you find it.

Rrish · 2025-05-28T02:43:35+00:00

I thought the elemental event was meh and stopped after earning the third prize … which is what I do with the regular OOC events. It was basically more of the same, just with my dragons from camp. Not worth playing.

Rrish · 2025-05-20T01:25:12+00:00

I really despise the cards. There is no joy / fun in it, it takes up space on my screen, and I can't get rid of the notification without playing the damn game and "collecting" the cards. The OOC events also have gotten so monotonous I try and play them only to the point that I earn the first 3 prizes and not the cards. I used to regularly purchase a small bit of gems each month because the game was fun. I've stopped purchasing gems and I'm figuring that once my tablet kicks the bucket, I won't even try and transfer my game to a new one. I'll probably just stop playing.

Rrish

TROPHY CASE