Hello Ladies!! Intro Here!!

[agpjt413]

Hi ladies!! I know we have a couple of intros already but thought I'd start a main intro thread for this board. Thanks again to toratoratori for requesting this board! I would never have thought of it!! Thanks lady!

[toratoratori]

I'm so excited this board exists now! Thanks so much for your support, agpjt413!!

[agpjt413]

Jan 26, 2015 0:55:27 GMT -5 toratoratori said:

I'm so excited this board exists now! Thanks so much for your support, agpjt413!!

Absolutely!! Did you have a good birthday?

[toratoratori]

Jan 26, 2015 0:57:51 GMT -5 agpjt413 said:

Jan 26, 2015 0:55:27 GMT -5 toratoratori said:

I'm so excited this board exists now! Thanks so much for your support, agpjt413!!

Absolutely!! Did you have a good birthday?

I did! Thanks for asking We took the munchkin to the zoo. She's too young to appreciate it, but I had fun!

[agpjt413]

toratoratori - That's always fun! Glad you had a good birthday! Would you like to kick off the intro in this thread? After all, you're the idea behind this board

[toratoratori]

I guess I should probably post an intro, huh?

I'm 30 (effective today!) and hubs is 33. We have one daughter who is 5.5 months.

I was raised Jewish in a major city, and my hubs was raised Evangelical Christian in the middle of farm country. We've agreed to raise our kids Jewish, but are definitely having some challenges, particularly where my in-laws are involved.

I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you!

[agpjt413]

Nice to meet you! I feel like there may be more hurdles with interfaith vs interracial or interethnic families. But I know that there are challenges across the board.

I'm 35 & MH is 49. I'm Asian American & was raised an open minded Buddhist who attended Catholic school (lol!) and MH is a non-church going but practicing in everyday life Methodist who is Caucasian and Southern (which hasn't been a problem). I grew up in a big city where I was raised to be colorblind and thankfully MH's hardcore Southern family is very open minded and accepting. Luckily what's only Southern about them involves food and their accent - which I adore!

We're currently trying for our first after a loss in Oct. Nice meeting you guys!

[shanniegal]

I am very excited to see this board!

My H is from Egypt and is Muslim and I'm Christian. Our first child (a boy) is due March 9th. We have decided to raise our children Muslim, which I know will be a challenge in small-town Wisconsin. So far my family has been supportive of this decision, but I expect we will encounter some bumps along the way.

I look forward to getting to know you ladies!

[happymama]

I just stumbled across this board and would love to join!
DH and I have been married 4 years and have 1 LO, she is 15 months old now.
I am Caucasian, raised in very small towns, definitely a country bumkin. DH is mixed race and is a city boy. Also, I was raised Protestant and DH Catholic. Many of our family members view us as inter-faith, but we do not since our beliefs are the same, some of the traditions are simply different.
I look forward to getting to know you all!

[incir]

Nice to have this board. I am Protestant raised in a very practicing family, but no longer practice much at all myself. DH is Jewish raised in a kosher home but doesn't really believe at all. Still, having his children be Jewish was very important to him so we are raising DS (2) and the new little one on the way (due August) as Jews and starting to do some things in our home to celebrate Jewish traditions. Figuring it all out has been a challenge sometimes but we are lucky that both families are generally supportive. And other than religions our families are very similar so that helps a lot.

[agpjt413]

Jan 26, 2015 10:15:22 GMT -5 shanniegal said:

I am very excited to see this board!

My H is from Egypt and is Muslim and I'm Christian. Our first child (a boy) is due March 9th. We have decided to raise our children Muslim, which I know will be a challenge in small-town Wisconsin. So far my family has been supportive of this decision, but I expect we will encounter some bumps along the way.

I look forward to getting to know you ladies!

Hello and welcome! Wow March will be here before here before you know it!! Have you guys taken a trip to Egypt? Having a supportive family helps so much - that's fantastic!

[agpjt413]

Jan 26, 2015 11:06:23 GMT -5 happymama said:

I just stumbled across this board and would love to join!
DH and I have been married 4 years and have 1 LO, she is 15 months old now.
I am Caucasian, raised in very small towns, definitely a country bumkin. DH is mixed race and is a city boy. Also, I was raised Protestant and DH Catholic. Many of our family members view us as inter-faith, but we do not since our beliefs are the same, some of the traditions are simply different.
I look forward to getting to know you all!

Hi & welcome!!I feel the same way about MH and I re: not really see ourselves as interfaith b/c we share the same morals, values, beliefs, etc. Nice to meet you!

[agpjt413]

Jan 26, 2015 11:17:20 GMT -5 incir said:

Nice to have this board. I am Protestant raised in a very practicing family, but no longer practice much at all myself. DH is Jewish raised in a kosher home but doesn't really believe at all. Still, having his children be Jewish was very important to him so we are raising DS (2) and the new little one on the way (due August) as Jews and starting to do some things in our home to celebrate Jewish traditions. Figuring it all out has been a challenge sometimes but we are lucky that both families are generally supportive. And other than religions our families are very similar so that helps a lot.

Hi! (I remember you from "the other place!"...not sure what board though - possibly TTGP?) I love hearing about how supportive family members are! I think that it would be such a struggle if either side of our families were difficult and not welcoming/supportive.

[shanniegal]

agpjt413 Yes, I have gotten to go to Egypt twice. We went the two summers after we got married and stayed for about 5 weeks each time. The first time we did lots of sightseeing and traveling, but not so much the second time since it was after the Arab Spring and DH was worried about safety. His relatives have already started asking when we'll bring the baby over, but I don't even want to think about that kind of travel with a little one, yet. (Best case scenario it takes about 36 hours to get from our house to his parents' house.) Luckily his parents are retired and still able to travel easily, so they are here and will be for at least the first month after birth.

[agpjt413]

Jan 26, 2015 12:01:17 GMT -5 @blackpearl08 said:

I am cutting/pasting my post into this more appropriate thread:

I am black American and DH is white. Our backgrounds couldn't be more different. He was raised in very white, rural areas. I am a suburban child with strong links to the black community, black colleges, black fraternities/sororities, etc. We have been married for 7 years and we have one DS who is 2 and a second on the way coming in May. I am 39, DH is 43 and both of our kids are the product of IVF so I can relate to the women who are going through that battle as well.

Hi again! Are you guys currently living in a more rural or suburban area? We're planning on starting and raising our family in MH's hometown (which is more rural) but I also hope to expose our future kid(s) to suburban/urban areas too like where I grew up.

[agpjt413]

shanniegal - That's so great that your ILs are able & willing to travel! I have a few friends where their ILs will not come stateside so it makes things a little more difficult.

[agpjt413]

Jan 26, 2015 12:23:37 GMT -5 @blackpearl08 said:

Jan 26, 2015 12:14:09 GMT -5 agpjt413 said:

Hi again! Are you guys currently living in a more rural or suburban area? We're planning on starting and raising our family in MH's hometown (which is more rural) but I also hope to expose our future kid(s) to suburban/urban areas too like where I grew up.

We live in the DC suburbs and DH stated from the beginning that we can't go back to where he is from.  There are very few black people there, educational opportunities are more limited, and he is worried about the kids.  We spend a few weeks a year with his family in their rural community and we facetime multiple times a week, but DH doesn't think we could live there.  Is there a healthy Asian-American population in your DH's hometown?  

NO WAY!!! I'm from the DC area!!! I miss it so much - although the traffic just seems to get worse every time we go visit. The population is really small here - and non-Asians kind of lump everyone of Asian descent together (ie - when I lived in the DC area, a lot of Hispanics would ask if I'm Latina - or Blasian, even, but here people ask if I'm Chinese. It's very different here.)

That's nice that you guys still go out to visit and face time his family! MH's family is from Mississippi and we try to go out there as much as we can b/c he has a great aunt who is pushing 90. (And I never see any Asians there when I visit LOL!)

[agpjt413]

Jan 26, 2015 12:50:33 GMT -5 @blackpearl08 said:

agpjt413 small world! I grew up in DC/Montgomery County until the age of 12 and then moved back here for the first time at the age of 34. We live in NoVa now. DH taught English in South Korea for a while and then worked with high risk kids in San Francisco so when he brought me home, his brother made a comment that they expected him to come home with an Asian and not a black woman. I LOL at that now but at the time I wasn't amused.

MoCo here too!!! Going to PM you now!

[toratoratori]

Jan 26, 2015 10:15:22 GMT -5 shanniegal said:

I am very excited to see this board!

My H is from Egypt and is Muslim and I'm Christian. Our first child (a boy) is due March 9th. We have decided to raise our children Muslim, which I know will be a challenge in small-town Wisconsin. So far my family has been supportive of this decision, but I expect we will encounter some bumps along the way.

I look forward to getting to know you ladies!

If I remember correctly, there are some big Muslim hubs in the Midwest, but I think most of them might be in Michigan. Do you guys have strong community nearby? Not having that was the biggest challenge for me in thinking about raising our kids Jewish. We moved in order to support our kids having a religious upbringing.

[shanniegal]

Jan 26, 2015 13:14:12 GMT -5 toratoratori said:

Jan 26, 2015 10:15:22 GMT -5 shanniegal said:

I am very excited to see this board!

My H is from Egypt and is Muslim and I'm Christian. Our first child (a boy) is due March 9th. We have decided to raise our children Muslim, which I know will be a challenge in small-town Wisconsin. So far my family has been supportive of this decision, but I expect we will encounter some bumps along the way.

I look forward to getting to know you ladies!

If I remember correctly, there are some big Muslim hubs in the Midwest, but I think most of them might be in Michigan. Do you guys have strong community nearby? Not having that was the biggest challenge for me in thinking about raising our kids Jewish. We moved in order to support our kids having a religious upbringing.

There are a few locations in the Midwest where they have strong Muslim communities. Before moving to Wisconsin, we lived in Indianapolis and we had a sizable community there. Unfortunately there is almost nothing where we are now. There is a mosque, but it's an old run down building and only a handful of men show up for Friday prayers. We are hoping to relocate to a bigger city where there is more diversity (religious, racial, and cultural), but that all really depends on where H can find a good job. We are lucky that his parents are able to stay in the states for six months at a time, so they will be a big influence in our son's early years.

I'm glad that you guys were able to relocate to a place with a strong Jewish community. I think it makes a huge difference having that support.

[agpjt413]

toratoratori - I was thinking the same re: Michigan when I was reading shanniegal's intro. I hear Dearborn has a huge Muslim community.

toratoratori - I grew up in a huge Jewish community and can't imagine any city/town not have a pretty strong Jewish community. (I guess maybe down South there may not be?) What part of the country do you guys live in? (doesn't have to be exact )

[agpjt413]

Jan 26, 2015 13:34:42 GMT -5 petrichor said:

Hi!
I'm 43, Caucasian, born and raised in the south.
DH is 50, black, from the West Indies.

We share the same faith (Christian).

Our different races haven't been much of an issue but our different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds have sometimes presented challenges.

We currently live in an urban area in the Midwestern US.

We have a long history of infertility and loss. We have one living child (DS, age 9) and another son due in May.

Hi! I totally agree about the cultural aspects being an issue more than race. I feel that way sometimes as well although it hasn't been a struggle. I'm just glad that MH is welcoming, accepting and understanding of my family's customs (and my mom's craziness!!)

[toratoratori]

Jan 26, 2015 14:40:30 GMT -5 agpjt413 said:

toratoratori - I was thinking the same re: Michigan when I was reading shanniegal's intro. I hear Dearborn has a huge Muslim community.

toratoratori - I grew up in a huge Jewish community and can't imagine any city/town not have a pretty strong Jewish community. (I guess maybe down South there may not be?) What part of the country do you guys live in? (doesn't have to be exact )

We live just south of Seattle now, and I grew up in the Bay Area, but when we were dating / engaged we lived in California's Central Valley. It's basically the Midwest of California - my husband's hometown has the highest number of churches per capita in all of California. There are two synagogues in the entire valley, and each of them was an hour away.

[agpjt413]

Jan 26, 2015 14:43:16 GMT -5 toratoratori said:

Jan 26, 2015 14:40:30 GMT -5 agpjt413 said:

toratoratori - I was thinking the same re: Michigan when I was reading shanniegal's intro. I hear Dearborn has a huge Muslim community.

toratoratori - I grew up in a huge Jewish community and can't imagine any city/town not have a pretty strong Jewish community. (I guess maybe down South there may not be?) What part of the country do you guys live in? (doesn't have to be exact )

We live just south of Seattle now, and I grew up in the Bay Area, but when we were dating / engaged we lived in California's Central Valley. It's basically the Midwest of California - my husband's hometown has the highest number of churches per capita in all of California. There are two synagogues in the entire valley, and each of them was an hour away.

Wow - that's so interesting about YH's hometown! And I can't believe that there's only two synagogues that are quite a ride!

[durham1008]

Hi, everyone! Here's my intro in case you didn't see my other post. MH and I have been married for just over three years. We had very different childhoods. I had a very suburban, middle class background. My parents are still married. My parents' parents were married and never divorced. DH's family was completely different. His great grandmother was married but divorced. His grandmother never married and only had one child. His mother never married and only had one child. He lived in one of the poorer towns outside the city with his great grandmother, his grandmother, and his mother. He met his dad once when he was like 8 or 9 but, other than that, his dad was never involved in his life...up until a couple months ago when he randomly called MH *at work* because he suddenly decided that MH was his child after all. As you can see in my siggy, we do not have kids yet but hopefully we will soon. We have not had any major issues with being an interracial couple. Our immediate families have never really commented on it. I think one of his relatives made some snide comment about him marrying "some white girl" but it was one of his great aunts or something like that.

[purpleroses]

Hi everyone! I'm coming over from May 15 (thanks @blackpearl08 for mentioning that it started) and hope I'll have something to add here, since I'm sure I'll have a lot to gain from participating and look forward to getting to know all of you.

My DH and I are kind of the opposite situation of toratoratori. My husband grew up Conservative Jewish and I was raised Southern Baptist, although switched to going to Methodist services while in college and then kind of dropped off from being very involved in religion from there. My father (now deceased) was actually Catholic, but never went to Mass or was very devout, so it was always my mom who handled the religious side of things in our home. When DH and I were dating, we became involved in a local Reform Temple, because it was important to him that any children we would have would be raised Jewish. I was on board, but just wanted to better understand what that meant before we got married and had kids. I think because my dad was not involved in my religious upbringing, it was more important to me that DH and I be in it together than that we necessarily raise our kids in my traditions and beliefs.

Our families have always been pretty supportive, and continue to be so since we had DS (almost 2). We are members at the Temple, DS participates in its Tot Shabbat and other programs there, and will hopefully start attending pre-school there in the Fall (if we're accepted). I'd say that most of our issues relate to cultural differences between the two families we grew up in and expectations of us as adults, which are pretty much night and day. I sincerely think it's nice that DH's family takes more of an interest in what we are doing, attending events, and that sort of thing, but there have been a lot of expectations and requests to get used to since pretty much the day we got engaged, given that my family is a lot more hands off and my parents pretty much stopped giving me advice when I graduated from college. We're expecting #2 right now, and the "milestone" situations always seem to be more stressful, because they involve lots of family telling us when they plan to come visit and wanting to be super involved, whereas my family is more "if you need us, let us know."

Edit:  I left out a relevant fact, which is that I did not convert.  For those of you who aren't familiar with how this works, our children will be considered Jewish by our Reform congregation, as long as we raise them in a Jewish home (which we do), but would not be recognized as Jewish if we wanted to join a Conservative or Orthodox synagogue, since they do not have a Jewish mother.    

[cosmicav]

Hello all! I'm here from May '15 too lol

Both my husband and I are of the same faith. He is white, raised in suburban white areas, and has always been moderately affluent despite having a large family. I am mixed race Puerto Rican (my mother is white Puerto Rican, and my father is black Puerto Rican), raised in very diverse city areas, and my mother declared bankruptcy more than once in my childhood that I can recall. Our backgrounds are very different! Most of the issues that DH and I face are social and economic types of things--but also some other small things, like not knowing the same lullabies, or having different traditions around holidays. Dealing with inlaws is also a special challenge (I don't think I could even scratch the surface without writing a full novel lol).

Anyway, we are expecting our first child in May, and we have been married for 3 years. Hopefully I can contribute to this board as well! I look forward to getting to know you all more!

[happymama]

Jan 26, 2015 15:31:40 GMT -5 @shakeyjakey said:

Hello! I'm Shakeyjakey and I come from parenting. I'm 25, a Caucasian mutt from Florida. SO was also born and raised in Florida and is 28 and mixed-black, French creole/white, Native American and Puerto Rican. We have a little boy who turned 2 this month. I am Protestant and SO is Catholic but I don't consider us inter faith because we agree on most things. We will expose LO to both denominations and let him choose, if anything.

We've had some issues first hand regarding racial/interracial issues here in Florida and are hoping to move away within the next 5 years or so if we can find somewhere that has the culture and climate we prefer. Since SO is mixed, LO is pretty "white looking" so we get a lot of stares and even straight up questions if SO is LO's father

I'm currently in school for medical coding and billing and studying for a credentialing exam, not sure which one yet. I'm not sure how often I'll be here but I'm so glad this board exists and wanted to say hi! I hope we can get a decent sized group here! Looking forward to getting to know you ladies!

My H has a similar ethnic backgroud to yours. He is half European, but the rest is Creole, Native American, and Bolivian. We live in the Pacific Northwest where there are a lot of different cultures and a fair amount of interracial families. I used to think that this area was very open minded and didn't see color. Until I married my DH and realized that even in progressive areas, there are always going to be those people who give you looks and make comments.
In our case, DD came out looking like her daddy's little clone, she looked nothing like me, lol! She does a lot more now, but we never got that question at least.

[toratoratori]

happymama I'm in the PNW too! Just south of Seattle. Where are you guys?

[happymama]

Jan 27, 2015 0:06:04 GMT -5 toratoratori said:

happymama I'm in the PNW too! Just south of Seattle. Where are you guys?

We are just north of Seattle :-)