i cannot even begin to imagine how you must feel my dear lady. yours is truly a story for the times...

myself, the shunning takes a little different form. my family(hubby, myself, kiddos) are the black sheep in a couple of respects: 1. we don't have as much financially and
2. we aren't going to church
the funniest part of it is how one of my hubby's siblings dosen't go either(or their spouse), but because they measure up in the financial dept., they are up in higher regards than us!! this of course includes their offspring. one of his siblings IS following in the 'old paths' and as such is esteemed very highly right along with the spouse and children.

when they were here last, the chosen one and family met us for breakfast. this was at my husband's sibling's request. anyway, to make a long story short, we met them at the hotel, and ended up eating in the dining room FOR GUESTS ONLY. i was very uneasy about this since we live in the town and were not guests. my husband's in-law, tossed their room pass to him so he'd have it if someone walked up and asked to see it. i ate a very small amt and was guilty the whole time. afterwards, my husband and i discussed this and he said he looked around for a cash register but when he didn't see one, decided just to do it(eat). otherwise, he'd have PAID for our stuff. now, these same people most likely pray for us(at least on the occasions they see us when they are here and remember to think of us!LOL!) and i saw the look (you know the oh, i really 'love' and feel sorry for you, but i'm not gonna say it right out...)
that i was given (short hair, pants, makeup, oh my!). but yet, toss and eat...simple as that. not in my book. it was just as wrong for me to eat it as it was for them to do it(toss the eat free card), but i DID have guilt!!!!! am i nuts?! what is wrong with this picture????? maybe they didn't give it a second thought. guess i'm nitpicky...
one other thing and i'll shut up. prior to this, they were down earlier in the year and dropped in. after they had gone , my husband informed me that they didn't want their kid going back in our youngest child's room cause 'they didn't know what he had back there'...or something to that effect. ...by the way, did you know that Spongebob Squarepants is a terrible cartoon to let your kids watch?!?
...just something i learned from conversations my husband had/listened to during the course of Christmas Holidays...
seems a few years back it was the Smurfs.....
apologize for the lengthy gripe session...:p