Facebook Photo Know-How

Facebook (beside Pinterest) is one of the many online websites I enjoy.  Being a stay-at-home and homeschooling mom, I enjoy this site where I can "hang out" with my friends while still at home taking care of my responsibilities. I also enjoy the fact that I can share my photos with my friends - for instance, say we are at a game or party and I'm the only one with my camera!  I can easily share all the pics I've taken with my friends in one easy swoop.

I have had many, many people ask me if they can get photos they are tagged in on Facebook printed for their own enjoyment.  Thanks to modern technology - of course you can!!  I experimented a little on my own and am prepared to show you how to send them to Walgreens to be printed.  This is great if you are trying to get to the 50 prints mark for one of their sales (50 prints for $5, etc).

First open your browser and put in Walgreens Photo URL:
http://photo2.walgreens.com/walgreens/home/

Then, sign into your account or create a new one by following the instructions.
Once you've signed in or created an account, your homepage should look something like this (minus my albums, of course ;) :

Next, you'll want to click on the Import from Facebook tab.  Your screen should look something like this:

Click Log in with Facebook. Sign in following the instructions. (I will warn you - at this point my computer/Internet had issues multiple times.  If you run into the same issue, look at the bottom of the screen, it may ask you to allow Walgreen's to have a popup - this popup will be the sign in window,so you must click allow to continue)  Your Facebook albums will come up on the left hand side and you can click on them individually to see the many photos in each album and select the ones you'd like to print off.  If you scroll further down, you will see the names of your Facebook friends!  As you click on their names, their albums will show and you can click on them and import photos from those albums as well!!

To import photos, you click on the album name.  The individual photos within those albums will be shown in the middle window.  (You can see a pic of my hubby there - isn't he hot?! Just sayin....lol) Click on the photos you wish to import and they will be shown on the right hand side in a film-strip view:

When you've finished selecting all the photos you wish to import, select Import Photos at the bottom of the screen.  A new mini window will pop up asking where you want to put the newly imported photos:

After you've either created a new album or added it to an existing, click Continue.  I chose to create a new album.  This is what your screen should look like:

As you can read above, there are more options given on this screen that you might be interested in.  Play around with it and if you find any more cool or interesting options, comment below and let me know!

Where in the world has that little sheep been?!

After taking a "blog-atical" for the beginning of Gideon's first real homeschool year, I'm back.  Things have been busy here...we have finally gotten a routine down with homeschooling, housework, family, etc.

So what have we been up to on our "blog-atical"?

We started our school year in August this year - Gideon is in first grade and we are doing preschool lessons with Elijah (colors, shapes, facial features, etc).  We began Gideon's school year trying "unschooling", which is a way of schooling that teaches the basics by no individual curriculum just learn as you go while learning what you are interested in method.  This did NOT work for Gideon.  He (and I) are too easily distracted for this method.  We would be talking about one subject and Gideon would ask a question and it would lead us into something totally different.  Not too bad, except we wouldn't finish the thing we started on!  Don't judge me for being honest.....After Scott and I had a parent-teacher conference (which consists of Scott and I discussing our schooling issues and options over dinner), we decided that curriculum was the way to go for us.  We ordered the Abeka curriculum for Gideon and it has made a tremendous difference in our schooling.  We are not as strict as the Abeka curriculum would like, but it works for us.

We bought our house about a month ago and amazingly we are finding all those little things that we always wanted to do to the house are getting done - painting the bathroom, painting the living room, pricing tile for the spare bathroom floor and the kitchen, etc.  Also unpacking.  When we moved back to Florida, we knew we wanted to buy a home we just weren't sure where.  Therefore, we never really unpacked anything we didn't need immediately.  We figured it would save us time when we moved into the house we would buy.  It just so happened to end up that we bought the house we have been renting!  No moving involved, just a LOT of unpacking and re-organizing.

We always promised our boys that we would get them a dog when we bought our own house, so that's what we did!  My parents brought us Quincy (a 8wk old black labrador) over Thanksgiving.  Quincy was from a litter of puppies born to an ill mother.  Quincy's mother's owner took her to the vet to be put down and they discovered that she was pregnant.  The owner decided to let her have the litter and was giving the litter away.  We graciously accepted the free puppy and the boys - especially Elijah - are enjoying her.

I'm pretty sure that sums up the past couple months....so Merry Christmas and here's to the New Year!

Watch out, Dunkin!

My husband is a breakfast lover.  More specifically a breakfast food lover.  He would eat breakfast for every meal of the day if I'd let him.  In fact, I believe he's tried this once or twice in our married lives.  Because of this obsession, and the fact that I believe one of my husband's love languages has something to do with food, I'm constantly on the lookout for new recipe's to try.

As a small confession, I also have an obsession (well....many, but we can discuss that over another blog post, haha) Pinterest.  Pinterest is a wonderful place to find inspiration for all sorts of things - from decorating to cooking to crafts to curriculum to....just about everything!  There are so many awesome things about it I won't name them all here.

Here is one that I found and decided I just had to try - homemade donuts.  We love donuts (probably because my husband is from Quincy, Massachusetts: home of the original Dunkin Donuts) so this seemed like an economical recipe to try.

It just takes a can of refrigerated biscuits (any except flaky layers), oil, Cinnamon, sugar, and something to make a hole in the middle - preferably between 1-2 inches.  I used a heart shaped cookie cutter - see how cute they came out?!

You can see the ones on the left I tried to just puncture a hole in the middle with my finger, but it didn't work.  The ones on the right I used the heart shaped cookie cutter - CUTE! 

When they are really puffy and you can see the light brown starting to creep up the sides,

flip them over.

"So," you ask, "What did you do with the part you cut out?" 

I made heart shaped munchkins of course!

After they are set on a rack and have cooled off a bit, place them in a large Ziploc bag (or brown bag) with some of the cinnamon and sugar.  Shake really good to coat all sides of this scrumptious treat and serve!  It is so good they'll ask you for more ;)

After telling everyone I know about this amazing treat, I found that a lot of my older friends (old is such a relative term - I say this so that I don't get barraded with emails and texts) had already been using something like this with their children.  Why wasn't I informed earlier?!?!

I'm BACK!

Where have I been for the past month?  No home Internet!  Having just moved back into my old house and my hubby just getting a new job, things have been a little crazy....and tight financially.  But, thankfully, we are getting back to better than normal.

Internet is considered a luxury in this house.  Scott & I spent the first 6 years of our marriage without cable or Internet.  YES.  I said 6 YEARS.  When I tell people that they just look at me like they are sorry for me.  Then, when they find out that I'm a happy stay-at-home mom, their jaws drop.  That's when I already know the question their going to ask before it even leaves their lips: "ARE YOU CRAZY?! HOW DO YOU SURVIVE?!"  I just smile, chuckle a little, and look at them the same way they look at me.

How far has our world come when they cannot survive without Internet or television?  I can honestly say that if we didn't have television or Internet a lot of things would be different.  Here is a list of just a few that come to mind:

*Families would actually get to know one another.  Seriously, how much time is spent in front of the television that could be spent outside playing catch or playing a board game or reading a book together or just telling each other stories about growing up?
*Obesity would definitely decrease.  I know that if you take away television, Internet, and video games that kids will find their way outdoors eventually.
*Homes & yards would begin to look nicer and area real estate could potentially increase in value!  Again, if you take away television, Internet, and video games, adults will find something to do.

These are just three of the things that come to mind without even thinking hard about it!  People ask me about how I know the weather, politics, etc.  The newspaper is still around, ya know!  If I need to find out about something - I can get a newspaper or go to the library!  The Internet is available at ALL libraries that I know of.  The library is an awesome resource for so many reasons, but that would require a completely different blog.

I can truly say that I'm excited about our luxury, though.  We still do not have cable, but we have Netflix  ;)

Like Salmon

This morning at our breakfast devotions we discussed laziness.  Not one of my favorite topics as it always makes me probe my own actions.  This wasn't what caught my attention this time, though.  In our devotion book, there is always an amazing fact given after the devotion that somehow ties in to the discussion.  This is what caught my attention and the Lord used it to speak to me.

"Pacific salmon travel as many as 1,000 miles - often upstream - scaling waterfalls ten feet high on their final journey to lay their eggs and then die."

As I am listening to Mom read this devotion today, my first impression is depressing.  "WHAT?! They did all that work - went all that way - just to die?!"  Yes, but first they gave life.  They had to swim all that way to give life - the purpose for their very existence.  Once their destiny was fulfilled, then they died.

As I thought this through, so many thoughts and scenarios filled my mind!  Wow.  How many of us still have breath in our lungs and yet wonder why we are still here?  Could it be that we haven't fulfilled our purpose?  Could it be that God has something far greater for us than what we feel right now?  This struggle that we're under, could it be the track that takes us to fulfill our ultimate destiny and finally find the peace that God has prepared for us - the peace of mind that comes from accomplishing what we were set to accomplish?

This makes me think of the situation Scott and I are in.  We left everything we knew and held dear and opportunities that were presenting themselves to go to South Carolina.  We didn't know for sure why, but we knew for sure that God had called us to move and so we did.  Three weeks after arriving, we understood what God had in mind.  My Dad had a heart attack right before church on a Sunday morning and it resulted in a triple bi-pass surgery.  He was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks before they allowed him to come home to a house full.  I was able to care for my small siblings while Mom cared for Dad in the hospital.  Scott was able to help with the food bank and other such church business while Dad has regained his strength.  But, after the main recovery was over, Scott and I wondered "What next?"  We had been here for 3 months and, after over 20 applications, Scott couldn't find sufficient work.  We began to ask God where He wanted us now.  We accomplished the purpose for why He sent us here, so now what?

We began looking at our options and found that the best possible options for our family were in Florida.  We have just returned from a short stay there and I am happy to report that Scott found a WONDERFUL job.  It is paying higher than we've ever had in our married life.  This in itself is a God thing, because if he had stayed at his old job in Florida and not followed God, it would have taken him 2 years of raises to get to this pay!  Because we followed God and are continuing to follow Him, we are able to get that raise after only 3 months.  Wow - the goodness of a loving God.

All this to say, God isn't finished altogether with us yet.  We know that while we still have breath and life we have a purpose.  We accomplished one and are still living, so on to the next!

What doesnt kill you makes you stronger

Although a great saying, this isn't always true. Sometimes situations don't kill us, but leave us weak, with scars, hurts, & a sour disposition.

I've been teaching my oldest child, Gideon (5yr), about the importance of forgiveness. Christ talks over & over about the importance of forgiveness in our spiritual health:

"For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins." -Matthew 6:14-15 (NET)

"Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?' And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him until he repaid all he owed. So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart." -Matthew 18:33-35 (NET)

Painful & devistating situations will arise, but forgiveness is mandatory for the situation to truly strengthen us. Anger & revenge give only a false sense of strength - trying to pull strength out of these emotions is like trying to pull nectar from rattlesnake fangs. They only produce death & decay.

The amazing work of Christ on the cross gives us a reason to walk in forgiveness - in my sin & rejection, Christ forgave me & chose to die the death I should have died & went through the torture I should have endured. I now can not only live in His forgiveness, but also walk in forgiveness of others. I understand what forgiveness is & can freely forgive others.

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others." -Colossians 3:13 (NET)

It sometimes is easier said than done, I know! Christ doesn't promise what He calls us to is easy, but He does promise it will all be worth it.

The best laid plans.....

It's amazing to me how things can get so turned around.  Plans change, things go wrong, it's just a fact of life. People wonder why I plan things last minute and this trip's planning catastrophe is just one of the many reasons why.

Scott and I have been planning a trip to South Carolina for this week since October.  We missed an opportunity to come up in October due to my pregnancy with Lilly and decided to replan it for this week.  When the Lord told us that we would be moving here, our plans seemed to fit right in line with his timetable!  It was the perfect opportunity to bring some of our "stuff" up before the move to save time and space later on.  We would have a peaceful mini-vacation before the stress of a move set in.  Long story short - we just arrived in South Carolina with 5 children, 4 suitcases, 3 adults, 2 guitars, 1 PS3, and thankful hearts that we even made it.

My sister closest to myself in age, Kayla, and her 2 children, Cameron and Cayden, joined us.  That in itself is an adventure.  With her children, the trip now had a 5yr, 3yr, 2yr, 1yr, and 1mo old on board.  Like I said, an adventure. 

Then there was my husbands 1991 Crown Victoria.  I don't know that they make cars like that anymore.  That wonderful car has held on for dear life - only two windows work, the lock is broke on one of the doors, the real leather seats are cracked and peeling, and the AC doesn't work (in Florida that's a big deal, especially when the windows don't roll down).  This vehicle's primary objective in life is to get Scott from home to work and back again.  It's not used for anything else as our family does all of our errands together whenever possible.  But, we had decided to bring it up to SC and leave it.  I wasn't sure it would make the trip!  It has a tendency to overheat, but it did alright since it's the middle of winter and not the Florida summer.

I should have figured how the trip would go when we woke up an hour and half late on the morning we were to leave.  Then the car seat I was to use for one of the children was missing the straps.  After a search, we decided it would have to work with a simple seat belt over the front.  The kids had to be buckled in and the rest of the luggage loaded.  After it all, we left at about 8:00am (we had planned to leave at 5:00am).  We got about 30 min from the house, when the traffic came to a complete standstill - just 1.2 miles from our exit.  It took us 45min to get to the exit and ALL traffic was being detoured onto that exit.  I got out an old-school map and found a route around the traffic.  It took us out of our way, but it was faster than waiting in traffic. 

On the round-about route, I was coming around a corner and a dog ran out in the road in front of me!  Almost threw me into the ditch.  When we got to our turn off I missed the first exit and stopped at the next turn off to check the map.  Scott didn't see me stop and almost plowed into my rear.  Smoke was flying out from the back tires because he hit the brakes so hard.  We finally got back onto the highway by 11:30am and were only about 2 hrs north of home.  Scott had worked till midnight the night before we left and didn't get much sleep.  I was driving in the center lane of a three lane highway and got into the fast lane to pass the vehicle in front of me.  I looked in my rear view mirror to see if Scott would follow and managed to look just in time to see his head fall back on the seat and his car to veer over both lanes of traffic and into the grass.  Kayla, who was in his car, must have screamed pretty loud, because he awoke just in time to swerve the car back onto the highway before hitting the wall of the overpass.

To say our drive up here was eventful is an understatement.  Besides the afore said, we had to stop every two hours for potty & breastfeeding breaks.  The 8hr trip had turned into a 12hr trip by the time we arrived last night at 8:00pm.

This morning was interesting as well!  With my three youngest siblings (10, 8, & 4yrs) still living at home, the total at breakfast this morning was 8 children and 5 adults.  Not to mention that all children are age 10 and younger, can you imagine the scene?

Things Lost

"Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it?" -Luke 15:8

This became tangible in our house this week. My husband, who NEVER looses anything, lost his wallet. We had been out all day on errands & he had used it at about every place we had been. However, the last place we'd been was Zaxby's (one of the best chicken restaurants EVER) drive thru & he had used his wallet there & we came strait home.

We knew it was either in the car or in the house. You'd think that would have made it easier, but it just made it more frustrating. We looked high & low for about 2 hours. My sister had come over & helped. We spent so long looking for it that she eventually had to leave because she was past her curfew!

My husband & I are very similar in that we both have a tendency to obsess over things that we can't find. Since it wasn't my wallet & I'd looked in every place twice that I could think of, I went to bed with the baby while Scott kept on lookin.

He finally found it. Just like the lady in the bible with the lost coin, he was so happy that he came in at 1am & woke me up to tell me that he'd found it in the car under the seat. He was happy as a lark & almost jumping for joy.

Tonight at 20Twenty

I've moved with my parents time and time again - from church family to church family.  I always thought it was just par for course in a pastor's life.  I never thought about how hard it must have been for my father to leave the "flock" he had led, fed, & comforted...until tonite.

Scott and I have been fasting and praying during these 21 days of Awakening and have felt that the Lord wants us to move on.  He had to tell his youth group tonight.  He had such a difficult time telling them - he had to take a minute to compose himself before his announcement.

These are OUR teens - OUR kids.  We love them so much.  We pray for them, councel them, praise them, teach them, love them.  Scott and I know that when God moves one shepherd, he sends another.  He never leaves the sheep to fend for themselves.  We know that ultimately our teens are really GOD'S.  We are leaving this ministry trusting God to provide and protect this ministry.

Sometimes following where God leads is difficult, but it is always rewarding.

So what's next for us?  We will be moving to South Carolina sometime around Valentine's Day.  We will be moving closer to my parents and helping them grow their ministry there.  We are convinced that God is moving us and has great plans for us there.

Give your breakfast a cookie?

Well, Mom has finally found the time to put her two cents in on this family and learning and passing stuff down. I realized after breakfast this morning that Rachael is so scattered in what she does due to following SO closely after her mother's example!
Do you remember the childrens book, If you give a Mouse a Cookie? Well I decided that I gave breakfast a cookie and then my day a cookie. You ask, "What do you mean Lenora?" Well it went something a little like this . . . I went to make a cup of hot tea to start my day. I started the coffee pot with water and saw the oranges we need to use up. So, I decided to cut up about 6 oranges to go with our big Tuesaday morning breakfast. After cutting those up, I remembered the tea and put a bag in my cup of hot water. That is when I decided to start making the pancake batter. I got out the bowl and my NEW Church Cookbook. Oh, but I remembered the tea and went to take a drink and it was too hot, so I went for a piece of ice. I remembered while I was there that I wanted to fix bacon from the freezer to go with our big breakfast. After getting out the bacon, I needed to find the gridle to cook all this on. Oh Yes, it is under the washer in it's box. When I got there, I saw the laundry needed changing and a new load started. What about that cup of tea??? It is probably cool enough now to drink. When I got the bacon started, I saw the bowl and the cookbook and again started the pancakes. I needed eggs to finish the batter and had none in the fridge. So I had to go out to the garage fridge to get some. As I passed the laundry, I noticed they were ready for another change from washer to dryer. I got the eggs, finished the pancake batter, and relized my tea was now too cold to drink so, I put it in the microwave to warm it up. And again it was to hot to drink.
I said all that to say I CAN BE VERY distracted with the cares of the day! I sure am glad my kids came down to breakfast and pitched in to finish it and had our Tuesday family devotions with breakfast! We also spent some time talking about being to distracted and that it KEEPS US from feeling complete! I did finaly get that WARM cup of tea, BUT I realized many times throughout my day how much I GIVE THE HOUSE A CLEANING! Just like the cookie and mouse story, it does finally get around to the beginning again but it is a long drawn out process if I do it with distractions and a lack of focus! How many times do I MISS GOD's best for me due to this same process in the other areas of my life? WOW, this is definately something I want to chnge in 2012!! I think I might....NO! I CAN do it with Holy Spirit reminding me, "Do you want a cookie Lenora?" This is compounded by the fact I'm on a fast and can't even have a cookie!! That really makes you smile and say "NO, GOD I WANT YOU and your way!!"

Traits Inherited

There are quite a few traits in our family that are passed down through the generations.  Yesterday I posted about creativity and that is definitely one of them, however there are lots more.  One of the not-so-favorable ones is misspelling.

My mother is notorious for misspelling words as was her mother before her!  Part of the adventure of our many moves was trying to discern what mom had written on the sides of the boxes, where she had attempted to explain the contents.  Nana almost always was around to help pack and that made the adventure twice as complicated fun!

I have always prided myself on being able to spell, but as the Scriptures say, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov16:18).  Today I realized that since I started this blog, I've been spelling "Shepherd" as "Shephard".  So, I have spent most of the morning fixing my mistake.

The most humbling part about this mistake is that my mother told me the correct way to spell it when I called her to tell her I had created the blog.  I had "corrected" her and explained that, "No, mom, you spell it 'shephard'".  Bless her heart, she didn't argue with me at the time.  But, today I had to call her and tell her that she was right and I had been wrong.

All this to say:

1. I'm sorry for any confusion it may have caused to those of you who had saved "Life with a ShephArd" in your favorites and will now have to delete it and save "Life with a ShephErd"
   .
2. Listen to your mom - even if you think you know better.  At least double check your spelling.

Creativity as a Neccessity

As I was growing up, Creativity wasn't just a characteristic.  Creativity was a necessity.  Pastor's aren't usually named as the top producer's economically, therefore much creativity is involved in so many aspects - cooking, cleaning, gift-giving, and lots more.

Thank God that my Nana had a natural creative talent that she developed into my Mother's character.  Nana came up with things like "Spaghetti Lasagna" - she had run out of lasagna noodles and substituted spaghetti noodles instead.  She always has come up with neat and creative ways to do things. 

Once, while visiting with my kids, she offered to make us chicken stir fry.  I assure you that Nana's stir fry isn't the same as your accustomed to.  It is simply chicken and broccoli normandy put into a frying pan and cooked with a little oil.  Well, when she served it to us it was purple-pink!  Out of respect for her, I didn't ask or complain, but I guess my face said it all.  She explained that she couldn't find BBQ sauce and that raspberry vinaigrette worked just as well.  It did!! It was great and definitely something I never would have tried had it not been for my respect for Nana.

Other times, things that she's tried just haven't worked so well.  She once decided to make chili for dinner.  She didn't have any dried beans and only a limited supply of canned beans.  She made what she could with what she had and decided that maybe she would add just one can of hot beans to the mix (someone had given a couple cans to her and she was looking for a way to get rid of them anyway).  She left it to cook on the stove and continued with her daily chores.  Papa came into the kitchen and decided he would help her bean "dilemma" by adding just one can of hot beans to the mix.  He also left it to cook and decided he would keep his good deed to himself.  Aunt Honey, who lives across the street, decided she would stop by to see how Nana's chili was coming along.  Nana didn't answer when she called to her, so she just checked for herself.  Well, maybe she could help by adding just one can of the hot beans.  That should be just enough, lol.  Yep - you guessed it - when dinner finally got into the mouths of those three, they ALL knew something had gone wrong!  All three wondered why the one can of hot beans they had added had made it too hot.  The truth finally got out when Nana asked the question out loud.  They all had a good laugh and a couple trips to the bathroom.  I have to say that maybe this one would have turned out alright if it hadn't been for all the "help", lol.

Anyway, my mother has inherited this creativity.  It is a good thing, cause it is a necessary trait to have in any Pastor's family.  Money isn't something that Pastor's are known for having.  We homemade most of our gifts each Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Come to think of it, she even was creative with her discipline.  There was many a time that she couldn't reach us or the wooden spoon - she just threw whatever was closest.  Most of the time she didn't hit us, but we got the point.  I remember once complaining, "Mom!  I do everything around here!  I don't want to...."  I must have been only 5 or 6 at the time, but she literally made me do everything for the rest of the day.  I vacuumed, washed, dried, folded, and put away laundry, made sandwiches for lunch, swept and mopped the floor - all under the watchful, but unhelpful eye of my mother.  I'm sure I didn't really do everything, but to a 5 or 6 year old it seemed like everything! And, I sure never said that again - from then on I had a reality check as to what "everything" really meant.  I also remember her grounding me to my bed until I could finish a whole chapter book - and the book was the ONLY thing I was allowed to have on my bed.

I find myself being creative with my own family.  I can tell my husband, creatively, where to go and how to get there!

5th Grade

To get to our local library from my house you must drive past the elementary school and the high school.  Thursday, on our way to "Library School" (preschool time at the library), I noticed the 5th graders outside at PE and it made me think back to my 5th grade year....what a year that was!

I had been attending one of the local elementary schools during my 4th grade year, but my mom could sense a change coming and decided to homeschool me for 5th grade.  (When I say "could sense a change" I mean it.  In my lifetime I have moved 24 times and I'm only in my 20's now - change happened ALOT in my parents home.) 

In November of that year, my parents took a church in Oklahoma and decided to enroll us kids in their local school.  The town we moved to had only 500 residents and 250 of them went to the only school there - 250 kids from kindergarten through 12th grade.  I think their graduating class that year had 5 students.  Not only the school was a big adjustment, but the culture was too.  The town was 3 miles off the Muskogee Creek Indian reservation and the majority of the townsfolk were Native American.  I myself am Native American, but you wouldn't recognize it in my features unless I told you. 

So, this "white" girl was the minority and believe me that everyone reminded me of it.  I was teased mercilessly.  I even had one older girl pin me up against a locker in the hall and threaten to beat the crap out of me - for no apparent reason.  She later confessed that she was jealous of my dad's relationship with me.  He came for lunch or recess at least once a week just to hang out with me and my little sister (because the school was so small, every grade had lunch and recess at the same time).  Her father had left her mom when the last of her small siblings was born and as soon as she came home each day, her mother would immediately leave - for whatever reason - and she was responsible for all the younger siblings, sometimes for days at a time.  The nearest "big" town was about 20 miles away and a lot of the townsfolk had to walk to get there (no exaggeration).  So, most just stayed overnight and came home the next day.

Anyway, in about January or February, I walked into class that morning to find the principle waiting at the teacher's desk for all students to show up.  I thought it a little odd that the teacher was no where to be seen and principle himself there instead of a substitute.  The principle gave the explanation when all the students arrived that the teacher had been injured while finishing grading papers at the school late the night before.  "Injured" was an understatement.  Come to find out sometime later, she had been involved in a drug deal gone bad on school grounds late at night.  She had been stabbed in the abdomen with a 3" knife and somehow made it to the hospital in the next "big" town before bleeding to death.  Needless to say, she wasn't going to be teaching again at that school - ever.  So, a substitute was going to be found soon.

Guess who they picked??  My Dad.  Yep.  My dad had all the credentials needed to fill in as my 5th grade teacher for the rest of the YEAR. Yes, the rest of the YEAR.  If I wasn't being teased enough already that sure made up for it.  Anytime I made a good grade on a test, I was teased that it was only because my dad was the teacher.  Anytime I made a bad grade on a test, I was teased that I must have done something at home to make him angry.

That year I couldn't get away from my dad.  He was filling in for many positions in the church until new workers could be found - so many positions, in fact, that he was almost the only person I ever saw at church!  That year, he was my  senior pastor, my sunday school teacher, my youth pastor, and my teacher at school!  I really love my dad a lot and it was a good thing cause it took a whole lotta love to survive 5th grade.

The other day I posted about God using family to teach us things. I guess I learned a lot other than school stuff in 5th grade. 
1)  The old saying, "sticks & stones..." just isn't true.
2)  Compassion is putting yourself in someone else's situation, then treating them like you would want to be treated.
3) Don't judge a person just by what they've always been and not see what they can be: I learned that my dad can be a jack of all trades!
4)  If you get into trouble at school - and your father is your teacher - you can bet that your gonna get it when you get home and that there is no way to twist the truth to make you look better cause your father was there to watch you get into trouble in the first place.
5)  Family is forever.  No matter how upset you get at them, they aren't going anywhere.  Might as well learn how to deal with it, love 'em, and forgive 'em.

Family - God's teaching tool

I love family.  There is just nothing like it.  I believe God created family to teach us so many things about life in general.  I mean, think about it!  There is really no better way to learn diplomacy than from fighting with your siblings or trying to convince your parents about anything! 

I had a conversation with a couple of teen girls from our youth group some weeks ago about this very thing.  I was explaining how much one can learn about motherhood from family.  They were complaining about household responsibilities and how "unfair" it was!  I calmly explained that being an adult means doing not only those responsibilities but also everything else!

Lilly turned a month old today - a month of enjoying my sweet baby girl, but also a month of hard work!  Bed rest is sometimes more stressful and requires more mental work than being up and going.  I've had to be the manager of all things - keeping the peace at times, then kicking butt to motivate at others.  I used the down time to read a couple books I've been saving up and to make a new household schedule for the family. 

My blessed hubby is so sweet.  He has had such a busy schedule since the baby's been born.  He's working a full time job as a Certified Nurse's Assistant at a local nursing home, doing courses through a bible college, he's a youth pastor, a dad, and a husband! What a trooper - with me on bedrest he's also had to be mom and housekeeper.  I knew that he couldn't keep that up forever, so I came up with a pretty good schedule (if I do say so myself).

I don't think any mom can keep her cool or run even a remotely efficient home without some kind of schedule.  When I was a kid, my mom made out a "To Do" list for each of us kids.  When the "To Do's" had been done, we could do whatever we pleased (within reason, lol).  It taught us responsibility, hard work, and self sufficiency.  I think we started our "To Do" lists by the time we were 4 or 5 years old.  Never too early to learn!!