Vandalism and Adventures in Facebook

One thing I have noticed working at a K-12 school is the amount of vandalism that goes on in the highschool end of the facility. It seems that there is a real disconnect between the 5th grade, when the students are still in elementary and the 6th grade when they become middle schoolers. Then when they become high schoolers it becomes even more pronounced. There is no accountability on their part. Their actions are always someones else's fault. But working in a public school environment and seeing the lack of responsibility taken by adults it is not really a surprise. It does, however bother me. I applied for and received a grant from Picturing America. We got 40 extremely high quality posters through this grant and a teachers resource book with step by step lesson plans. These posters are beautiful! I hung several in the new wing of our highschool, only to find that they had been vandalised. Someone had stapled through one numerous times, several had tack holes in them. I keep telling myself that people are more important than things but at one time there was a moral code that kept even the worst offenders from doing the things that are done on a daily basis today. I know that the sinfulness of men hasn't changed, just some of the barriers that have kept people from doing the evil in their hearts. Do I need to lower my expectations? Is it enough to raise my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? I sometimes am guilty of thinking that it is up to me to change these things instead of trusting God with them. I can still show these students the love of God even if they never see it anywhere else. I can be patient, longsuffering and loving of them even when they don't "deserve" it. I don't deserve it when God does these things for me. It's called mercy. I can remember that with some of these students the only kind words they will hear will be the words they hear from the employees at our school.
Those of us who love our children and are doing our best to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord have a hard time seeing the opposite of that. It is foreign to us. I need to remind myself always that it is only through the Grace of my Lord that I am able to do those things. ALL good things come from Him.

I may have to take a little jaunt to my daughter's house to see my grandson. I haven't seen him since MONDAY! Oh my goodness! I have nearly finished his bedding ensemble (that's a fancy word for set! Fancy Nancy! Try this book by Jane O'Connor, it's hilarious-that's a fancy word for funny!)

I signed up for Facebook this week! First of all I had to have my daughter talk me through the process. Then after I finally got signed up I did one of the things I have told my kids never to do. I took this "IQ" quiz and gave them my cell phone # to get the results! I got about 10-15 text messages thanking me for signing up for something called "Cellflirt" Whooaa! I stopped that pdq and have learned my lesson, be careful on the internet!

And now duty calls, I need to make time sheets for our reading program.

Till next time...