Raised in the deep South pine forests in an antebellum home, the youngest of three children. In a blissfully happy marriage, surviving a blended family for six and a half years, she is DH’s wife, one young bride’s stepmom, one red headed stepson’s biggest fan, one teenage son’s tormentor, and one tween’s homeschooling teacher. When she’s not being his wife and their mom, she’s working to help people and businesses reach their goals!

A Creative Marketing Strategist for speakers, authors & small businesses and an Educational Consultant, she is known for her out of the box successful sales and product marketing. She develops strategic success plans for her clients who are speakers, authors, and businesses and very often participates in their achieving them as well! Sweetie owns her own business, works virtually, on location and from home and is an Advocate for the needs of Step and Blended families. There’s rarely a dull moment in her life.

Sweetie was a in the public school systems, colleges, and as an educational consultant in Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee,Louisiana and Alaska. Named a Master level teacher, she loves to work with faculties and young teachers to share her passion for teaching. She has been a graduate staff member at the University of Arkansas, named a cohort at several other universities in the field of Gifted Education, Behavior Disordered Education, Learning, Mathematics for Middle Schoolers, teaching and assessing children with learning disabilities, and holds a PK-12 certification in six subject areas in over five states.

She has won two cars from Mary Kay and one from a radio station drawing one fourth of July…and she won those MK cars long before she figured out lipsticks could be alphabetized….almost 920 tubes later it occured to her something had to give and she figured out systems to simplify finding her inventory! She is known for her high energy and creative out of the box marketing for all kinds of products. Developing strong systems for diverse arenas from authors to national advertising campaigns….known almost as well for keeping multiple projects going on at once and laughing her way through as she faces the challenge of all of them. Marketing, communications, training, facilitating and helping others reach their goals and potential is a true joy to her.

Sweetie loves to work with children of all ages, their teachers, parents and district staffs. Whether it be a homeschooling group, public school group, church group or individuals in need of assistance, if there’s a solution to a learning or behavior issue, Sweetie will help find it. While an adept multi tasker, Sweetie can’t keep all the plates spinning without juggling to keep her life balanced.

The most likely victim of her over busy schedule weekly is the ever growing Mt. Washmore or its companion tourist site the Dirty Dishes Mountain Chain, located in her raspberry pink kitchen. When she’s not in the office or homeschooling, you can find Sweetie and her DH together bumming around, the Botanical Gardens in Huntsville, or out shopping for great bargains. She’s known to joyfully squeal when a good bargain is found and while highly organized, she has absolutely.no.sense.of.direction. Directionally driving every where she goes, often calling friends to “find her” and tell her how to get where she’s going even though she has a Tom Tom in the car.

Sweetie does not claim to know any of life’s answers, but is always working on the ones for her own life. Happily remarried with children, God has indeed blessed and restored her very broken heart into a new life. Her goal as a Christian is transparency, praying that if she allows you to see her without a mask of perfection…. we can all trust God and each other enough to be who we are and strive to become who God has made us to be!

God is God…and He loves you!

We are an equal opportunity family. I come from a three generations of teachers, folks who liked and appreciated public schools, who believe in education and assume one is finishing at least one college degree if not three. Enter my own four children. We did the traditional thing, we sent them to the school where I taught. It seemed easy enough and it worked well for us for the first eight years for my older son. Then we moved to a rural community where we flat loved the education they were getting. It was more focused on the entire development of the child. A place that received great annual scores, yet the children still learned Bible verses in some classrooms despite it being a public school. Virtues were taught and discipline expected. Girls still learned how to cook and sew and boys were mandatorily sent through Hunter Education as well as shop and building classes. Of course, consolidation closed that school three years ago….despite it having the 4th highest scores in the state. You see they couldn’t risk telling the big monied schools that a little poor dunk school 28 miles from anywhere in 12 rooms could education 12 grades and provide gifted programs that took away every prize in the competitions…..while providing a moral education. Entirely too dangerous for No Child Left Behind and its rules.
We had to do the right thing for us. My oldest son attended the new local school in the public in our rural town. They had 40 graduates that year when he entered as a 10th grader. Son2 needed a school with more academic challenge as well as sports, so because our local school had none, we paid tuition to drive him 30 miles each way for Christian school. Our daughter2 though did not “fit” academically in that school or the rural school and we drove her 20 miles in the other direction for a smaller Christian school there. This was also the year my mom was diagnosed with cancer while I am still public school teaching. Can you say stressed out, exhausted mom? The calendar of schools events were alone exhausting.
At the end of the year, Son1 and Son2 were happy with their results and we were happy with their demeanor and scores. Daughter however, had straight A’s yet couldn’t perform the simplest Math as a 3rd grader. She is highly bright but sees the world differently literally and the dysgraphia affects her classroom time. I have taught special education, behavior disordered and highly gifted children for 17 years publically at the university level to preparation teachers as well as personally in the classroom of public schools. My husband asked “If we can sacrifice for everyone else’s child to get the tutoring and help you give them…..why aren’t we homeschooling? “Homeschooling?…..I cried out in angst at the thought of it…..my child is a bundle of energy….one who requires much patience….homeschooling would mean I am 100% totally responsible for her preparation for life” The fretting began. I fought it, I said “we cannot afford for me to come home” and I believed it. I said “she’ll miss her friends at school” and every other lame excuse that was the watchwords on why you don’t homeschool. But God had a plan…..and you know God…..He doesn’t forget what He tells you to do and He doesn’t give up on His plan….. (to be continued)

1. I commit to God time daily to learn more about his promises and quieting myself until I hear his whispers.
2. I choose to stop making excuses in the area of my weight.
3. I choose to commit steps to making my dreams happen.
4. I choose to love others more unconditionally.
5. I will continue to believe that God created me for a purpose and that the passions He created within me are for a purpose and allow Him to more fully lead me in His plans for my life.
6. I will choose to live in the present and to be thankful in all things. My past wounds and mistakes have too often colored my world.

to be full of mishaps and creative experiences. My husband Les (Dh), the most integrity based godly man I know (and most handsome), and I have been married for almost seven years with four children ranging from 12 to 24 in a blended family. I taught in the public sector for over thirteen years, earned two cars in Mary Kay, four years ago came home from teaching outside the home at God’s insistence. (I came home kicking and screaming, who knowingly would sign up for domestic duty daily when she doesn’t know how to clean a house???)

Now homeschooling our youngest daughter and working from home in Northern Alabama as a Success Strategist, Educational Consultant for children with specialized learning needs and as an Educational and Blended Family Advocate. As a couple we are passionate about ministries to help rebuild families and to churches as God’s house for family restoration. We’ve chosen the order at our place to be God first, D.H. (Dear Husband) second, the children third and my business and consulting after that….somewhere down at the bottom of the list seems to be my ever growing personal challenge to keep the house clean and together (the house is winning right now)….God is good, I am blessed and you’re welcome to come in and stay a while as I try to figure out exactly where “there” is….the sweet spot of a life well lived! God is good!

Sweetie (Shanna)

There is not a human on earth who is like the other. God is good like that….even identical twins have their own identities and personalities. For that I am thankful. When that rare moment in adulthood comes that you find that person who is someone you can relate to, its like finding that first blooming dogwood or the first yellow jonquil of Spring, its a simply happy moment. I’ve been blessed with several new friends in the last few weeks. One who shares my growing up background in a small Southern town, who can talk about creaming corn and sharing Grapettes with siblings. The joy that brings me is immense, for I am not a city girl by birth, but a rural Arkansas doctor’s daughter.
The more I experience many different cities, cultures, and biomes in my 43 years the more I realize my own life is more and more about being okay with who I am. I am a giver, one who truly loves to see other’s suceed. One who cares deeply for those I choose to be in my inner circles. One who forgives easily and holds loyalty as a standard for friendship. When you are a high creative high energy girl, you need a LOT of grace with friendships. I’m not detail driven except in artistic venues and writing, I’m not one who will perhaps notice the koolaid stain on my shirt….but I am one who lives passionately and transparently…..so if you were looking for a publically masked persona….well …I’m just not your girl.
Differences are good….we are all owners of our own experiences. Many of mine have involved scars that have allowed me to love others more deeply and with abandon for I have seen life ebb away with my mother’s cancer and I have known instant loss in my 16 year old nephew’s sudden death. I simply think I don’t have time to waste on strife….God urges me to help where I can, learn what I need to learn and to go where He sends me. The older I get, the more I seek only His approval….only His direction…..for the rest of us, well, we’re acquaintances, but God’s approval and path for my life is my goal. Its okay if my acquaintances don’t know Him, or even want to….but I must be me and that means doing the best I can with where I am at until I can do better.
My life used to involve alot of control. Try to control what people think of me, what people can expect of me, and to perform at highest level on my goals or not at all. Now my life is about surrender….surrender to God’s plan for my life…surrender to God’s urgings and whisperings to love others….surrender to a life of service. Its been a difficult confrontation to meet myself and my selfish desires and to face them and let them go…..sometimes even painful as God steers me to some folks and at times away from others…..but in this journey called life I think I have one lesson about down…..that to love others as myself I must first love me……and though it is hard at times, I am continually awed by a God who knew every mistake I would ever make long before I arrived and yet He loves me still. What a gift……this relationship with our Creator.