Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas in Collinsville


What a busy week! My family celebrated Christmas in a big way as usual. We don't do anything small in our family. We started Sunday by having my mom's side of the family Christmas at my brother's house. Even though everybody wasn't there, we still had a great time visiting with each other, eating, and of course opening presents. One of the traditions of the Beeman family is to have a different grandchild read the Christmas story every year before we start present time. This year was my sweet little cousin Amberlee's first time to read. She is only 7 and she did such a fabulous job. That King James version isn't the easiest for anybody much less a second grader. The next day, Christmas Eve, the entire Luke clan emerged on my parents' house for a day long event. Christmas Eve is almost certainly my favorite day of the year. We celebrate all day long and this year was no different. The first guests arrived around noon and the last ones left about 9 that night after a day of food, fun, fireworks and once again tons of presents. The next morning I woke up about 7 so that me, my mom, and dad could all open our presents to and from each other before seeing what Santa brought the boys. Before we could even finish, Braden called, ecstatic about what he had. We made our way up there and though I didn't think Santa was being very smart bringing an actual 4-wheeler to a five year old, he was so excited and it was so cute to see him in his helmet ready to ride. And of course, Cooper was precious in his big red fire truck that he has talked nonstop about for the last month. I know I'm more than a bit prejudiced but they are two of the cutest kids I know. I love seeing them so excited. Overall Christmas was such a wonderful holiday. I'm sad that it's over and I have to go back to work next week. But I am so thankful for all the time I got to spend with my family, all the presents I received, and even for all the food that I ate (which by the way should be enough to last me atleast 3/4 of the way through 2008). Most importantly, I'm thankful for what this time of year means...a chance to focus attention on Christ and his birth. What a gift we have been given. I decided that you probably didn't want to see me post a million pics from Christmas so I made a slideshow that will hopefully work. You can then choose to look at the pics or not. Completely up to you. Hope you and your family had as great a Christmas as we did. Happy 2008!


Christmas 2007

Thursday, December 20, 2007

There's A Party Over Here, A Party Over There

This has been a week of parties. I started the week partying with my students and I haven't slowed up since. Tuesday night, Deanna, Robbie, Brooke, and I had girls night out at Crescent City Grill. We didn't plan it, but we somehow all had on coordinating outfits so I'm sure people thought we were going for group pictures later on. We had lots of fun eating and being silly as usual. For dessert, we made a trip to the drive-thru at the brand new freestanding Chick-Fil-A in Meridian. We are such girls of the night. But a freestanding Chick-Fil-A is a pretty big deal if you ask me. We ended up at our apartment opening presents which is always fun.



Today the partying continued with me, Deanna, and Angela going to eat lunch together at Cracker Barrel. We stayed for over an hour and a half. I'm sure Deidra, our waitress, was ready for us to leave so that she could have more opportunities to earn tips but we were too busy catching up and again opening presents. I love Angela and miss her now that I'm not at MCC. She is such a fabulous person and we had lots of giggling and talking to do. I couldn't have asked for better lunch partners.

This afternoon, I went to Mamaw's Christmas party at the nursing home. It was so sweet. Santa was there and passed out presents to all of the residents. Mamaw got a cute picture frame which is so appropriate for her since she literally has atleast 100 pictures in her room. After her party wrapped up, I walked her back to her room where I saw the Christmas stockings of all of her grandchildren hanging on the wall. Every year at Christmas, my Mamaw hung stockings for us on her mantle but last year, she was living with my Uncle Ronnie and so no stockings were hung. It was so sweet to see all of them hanging again even if it was on a concrete wall stuck with duct tape. I think she has enjoyed having them with her and I'm sure she has loved the extra attention and questions she gets when people see all of them. There are 16 hanging up so it is hard to miss them.

I love this time of year because it means I get to spend even more time with the people I love. Bring on the parties!

Monday, December 17, 2007

I Just Want to Celebrate

Today is a day for celebration. I have made it through my first semester of teaching with my students. Tomorrow at 11:30 is the official finale to the semester but today was the last day for my students to be at school. It has been such an eventful semester with so many different emotions. I have felt fulfillment, frustration, uncertainty, excitement, and tons more ups and downs. I have learned so much about my students, myself and my future, and teaching. I have not for one second, even on the days that I wanted to cry, regretted my decision to change jobs. It has been exactly what I was looking for--both challenging and rewarding.I have had so much help making it through this semester. When I first started, I was completely overwhelmed and it didn't take long before my principal and the school district realized that another teacher was needed to help shoulder the load. I could not have been more fortunate in who they chose. I was blessed to work with this past semester Mrs. Suzanne Timbrell who just happened to be one of my aunt Lita's high school friends. She has been a Godsend. She had retired after 29 years of teaching special education and agreed to come back this semester to help start this program since it was new at WL. I have learned so much from her and am so sad that she is going back into retirement but I know that she has left me so much more prepared than when I started in August. She is such a fabulous lady and I'm going to miss her tons. Thanks so much Mrs. Timbrell!
Since today was the students' last day, we partied big. This morning, our class went to the nursing home where my mamaw lives and sang Christmas carols for the residents. We had such a good time and I think they enjoyed our own special version of traditional Christmas melodies. I unfortunately didn't get to take any pictures of them in their cute little elf hats ringing their jingle bells so you will have to just take my word for it that they were sweet. After leaving the nursing home and returning to school, we had our Christmas party in our room. It was so much fun watching the kids open their gifts from us and I received several gifts which was nice. Overall, it was a great day and a successful semester. I only hope that I make it through the next one as smoothly.

Friday Night Lights


Friday night, Robbie and I went to see Curt in Philadelphia. We met him for dinner where we had excellent service which is unusual for us lately. (Robbie and I seem to be cursed when it comes to good service. Hopefully this curse is ending because the last 2 times we have eaten out we have had excellent service) Anyway, after dinner, Curt had arranged for us to take a tour of the home of a lady in his church who decorates like crazy for Christmas. The last few years, Robbie and I have traveled to Philly to see this lady's outdoor decorations which are unreal. Between her and her daughter they probably decorate 3 acres of yard with lights and wooden cutouts. This year, however, Curt felt like we had earned the privilege of getting to see the inside of her home so he set it up and off we went to Mrs. Goldman's home. This lady is probably one of the friendliest women I have ever met. She immediately welcomed us in her home as if we had been friends for years. She was so sweet and loved to tell us the stories behind all of her decorations. Her house was so festive. I think we counted 7 trees that were decorated (including the mini tree in the bathroom) and under each tree was a village. In her main room was the largest of her trees and underneath it was one of the biggest Christmas villages I've seen. It came out atleast 3 feet from the bottom of her tree. I tried to take pictures but they just don't do it justice. We had a fabulous time as we always do with Curt. You can't ask for much more than good friends, good food, and holiday cheer.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

It's Better to Be Safe than Stupid

WARNING: SUPER SUPER SUPER LONG POST. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
This weekend my Sunday School class took a trip to Nashville for our annual Christmas trip. The title of this post became the signature quote of the weekend coined by Robbie. There were 9 of us that went on a 15 passenger church van that I mostly drove. If you know how much I hate driving my own car, you know how funny it is that I was the primary driver of a big ole bus. To make it easier to share all the funny moments of the weekend, I will separate by days. So here's my recap of our Christmas adventure:
Friday-We left the church in Collinsville about 3:15 heading to Music City. We were riding along the interstate out of Meridian discussing what we were going to be doing and just catching up on each others' weeks when Robbie says she needs to go to the bathroom. We were in York, Alabama! If you are familiar with East MS and West AL, you know that York is seriously less than 45 minutes from Collinsville. We were stopping to go to the bathroom at 4:00. We were in for an interesting road trip for sure! So after the earliest bathroom break in history we were back on the interstate ready to go. We decided we were going to stop and eat in Birmingham but before we could get there we had another bathroom emergency. This time Ryan Brown decided he couldn't possibly make it to wherever we decided to eat and all of sudden said "Take this exit now" Even though I told him I didn't even see a gas station, he assured me that he saw a Home Depot and that would be fine. So I pulled off the interstate into the historic district of some city. It was really dark since there weren't any stores and I missed the drive of the Home Depot because it was far away from the street we were on so then we saw a sign for a Miles College and decided to pull onto campus and turn around and go back to the Home Depot. But even though there was a nice sign welcoming us to Miles College we never actually saw anything that resembled a school. We started to go down the hill thinking we would see buildings and dorms and stuff but actually just saw run down houses and a small church. At this point Ryan Brown decides he will take over the driving duties since this is his adventure so he gets out of the passenger side as we are stopped at a stop sign with another car pulling up to it and one coming up behind us. It was quite a scary scenario since we had no idea where we were and are getting out of a church van at a random stop sign. Ryan eventually makes it back to the Home Depot and gets to the bathroom in time but the rest of us decided we could just make it to wherever we stopped to eat. So Ryan got us back on the interstate and drove us to Cullman, AL where we ate at the quietest Ruby Tuesday's ever. Atleast it was quiet until we arrived. Our presence was definitely felt as we utilized the first of our many photo opportunities. When we are starting to leave Ryan hands the keys back to me and says "I'm tired. Do you think you can take over?" Are you kidding me? He had driven 40 miles and he was ready to quit driving that big huge van. He drives a Dooley for heaven's sake! I begrudgingly took the keys back and drove us uneventfully the rest of the way to Nashville where we checked into our nice hotel and went to bed.
Saturday-Though nobody else's room seemed to have been disturbed by this, me, Keely, and Courtney all were awaken to the sound of little kids running up and down the hallway on the floor above us at 6:00 in the morning. I wanted to beat me some brats! I promise if I had the energy and stamina to last running as long as they did, I would be 2 sizes smaller. So we woke up earlier than we planned and the weather outside was so dreary and yuck but we were in Nashville and weren't going to let out of control kids and gross weather ruin our day. The morning began with a trip to the Country Music Hall of Fame where we had lots of fun taking pictures with tons of memorabilia. After our tour we decided to walk and find somewhere to eat for lunch. On the way we saw the Ryman and stopped for a coupld of pictures. Then we decided to eat at Jack's Barbecue which was really good. If you are ever on Broadway in Nashville and can't decide where to eat, I would recommend Jack's and his Kansas City sauce. In the words of Courtney, "I could drink this barbecue sauce it's so good." The first silly adventure of the day came when we were trying to leave downtown Nashville. Because all the streets are one-way, we got a little lost trying to get back to the interstate so after driving in circles a couple of times we saw a guy that we stopped to ask. Ryan Brown was driving at this point and he just pulled slightly off the road to ask a very nice Middle Eastern man how to get back to the interstate. I wish we had a video of this encounter because it truly was a classic exchange but unfortunately one does not exist. After Ryan asked him directions, the man began by saying, "you need to get out of the road" so Ryan moved over a little bit and the guy continued but almost immediately after said "You really need to get out of the road." It was much funnier if this blog could actually translate his accent and inflection. We were laughing so hard in the back of the van while Ryan was trying to pull over more and listen to the guy's instructions. He was such a nice guy and had a great sense of humor and the last thing he said to us was, "If you miss it, I am bad." Well guess what Mr. Nice Middle Easterner? We missed it! But not because of bad directions. We saw it but just passed it before we decided if were supposed to be going east or west so we went around in a circle one more time but finally made it to the interstate. From there we made our way back to our hotel. Because the weather was so gross, all of our hair was bad and mine and Keely's pants legs were so wet. So we freshened up for a few minutes (meaning all of my hair got pulled on top of my head and my pants legs got blow dried) and then headed to the Opry Mills mall which is freaking huge and was SOOOOO crowded. This is the place where the famous quote above was first uttered. Because the mall was so crowded there was nowhere to park and it's not easy fitting a big van into a small space. But Ryan had complete confidence in his ability to back into the first of many tiny spaces and scared Robbie like crazy cause she thought he was going to hit the cars around us. We made it though and Robbie survived Ryan's other attempts at giving her a heart attack (like slamming on breaks unexpectedly and making the tires squeal on the wet pavement). We all split up and went in groups all around the mall and I ended up with a shirt and a dress for a grand total of $6. I'm such a big spender. We were going to ride a shuttle from the mall to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel which is where we were going to see all the Christmas lights and shows but after waiting for 45 minutes the only bus that came wasn't the right one so we gave up and decided to drive our van and just pay to park. This part of the night was likely the least amount of fun for the boys because all we basically did was walk around and look at lights and make them take our pictures everywhere. We also made them be in a few which they weren't too excited about. The Gaylord was so pretty though at Christmas even though my feet hurt so bad that I didn't even care if we didn't see everything. After finishing the night back at the food court at the mall, we made our way back to the hotel for much needed sleep.


Sunday- We woke up this morning and packed up and checked out before heading to Two Rivers Baptist Church which was right down the road from our hotel. It was so big but a very nice service. The people there were very friendly. After leaving church I took back over the driving duties and we started our adventure home. Nothing too exciting happened on the way home except that the bathroom emergencies once again reared their ugly heads. This time Keely was one of the culprits but Robbie and Ryan were right there in on the action. One funny thing that happened that woke everyone up on the van was that I almost hit a hawk. Robbie was just commenting on what a succesful trip we had, when all of a sudden from out of nowhere flies this huge bird swooping right down in front of us. And like a dummy instead of slowing down, I just kept driving thinking the bird would fly up. At the last minute before impact he fortunately did but he was so close that I closed my eyes for a second thinking we were about to slam him. Ryan said I just didn't want to mess up the cruise control. I obviously just wasn't thinking! After our brush with avian danger we made it back to Collinsville safely armed with our crazy stories and pictures. Hope you aren't completely bored at this point, if you are even still reading. I couldn't figure out how to summarize better. I need to work on that skill. But I had been put on the spot by my road trip mates who will be waiting to see what made the blog. Hope I haven't disappointed you Courtney, Ryan, or Keely!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

Christmas is almost here and I love this time of year. I love Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas music, and Christmas sales. Signs of the season are everywhere. Last weekend, I was able to visit my best friend Myndi at her parents' house in Picayune. While I was there, we helped decorate for Christmas. It was so much fun. It was also my first experience unloading and decorating a real tree because my family has always had an artificial tree. I felt very Christmasy! Though we looked rough because we stayed in our pjs most of the day, the tree and decorations turned out great.


On Sunday night, we put up the Christmas tree at our apartment. Deanna primarily did all the work and I added a few ornaments because I was feeling super bad and didn't have any energy. The tree looks fabulous and I love coming home to it everyday. Pictures really don't do it justice so feel free to come by and gaze upon our lovely tree. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas season.

Thanksgiving Recap

I know Thanksgiving was over a week ago and I've had plenty of time to recap the activities of the day. Sorry for the delay. Though Thanksgiving was great, in my defense, its aftermath left atleast 12 members of my family with a stomach bug including me so I really haven't felt that great this past week. Anyway, here's some of the highlights of my Thanksgiving holiday. At lunch, almost all of my mom's side of the family met at her house. There are so many kids around when we are all together and our youngest member, Henry, wasn't even there. We had 6 kids 15 and under and Heather, who although she is 24, still acts about the same age as the teenagers! We had a great time and lots of good food. The funniest part of the day was watching Brooklee and Candace teach Heather how to do the Superman dance. She was reliving all her cheerleading glory! Here are some of the pics of the day:


That night, my dad's side of the family all met together at my Aunt Sherry's house. We had so much food which is quite characteristic of the Luke family. We never seem to be able to cut anything out. Robbie had her Christmas room ready for the big reveal like every Thanksgiving night. She is so talented and it's always exciting to see what her decorations will look like each year. There were just as many kids at Aunt Sherry's because our family friends, Chris and Missye were there with their 2 little girls so we had 6 kids 9 and under. Very fun. I love kids so it makes things more entertaining when they are all around. Kids are usually much more willing to pose for all my picture requests too so that makes me thankful. Here are some of the pictures from our Thanksgiving at the Lukes: