Spoiled

Well, tonight I am sitting on our sofa in our NOLA apartment. We got back around 3:00 (central U.S. time). I can smell the sweet scent of apple cinnamon from a wax scent warmer in our kitchen and hear the sound of Chris typing away on his computer making the last adjustments on his sermon for tomorrow mornin. 

We just spent the last 6 days with our sweet family in GA, and the days really did fly by. With Christmas get togethers and visiting with family, it was time for us to come back before I was quite ready to leave. I guess I am still learning that being a preachers wife means that you will always have to plan trips and vacations so that you can be back for Sunday service. 

Each and every time we go 'home' Chris and I are overwhelming spoiled. We were showered with Christmas presents and definitely racked up this year. My favorite gift is my new Nikon Coolpix L810 camera. It's perfect for me, since I sooo don't have the creativity of being a 'photographer,' but makes it easy for me to still get great, clear shots. I have enjoyed playing around and learning about things such as 'shutter speed' and 'lighting contrast.' I'm sure my cousin Leslie would laugh at my explanation of taking a picture.

I do love getting to come home and bring all our Christmas goodies into the apartment and look at them. I was able to finally take our new Keurig out of the box and make Chris some hot chocolate.  I can tell already we are hooked on this thing! We may suffer from caffeine shakes and overdoses the next couple of weeks:)

And don't ya just love that mason jar glass with the straw and B monogram! Yes, you should be jealous.  My sweet sister in law, Ashley, made me that! 

When we go home family spoils us in so many ways. Of course Christmas we are spoiled with presents and knick-knacks, but we are always spoiled with food and laughter. I feel as though I have to see everyone when we go home. I want to see and get caught up in the 'know' of what's goin with everyone. Who's been up to no good, who's dating who now, who's get a new job promotion, who's got engaged, and etc. 

I have gotten several text messages in the last hour or so saying that they are getting a snow mix up in the foothills of those mountains right now. Makes me miss being all snuggled up under a blanket at my parents house. Instead in NOLA we pulled in with our car saying it was 50 degrees, and with the sun shinning it made me want to take my sweatshirt off. 

Thank you so much family and friends for spoiling us with all your support and love!  

Shopping Day

Yesterday I took a personal day off work since I hadn't missed a single day yet. Quite frankly, I needed it. I was able to get a day where I was able to do what I wanted to do. Most weekends are so rushed because my Saturdays consist of getting all my errands done and Sundays are spent all day in Amite:)

Yesterday we woke up, had a nice little visit from the internet guy and thank goodness our internet is working with no kinks! (knock on wood) Then we headed out.

We stopped at sears, target, walmart, dollar tree, a NOLA christmas shop, and Zea to eat.

By the way, our Christmas shopping is complete! We just had to get a few simple little gifts for close family. Since Chris and I are on a budget we don't buy gifts for everyone. Quite frankly Christmas can get incredibly expensive, so we tell cousins and aunts/uncles to just not buy us anything, cause we can't buy them anything. After all Christmas is sooo not about exchanging gifts, it's about spending time with each other.

Since moving to NOLA I believe Chris and I have realized just how special it is to spend time with family. Family is one of those things were you don't realize how good ya' have it until their gone or away. Being so far way from people who you can always trust and count on can be very eye opening. I have learned to shift away from the presents and food and focus more on just the time laughing and catching up. 

So I was given a $50 gift card to a restaurant named Zea in New Orleans LAST christmas by one of my sweet first graders. Yea, so we've been holding on this gift card for a whole year. I guess we just kind of forgot about it, and then kept saving it until we had something special to celebrate.

We got an appatizer of crab cakes and sucked those down without saying a word in between bites. Then I ordered the lunch serving of ribs, sweet corn grits, and buttered sweet potatoes. Very unhealthy of me, but this was a very random thing for Chris and I to do. I was only able to eat about 3 ribs and a couple bites of the sides. I loaded up the left overs in a box and we are going to eat on it for dinner.

Chris got a ribeye, salad, and fries. His steak melted in your mouth. He wasn't able to eat all his either so we stuck it in our box too. 

I really enjoyed getting to spend the day with him. We had fun taking our time walking through the stores and laughing at all the crazies walking about. Even though it was during working hours on a Monday, it was ridiculous the amount of traffic and people out shopping. We have come to the conclusion that no one works in this city. Now I'm ready to wrap up those presents and head to GA for the holidays! 

My Babies

I am very much a sensitive person. When the feed the hungry commercials come on I usually start to get weepy and during any chick flick I will usually try and hide a tear. Of course when I heard of the news of the elementary school shooting I would be saddened by it.

Friday was a pretty terrible day. That morning I was dealing with some disruptive behavior issues with a student in my class. Trying to understand that child, why they would behave in such a way, and then determine the best way to deal with the situation. 

I walked into the teachers lounge to eat my lunch, like I do on any normal day, when our school secretary came in and turned on the t.v. telling us we all needed to watch this. 

Shock, horror, hatred, and sadness all consumed everyone one of us watching. I immediately started to tear up and tried my best to choke it back. I couldn't stand staying there and watching that mess so I left the lounge early to go back to my classroom to have a few minutes to calm down before my own sweet babies came back from recess.

I still had 20 minutes before they would be coming back and I was trying to take my mind off the sadness and get busy preparing for a substitute. While I was working, still wiping the tears away from my eyes, of course that student who had given me problems that morning walked in my room because she had left her snack money in her bookbag.

She walked in, asked if she could get her money, got it out of her bookbag, and before leaving walked over to me, and asked, "You alright Mrs. Bagley?" in her south Louisiana brawl. I just shrugged, gave her a quick yea and, thinking fast on my feet, explained I had just been choking on a peppermint. She gave me a hug and told me she was glad I was alright, and then she went out of the room to go to recess with the other students. 

Of course that made me start squallin' again. As a parent, I can only imagine the emotions that would consume you after learning of the shooting since I don't have any children of my own. As a teacher, it is a whole world of emotions. As an elementary school teacher, your students are your babies. Infact, my students know that they are my babies, and many times I will tell them that their good actions make me a 'happy mama' for them. 

I was able to suck it up before they came back in, went about our usually activities for the day, and then packed up to go home. Before they left my classroom I took a couple of minutes to wish them all a good and safe weekend. I told them how happy I am to get to be their teacher and how glad I am that they are in my class. I even went around the classroom and told each student a quality that I enjoy and appreciate about them. Before I let them leave I gave each of them a big hug and again told them to have a good weekend.

In public schools today teachers are not allowed to mention God or religion. We are not allowed to pray with our students. We are not allowed to mention in any way, any kind of religion. Every night I pray for all of my sweet 'babies' and many times I have prayed that I can be an example of Christ's love for them. 

I planed for a sub for me today. So far this school year I have not missed a single day. Since Chris is done with his school for this semester,  I took a personal day today so we could go out together in the city and pick up our last Christmas gifts. Chris and I are going to have a fun day, but I am yearning for tomorrow so I will get to be back standing up in class, showing respect and love toward my students, and teaching them so they can become prosperous adults.

Two Weeks

In two weeks it will be Christmas Day. In two weeks we will all be gathered at my mamma's house. In two weeks I will have gotten to see all the family on both Chris and mine sides.

In two weeks, I I hope to be surrounded by my mothers old Christmas lights blinking on and off, staring at homemade tree ornaments, some even made by my sweet daddy when he was a little boy handing on the tree, and my mind and belly full from the days events.

In two weeks. In two weeks. Ohhhh... snap...

Christmas is two weeks away and I only have 3 people's presents. 

Guess I better get on it! 

Tired

Both Chris and I are coming off of a very hard week. It is always hard to go back to work after having a break, and we knew that we were spoiled during the week of turkey day, but man this week was a doozie.

My week at my school teaching has been emotionally draining. Not going into specifics, but it's been a hard disciplinary week, and having all the drama from my 16 girls and only 4 boys has been very tolling. I haven't had to have many issues so far in the school year and now all of a sudden this week decided to make up for it. 

Chris's week has been killer. He had a major presentation on a 20 page paper due on Wednesday, a group research project due, various tests to study for, oh yea... and a sermon to prepare for tomorrow. Nearly every night he stayed up in the library on campus until it closed, which is at 11:00. Even on Wednesday night he had to dive back home from church in Amite and head straight to the library to finish work. 

It was just one of those weeks that was both tiring and stressful.  Now that it is over I thank God for his mercy on me to help me survive through it. As I sit and type this at my little dinning table, I can hear some police sirens going down the road and I am reminded that this week could have been a lot worse. 

Praying tonight for those who have lost loved ones and those that too had it hard last week. Praying for us all to continue on this next week with God in our hearts and minds. And that maybe, next week can be just a little bit easier.