MTR Christmas Party

I have a couple of more posts that I'm going to get up today so I can start the new year with fresh stuff on the ole blog. 

Before school was out for the holidays we celebrated with the 2nd annual First Ever MTR Christmas Party. We shared a holiday meal, white elephant gift exchange, and sang carols. Then we received official MTR sweatshirts. Across the back they say "It's what we do." 

Baby Naomi received the first and only MTR onesie!:

Halloween 2010

October was probably my craziest month this fall. November was tough, but without Saturday classes and wedding festivities times two. One thing that is good for my soul during crazy times is to hang out with kids, not teenagers, but kids. So I happily agreed to watch Adam and Micah the day before Halloween. We created weapons (for the boys and my Halloween costume - see below), watched How to Tame a Dragon (great movie about Vikings - again see below), and carved a pumpkin! 

My costume has a little bit of a story behind it. Under peer pressure, I bought a fur vest to wear to Ashley's bachelorette party. To justify spending the money, I decided it would need to be part of my Halloween costume, so I was a viking. All I needed was my hardhat and a bunch of aluminum foil to create my outfit. Due to the lack of durability of aluminum foil, I engineered a different skirt for each day of Halloween weekend.
Friday night Sam and Danielle hosted a party, Saturday night was the MTR Fall Ball, and Sunday night my community group passed out candy at Nate and Kristi's (not pictured). 

The MTR Fall Ball was a bowling tournament. Each team had a picture taken with fierce faces. I don't want to misrepresent any of the costumes, so I'll just mention the ones I remember. The educationally themed costumes include a TCAP test, Phil the teacher administering the TCAP, and the MTR word wall (Right is Right, 100%, Data Driven, No Excuses).

The costume contest winners were Chris and Stacey who came as a camper and a smore. I think they won all the votes because Chris made everyone a smore with miniature marshmallows and a lighter in the bowling alley.  

2010 Wedding Festivities

Since starting MTR in June I have been to three weddings. One more before the end of the year!

JUSTIN & JORDAN - JUNE 26, 2010

My cousin Justin married Jordan at a beautiful outdoor ceremony in June in Alabama. Fans and shade made the heat bearable during the ceremony. Jordan brings the girl to boy cousin ratio to 7-1. It has been a long time since we were all together!

My dad is the oldest of four. His parents died when I was in high school, but it was fun and special to have his  aunt Carolyn there.

ASHLEY & BRETT - OCTOBER 9, 2010

Ashley is one of my friends from high school. She and Brett exchanged vows at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in midtown. The ceremony included a cantor and the cake included the Beatles:)

I got to attend a shower and the bachelorette party in Tunica. It was a fun trip full of sequins, fur vests, a mechanical bull, and Paula Deen. What else do you need for a good time?

KRISTIN & PAUL - OCTOBER 16, 2010

Kristin and I met volunteering at More than A Meal last year. I have had a blast getting to know her and Paul. They got married in front of her house in Mississippi. None other than a horse-drawn carriage delivered her to the aisle.

Their family dog helped to give her away. At the reception, I caught the bouquet. It helped that the competition was limited and the photographer said "Nobody move but Virginia" just before Kristin tossed it. He is lucky he got some priceless pictures of the moment. Kristin and Paul now have partial responsibility in finding Mr. Right!

LAUREN & CASEY - DECEMBER 31, 2010

Lauren and Casey will wed this weekend. Our entire community group will be there to celebrate with them. The girls represented at her shower where Kristi practiced being a bride during one of the games. (Her wedding is coming up in March!)

Community Group Holiday Meal(s)

I like to call our community group the "no kids" group since none of us have any children (yet!). We do get to keep the kids on rotation, which is  I love meeting weekly to share a meal and life with all of these wonderful folks! Kristi and Nate hosted both our Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings. 

Between our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals together we collected money and bought gifts for a family that Amanda works with who are in need. The pile of gifts that was delivered was huge. We had a Dirty Santa gift exchange at our Christmas gathering. I'm going to do a post on my holiday crafts where I'll share more about the gift I brought. This series of photos shows the journey of the blender that I began with and did eventually take home with me. 

Since we didn't get a group shot, this is how I make up for it:

I adore each of these people. We can have real discussions and talk through our differences. We laugh at each other and with each other. The last six months have been crazy for me and it is important to have friends that will let me talk about education when I need to (most often) and who I can get a break from talking about education when I need to.

December Birthday Party

As I catch up on posting on my blog, I felt this is an appropriate Christmas Eve post. Happy Birthday Jesus! [and other late November and December MTR birthdays]

 We had a little party to celebrate where the whistle orchestra was formed.

So to bring in the holiday properly, here is the whistle orchestra version of Joy to the World (that was performed for all of the selection weekend attendees a couple of days later)

Happy Birthday Jesus! You are our joy!

MTR Fall Selection Weekend

Last weekend we hosted 50-60 applicants to show off Memphis and interview them to be residents next year. It was a busy weekend, but much more relaxing to already be a resident going into the weekend. A big part of selecting from the pool of applicants is determining if they are a good fit for our community.

They need to be okay with being greeted at the airport like this:

And taken to a school that is packed up to be moved for renovations:

And participating in singing Joy to the World (and being part of next year's resident whistle orchestra):

We love our community, which helps us to be able to work so hard to love our students. Here is a glimpse into each classroom MTR has a resident placed this year:

I adore each one of my fellow residents and hope they are all enjoying this break as much as I am. I am excited to add to our team, whoever our leaders selected!

St. Jude Marathon Weekend

Now that I have a new look for my blog, I am actually going to post. My title is a little sneaky. I did not run a marathon or even a half marathon (this year...)

Earlier this month all of the MTR residents and staff raised money to support St. Jude and participated in one of the races. Green shirts - 5k, Grey shirts - half marathon, Red shirts - full marathon. 

Here is the 5K crowd:

I ran the 5K and improved my mile time by over a minute since running the Youth Villages 5K in April.

After running, I hopped around the city to cheer on the half and full marathoners.

There are many parallels between training to run a marathon (or 5K) and training to be a teacher. Long, hard hours of diligent training and lots of hope and stamina. Along with some cheerleaders as support.

I'm really proud of our team! It was a beautiful day for MTR, the kids of St. Jude, and Memphis!