Coming Along Now...HOUSE UPDATE

Mandye Self Flowers

Oki, I'll go first! I am Mandye Self Flowers. I went to Hinds for 2 years before going to MC and majoring in Social Work. I graduated MC in 2002 and went directly to the advanced standing Masters program at Jackson State, where I graduated in May 0f 2003 with my Masters in Social Work. I am married to Anthony Flowers (PHS c/o 97) and we have three great kids. After SIX YEARS of dating, we were married on May 31, 2003 and moved to Long Beach, MS where we lived for 1 year before moving to Gulfport, MS where we built a house in Orange Grove, north of I-10 off hwy 49. I worked at the Biloxi VA Medical Center as a social worker for Acute Care and as the Women Veteran's Program Manager and Anthony was an IT Specialist with the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO) at Stennis Space Center. We both had federal jobs and LOVED it! In April of 2004 I learned I was expecting our first child. On December 13, 2004, Aiden James Flowers was born and our lives forever changed. I love being a mommy and Anthony is a great dad. Then, in August of 2005, Katrina hit the Gulfcoast. Aiden was 9 months old and had to go live in Pearl with my parents while Anthony and I returned to the devestated Coast to work. It was a depressing time, with no running water and electricity in most places. We were so homesick and decided then and there that we were moving home. I immediately began looking for a transfer job in Jackson, wanting to stay Federal if at all possible because they pay social workers so much better than any other agency and the benefits are second to none. During that time that Aiden was in Pearl, I got pregnant again (go figure...what else was there to do??). Two months later, I began spotting and thought I was having a miscariage. When I went to the doctor, prepared for the worst, I learned I was having TWO babies instead of one, and both looked 100% fine on the sonogram. This was a huge shock for obvious reasons, but even moreso because we'd already had out first sonogram where I had specifically asked the doctor to look for twins but she said she only saw one baby. Even she was baffled at that one because it was only two weeks prior to this sonogram!!! So, Camden Noelle and Carsen Makenna Flowers were born at 35 weeks and 6 days on May 26, 2006. They are perfect and healthy and beautiful and FUN I am SO blessed! In October of 2006, I finally got a transfer to the VA in Jackson. I moved my 22 month old and my 4 month old twins to Pearl and we began living with my parents while Anthony stayed in Gulfport to sell our house and to start looking for a job in Jackson. Finally, in April of 2007, Anthony decided to work with my Dad's company and moved it on up to Jackson. Our house still didn't sell until July 2007. In September 2007 we purchased land in North Brandon Estates in Brandon, MS and we are now almost finished building our new home. I hope we are moved in by Christmas! I am the Homemaker/Home Health Aid and Non-Institutional Respite Coordinator at the G.V. Sonny Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson. I LOVE what I do and working with Veterans to get them the services they need and deserve. Anthony is a telecommunications contractor with JSI Communication, my Dad's company, but may come back and work for the government one day again because it's nice to have both of us in federal jobs. We are blessed beyond measure, and SO glad to be back home near all our family.

Ok, someone else post their intro now! :)

The Reason

Well, I woke up in the middle of the night and had the idea to start this blog, inviting all our classmates to join and post about new things in their life-important things like births, deaths, moves, new houses (can't wait until I can post that one!), new marriages, divorces, etc. You get the picture.

It's easy to post-just accept the invitation and sign into the blog. If you're a member of c/o 98 and didn't get an invitition, email me and I'll send you one!

I am encouraging everyone to do a "Where are they now" type post updating everyone on you, your family and your life in general since high school. Post pictures and videos, links to personal websites, whatever you want! For safety sake, please don't put complete physical addresses or phone numbers on this blog. It's fine to say, "I live in Brandon," just not "I live at 333 Mockingbird Lane Brandon, MS 39047."

You get the picture....You can post info on other classmates, as well, just please make sure it's factual!

Anyone with reunion pictures or pictures from high school, feel free to post them! I'm working on a collage of some that I have collected from everyone to use as a header.

Hope ya'll have fun with this. I think it'll be cool, especially to catch up with those who didn't get to come to the reunion.

Here's some fun pics from the reunion:

MORE TO COME!!!