Our Dear Mrs. Beeman

So many memories are flooding through my mind right now.... 

wonderful, sweet memories of our beloved Mrs. Beeman.

Our families met sometime around 1990 and soon became VERY close friends.

For several years Mrs. Beeman was my Sunday School teacher at Garland Bible Church.

She was a wonderful teacher, and her entire class adored her.

Mrs. Beeman made each one of us feel special and loved!

Mrs. Beeman always chose to think the best about everybody. I can remember her telling my parents that we weren't being naughty, it was just the barometric pressure. 😀 I don't believe Mrs. Beeman ever "told on us". In fact she was the first to help us right our wrongs so we wouldn't get into trouble!  Once, when we were being wild and my little brother threw his favorite blanket into the fan, Mrs. Beeman used a stick horse and helped me unwrap it and get it down.  She had such a positive attitude, and her deep love and compassion made everyone want to be her friend.

Smiths and Beemans 1996

Dinner at the Beemans' house was always such a treat!

Mrs. Beeman was one of the few babysitters I ever got left with as a child. I can remember her reading books to us - especially the book "Miss Suzy", which we claimed was about her, even though the book was about a squirrel.

This picture was taken when we were moving to Tennessee. 

Mrs. Beeman read to us while the guys loaded the moving truck.

Early the morning we left for Tennessee the Beemans were there to say goodbye.

They brought us a special cassette tape with goodbye messages from all our Texas friends. We were so happy to be moving to Tennessee, but we all cried when we heard Mrs. Beeman's goodbye message!  How we would miss her!

500+ miles away, but we couldn't stay apart!!

So many trips were made back and forth from Texas to Tennessee, and, as you can see, we had great fun together!  When they got to Tennessee we would surround the car as soon as they pulled in the driveway. She would call us the "Smith sentinels" because they could never sneak up on us. We were always outside waiting - even if it was 3am!

Picnics, birthday parties, Sunday school parties, late-night talks, bubble gum blowing contests, Sunday evening phone calls with both families on speaker, writing out recipes together, all the VHS tapes we made for each other and sent in the mail, singing at the nursing home together.... way too many memories to count, much less write down!

Thanksgiving Dinner with the Beemans

Thanksgiving Charades

Through the years Mama and Mrs. Beeman were always very close.

And then the grandkids came along, and everything got even more fun!

"Granny Smith" and "Mimi"

I'm so thankful Mrs. Beeman got to meet Caitlyn!  I don't have any pictures of them together, but Caitlyn would smile at Mrs. Beeman and Mrs. Beeman would say "babies always like me", which was very true.

We could talk with Mrs. Beeman for hours and hours!

On January 2, 2018 Mrs. Beeman went to be with the Lord. We all miss her so very much!  Her life was such an example to us of Christ's love!

Will there Be any Stars in my Crown? was Mrs. Beeman's favorite hymn. She was so ready to go be with Christ, worship Him, and lay down crowns at His feet.

Mrs. Beeman's children and grandchildren all adored her, and so did the rest of us - her adopted children.  We will always remember her!!

Mrs. Beeman wrote this message not long before she passed away.

"I have no greater joy than to know that my children hear and follow...maybe not even physical children and grandchildren but whomever God has placed in our sphere of relationship, and in our paths as we follow Him...I share that. I want to follow, and love, and be loved and after sharing this precious legacy, be able to look Jesus right in the eye, without guilt or shame, and say I got it! You loved me in a way that was unfathomable...You were perfect and sufficient in every tiny piece of my life...thank you dear Father, who formed me and was with me all the times I never even knew and bore it all and grasped me...all to give me His love."

I love you, Mrs. Beeman!  I'm so happy I'll see you again someday!