Greetings friends and family!
What a full month April was! Even outside of the usual
work-school-church craziness, we had a LOT going on!
April began with Holy Week in full swing, which, even giving
us time off of our normal work and school days, was a hectic weekend! Nick
assisted at the Maundy Thursday service, and I was recruited into singing in
the choir, so we were at church Thursday evening. The next day, there was no
church service for Good Friday, but rather a Passion Play that Our Savior holds
each year. So we were back at church on Good Friday for a supper and the play.
On Saturday, we had a break (yay!) and took that time to embrace our inner
child and dye some eggs! Sunday morning, we were up at 4:00 a.m. in order to be
at church at 5:30, as Nick would be assisting with all three services,
beginning with the sunrise service at 6:00 a.m. That was the first sunrise
service I’ve ever attended, and let me say that I was really glad that I had a
spare blanket in my classroom! It was a lot colder outside than I expected!
Thankfully, a warm, delicious breakfast was served in between services, and so
we warmed up in time for the 8:00 service, in which I was also singing in the
choir. After the last service, we were more than happy to go home and take a
nice, long nap! We were blessed to spend the evening having a barbeque dinner
with friends, celebrating Christ’s resurrection all together and making up for
the fact that we couldn’t be with our families that day.
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| Dying eggs! Nick is pretty much a pro. |
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| Easter Sunday |
On Maundy Thursday, our first niece was born! My sister,
Adrionna, gave birth to a little girl named Teagann, and we are definitely very
happy to be uncle and aunt to this sweet little bundle of joy! We obsess over every
picture of her that we receive, and we cannot wait to meet her when we visit
California in June! (That may be our first stop when we arrive…after In-N-Out of course!)
Starting that weekend, April seemed to just kick into high
gear and never really slowed down! The following weekend, we attended a
fundraiser at Our Savior called the Mouse Races. And yes, they are actually
racing mice. It’s a huge event in which a company brings in mice, and puts them
on a track, and you are able to bet on mice to see who wins. It was an amazing
event, despite its…unique nature! We brought a group of our friends from the
seminary, and to top it all off, one of our friends won the grand prize, which
was a trip to Reno! It was such a fun night, and we’re really looking forward
to going next year!
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| Friends at the Mouse Races |
Another big event this month was when I cut my hair! I
decided with the warmer weather, a good haircut was a long time coming. I
traded my long locks for a shorter cut, and I love it! I cut off about 12
inches of hair and donated it to Beautiful Lengths, which is a charity that
donates wigs to women with cancer!
We are continually blessed at the seminary by so many people
who support those of us going into the ministry, and it is not only a financial
blessing to us, but it is so encouraging to see how many people out there
really invest in training up the future leaders of the church. This month, the
pastors of many large LCMS churches around the country came to the seminary and
put on a free dinner for all seminary students called We Love the Sem. When I
say dinner, I really mean a huge social event. Not only was there a huge,
delicious barbeque dinner including Ted Drewes frozen custard for dessert, but
also many pastors running around chatting with people and offering
entertainment. One pastor wearing a gorilla suit even climbed up Luther tower
in his own personal rendition of King Kong.
As busy as life has been since arriving in St. Louis, this
past week has to be one of the busiest on record so far. On Tuesday night, we
had the opportunity to go to a Cardinals game! It was the perfect weather, and
the Cardinals were playing really well and hitting a lot, making it an exciting
game to watch. However, it made for a late night that night. Wednesday was Call
Day, which is probably the biggest day of the year at the seminary. Although we
were not receiving a placement or call, we have a lot of friends who were! Nick
was asked to work for the services (one at 3:00 and one at 7:00), doing
ushering, set up, clean up, and any other odd jobs that needed to be done, so
it was a really long day for him! I was able to leave work a little early in
order to be there for the vicarage service, and it was really an exciting
service to watch, with many of our friends hearing for the first time where
they will be going for the next year! (Although I hate to think about how
nervous I’m going to be for that service next year!) While Nick stayed and
worked, I went to a friend’s apartment, and we watched the Call Service on the
live stream together. The next day, Thursday, was the performance of our school
musical at Our Savior, of which I was partially in charge. For the last month, my
class, along with the 1st through 4th graders, had been
practicing songs and lines daily. I was in charge of teaching the songs and the
choreography, so I was right in my element! It was a huge success, and so much
fun, but a lot of work! Nick was a supportive husband, and came to the performance
with flowers for me and his camera to take video of the performance. It was a
fun night, but we definitely slept in a little on Friday morning! The week
finished off with Field Day at school for me, which is another really fun, but
really exhausting event! After spending the whole day with my class walking around to
lots of different events and games, we had an early dismissal (thank goodness!)
and I went home and took a nap!
In the midst of all
this, I have also started a small card business. I wanted a hobby that I could
come home to, so that I could get a break from work, rather than just coming
home with a lot of work every day, but is still productive, so I don’t feel
guilty about taking a break from work! So I started making greeting cards, and
it’s been pretty successful so far! This is mostly thanks to Nick, as he has
been incredibly supportive, and even advertises for the business a lot at the
seminary! It’s also thanks to everyone who has been supportive and bought cards!
It definitely keeps me busy, but it is a fun and relaxing break from work life,
and I’ve found I’m a lot more productive during the school day because I don’t
bring work home as often! (If you’re interested in taking a peek at my cards,
you can find them at www.etsy.com/shop/CardsbyMikaela or at my Facebook page –
Cards by Mikaela).
We are now in May (still wondering where the time has gone!)
and in the home stretch! We are both down to three weeks left in the school
year, and we are definitely looking forward to a break! It’s nice to see the to
do lists for school get shorter while the to do lists for summer get longer. We
thank you all for your amazing support and prayers. We have (almost) survived
our first year here, and through God’s grace we are coming out of this year
feeling very loved and blessed!
In the name of Christ our savior,
Nick and Mikaela
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