The Calm after the Storm...and the Storm

Christmas greetings everyone!                                                                                                                  

It’s hard to believe that we are already into the Christmas season, but it is such an exciting time of year! We are thankful to be currently in California, enjoying this time with our families, and relaxing a bit before we return to our normal lives in St. Louis. We needed this break after the month we’ve had!

November in our household was packed full of events and very long to do lists. We spent the month in anticipation of and preparing for our trip out to California for Thanksgiving vacation. I am a bridesmaid in the upcoming wedding of my friend Whitney this Saturday, and when Nick and I realized that we would have to take several days off work and school to be at this wedding anyway, we asked (begged and pleaded) for permission to take the entire week, so that we were able to be home for the Thanksgiving holidays to be able to be with our families as well. We are very fortunate to have wonderful and understanding bosses and professors, and so we made plans to spend two weeks in California. However, this meant we were having to spend a lot of time working ahead – I had to have sub plans ready for the week I am missing, and Nick had to contact all his professors and get textbooks ordered in preparation for the new quarter. We also had to do all the work that comes with a trip – making sure we had places to stay, and rides to and from where we need to be, as well as the laundry and packing and cleaning we needed to do in the week before we left! It made for several very chaotic weeks.

In addition to all the trip preparation, things were a little extra crazy at work for me! In the first week of November, I put on an event called Kindergarten Round Up. This is an opportunity for preschoolers and their parents to come and learn about the Kindergarten program at our school, meet me, and see the classroom. It was a great success, but a lot of extra work! I also was working on getting all our Operation Christmas Child boxes ready! In addition to keeping track of boxes, I was in charge of making sure they were all ready to go, with labels and all the appropriate items inside, and moving them up to the church for a dedication prayer, and then back to my classroom, and then out to my car, and then finally to the collection center. We had 90 boxes in all and it was a very successful project, so it was all worth it! I also had the privilege of being asked to sing for a wedding at our church during a weekend in November. It was a new experience for me, but it was a fun way to make a little extra income to go toward my student loans!

Nick was extra busy at school as well. November encompasses the last few weeks of the fall quarter, so he was swamped with readings, papers, sermons, and tests. In addition, he was scheduled to preach church services at our church one of those weekends, so he had an extra sermon to write and preach in that time. He also came to Our Savior and led a chapel service on the Wednesday in his first week of break!

In this time, Nick and I both ended up sick, which is no surprise, with the stress and changes in the weather. Nick got a cold and cough, of course, right before the weekend he had to preach his sermon. He spent several days on hot tea and chicken noodle soup and lots of cough drops to get him through that weekend. The following week, I wasn’t feeling well either, and just thought I had gotten a cold from Nick, but when it wasn’t going away, I stopped by urgent care. They diagnosed me with strep and shingles the Wednesday before our trip! Thankfully, they put me on the medicines I needed, and after just one sick day at home, I was back at school in time for our Thanksgiving party and (mostly) healthy in time for our trip! We are both thoroughly enjoying the time that we have to rest now and let our bodies recover.

On top of all this, we started out our month with our 10K trail race! It was a really fun experience! The race was at a state park, and the run took place through trails and hills, going up and down hills and stairs and across creeks. It is a really beautiful run, and it was a lot of fun to be out there with so many other runners! We finished the run in just over an hour, and we were really happy with how we did! Nick was actually the 2^nd runner in his age group for our race! We even got a full meal at the end of the race, which was really fun. However, that race pretty much wiped us out for the rest of that weekend!

After running the Skippo, a 10K trail race

Our trip to California has been fun and restful. We flew out of St. Louis at 7:00 a.m. on the Saturday morning before Thanksgiving, arriving with enough time to eat lunch and rest a little before the wedding of our friends Zach and Amber.

With Zach and Amber at their wedding!

We had such a wonderful time seeing a beautiful wedding, and getting to see friends that we haven’t seen since our last visit in June! After that, we caught a ride with Angela, Nick’s sister, to Bakersfield, and spent a few days with Nick’s family, doing fun things like playing board games and baking and having good family bonding time. Nick and I were thankful for the opportunity to rest! We spent Thanksgiving with both of our families at my parents’ house in Visalia. I’ve had some fun adventures – I worked a Black Friday shift with my sister at her job in the mall, and I spent the weekend in Southern California for my friend Whitney’s bachelorette party, while Nick spent some extra time with his family. Once again, however, I am very glad to rest after that busy weekend, because I haven’t seemed to fully recover from being sick. So now we are just enjoying the chance to spend time with family – especially little Teagann! – and relax, at least until this weekend! We have been fortunate to get some Christmas celebrations in with our families as we help decorate their homes for Christmas, as we won’t be able to come back to California for Christmas this year.

Nick went rock climbing with his little brother Tony

I love getting to see our niece Teagann!

We are thankful for so many things in our lives – God has richly blessed us in so many ways! Although Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on those things, I find that it’s important to reflect on those things all year long. We are thankful for each other, for our families we love so much, and for the way that God has provided for us every step of the way throughout this journey. We thank Him for all of you, who support us through your prayers and your donations. We ask Him to bless you all for showing us His love through your actions!

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

Plugging Away

Dear friends and family,

The month of October has been business as usual for us here in Duerr household. We have gotten back into the swing of things as far as school and work go, and we are enjoying the routine that it has provided.

Now that my students have begun to grasp what it means to be Kindergarteners, I have had the opportunity to start to push their learning. We’ve been learning about fun things like pumpkins and bones and Christopher Columbus – this is the fun thing about Kindergarten! Pumpkin week included a donation of pumpkins from a parent of one of my students, which meant that each child got to explore, measure, and observe their pumpkin…and then decorate it of course! Bone week involved having a full-sized skeleton model in the classroom (I felt bad for the janitors who were in there each night!) and each child getting to make a life-sized skeleton painting of themselves! This month also brought parent-teacher conferences. Thankfully, with a year of teaching under my belt, plus the fact that I know my students’ parents much better this year on account of home visits, I was not nervous and really had a good time with them! It also helps that with such a small class, I had a light load! I’m also excited to be heading up Operation Christmas Child at OSL this year, which is a project that has been dear to my heart since my elementary school days! It’s taken some extra time to coordinate all that, but I think it will be well worth it when all those shoeboxes full of gifts come in to be sent off to children around the world! Nick and I had fun this weekend shopping to fill two shoeboxes for the project, hopefully just the first of many times we will do this as a family!

Nick has also been busy at school. October is an interesting month because at the beginning of the month, it is still early in the quarter, but by the end of the month, it is crunch time before finals. He’s been enjoying learning about writing sermons, and learning to develop his style and skill as a homiletician. He has been writing a LOT of sermons, but seems to be thoroughly enjoying the process and seeing growth in himself in this area. He also had a lot of fun writing a paper on St. Nicholas, and learning about how the myth of Santa Claus developed from the historical figure. He was saddened to discover, however, that it is unlikely that St. Nicholas actually slapped Arius at the Council of Nicaea.

We have been pushing our boundaries with our running this month! At the end of September, we had just completed our first race, a 5K (3.1 miles), proud of ourselves for actually training for a month straight. Now, another month has passed, and each week, our mileage goes up and we’re running farther than we ever have before. Just a week ago, we set out on the same loop that we ran (but mostly walked) at the start of all this, the big 5.5 mile loop around Forest Park, and we ran the whole distance. That was a fun accomplishment for us. This coming Saturday, we will be completing a 10K trail race, which will be tricky not only because of the distance but also because it will be on dirt paths, crossing streams, and have significant elevation changes. We are very excited about this race though, and are happy to challenge ourselves. 

Nick had a really fun opportunity at the beginning of the month. The seminary asked him to travel to Concordia Irvine to help the seminary admissions officer with recruiting and to give a student's perspective to college students. It was a fun, if brief trip for him, because he got to spend time with his family, and see some old friends and professors. It was a strange few days for myself, as I spent a night alone in our apartment for the first time ever, but I survived, and was very happy to have Nick back…even if he ate In-N-Out without me.

Another big event of this month was our second pre-vicarage meeting. In this meeting, Dr. Nielsen, the vicarage director, walked through the interview sheet with us. Basically, he told us what we have to tell him about our desires for our vicarage placement. This ranges from things like deciding location preferences, ministry experiences and desires, housing needs, and more. There are a lot of factors for him to consider in placing us for vicarage, and we are fully trusting that God has a place for us somewhere! We ask for your prayers as there are a lot of decisions for us to make in the next month regarding our desires for vicarage year, especially taking Nick’s needs as a vicar and my job at OSL into consideration. Our vicarage interview is on December 17^th, so we ask for prayers leading up to that time for wisdom and clarity for our needs, and on that day for the words to communicate our needs and desires to Dr. Nielsen.

We thank you again all for your prayers and financial support! We see God’s hand in so many ways in our time here. A few weeks ago, someone tried to break into our car. Thankfully the damage was very minimal (we didn’t even notice it right away!), and we still have our car, but the lock was badly messed up, so we need to get it replaced. The day I took the car into the shop to get the assessment of the cost, we received an unexpected check from a church that will cover the cost of the repair. For things like this, we are so grateful, and we are especially grateful that we see God working in these blessings, so that we don’t take them, or you, for granted. We are truly encouraged by the loving support we receive as Nick trains for the ministry. God bless you for all you do!

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

Settling into a New Year

Happy Fall everyone!

Here in St. Louis, we are so happy to be feeling the cool fall weather, although it’s seemed to almost go from summer to winter in a week! Compared to last year, it stayed hot longer this year, so it was nice to get a cool down. We especially like it because it means we can stop using the air conditioning and save money on our electric bill! So here I am on October 4^th, sitting in warm socks, long pants, and a sweatshirt, because it’s been overcast and under 70 degrees all weekend. It all brings back lots of flashbacks from last winter. Although the prospect of another long winter is a little daunting, it’s important to remember the exciting things that come with this time of year: the holidays, the fall colors, cool afternoon walks, and of course, delicious treats involving pumpkin and candy corn! This year, we get to throw a visit to California into the mix!

Life is back in full swing again for the both of us. September included a number of evening meetings, weekend events, and of course, the usual work for me and homework and school for Nick. Nick is really enjoying his classes this quarter. He is especially enjoying his Homiletics 2 class, in which he is learning more about the art of preaching and delivering sermons. He will get the opportunity to preach several times at Our Savior this year. Nick continues his job as a supervisor in the mailroom on campus, as well as his other odd jobs helping out around campus. He goes to campus each day and stays on campus the whole day, riding his bike back and forth right now while the weather is still nice.

My month in the classroom has been a month of adjustment and learning. As I look back on pictures from the beginning of the school year, I see how much my students have already grown, and that is so encouraging! This month included one day off to go to a professional development seminar called “Teach Like a Pirate.” The speaker and author, Dave Burgess, was really inspiring and helpful! It also included our first class field trip of the year, to a fun place in St. Louis called The Magic House, which is essentially a children’s museum, but probably the coolest children’s museum I’ve ever been to. It was a fun experience for me and for the students!

Together, we have been working hard toward our training goals for our half marathon this month. Well, really, this month was just a “Let’s see if we can actually run and train!” And it turns out we can! After deciding at the beginning of September to work toward the goal of a half-marathon, we signed up for a 5K and a 10K and wrote out a training plan for the 10K. We ran the 5K last Sunday in Forest Park. It was a nice, cool morning, but still humid, which was a bit bothersome. It was a fun event, and, running the whole race together, we ended up finishing around 25:00, which is the best time we’ve run since we started training a month ago. He finished 11^th in his age category (males ages 21-29 or somewhere around there), and I finished 5^th in my age category for females. Now we are working toward a 10K trail race on November 7^th, which we are really looking forward to. It will be a new experience for both of us! We have also officially registered for the half-marathon in April, so we are fully committed and enjoying working towards this goal together.

Another September event was our first vicarage preparation meeting! This begins the year-long process of meetings, interviews, and then the worst…waiting. The first meeting was a pretty basic informational meeting, mostly comprised of information that we have already acquired through our friends who went through this process last year. But it was good to go and get to know the professor who’s in charge of assigning vicarages, and to be in a room with all the other people who will be going through the process with us. Our next meeting is this upcoming week, and this meeting is the one in which we will be given information about the interviews, and the things that we will have to think about and decide our preferences for when he is assigning the vicarages. We would really appreciate prayers for wisdom and patience as we go through this process!

We thank you all again for all the support and prayers! We are so appreciative of the financial blessings that we receive – it is so comforting for us to know that we are not going in more debt during this time in seminary, and that we are actually able to be aggressive in paying off our current loans! We have received an extra blessing in that the Food Bank at the seminary has announced that everyone will be able to shop twice each month throughout this school year, rather than once a month that we did last year. This is an extra blessing and we are very excited! God constantly provides for our needs.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

adulting (verb) the act of being a grown-up

As a teacher, August is always a veeerrrry looonngg month, so the fact that I'm writing our August blog post brings me joy and satisfaction that it's almost over!

For myself (Mikaela), August began with three days of faculty meetings and then a day of professional development with the Lutheran Association for Special Education. I also filled my evenings that week with home visits. At our school, the teachers go and visit their students in their homes before the school year starts. I have a love/hate relationship with these home visits, because on one hand, it took a lot of time to drive to all their homes, spending my evenings bouncing around to houses, and the nerves and uncertainty about driving to a new place, hoping I'm at the right house, and making conversation with strangers. On the other hand though, it was so good to meet my students in their own space. I learned so much about them and their families in a short time, making the first week of school easier, because I knew names and faces and they knew me. Thankfully, due to all my work in the classroom in July, the second week of August was relatively calm. We had Back to School night and CPR training that week, but besides that and some planning, I was able to be flexible about the hours I spent in the classroom, and I wasn't stressed out. That was a huge blessing. School started on August 19th, so I have just completed my first full week of school. After 8 days, I am happy to say that the days are a bit less exhausting each day, and I'm seeing progress in the students' understanding of classroom rules and routines! I heard lately that as a Kindergarten teacher, if you can make it to October 1st, you'll be okay. :-)

Nick has spent August working...and working and working and working. He was pretty much the only one available to work at his mail room job for a few weeks, so he was taking all the shifts. This was nice for him, because he didn't have to sit around the apartment while I'm gone all day. Also, the extra income has been very nice for us!

Outside of work, I would have to say  that the theme of the month has been "adulting." Maybe that sounds silly, considering we've been married and living on our own for over a year, plus four years of college before that. But there are some things that just make us feel like we're really grown up and having to be responsible for ourselves. This month, in a rush of inspiration to finish our "summer" to-do list, mostly due to the deadline of the end of summer, we've scheduled dentist and doctor appointments, gotten routine maintenance done on our car (I didn't even know that was a thing outside of getting the oil changed), finished up projects like our wedding album and honeymoon scrapbook, gone shopping for the bridesmaid dress and shoes I will need for December, got our wedding rings re-plated to make them pretty and shiny again, on top of all the normal cleaning and shopping and cooking and budgeting and paying bills that we do. I guess to any adults who have raised a family, that all sounds like normal stuff. But to a young married couple who have only recently begun to be really responsible for ourselves, it's a pretty big accomplishment to us not only to be getting these things done, but also to have the money to do it all. (Thank you Dave Ramsey!)

A few more fun "grown-up" things we did this month...first of all, we bought our first TV! I know, we're a poor seminary couple, how do we afford a TV? Again, due to good budgeting. Like Dave Ramsey says, a budget isn't restrictive, a budget is freedom. Because we have a good budget set, we know that we had this money set aside from birthday and Christmas gifts that we could use to purchase a TV. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision, which came about as I was making the transition to a new laptop, but we are really happy and excited about our purchase. It's nice to watch Netflix on a real TV, not a little laptop or iPad screen. The second fun thing about this month was that on August 16th, Nick got the chance to preach at Our Savior. This is the second time he has preached, and it's so much fun to see him preach and listen to the Gospel message he proclaims. (It shows me that all this time at Seminary is paying off!) However, I was also asked to sing for the church service that day, which consisted of a few solos and cantor pieces. It was fun to be working together for the church service, and we had a lot of comments about what a good team we make for a church. The best part is that our church services over the summer have been broadcasted on the radio, which is live-streamed online, so our parents back home were able to enjoy hearing us participate in the service as well. Lastly, we made another plane ticket purchase! We will be traveling to California in November-December for two weddings and to spend Thanksgiving with our families. We were especially grateful to Nick's parents, who helped us out a bit on the cost of plane tickets!

Another important thing about being a grown-up is exercising to be healthy to set long-term habits in place. Nick and I want to begin healthy habits now, so that when we get into the ministry, start a family, and life gets crazy, we can not only stay healthy for ourselves, but also to set a good example to our congregation and our kids. We've been exercising on and off, and working on eating healthier for a while now. But yesterday morning, we decided to go for a run in Forest Park, and decided, what the heck, let's do the 5.5 mile loop around the park (We've really only been doing runs around 2-3 miles, and not very consistently). Well, we did the loop, and it was exhausting, but it was fun to exercise together and talk and enjoy the beautiful morning. And after that, we decided we're going to train for a half marathon. There is a large marathon event in St. Louis in April, so we figure that in the 8 months between now and then, if we train consistently, not only will we be ready for the half marathon, but we will make this a lifestyle. It's going to be our big project for the year. Now we are just working on creating a training plan, and saving up the money for the registration costs, as well as the cost of the things we will need as we train, like new shoes and new gear, especially for the winter, since we're not well-equipped for exercising when it's below freezing and dark outside. But we are excited about the prospect of completing a half marathon together and the way that the training will bring us closer together.

Nick will be starting his second year of seminary on September 8th. We are so grateful to all of you who have been supporting our journey through your prayers and your financial gifts. Nick is really excited about his classes this year, and he has been learning and growing so much. This year will also be the preparation year for vicarage. Throughout the school year, there will be meetings to prepare both Nick and myself for our time on vicarage, as well as paperwork and interviews to help decide where we will be placed for vicarage. Everything is in God's hands, and we trust in His plan for our lives, and we know that throughout everything, He is always faithful.

In the name of Christ our Savior,
Nick and Mikaela Duerr

Long Days, Summer Nights

Greetings!

July was a busy month for us, even in the middle of our summer. After returning from our trip to California, we both returned to our routines and work. Mikaela started preparing for school in earnest. She spent many days in her classroom preparing it for when the kids arrive in mid August, and she spent her nights at home planning lessons for the whole year and crafting decorations for her classroom. While she was busy doing that, Nick was going from job to job, trying to work as many hours as possible between his jobs in the mail room and copy center on campus, general labor, and his off campus landscaping job.

Thankfully, even with all that we were doing, we still had lots of relaxing time because it is, after all, summer! We found time to do things in the city. We started going to shows at the Muny, the large outdoor theater in Forest Park. There are free seats in the back of the theater, you just have to get there early enough to get in line for them. We went and saw Hairspray, The Buddy Holly Story, and Into the Woods, all full, Broadway-quality shows, completely free of charge. Another free event at Forest Park was the Art Hill Film Series. They were showing movies celebrating big anniversaries. So we went and watched Back to the Future with at least a thousand other people. And at the end of the month, we went to a Cardinals game with our friends. While the game was somewhat boring, (one run in the second by the Reds) we were there with lots of friends, so it was a fun time to socialize. It also happened to fall on Star Wars night at Busch Stadium, so that was also entertaining in itself.

Hairspray at the Muny 

Cardinals Game

Having fun at the City Museum 

We also celebrated our first wedding anniversary this month. After having spent over two weeks traveling consistently in June, we decided that instead of trying to take a trip, we'd rather just find something fun to do in St. Louis. We ended up going to the City Museum, a gigantic building that has been turned into an adult sized jungle gym. We had a lot of fun climbing through mazes and spinning around on chairs that acted like tops. We both feel like we have grown so much in the last year, and are happily looking forward to the years ahead that we will have together.

We are both looking forward to school beginning. Mikaela will have kids in her classroom on August 19th, and she is excited to be teaching again soon. Nick will be starting his second year of seminary on September 8th.

In the name of Christ our savior,
Nicholas and Mikaela Duerr

A Tour of California

Greetings friends and family!

June has been quite the adventure for us! As you probably know, we got the opportunity to travel home to California for the first time since we moved to St. Louis almost a year ago. It was a wonderful, busy, two and a half weeks! 

On our flight to California! 

We started out our vacation on June 9^th, flying out of St. Louis at 9:00 in the morning. After a brief layover in Minneapolis, we were on our way to California! We landed around 1:30 p.m. (thank goodness for the time change!) and went through all the craziness of navigating LAX to get our luggage and grab a shuttle to the rental car place. This was our first experience renting a car ourselves (hooray for being grownups!), but thankfully it went smoothly, and we were soon on our way down to the Irvine area. We stopped off in Long Beach on the way to visit a friend, and then made it to the Irvine Spectrum, a large mall where we spent many hours in our college years, just in time to meet a large group of our friends from college for dinner! It was our first time seeing these dear friends since our wedding last July, so it was so wonderful to just sit and chat and catch up on all their lives. In the time we’ve been gone, some (rather, a lot!) of our close friends have gotten engaged, some got married, some started new jobs. It’s been so hard for us to be missing out on these things as we’re not there with them, so it was a lot of fun to spend time with them. 

Spending some quality time at Corona del Mar

So much yum.

The next day, after spending  the night at my aunt and uncle’s house, we got up and went to the beach for a few hours and then ate lunch at In N Out – two more things we haven’t gotten to do since last July! We then spent the rest of the day bouncing around Southern California, trying to spend as much time with friends as we could! Those hours with our friends were so precious! 

Our visit to CUI, a year after graduating

The next day, we stopped by Concordia Irvine’s campus just for fun…we spent four years of our lives there, and that is where we met and started dating, so it holds so many memories! We walked around, and also were able to find some faculty and staff that we were close to in our years there, and spend some time talking with them. I am so glad for the time we spent in Southern California, even if it was only for a few days!

Meeting my niece, Teagann, for the first time! 

Teagann and Uncle Nick

That day, Thursday, we made our way up to my parents’ home in Visalia, with a stop off in Bakersfield for dinner with Nick’s family. On Friday, Nick and I got the joy of meeting our niece, Teagann, for the first time! She is now almost three months old and she is such a happy little baby! We got to spend almost two full days with her over the weekend, and that was such a blessing to us! On Saturday, I hosted a Sip and See baby shower for Teagann, so a lot of friends and family got the opportunity to come and meet her. My sister then stayed at my parents’ house with us for the rest of the day, as we were celebrating Father’s Day that evening. On Sunday, my sister had to work, so we (meaning my parents, Nick and I, and my brother TJ) all got to be babysitters all day! It was so much fun! We took her to church with us (and got mistaken as being her parents multiple times) and then took her home and spent the day with her, holding her, feeding her, changing her diapers, and watching her sleep. We loved having that opportunity to spend so much time with her, knowing that we won’t get to do that again for a long time.

On Monday, Nick and I set off for our own little adventure, just the two of us, to celebrate Nick’s birthday. We drove over to the coast to spend the day on the beach (you just can’t spend too much time on the beach!), and it was wonderful. The weather was beautiful, and it wasn’t crowded. Then we drove down to Solvang, where we went out to dinner, spent the night, and then did some sightseeing. Their little shops are so much fun and, of course, their Danish pastries are delicious!

Nick's birthday trip to Solvang

Tuesday was Nick’s birthday, so we returned to Nick’s parents’ home, and we spent a few relaxing days there. We went out for dinner on his birthday, we got to watch his little brother play in a baseball game, spent some time swimming in the pool, and he played lots of board games with his family.

Photo booth fun at my cousin's wedding! 

On Friday, we returned to my family’s house, and I got to spend some time catching up with some of my high school friends. I love that we still manage to get together, even after all these years. It was so wonderful to hear their news about new jobs, a new baby, and other adventures!

The next morning, we set out for the Sacramento area, where my cousin was getting married. This was a really fun opportunity for me to see my extended family, because he is a double cousin, meaning we share both sides of the family! So I got to see aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents on my mom’s and dad’s sides, which was a lot of fun! Again, there was a lot of catching up to do!

On our hike in Big Bear

Sunday morning, we left Sacramento and drove down to Bakersfield, where we almost immediately left for Big Bear with the Duerr family. All eight of us spent three days in a beautiful house in Big Bear. It was beautiful and relaxing, and a lot cooler than Bakersfield! The main stress was the fact that there was a forest fire nearby, but thankfully we were never at risk. We spent one day on a short, but fun and beautiful hike. We spent another day out at the lake kayaking, and getting sunburned in the process. On Wednesday, we packed up and headed back to Bakersfield, where Nick and I had to repack all our things for the trip home.

On Thursday, we spent the day traveling back to St. Louis. There was a heart-stopping moment when Delta told us our flight had been cancelled (and we had already made the two hour trip to the airport!) but thankfully they rebooked us on similar flights, and we had good, uneventful flights. I particularly enjoyed watching the thunderstorms in the clouds below us as we flew from Atlanta to St. Louis.

Since our trip, we have mostly been recovering. As you can probably tell, it was a wonderful trip, but since we were constantly travelling, it was really exhausting, and it is so good to be home. We are also still adjusting to the time change, which makes it difficult to wake up early. But we are both somewhat getting back into the swing of things. Nick did liturgy in church on Sunday and is writing a sermon to preach this upcoming weekend. He’s also been hard at work at his two jobs on campus these last few days. I spent some time in my classroom yesterday, as I am trying to get things planned and ready for this upcoming school year. We are looking forward to a relaxing July with some fun events, our wedding anniversary, and time to just spend together before all the craziness of the school year hits again.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

One Down, Three to Go

Dear friends and family,

Normally, we write our blog posts on a busy weekend, crammed between all the errands we have to do before our crazy week starts up again. This blog post, however, is coming to you from two very relaxed people! We are both officially on our summer break!

This month has been quite the adventure, with all those last-minute and end-of-the-year things to do. We’ve also been experiencing the crazy weather of St. Louis in the spring. (Thankfully, we’ve had no tornado warnings in our area yet! Just lots of torrential downpours followed by beautiful sunny days)

My last month at school started with Field Day – a fun day where all the kids spend the day outside playing games. We were blessed with perfect weather for the day! The next week, however, was our long-awaited field trip to the zoo. We had been learning about animals for weeks to lead up to the trip, and the kids were all so excited! Unfortunately, the weather forecast listed an 80% chance of rain and thunderstorms…and stayed unchanged (which is uncommon for St. Louis – usually the weather forecast changes frequently!). We hoped and hoped the rain would stay away, but it hit pretty early in the day, and so most of the kids and their parents opted to head home early. That’s the problem with planning an outdoor field trip! But it was a fun experience, and my first time at the St. Louis Zoo, so I had a lot of fun too! Last Thursday was our Kindergarten graduation service. All my kids got dressed up in adorable little caps and gowns and sang and recited all the Bible verses they had learned, and then I got to pass out diplomas. It was so much fun, and they were adorable. The most rewarding experience that evening though, was to have the parents and grandparents come to me and say how much their children or grandchildren loved school and how much they grew and learned this year. I treasured all those words so much! But I was also excited to declare myself “Not in Charge of Children” for the rest of the summer. I have spent the past week in faculty meetings and cleaning up my classroom, getting it ready for July when I go back and start putting it all back together for next year!

Nick’s last few weeks of the quarter were, as you can expect, full of homework. Thankfully, though, it was not a quarter with too many papers to write, so he was actually more relaxed than usual! He delivered a sermon in Homiletics, and got very good feedback! Now that he has passed Homiletics, he is looking forward to preaching at Our Savior a few times this summer! He also finished an exegetical paper for Exodus and the Torah, and then spent an entire weekend completing take home tests. After that, though, he was done! He is very happy to be done with school until the fall, and has taken to filling his time reading comics instead of textbooks! However, summer does not mean that he isn’t busy. He’s been filling his time this week with work, spending time at two or three of his jobs each day – working in the mail room on campus, working with general labor on campus, and working with a landscaping company. He enjoys the work though and is excited to get more hours now that he isn’t in classes!

We also had the pleasure of having two visits from family this month! Let’s be honest, that doesn’t happen often, being so far from home, so it was really fun! First, we had a visit from my great aunt, aunt, and cousin (okay, they’re really like second cousins or something but it’s just simpler to say it this way), as they were in Missouri for my cousin’s graduation. I hadn’t seen them in years, so it was really fun to chat with them and catch up! They took us out to dinner and we had such a fun evening with them! Later that week, my uncle, aunt, and cousin were also passing through St. Louis, so we got to show them around the seminary and then go out to dinner with them as well (at a DELICIOUS authentic Italian restaurant on The Hill – I don’t think I can go back to ordinary lasagna again!). Again, it was so nice to catch up, and tell my cousin a little about St. Louis, as he is considering attending the seminary when he graduates college! It was so nice to get a taste of home and see some familiar faces…we ate really well that week too!

One thing we did this month was to sit down and write a list of things we want to do this summer. This is the first summer that we really get to be together all summer (as college summers were spent at our respective homes, an hour and a half away from each other, working different jobs). Also, St. Louis is known for its arts and museums – most of which are free! Since we’ve been so busy since we arrived, we haven’t gotten much of a chance to experience these things. This month, we already went to a street fair in Maplewood, the community where we live, a few weeks ago, where we got to taste some unique foods and see what the shops in this community sell. We also went to a Sinatra Tribute Concert on Tuesday night, which was on the lawn of the History Museum in Forest Park – completely free and we couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather! We are looking forward to the events offered here – free musical performances at the Muny, Shakespeare in the Park, the museums, Cardinals games, and more! We are looking forward to a fun summer!

God’s blessings on your summer plans and travels as well! We look forward to seeing some of you very soon in California!

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

Maplewood Street Fair - a Gooey Butter Cake Donut!

Sinatra Tribute Concert at the History Museum

Keeping Busy...Counting our Blessings

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.

Dying eggs! Nick is pretty much a pro. 

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!

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 1^st through 4^th 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

Life Marches On

Every month I say the same thing – it can’t really be the end of March already! I guess that busy days make the time pass quickly! March, usually a long month, was thankfully relaxing for the both of us, as Nick had a week of his spring break during March, and I had my spring break several weeks later.

Nick is now three weeks in to his last quarter of the school year! He is enjoying his classes so far, especially Homiletics, in which he is learning how to craft a sermon and how to preach! He is looking forward to beginning preaching in church this summer. This quarter, for his cross-cultural module, he is spending time with Congregration Chai v’Shalom, a congregation focused specifically on ministry to the Jewish people. He gets to attend worship services there and talk with the members of the congregation, and learn about ministry to the Jews. Today he also got to experience a full Sader meal. This is the meal that is done in remembrance of the Passover, found in Exodus 12. It is really powerful for him to be able to experience this ministry, especially in this time of Holy Week.    

I have enjoyed March because of the beautiful weather that we have had! Although it certainly fluctuates (we even got snow Friday morning!), spring has definitely arrived, and many of the days have been sunny and warm. Being on spring break for part of that, I actually got to enjoy the beautiful weather! We spent several hours one Sunday afternoon in the park with friends, I took one day of my break to meet Nick for a picnic lunch in the middle of his school day, and I have started taking my students outside to read and do nature walks whenever we have a nice day. I think we both weathered our first real winter pretty well, but I will say that I have definitely enjoyed the warmer weather, and not having to scrape ice from the car in the mornings or wear multiple jackets to stay warm!

At the end of my spring break, Nick and I had a great opportunity to attend a two-day prayer retreat put on by Grace Place, an organization focused on the wellness of church workers in the Lutheran church. We had the opportunity to learn about various strategies and resources to help us maintain a healthy personal spiritual life, which is so extremely important, especially for Nick, as he is going into a profession in which he is going to be caring for others’ spiritual needs. We spent time in prayer, reading Scriptures, singing hymns, and meditating on the Word. It was a refreshing and educational experience, and we both really appreciated being able to attend that retreat. This is just one of the wonderful things about being here at the seminary, where they constantly encourage us and help to grow us and prepare us for the ministry!

In between the long work days, the homework, lesson planning and preparation, and chores, we somehow still manage to find time for some fun. Early in the month, we attended Trivia Night at church. Now, apparently, this is a cultural thing that almost much every church or school in the St. Louis area does. Being from California, we didn’t know how it worked. We were given free tickets (another benefit of being in seminary), and so we just planned to show up that evening. It turns out that this is a huge deal, and there are even groups that go around to every trivia night offered and just blow every other team out of the water. The norm is to have a team and table decorations and themed food ready to go. We just showed up, and sat at the table with the two other couples without a team. Our table was pretty sad-looking, completely empty of any themed food or decorations, but we actually did pretty well as far as the trivia went! But we will know better for next year.  We also attended an event on the seminary campus this weekend known as the SWA (Seminary Women’s Association) Ball. Our group of friends decided it would be an inexpensive way to get a fun date night out all together. So we all dressed up and ventured out on a Friday night (not an easy endeavor for a teacher, I’ll have you know) to eat and dance. We all had a lot of fun eating, talking, and dancing, and then we went over to our friends’ apartment to watch a movie, where, in true Mikaela fashion, I fell asleep on the couch! (That’s more like a normal Friday night for a teacher).

Another adventure that we took on this month was a fast from all sweets and desserts. We didn’t do it for Lent, mostly just to try to be healthy (it seemed like a good month with no holidays that would mess it up!). We spent two weeks with limited desserts, and then two weeks with no desserts at all. Although we didn’t do it to lose a certain number of pounds or anything like that, we did learn several important lessons from this dessert fast. First, it opened my eyes to how many desserts and sweets we are offered in a day. Even though we had hidden away all the candy in our apartment and had no fresh baked goods around either, dessert options were available to us – for free! - at least five out of seven days of each week. Between birthday cupcakes in my classroom, huge boxes of chocolate and baked goods that well-meaning congregation members bring the teachers, desserts provided at Lenten suppers, women’s classes at seminary, and the prayer retreat, donuts at church on Sunday morning, and cookies and ice cream available when spending time with friends, we had to say no to desserts more than I expected to have to, even without seeking anything out. The second lesson I learned is that I really missed baking. Baking is one of the things that I enjoy on the weekends to relax and spend time away from work, and I love finding a random dessert on Pinterest and trying it out, and bringing it to our game nights with our friends to share. I wasn’t able to do that in the last month, so doing that yesterday for the first time in a long while was really fun! We also discovered that we are normally the dessert people when we hang out with friends, and we were at a loss of what to bring to game nights and parties when I wasn’t making desserts! Lastly, we learned that we (well, mainly Nick) drink a LOT less milk when we don’t have desserts in the apartment! For the first time since being married, I didn’t have to buy milk this week when I went grocery shopping, because we still had a full gallon in the fridge! Overall, it was a great learning experience, and I think it will help us to make healthier choices in the future, but after writing this, I am going to go dish myself up a nice piece of apple cake.

We want to thank everyone for the amazing support for our time so far in seminary! For those of you supporting us in prayer, we want to let you know that God has answered in amazing ways, and He has blessed us greatly. For those of you who have financially supported us, you are a major part of God’s blessings in our life. Already, the first year of seminary has been completely paid for, and we have not had to take out any loans. We are now beginning to save for next year, hoping to keep up this streak of not accruing more debt! We really appreciate all that you have done for us.

We wish you the best during this celebration of Christ’s passion and resurrection and we celebrate with you the resurrection of life that He offers us through that.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

Enjoying the warm spring weather!

Winter, finally!

At the end of our January blog post, I mentioned how we were so thankful for being blessed with mild weather and good health. Unfortunately, February changed both of those things for us here in the Duerr household!  

February finally brought the winter we’ve been expecting for months! We’ve actually had a few snows that leave more than just a dusting on the ground, and it’s been cold enough that there are piles of snow sitting around, still there after several weeks. It’s been quite the adventure for us! Fortunately, we are still both in love with the snow, and every time there is a snowfall, it’s hard to pull us away from the window. It just would have been nice to have this back in December when we wanted it, not so much now when we want to look ahead to spring! We are also fortunate that the snow has not brought any bad driving conditions for us so far!

February also unfortunately has been a month of sickness in our house. I (Mikaela) came down with strep throat early in February, and I had to take my first sick day of the school year. Thankfully, a trip to urgent care and some antibiotics helped me get back on my feet quickly and in time for my parents’ visit. Unfortunately, a few days after I finished those antibiotics, I started getting sick again. A few days later, Nick ended up really sick as well, so we both made a trip into urgent care, and both tested positive for strep. So we were administered a different kind of antibiotics, and we both took two days off work this week and just stayed home and rested! We are both feeling much better now, and hopefully it stays that way this time!

Thankfully, Nick stayed healthy until after finals week was over. He spent several weeks this month working non-stop on papers and tests, and was very glad for the end of the quarter to come. He gets one more week of break this upcoming week, and then he will be starting his spring quarter! Spring quarter will bring some great classes like Homiletics (after which, he will be able to preach!), and Exodus and the Torah. My month in my classroom has been equally crazy, between several sick days, a field trip, Valentine’s Day, a Kindergarten preview night for prospective students and their parents, and many, many days that have been too cold or wet to take the kids outside to play. I’m looking forward to the days when we go outside more often than we stay in.

A big event for us in February was when my parents came out for a visit! They made the long drive first from California to South Carolina, to visit my younger sister in college there, and then stopped by St. Louis on the way back for a week-long visit. Well, that was the plan anyway! One normal Sunday morning, Nick and I went to church, and since he was doing liturgy at both services, I went down to my classroom during the morning service to get some work done in my classroom (that’s the life of a first year teacher!). I walked up to the church just in time for the late service, and when I opened the door to the narthex, to my surprise, there were my mom and dad standing there! Since I hadn’t seen them since July when we left California, it was a very exciting and emotional moment. They attended church with us, took us out to lunch, and then were on their way to South Carolina to surprise my sister in time for her birthday! (She expected them to arrive several days later). About a week later, they returned to St. Louis (to stay for a while this time!). We had so much fun just hanging out with them and showing them our life here in St. Louis. It was fun for us to show them our apartment, to cook dinners for them, and show them what we’ve accomplished and how we’ve grown up in the last six months. My mom, being a former Kindergarten teacher, loved being in my classroom, and she even came and helped with our Valentine’s Day party and taught my kids some songs and read some fun books to them. Their departure was scheduled for President’s Day, and then a snowstorm came in, so they ended up staying an extra day, which worked out great, because Nick got a snow day off of school, so we had a fun extra day to spend some time with them! They left the next day, leaving our refrigerator and freezer full of food and meals ready to put in the crock pot – such a blessing for us! It was a fun visit, and we look forward to the next time they come!

Another really exciting event for this month was just a few days ago, when we booked our plane tickets to visit California for two weeks this summer! We haven’t been able to afford a trip back since moving here in July, and so over the last few months, we’ve saved as much Christmas money as we could, and any extra money we’ve had left over at the end of the month. We finally saved up enough to purchase the plane tickets! We are looking forward especially to seeing friends and family, going to my cousin’s wedding, throwing my sister a baby shower, and of course, spending some quality time at the beach and eating some In-N-Out!

All dressed up at an Oscar-themed birthday party for a friend! 

In the name of Christ our savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

Month of Mayhem

Can you believe how quickly January seemed to fly by? It’s amazing how quickly the weeks go when we are so busy with work and school!

Nick has kept extremely busy with school, as most of the winter quarter happens in the month of January. He spent most nights in the first week after break staying up until midnight (or later!) working on assignments and reading. This quarter, Nick has been going to a retirement home once a week as part of his coursework. He spends his time there talking with the residents, many of whom don’t have family nearby to visit them. He enjoys talking to them and hearing their stories, and about their families – especially their grandchildren!

Mikaela jumped right back into work right away in January, putting in some hours in the classroom even before break was over. It was hard to keep up with all the extras that come in the month of January – report cards, school fundraisers, open house, National Lutheran School’s Week, and the 100^th Day of School (which is a big deal in Kindergarten!) – all on top of the normal planning, prep work, and teaching that comes with the job! She came home many evenings in those first weeks back with several more hours of work to do before going to bed. One small luxury for her was having a day off of school for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The seminary did not take that day as a holiday, and so while Nick went to school, Mikaela spent a relaxing day at home, and joined him at the seminary for a picnic lunch, enjoying a beautiful day in this mild winter!    

Despite the full days and the long to-do lists, we have enjoyed so many blessings in this past month.

First of all, some of the hectic craziness in our schedules comes from the fact that we get to spend our weekends with wonderful friends! We feel so fortunate to have people here at seminary that we have met and befriended, especially after making such a long move away from friendships we had been developing for years at college. We are blessed to spend time with other couples our age, playing games, watching movies, snacking on good food, and just having good conversation, getting to know each other better.

Secondly, January 12 marked six months of marriage for us! Thanks to gift cards that we have received, we were able to enjoy a nice dinner out at Elephant Bar to celebrate. Once again, time flies doesn’t it? It’s amazing how quickly six months have gone by, and yet we can look back and see how much we have grown together and learned about each other and about living life on our own as grown-ups. (One of these days, we’ll give you some of our “First Year of Marriage Fails” stories.)

We were also blessed financially once again, with God showing us how He is working in our lives over and over! The week before Nick’s seminary tuition payment was due, a check came in that was $14 over what we owed, allowing us to go another quarter without having to take out loans to pay for his schooling. This is a huge blessing to us, allowing us to focus on paying off Mikaela’s student loans, rather than accruing more debt. We continue to be amazed at the way that God’s people show us His love through their generous support of Nick’s ministry, and we want to thank you all for your support, both financially and through prayer!

Lastly, we have been blessed with good health and mild weather, neither of which are to be taken for granted! Mikaela has managed to keep away from most of the illnesses that her Kindergarteners spread around, and when she has gotten sick, they’ve been short illnesses contained in a weekend. And Nick has managed to keep away from the illnesses that Mikaela brings home! We have been grateful for dry, clear days as well, keeping us from having to drive on dangerous, icy roads. Although we wouldn’t mind seeing some more snow (it is still our first year out of California, you know!), we know that we have been blessed with the mild weather that we’ve had so far this winter.

As we go into this next month, we look forward to a visit from Mikaela’s mom and dad, the start of spring break for Nick, the start of the Lenten season, and some good times with friends. We are so thankful for the blessings that God has granted us, and we thank you for being God’s blessing in our lives, whether through financial support, prayers, or friendship.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

Picnic Lunch at the Seminary