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