September

Hiking at Castlewood State Park

            September has been a month primarily dedicated to school for Mikaela and I. Mikaela has spent the last month trying to learn what it means to teach upper grades. In kindergarten the most grading you do is putting a star at the top of the page. Tests are done verbally, one on one. And grades are not really a thing. In middle school, however, all of those things are a part of every teacher’s experience. And so while teaching in the classroom is comfortable to her, she’s been working on how to manage all of the things that come with it. Weekends are spent lesson planning, and writing tests for the first time was a challenge.

But as much extra work and stress that it is, she is looking at it as a learning opportunity, expanding her skills so that when we move she is more marketable, especially in the grades she would prefer to teach in.

Apple picking on a fall morning

                At the Seminary, there has recently been a massive overhaul of the curriculum, including a change from quarters to semesters. This sounds like longer classes, but instead most of my classes only go half a term, seven weeks. And so with such short terms, September covered most of the first set of classes. This means that those classes came with what feels like a significantly more rushed pace. Papers are spaced a lot closer together, and readings have ended up being more compacted. That being said, this year has actually been lighter because while the classes have been compacted, there are less at one time. But in any case, this first term has really flown by.

                Not everything we’ve done at the seminary has been in the classroom. Already we have begun having meetings for placement. Our first meeting was just a general introduction to what would be happening, and what would be required of us, throughout the next year in order to receive a call. On top of that we got applications to fill out, interviews scheduled, and many other things to do. It is actually rather thrilling to be able to begin this process and start our journey toward long-term service in a church, and to not be moving every year.

                We also took time off of official business to spend some time adventuring with friends. One weekend we drove out to a state park to go on a hike with a small group of people here from the seminary, catching some surprisingly beautiful views. Another weekend we decided to make the most of our long-delayed fall weather to go apple picking with some friends in a nearby orchard, and then went to a barbecue festival in downtown St. Louis. And mixed in with all of this we have been taking plenty of walks around the campus and into Forest Park, and even exercising on occasion. All in all though, outside of school, things have been relatively quiet, although October should really change that.

                We ask for prayers in many areas of our lives right now. We appreciate your prayer support so much. It makes such a difference to know that the community of Christ stretches across the country so that we can lift each other up in prayer no matter where we may live. We ask that you pray for the placement process. In late October and early November, we will be going into interviews with placement directors here at the seminary to help clarify what we are looking for in a church, community, and ministry as we look to our first call. We ask for prayers for wisdom and discernment for ourselves and the placement directors, that we may all clearly express what needs to be expressed. We also ask that you pray for churches that are beginning the call process, that they may also receive a pastor who is best fit for their congregation. We especially ask for prayers in our personal lives. There are things going on in our personal lives that we cannot share publicly, but we would appreciate it if you would pray for us, for peace and healing, and that we continue to trust in and rely on God above all else.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nicholas and Mikaela Duerr

Back to the Seminary

Hello all!

August has been… well, what do you expect from August? It’s that month of transition from summer back to real life and back to school. August began with Mikaela beginning her faculty meetings, prepping her classroom, and all of those last minute details she had to take care of before students came pouring in, if not quite ready to learn, at least present. At the same time, I was wrapping up vicarage, saying my goodbyes, and preaching one last sermon. Leaving Immanuel was a very bittersweet time for us. Our year there was fantastic. The church, the community, everything about being there was wonderful. But, at the same time, moving back to seminary was nice. Not only is it nice to see all of our friends again, but we are now one large, tangible step closer to being done with seminary, and beginning what feels like real life, with a real job (for me, Mikaela’s had one for years), and all those trappings that come with finally settling in. But then is not now.

Our last photo at our home in Washington, MO on moving day

Moving day sat perfectly in between our return from our trip to Washington, DC and the start of Mikaela’s school year. We were thankful to have most of our house packed up before we went on vacation due to work going on in the house while we were gone, so that upon returning, we could focus on our jobs rather than packing. After a busy week, we took some time to finish up the last of the packing – the kitchen and those last-minute things you have to use until the day you move – and we were ready for moving day. Moving day went about as perfectly as any moving day can. The weather was absolutely perfect – a rarity for August in St. Louis – and everything stayed on schedule and all our things fit in the moving truck! We had a huge crew from Immanuel (including a bunch of the youth who arrived all piled in a van) come to help. The youth were particularly helpful since most of our belongings were down in the basement after being packed away, so they got everything upstairs quickly and effectively, and helped with other odd jobs, while a few helpful men stayed in the moving truck and packed it with no space left unused. After finishing up, we made the hour drive to the seminary. We were so blessed to have the help of many friends there as well, so that I hardly had to carry a single box or piece of furniture! They even stuck around in the evening to chat and help unpack some boxes so that we could actually move around in the apartment. So we finished the day very tired, as is to be expected, but very successful in our moving day.

And so, after moving onto the seminary campus, Mikaela began perhaps her most interesting school year. With so few kindergarteners (four) her day seemed somewhat empty, and her school was looking for a way to use the most of her abilities. And so at lunch time her kindergartners leave with the first graders, and she transitions to teaching middle schoolers, specifically 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th graders. Of course, she will tell you that it isn’t as bad as it sounds because some of her students are pretty advanced, so really it’s only like teaching two grades (not including the kindergarteners). And so she is re-learning how to teach, since middle schoolers behave significantly differently than kindergartners. That, and now she has to come home and grade papers, because stars marking that they completed their work doesn’t cut it any more. But despite all of the new challenges she is facing, she is in fact really enjoying the new schedule. Upper grades is where she wanted to be anyway, and she marvels at the fact that now when she comes home from school she isn’t completely wiped out from chasing a dozen five and six year olds around for hours on end. And so as the month has progressed, she has begun to find her groove, only to have new challenges present themselves daily. So while she is still learning, she is having fun as she does so.

My transition has been nearly as jarring. After having a couple weeks off following vicarage, seminary classes began the last Monday in the month. Going from a job, with an office, and everything that comes with it, to being back in classes has been an interesting experience. Already it feels like a difference. But add to that that upon my return, things had actually changed. Prior to leaving, the seminary had been on a quarter system, and so I had had three ten-week quarters to work through material. Now we have fourteen-week semesters that are sometimes split in two. So, in fact, a majority of my classes are these seven week sprints through the material, which makes week one so much closer to the end of the term. Just to give you an idea, the classes I began this week will end on October 12^th. So any papers or projects I will do will be due before then. It feels like an incredibly short amount of time, all things considered. That being said, the classes seem fantastic, so overall it will be a great semester.

A big exciting event that happened here in St. Louis, but of course all over the country, was the solar eclipse! St. Louis was in the path of totality, which made it an incredible experience for us. Mikaela got to watch it with her middle schoolers, turning it into a science lesson as they observed the light and temperature changes. I got to watch it at a seminary-sponsored viewing party with many friends, complete with eclipse-themed food like Sun Chips, Eclipse Gum, Starburst and Milky Ways. Thankfully all the worry about extra traffic and crowding didn't affect us, so we got to enjoy it completely. 

At the Muny for Newsies

In and out of school responsibilities we have still found time to have some fun. Shortly after moving back to St. Louis we were able to attend the Muny, a large outdoor theater in Forest Park, and see the musical Newsies, which is one we had heard about (and heard songs from), but neither of us had seen. It was a very entertaining show to watch. We also have been able to spend plenty of time with friends whom we missed over vicarage. And now that we live on campus, we sometimes get text messages saying, “Hey! We have a fire going if you want to come over,” and it’s a simple enough matter of walking over a couple of apartments to spend time with our friends.

We are thankful that August is over. It is always an exciting month, but a very exhausting one. We are now settling back into our routines, remembering how to do those mundane things like wake up early every morning, pack lunches, and do all our chores on the weekends. Our apartment feels like home now, with just the decorations still sitting in a box to be put up on the walls…maybe. And we are looking forward to the experiences that the year will bring us through work, school, and social events. We have planned for a few races already, we have a trip planned to Chicago in October, and we even have flights to California booked for December so we will be in California for Christmas for the first time in four years! There are so many things to be thankful for, and we thank God for every one of the blessings He has poured out on us.

Please keep us in your prayers as we begin the process of placement for our first call. Please pray that we would have the wisdom to make decisions for our future that will take us where God wants us to be. Please keep us both in your prayers, that we both have a good and healthy school year. Thank you for constantly blessing us with your support and prayers.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

July

Today is an unusual Saturday for a few reasons. First, when I woke up this morning it was about 50 degrees out, so I’m sitting with the doors open and enjoying the lovely weather. Second, I’m sitting in a house with most of our belongings packed away in boxes, with only the essentials and big furniture still out in the house. It’s hard to believe that we’re only a few days from our move back to the seminary. But before I get ahead of myself, I’ll tell you what we’ve been up to in the past month!

July seemed to both drag and fly by. As for me, after having June be filled up with responsibilities, July was a contrast, as I stayed at home most days, working on things for school, packing, and relaxing and enjoying summer. Unfortunately, that meant that usually by the time Nick got home from work or the weekend rolled around, I was extremely bored, but he was usually tired or busy with church things. So the first few weeks of July went very slowly for me, but I did manage to get a lot done, and of course, I always miss the down time when it’s gone.

Nick, on the other hand, was pretty busy in July. Our pastor took a group from the church to Germany to tour for the Reformation celebrations that are going on this year, so Nick was in charge for a few weeks while he was out of town. In this time, Nick had to preach (4 services a weekend) and lead Bible study both weekends, as well as lead a funeral service, and lead the basketball camp he had been planning for months. It kept him quite busy, and he was glad to have pastor come back from their trip.

If the first few weeks of July dragged, the last week flew! This is because we got our long-awaited trip to Washington DC! After making sure our house was ready for people to come in and redo the floors and paint the walls while we were gone, we started driving on a Thursday morning. It was about 16 hours total to the Eastern shore of Maryland, where my great-aunt lives, so we split the drive up into two days in order to be able to relax and enjoy the drive. After a night in Pittsburgh area, we made our way to Maryland and arrived in time for dinner. There, we had fun catching up with my Aunt Jill and my sister, Karina, and her husband, Hunter, who drove up from South Carolina that day to join us in our trip.

The next morning, the four of us piled in Karina and Hunter’s car and took off. First, we stopped off at the beach. Assateague Island State Park is only a few minutes from my Aunt Jill’s house, and it is famed for having wild ponies that live there. We were able to get there nice and early, before the heat and the crowds. We spent a few hours enjoying the ocean – it was the first time I’ve been to the beach in a couple years – and trying to keep the wild ponies away from our things! (When they say don’t bring food on the beach, they mean it. Those ponies will get into your bags and eat everything.) After that, it was off to Baltimore. We went to Fort McHenry, the location of the battle that inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner.” We also had a fun adventure involving looking for a gas station in a not-so-nice part of town…but we managed to find a gas station and were on our way to Washington DC without a problem. We were lucky to find a nice Airbnb (first time I’ve ever used it!) in Washington DC, a two-bedroom apartment for cheaper than many hotels would be. It was nice to be able to relax and cook for ourselves when we wanted. (Also, good news – Aldi can be found in Washington DC area!).

Sunday morning we were up early to start our first full day in DC. We started with attending the 7:30 a.m. service at the Basilica of the National Shrine – the largest Catholic church in America. It was a beautiful church to see and experience. After church, we headed to the National Mall, where we would be spending much of our time over the next few days. It was my first time ever being there, and it was so incredibly surreal. You see so many pictures, and it is used as the setting for so many movies and TV shows, so being there felt like this strange experience that felt familiar but I felt so awe-struck at the same time. It was a very hot and humid day, so by the time we had walked the 2 miles from our parking spot near the Lincoln Memorial to the National Archives, which was our first stop, we were all dripping with sweat and extremely tired. Thankfully, the museums are kept nice and cool, and we had reservations for the National Archives, so we didn’t have to wait in an extremely long line out in the sun! We really enjoyed the Archives, especially with our slight obsession with National Treasure – we got to see the big name documents – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We also really enjoyed just seeing the other exhibits of types of things that they store at the Archives, like videos, patents, military records, and more. After that, we headed off to the Air and Space Museum as well as the Museum of American History. By the end of that museum, we were all ready to call it quits. It was a long and hot day with a lot of walking. We made the long walk back to the car, and we really enjoyed being able to go back to the apartment and relax. A fun part of that night was that we decided to make reservations to go out to a fancy dinner. We found a restaurant called The Hamilton (okay, so that’s another slight obsession) that was a good balance because it was a nice restaurant but also one that didn’t require our life savings to eat there. The food was delicious and it was a really fun experience.

Monday, we set off for some more museums. This time, we took the Metro, about a 10 minute walk to the station from our apartment, but it dropped us off closer to the museums than we could have parked. It was an interesting experience to take the Metro during commuting time. We started off the day with a tour of the Capitol building! By requesting a tour through their congressman, Karina and Hunter managed to get us a tour from one of his interns, which was really a neat experience. We got to use the underground tunnel that connects all those government buildings (now we understand how they wear suits in that heat!) and see most of the Capitol building. It was fun to hear all the random fun facts, like the cats who lived there and left paw prints behind, seeing the mark on a statue from a bullet from a time a gunman got in, and seeing the place where the congressmen would rub their feet so much that it left a divot behind in the floor. We enjoyed having a tour that allowed us to listen, after all the reading the day before. Unfortunately, nothing was really going on in the House of Representative or Senate chambers that day, so we didn’t get to see anything too exciting there. We also got to go to the Library of Congress that day and see the Gutenberg Bible, as well as the Supreme Court building, which was not on our agenda but we really enjoyed seeing (although if you do plan to go there, bring sunglasses. Those steps are blinding on a sunny day). At that point, our feet were just about done in, so we took a quick break before seeing the Botanical Gardens and walking over to Lafayette Park to see the White House (just from the outside, unfortunately – our request to get a tour was denied because of high volume). By the time we got home that evening, I had learned my lesson – good walking shoes must be worn! My feet were hurting so incredibly much that I tried to stay off them that evening.

Thankfully, the next day, our feet got a break, as we used the bike rental service to ride around to see all the monuments and memorials in the National Mall. By this time, we had seen many of them as we made our way around, but we got to take the time to stop and see them up close. Thankfully, it was also a beautiful day, much cooler than the previous days had been, so spending most of the day outside was actually enjoyable. We went to the Museum of Natural History that day, and then we took a sight-seeing ferry down the Potomac from Georgetown to Alexandria. That was such a fun experience because 1) we could sit, and 2) Alexandria was a little unexpected treasure! We enjoyed our time there much more than expected, and then easily took the Metro back to our apartment.

Wednesday was our last day in the DC area before hitting the road for Pennsylvania. Our morning was spent at Mount Vernon – possibly one of my favorite places of our trip. Mount Vernon is beautifully maintained, with many different tour possibilities. My sister and I, with our affection for the National Treasure movies, knew we had to book the National Treasure tour, and I am so glad we did. Being a specialty tour, it was about 90 minutes long with a small group and our own tour guide, who was so entertaining. He was able to give us insight into the house and estate, the movie and filming, and show us where they had filmed. I am so glad we took that extra tour, because the standard mansion tour, although interesting, was short and very crowded. On our way north from there, we stopped at Arlington National Cemetery, and then we were on our way to Philadelphia!

Philadelphia was a huge adventure for all of us. It was about dinnertime as we arrived, so our goal was to find an authentic Philly cheesesteak sandwich (what else?). However, as we drove around the streets of Philadelphia, there was absolutely no parking. At all. We were driving through streets lined with cars bumper to bumper. It was pretty claustrophobic, actually. So we opted to go to our hotel instead and then take an Uber to dinner. It was our first time ever taking an Uber, so that was a fun learning experience. We found a delicious restaurant for Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, and even better, right next door, there was a speakeasy, styled after the Prohibition era, complete with a hidden entrance, a bouncer at the door, and craft cocktails. It was such a fun experience! The next day, we saw all the historic sights of Philadelphia (and were so thankful that they were all extremely close together!). We started with Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, then walked around to find locations like Christ Church and its cemetery, the sites of Alexander Hamilton’s home and Treasury Secretary office, and the US Mint in Philadelphia. For lunch, we went to Reading Terminal Market, a huge indoor market full of vendors and restaurants. It was so amazing, we each got lunch and dessert too!

After that, it was off to Amish Country. We spent a relaxing evening at the hotel, and the next day, we went out and did some sight-seeing. The highlight was going on an Amish farm tour, which was so much fun. We rode in a horse-drawn wagon and got a full tour of the area and the farm by the man who used the own the farm, but has now passed it down to his son. While there, we bought cookies and homemade lemonade and root beer from some of our tour guide’s granddaughters who live there on the farm. It was fun to learn about their farming processes (they are dairy farmers) and their lives in general. The thing that struck me most was how our tour guide knew just about everything about his neighbors – where church had been held, how many kids they all have, when they planted certain crops and when they would harvest. It was amazing to see this lifestyle.

Wrapping up our trip, we returned to the Eastern shore of Maryland, and stayed one more night with my Aunt Jill. The next morning, Nick and I were up at 5:00 for our long drive back home. We needed to be back for church the next morning, so we hit the road and just kept driving. Thank goodness for audio books, that helped make the drive seem not so long! We arrived back home around 10:00 that night and were very thankful to be home, even though everything was a little messy and disorganized from the work that had been done on the house when we were gone.

The next morning at church, we were surprised with a wonderful send-off reception from the congregation. Everyone brought delicious breakfast foods and celebrated with us, thanking us for the time we have spent here. They also gave us an extremely generous gift, and we are so thankful and in awe of the love that this congregation has shown us. Today is our last Sunday at Immanuel (yes, I have written this post over two days), and it’s hard to believe that the time has gone so quickly. I think that although I am ready to move and have gone through all the steps necessary to do so, I haven’t quite fully processed the fact that I won’t be attending church here anymore, or living in Washington, both of which I have enjoyed so much this year. We will definitely miss this wonderful city and the community at Immanuel so much, and we are thankful that we will only be an hour away in St. Louis so we can still see friends that we have made in our time here.

What’s in the future for us now? (This is the reward for those of you who made it through all the boring vacation news!) We will be moving back to the seminary on Tuesday, living in an apartment on seminary campus. I start a new school year next Wednesday, with some changes to my job this year. I will continue teaching Kindergarten in the mornings, but due to a small class size, my Kindergarteners will join 1^st grade in the afternoon, and then I will be going upstairs to teach the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grades for the afternoon, teaching science and language arts. It’s been a bit (a lot) hectic trying to wrap my brain around how to teach upper grades after three years in Kindergarten and trying to get two classrooms ready, but I am excited for this opportunity. Nick will begin classes again a few weeks after that, with courses in preaching, systematics, and others to help wrap up his seminary classes. We are looking forward to traveling this year, with plans to go to Chicago in October and to California for Christmastime. We will begin the process for our call placement starting as soon as we get back to seminary, with meetings debriefing vicarage and then beginning meetings about filling out paperwork and the call process, and then interviews starting probably around January. We will find out where we will be called on April 24, Call Day!

We would appreciate prayers for our transition back to seminary. As excited as we are to go back and be with our seminary friends, it is hard to leave a piece of our hearts behind again as we move. Please pray for Immanuel as they transition to a new vicar. We would also appreciate prayers for the start of the new school year, as I navigate a new teaching experience and Nick goes back to classes, that we would both live out our vocations to the best of our abilities and to God’s glory. Please also pray for the call/placement process, that God would give us wisdom as we start to think about the choices we have to make and begin to fill out paperwork, so that we may go where He can best use us.

We are so thankful for all your support and blessings, for the prayers, the friendships, and the financial support we have been given.

If you are new to our blog, welcome! We try to update monthly as best as we can, and you can sign up to receive email alerts each time we post.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

June

Hello friends and family!

I hope you have been enjoying your summer as we have been enjoying ours. June has brought many fun events and some good, relaxing time. It is good to de-stress from the school year and to enjoy not being tired all the time!

Nick in a VBS skit at the opening of the day

I personally spent most of June teaching, although in a different way than I usually do. Our Savior has a summer program this year, and I spent two weeks in June teaching that group of students for an hour a day. It was an interesting experience, since it was mostly made up of two and three year olds, and there’s only so much teaching you can actually do with students that age. But it was fun, and it gave me a reason to spend some extra time in my classroom, getting things ready for the next school year, since August is always pretty crazy, and it will be even more crazy with having to move back to seminary the week before school starts. On top of that, I spent a week teaching at VBS at Immanuel. Nick and I, as vicar and wife, were put in charge of the Storytelling station, where students come to hear the Bible story of the day. Each day, we had about 150 kids come through our station, from age 3 through 4^th grade, with anywhere from 15-40 students in each group. Nick and I divided the duties, with me covering the younger groups and Nick leading the older groups, with the other assisting with props and costumes when not leading. It was fun to work together as a team, but we also saw that that particular job at VBS was not the one that either of us would choose, if we were given a choice. But like we’ve been told, every vicarage experience is a learning experience!

At the movie theater for Nick's birthday

The fun part was that Nick’s birthday fell on the Friday of VBS. He had also been recruited to act in the skits shown in opening and closing each day, and so he spent each day in a king costume. That Friday, all the students at VBS sang happy birthday to the “king.” Later that day, we celebrated Nick’s birthday by driving into St. Louis to see Wonder Woman at a movie theater that has comfy, reclining seats, and then went to Red Robin for dinner.

Nick has been busy with work as well this past month, as he has been preaching very regularly with pastor out of town for various events and vacation days. He has also been solely leading the summer Bible study on the history of the church, and impressing many church members with his knowledge in the process. He was, of course, involved in VBS, and is also working toward the summer basketball camp that he is leading as well.

To continue our running hobby, we signed up for a church-hosted 5K race this June. It was a fun run called the Chicken Run, held on the weekend of a local church’s big festival and chicken dinner. Nick was in much better shape than I, having just run a half marathon a few weeks before, but we ran it together and both placed in our age categories (although in a small race like that, an award is pretty much default).

Heartland of America park

After the three weeks of early mornings and teaching between summer camp and VBS, I was very happy to have a genuine summer, with days entirely free from obligations. We started that time off with a mini vacation. This was mostly in order to help us meet our goal of visiting each of Missouri’s 8 border states before we move away next summer. We visited Arkansas in February, and planned a short trip to Nebraska and Iowa last week. On Sunday, after church, we drove to Omaha (which is, thankfully, on the eastern side of the state). Omaha offers a brewery tour, so Nick ordered a booklet ahead of time, and it led us to several breweries, all different locations and styles. It was really fun to explore the different breweries over Sunday and Monday. On Monday morning, we went to Omaha’s Heartland of America park, which is a beautiful park right next to the Missouri River. As we walked over toward the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge (a bridge crossing the Missouri River that also crosses the border of Nebraska and Iowa), we saw that Omaha has a bike rental program. It’s a fun little program, where you pay a small amount at any one of the bike stations, and there are lots of stations all over the city, so you can ride the bikes to get around and return them at a station, then pick up new bikes to get to the next place. We really enjoyed it, as it made it easier to get around the downtown area without having to walk everywhere or look for parking. The bikes helped us to get around, across the bridge, and to and from several different breweries.

Riding bikes around Omaha

After enjoying Omaha (and wishing we had planned more time there), we drove to Des Moines to stay there for the night. The next morning, we stopped at the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park. Unfortunately, neither of us really understand abstract art, but we had fun seeing the large sculptures and taking pictures. Along our way home, we stopped at several other places in Iowa, both at the Amana Colonies, a little town with handcrafted shops and such, and at Riverside, Iowa, which is a little town that boasts itself as the “Future birthplace of Captain Kirk.” There is a little museum with a bunch of Star Trek memorabilia and a monument, hidden behind a beauty parlor. It was fun to drive through rural Iowa – we were also lucky that it happened to be a few days of absolutely gorgeous weather. We enjoyed our little vacation together before returning to start preparing for our move.

Inside one of the sculptures at the sculpture park

We were very excited to welcome some of our seminary friends back from vicarage this weekend! We spent Friday and Saturday helping some friends move back to St. Louis, especially fun because they have two little boys who have grown up so much over the last year! We are so excited to have them back and we are looking forward to moving back into the city to be closer to all our friends for the year.

July is, thankfully, less scheduled than June (at least for me), but no less busy. We have begun preparing to move back to seminary in August, and I still have lots of work to prepare for the upcoming school year. Nick will be very busy the next few weeks, as pastor is out of town and so Nick is taking all the usual church responsibilities as well as planning a basketball camp for next week. We are especially looking forward to our upcoming trip to Washington DC and Philadelphia with my sister and her husband! And after that, time is going to fly as I start up a new school year, we move back to the seminary, and Nick begins his last academic year. Thank you again for all your prayers and support, we appreciate it more than you can imagine!

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

April and May: The home stretch before summertime

Greetings friends and family!

It’s hard to believe that almost 2 months have passed since I last wrote a blog post, but time flies these days! In the past few weeks, our lives have been filled with the excitement of the wrap up of a school year (for me) and the anticipation of what is to come! It is fun to have this excitement and anticipation to break up the normal routines of our lives.

I’m going to back up a little and start with when our lives were still pretty routine, going about the normal school year, back in April. Nick and I were both kept busy with Holy Week services, with his assisting or preaching at each service that week, and my singing with the choir in many of those services as well. I always appreciate the few days that I have off of school in order to spend that time at church and catching up on sleep after a long day of Easter services. A family in the congregation was kind enough to invite us over for Easter dinner. It was fun to enjoy their company and the freedom from having to cook a holiday meal for just the two of us

After Easter, things got pretty busy for a few weeks. School kept me busy through extra meetings and preparation for the school musical, which I am in charge of. It’s always pretty hectic in that last week as we try and get the last practices finished and those last details taken care of, but it is one of the most worthwhile experiences of my school year every year. Being able to hear the children sing, act, and proclaim the message of Christ to those who come watch them, and hearing the excitement from the parents and grandparents after the performance, are some of my favorite memories of each school year. This year, it was made extra special by the fact that Nick’s family was here to watch it and see the product of my work.

At the seminary's commencement service wit h Mark

Speaking of that, we got a visit from Nick’s family in late April, for an even more exciting day (for his brother, Mark), Call Day! They flew in late on a Tuesday night, arriving at our house after we had gone to sleep. Wednesday evening after school, I joined the whole family at Mark’s house and we went to the seminary for the call service. It is always an exciting service, especially since we had many friends getting their calls – some expected, some totally out of the blue, and some very, very exciting. After Call Day on Wednesday, a birthday dinner for Nick’s mom, Cathy, on Thursday, and the school musical on Friday, we were very ready for the weekend! It was a short visit, but very nice to be able to get some family time.

We’ve also been fortunate to see some other wonderful friends over the course of April and May, which was so much fun. Our group of friends from seminary was scattered all over the country for vicarage, but we’ve gotten to see most of them in the last few months! Several of our friends are working from home while on vicarage, while still based in St. Louis, so they have to make work trips back to St. Louis on occasion. This meant that in April, my friend Ashley (also on local vicarage) and I got to spend time with several of our friends when they were in town, which is always a wonderfully refreshing and enjoyable time. In May, Nick and I were excited to see some other friends when they came to St. Louis for commencement at the Seminary – some of our friends because they were graduating from the deaconess program, and some who came to celebrate graduation with others. It’s been an exciting time, because we’re all gearing up to return to St. Louis for our last year of seminary, making plans for where we will live and when we will move. Graduation day was actually the day that on-campus housing sent out housing assignments, so we were excited to talk about how close we will be living to each other!

A visit from some wonderful friends!

Back to the last week of April – it was an extremely busy week, so on Saturday, I was thankful for a day to rest and have some friends over in the evening. It was also a very stormy day, with thunderstorms backed up one behind another. We woke up, ready to go for a run, and when we heard thunder, we thought, “Well, we can wait until this passes.” Then we looked at the weather radar and realized the storm wouldn’t be passing anytime soon. Sure enough, it rained and stormed all day, pretty much keeping us home from any errands we could run. But it was enjoyable and we kept the doors open to enjoy the sound and smell of the rain. I didn’t realize how extreme the storms had been until I drove to school on Monday morning. For a little background information, I take three highways to get to my school. Highway 100 takes me about 10 miles pretty much from our house straight southeast to Highway 44. Highway 44 takes me about 25 miles east toward St. Louis. Then, I exit onto Highway 141, which I follow for just about a mile or two until I get to my school. On that Monday morning, I started driving to work, probably listening to Hamilton (apparently I should’ve been listening to the news), and when I approached my exit to 141, I saw signs saying the exit was closed due to flooding. Thankfully, I could easily drive past that exit and to the next exit and get to school no problem, but many people trying to go the other way were stuck in traffic for an hour or more. Upon arriving at school, the concern of the other teachers at my commute prompted me to look at the news – it turns out that the flooding was only getting worse (apparently that’s how it works) as the river crested, and that there were plans to close Highway 44 as well. That put a huge damper on my already 45-minute long commute. Thankfully, I got home Monday night before they closed the highway, but I had to make plans for the next day and the possibility of getting stuck in hours of traffic on the alternate route (after the ice storm in December and getting stuck for 3 hours, I was prepared for something like that again). So I made plans for a sub in the morning in case I couldn’t get there in time for the start of school, packed a bag that night, and planned to stay the night at another teacher’s house on Tuesday, as the river was not expected to crest until Wednesday, and we knew there would be road closures for the rest of the week. Tuesday morning, I woke up early and left the house by 6:00, making it to school in time for devotions at about 7:40. I had to take a long alternate route that was clogged up with everyone else doing the same thing, but it could’ve been worse. Thankfully, with the planned road closures that MODOT was updating throughout the day on Tuesday, before the end of the school day, our principal decided to close school for the next two days because too many teachers and students would not be able to get to school. So I rushed out of school that afternoon, and got home about 2 hours later, and then didn’t leave the house for two more days! On Friday morning, school was open again, and Highway 44 was opened up before my commute that morning, so I was able to make that drive in a decent amount of time. By Tuesday the next week, 141 was open again, and I was never so thankful for a normal commute! We are thankful that many communities were better prepared for the flooding this time around, but we know that some people are still struggling to recover their homes and businesses, even a month later.

After that week, May ran like a normal May. I had the anticipation and work for getting ready for the end of the school year – graduation, field trips, field day, packing up and cleaning out everything! It’s always a fun time of year, even though it can be very tiring. It’s still hard to believe it was only a few weeks ago that I spent the last day with my kids and that I will be welcoming a new group soon! Nick has kept extremely busy with preaching – preaching most of the Sundays in May, as well as leading Bible studies as usual, and working to plan for VBS and a summer basketball camp that he is in charge of. He also organized another event for the young adults ministry, which is growing and thriving! We are praying that it continues to grow even as the next vicar steps in and starts bringing new people into the community of the church.

RiverTown Run - Nick ran the half marathon, I ran the 5K

During May, Nick accomplished a really impressive personal goal – to run a half marathon by himself. We have run several half marathons together over the last few years, and it has been a really fun way for us to spend time together. However, I chose not to run the half marathon that was coming up in Washington in May. Nick decided he still wanted to do it. So he trained by himself (running up to 12 miles each week alone!), running in the afternoons before I got home from work, and eventually, finished the half marathon in a great time, at about 2 hours and 2 minutes! This beat our first half marathon time of 2:05, which is extremely impressive considering he was running without a buddy and having to conquer all of Washington’s hills on top of that! I joined in the fun by running the 5K race that day.

We are enjoying what June has brought us. Even though I finished up school two weeks ago, the time since then has been busy with teacher meetings and cleaning up and wrapping up the year. I have kept busy this week between doing some teaching at our school’s summer camp, as well as trying to work ahead to get ready for next school year. I know it’s a bit crazy to be working ahead this early, but between the vacation we are planning in late July and having to move back to the seminary in August, I know that this is my best time to start preparing for the new school year. Next week will be VBS at Immanuel, which Nick and I are both helping with, and then another week of summer camp and working in my classroom while Nick prepares for the time that Pastor will be out of town and for his basketball camp.

Even in the midst of the work, however, we have been enjoying summer. Even though we’ve both been keeping pretty regular hours at work, we are enjoying the flexibility of summer, meaning sleeping in a little bit, and enjoying more relaxed afternoons and evenings. We’ve been spending time with friends in the evenings, as well as enjoying our most recent purchase – some new lawn chairs and a table so we can more easily spend time out on the back porch during those beautiful evening hours. We actually just enjoyed a nice dinner outside, chatting and observing the wildlife in our backyard.

Some exciting news that recently came about is that we have officially paid off the loan that we had on our car! We purchased this car three years ago, before getting married and moving to St. Louis, with the help of my dad, and we are so excited to have paid off the loan two years early! We are now down to only one debt left, which are Nick’s student loans. Thankfully, his loans have not been accruing interest, since they are all subsidized and have been deferred as he has been in school full time since graduating college. In addition, we haven’t had to take out any new loans to cover the cost of seminary, so we are currently accomplishing our goal of leaving seminary with less debt than we entered with. We are even hoping to leave seminary debt free! It is a lofty goal, but God has shown us over the last few years that He is capable of so much more than we ever thought possible, and with the generous gifts that we have received, we have paid off large debts in just a few short years.

Well, three pages later and I think I’ve got you all pretty up-to-date on what’s going on here in Missouri. Watch the next few months for updates from vacations and our move back to the seminary!

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr

Happy Easter! With some happenings from February and March

Hello, friends and family! Happy Easter! Christ is Risen!

It is 5:49 a.m. as I sit down to write this blog post, because, well, it’s Easter and my husband is a church worker. That meant a 4:30 wake up time so that he could be ready for the Sunrise Service. I chose to stay home from that service and take a bit more of a relaxed morning so that I could cook him breakfast, plus I’ll be at the next two services of the morning to sing with the choir. (Also because this year I actually have the option of staying home from Sunrise Service because we have two cars, unlike the last few years!).

I have to apologize for the lack of blog posts over the last few months. Our schedules have been incredibly full between two churches and family visits, taking up most of our weekend time (as in, there was not a single free weekend in February or March!). Although really, that’s not a great excuse, so again, I apologize.

I guess I will back up and start with February. One big, exciting thing that happened in February was the kick-off for the young adult ministry that Nick was in charge of starting at Immanuel. It is called Couples Date Night, and he invited all married couples of a young adult age to join and be a part of this ministry. It started with a kick-off event in which we all came together, got to know each other, ate dinner, and played games. Then, we were grouped into groups of 8 people (4 couples) and instructed to make plans to get together four times over the next few months. So that then kicked off a few months of Sunday night dinners every other week with the other couples we have been  grouped with, with each couple hosting a dinner. It has been a fun way to get to know other young couples in the church and spend time with them on a regular basis.

Nick standing by a fountain of hot springs water

Another big, exciting event in February was our trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas! We decided over Christmas break that we would challenge ourselves to visit each of Missouri’s 8 border states in the next year and a half that we are here in St. Louis. We began with Arkansas, because we needed to find a place with more temperate weather, since we were visiting over President’s Day weekend! Thankfully, we didn’t need to worry about that, and we had beautiful 70 degree weather the whole weekend. We went to Hot Springs, which is home to a national park and the site of a lot of old, historic bathhouses that were frequented back in the “age of leisure.” It was such an interesting place, as it was a mix of a national park, museums in old bathhouses, modern and functional bathhouses, and a downtown area with a night scene. We were able to get discounted tickets through our hotel to one of the bathhouses, botanical gardens, and an overlook tower that allowed us to see the whole area and learn more about its history. One night, we went to a brewery that brews their own beer using the hot springs water, which Nick enjoyed a lot. I unexpectedly enjoyed the botanical gardens a lot, as we got to get away from the downtown Hot Springs crowds and also enjoy spring blossoms that hadn’t yet appeared in our area in Missouri. A fun discovery was a cute little cupcake shop that has been featured on Cupcake Wars, called Fat Bottomed Girls Cupcakes. They were incredibly delicious! It was a fun getaway trip for the two of us in the midst of a lot of stressful events in our lives, and I thank God for the opportunity to travel and explore together. We are hoping to plan another weekend adventure sometime this summer to check off another border state!

Nick's flight of hot springs beer for tasting

February turned out to be a month of relief for both of us. We had been facing some stressors in our lives that had been hitting a peak right around the end of January and beginning of February, making for some very difficult days. Thankfully, God provided relief for us in different ways and through different people in our lives. I thank all of you for your constant prayers for us, because even without knowing the details of everything we face in our lives, you are helping more than you know, because we know that we are loved and being prayed for on a regular basis.

On to March! March of course, began the Lenten season (quite literally too, as Ash Wednesday was on March 1^st). This meant that Nick started preaching four times a month – he would take Sunday and Wednesday in a week, and then Pastor Bangert would preach both for the next week. It also meant that my schedule at Immanuel got a little crazier, as choir sings more often, plus we have to rehearse later with Lent services taking our normal Wednesday night rehearsal time, PLUS I decided to join a Bible study that meets before those services. But it is all a wonderful opportunity to be there and be in fellowship with the wonderful people at that church.

A fun event in March was a visit from my parents! They were able to visit over my spring break so that I wasn’t working all day during their visit, but we kept plenty busy! Between church and other church events, our tradition of going to tea, time at the Art Museum, and wine tasting at the nearby wineries, we were constantly busy and driving back and forth between St. Louis and Washington. I was especially thankful that my mom was here because she helped me figure out the sewing machine that I had gotten for Christmas, allowing me to finish some projects I’d had sitting around for a while. It was fun to be able to spend time with them and show them around our current home.

At High Tea with my mom on spring break!

Nick and I also both got the opportunity to do some learning this March! The first weekend in March is always an Early Childhood conference that I attend with other Lutheran educators from the area. It’s an all-day event on Saturday, which made for a long day, but it’s always fun to get together with other teachers, learn, and come away with new ideas and excitement. The following weekend, Nick had the opportunity to attend a workshop to teach him how to do pre-marital counseling at the Seminary. Our vicarage church is generous enough to send their vicar each year and pay for the cost, so Nick was able to benefit from this wonderful learning experience and he will take this into his ministry.

Aside from all this, and many other events thrown in there, we have been most fortunate and thankful for the time we get with friends and family that isn’t always noteworthy, but it is the most important. Whether over the phone or video chat or in person, we treasure that time, especially in these years of transition. We are thankful to have made new friends here at Immanuel and also to keep the friendships from Seminary, and the people that God has placed in our lives have given us so much love and support over the last few difficult months. Part of this has been that Nick has gotten to spend a good amount of time with his brother, Mark, over the last few months. Mark is in his last year at the seminary, and will be receiving his call in just a few weeks, and so Nick has appreciated the time they get to spend together playing and buying new board games. Nick is also blessed that one of the teachers at Immanuel can be a running buddy while we are here in Washington. Nick is just a few weeks away from his third half marathon, and I chose not to run this race with him for various reasons, which is hard for me, but I am so proud of him and how he has trained for this race. And as I said, he is blessed with someone who he can run with occasionally, even though I can’t. We know that God has put each of these people in our lives and we are thankful for the time we get with them, even when time seems to be running short.

We want to conclude by saying thank you again for being patient with us while we haven’t been posting as frequently as we should have been. And we also want to say thank you for all of your love and support. We appreciate not only your interest in our lives, but also your support and your prayers.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nicholas and Mikaela Duerr

Gettin’ back in the Swing of Things

January was a relatively calm month for Mikaela and I, so most of it doesn’t make for good novelization on a blog post, mainly because we spent the month going about our regular jobs without too much exciting going on. Mostly prep for stuff happening later. The month began with the close of Christmas break, when Mikaela had her last few days of freedom, or so it seemed. School began again for her on the 4^th, which meant her first week back was a half week. Her second week was supposed to be a full week, and then her third week began with Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, and so was supposed to be a day short. Except that is not how things happened. On Friday, the 13^th (yes, the irony is not lost on us; in fact, it was a full moon that evening too) after much anticipation that week, school was canceled because of a large ice storm. So on top of having a full four day weekend at home without obligations, other than church obviously, Mikaela’s first full week of school was the last week of January. Of course, after having a large ice storm but a week or two prior, we had such warm weather that I saw an ice cream truck drive by. So on top of having a wonky school schedule, the weather has been all over the place, and rather confusing.

One fun thing that happened was that Concordia Publishing House held an event discussing all of their VBS materials for this summer. Mikaela and I went with the group from Immanuel to see what was what. It was a fun morning of learning some of the dances and songs, acting out some of the stories, and experimenting with some of the crafts. It really whet our appetite for VBS this summer, and we are really excited to be a part of it. Later that evening, Mikaela went to a fundraiser at Our Savior to help put on the event. What was really fun about the fundraiser, though, was that as a part of the silent auction, each class creates some sort of project to sell, that all of the kids mark in some way. Well Mikaela got creative this year and instead of just buying a plate from a paint-your-own ceramics place and having the kids handprint it, she decided to get a little more constructive. She commissioned me to build an approximately two-by-three foot wooden frame for a chalkboard. When the frame was finished, the kids put their handprints on it and wrote their names, after which I attached the chalkboard to the frame. At the spaghetti dinner auction, it went for $275, so I was pretty proud of my work. (Though I do realize that the parents were bidding for the kids’ handprints and not for my moderate quality woodwork.)

And speaking of my moderate quality woodwork, I took some of my time off this month and decided to make some things for the house that Mikaela and I had wanted but had never purchased. So I set out to build a mail organizer to sort all of the mail that had been left on the counter. It took about a week, but at the end, I was able to hang it up in the living room and sort all of the mail, clearing it off of the counter. And while I could point out to you all of the places where things aren’t quite right, it has held up to a couple weeks of strenuous mail holding.

And finally, I want to talk about an upcoming event I am putting on and am really excited about. Part of what the seminary requires for vicarage is that I begin or expand a program at the church to further their evangelism efforts. Part of my expectations at Immanuel is that I would begin some sort of young adult ministry. So I decided to merge those two and begin an evangelistic young adult ministry. The first event will be held shortly, so I have begun to do a lot of the legwork for the event, making sure I have everything that I need, and that everything is ready to go. Hopefully next month’s blog post will be full of tales of success, but I guess I should wait until then to get too excited.

In any case, January has presented us with some unique challenges as well as some great times, but February looks like it will be quite the fun month. We already have something planned for every weekend, as well as for a significant number of weeknights, so hopefully next month’s blog post will be full of tales of our adventures. You’ll just have to wait until then to hear about them.

For now we want to say thank you to all of you who have been supporting us with your love and prayers. We can see God working in our lives, and while sometimes we aren’t happy with some of His decisions, we are glad to see that he has a plan which we are striving to follow. And we pray that He would work as clearly and lovingly in all of your lives as well.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nicholas and Mikaela Duerr

Holiday Happenings

Hello friends and family!

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy 2017! I have to apologize for the lack of blog posts recently – life here in Washington, MO has been busy and full! We have been kept busy with work, friends, and family, all of which are wonderful blessings!

November brought about our first major break of the school year at Thanksgiving. Although I had several days of professional development with my staff over the week of Thanksgiving vacation, those extra days off were extremely enjoyable, as our only break before that – Labor Day – was busy with my sister’s wedding in South Carolina. Even better was that the weekend before Thanksgiving break, I was able to fly home for a (very) short time to surprise my sister and be with my family for a glorious 36 hours! My mom gave me the gift of a plane ticket so that I could be home with my family for the secondary wedding reception for my sister (since they got married in South Carolina, most of our extended family was not able to attend). It made for a few late nights, but we packed those hours full with family time, including my almost 2-year-old niece, Teagann, and it was wonderful. Nick and I were both busy with church services on Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Eve – he was doing liturgy and I was singing in the choir – and were kindly invited to Thanksgiving dinner by a church family. We spent the day after Thanksgiving getting the house all ready for Christmas, which was so much fun! We put up all our decorations, bought a tree, and then watched the Washington Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting. Those few extra days made all the difference and allowed us to catch up on projects around the house and prepare for busy weeks ahead.

Getting our house ready for Christmas!

Ready for the Washington Christmas Parade

Coloring with my Teagann!

Another exciting November event was helping out with Immanuel’s Pork Sausage Supper. Most churches in the area put on a sausage dinner of some kind, but Immanuel’s was unlike one I’ve ever seen. Since it is a large church in an area full of small churches, their sausage dinner is very well attended by the church members and community – about 1,700 people are served over the course of the day. On top of that, for the majority of the day, they serve the meal restaurant-style by seating groups at tables and serving them. Nick and I worked a 3-hour shift at the dinner, and our job was to serve food to the tables and clear them when the people had finished eating. It was incredible to see the way that everything was run and how everything worked together like a well-oiled machine – it is obvious that they’ve been doing this for many years. It was so much fun to be a part of this huge event and get to know more people at church by volunteering alongside them. On top of that, all the food was incredibly delicious because it is all homemade, from the sausage to the applesauce. We even bought some to take home with us and eat for dinner!

After working at the Pork Sausage Supper

December kept us quite busy between all the events at our two churches. In a matter of one weekend, we attended a Christmas piano concert, I had my school’s Christmas service and dinner, and I attended an Advent by Candlelight event at Immanuel. We added on top of that Wednesday night Advent services for Nick, extra services and rehearsals for choir for me, and a very fun staff social night with the Immanuel staff that included an outrageous White Elephant gift exchange.

The highlight of the month was, of course, Christmas. It was fun to be living in a house in a cute little small town for Christmas. Nick and I were also very involved in Christmas services – me in choir, and he did liturgy on Christmas Eve and preached on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, Nick was sick for the whole week before Christmas, but he regained his voice just in time to preach! Christmas for us also included a visit from Nick’s family! Since this is most likely the last time the whole family will be able to be together on Christmas, his mom, dad, sister, and brother made a road trip out from California, and his older brother drove out to Washington from St. Louis, and they all came and made our house a little (or a lot) more cheerful, busy, and noisy for a week. We had so much fun with them here! We got to attend Christmas services, open presents, decorate cookies, eat good food, and play lots of games together, which was so much fun. We also took a few adventures into St. Louis, one day to St. Charles to take old time photos, and another day to go race go carts and see the Arch. It was a fun week full of wonderful family time, and we were sad to see them go, but we are thankful for the memories we made.

At the Arch with photobombing siblings!

We were able to take some time to ourselves in this busy time. One Saturday in December, we drove into St. Louis to see a movie (Rogue One, in case you’re interested) and go to Mauhaus, a new cat café that opened recently in Maplewood. Yes, you read that right! It’s a café where you get to buy food and drinks but most importantly, cuddle a bunch of cats! It was a fun date day for the two of us. We also went to see The Nutcracker right after my break started, which was Nick’s Christmas present to me, as I hadn’t seen this show in years, since I danced in it as a middle-schooler. It’s always nice for us to be able to get away and go on a date occasionally, and we love spending the time together.

Chilling with cats at Mauhaus

At the Nutcracker

One not-so-fun adventure this past month was when an ice storm hit unexpectedly on a Friday afternoon. It hit right around the time school got out, but no roads had been salted, so when I left school, the entire parking lot and my whole car were both iced over. The roads were incredibly slick, and I was nervous about driving home. However, both fortunately and unfortunately, there were several accidents on the highway I take home, so the stop-and-go traffic kept me going an extremely safe speed (almost non-existent), and I got home safely. On the unfortunate side, my normally 45-minute long commute took 3 hours that night. I’m thankful that I got home safely, and I had a full tank of gas and extra snacks in the car, but I am hoping that never happens again!

Now that we are a week into January, we are getting back into the swing of things – I’ve started back to school and Nick is finally just about better from being sick for the last few weeks. We are currently doing a second round of Whole 30, and so far it’s been a lot easier than the first time around! We’re excited to see what we learn this time and how we benefit from it.

Overall, we have had a good couple months, and we are looking forward to what the next few months have in store for us! We thank you again for your constant support and prayers as we continue this seminary journey.

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Nick and Mikaela Duerr