Youth Gathering, Trip to St. Louis and Preparing My Classroom

I have come to the realization that summer is quickly coming to a close. August is in two days. For people that work in education August means early mornings are coming soon. Before I talk about getting ready for school, I will give you a little recap of the summer.

This summer was busy! First we had VBS, which I wrote about in my last post. Nate took a trip to Kansas City with his dad. They golfed and saw some Kansas City Royals games. They had a blast.



Almost right after Nate got back from Kansas City we left for the LCMS National Youth Gathering in San Antonio with 11 of the high school youth from St. Paul. Before the gathering, we did some activities around the city. We went to Six Flags, did some caving and zip-lining and saw Man of Steel in 3-D. The first night we were there, we found ourselves in an interesting predicament. One of the girls came over to the room where I was and said, "Mrs. Wollenberg, we have a situation." I asked her what was going on and she said, "It's better if you come look, it may have been a ghost". I was thinking that the toilet was clogged or the lamp was broken. No, the ceramic soap holders that were cemented to the wall in the shower had fallen off of the wall, broken, and cut one of the girl's toes open. The hotel staff was less than helpful at first, but the next day we got someone who took the situation more seriously. While the manager was taking the accident report she asked me if there were any witnesses. I looked at her strangely and said, "she was in the shower." The manger then said, "So, no witnesses then?" No. No witnesses. Anyway after some adventures to urgent care for the sliced toe, we had a far less dangerous trip.

One of the best things about the National Youth Gathering for adults is that it is pretty much the best college and seminary reunion. We must have seen 50 people that we knew. It was so great to see our friends. Everyone is spread out all over the country and its nice to be in one location for a change. Some of our friends were even in the same hotel as we were. It was really a great time altogether. We had a chance to bond with the youth, see our friends and strengthen our faith.



On our way!


Introducing the Valley youth to Culver's




CUW Alumni Event with my friends Rachel and Emily


CUW's Mass Event Promo Night! Free glow in the dark shirts!!



Our youth, a little sleepy and ready for worship on Thursday morning


Photobooth pic from the CUW/CUAA Superbooth


My friend Betsy and I...So happy to see each other!

Shortly after we returned from the gathering, I made my way up to St. Louis for two weeks to visit my parents. I had a very relaxing time. My mom and I went to see the Budweiser Clydesdales at Grant's Farm. We did some shopping and watched season 3 of Downton Abbey. We convinced my dad to watch one episode of Downton Abbey but I don't think he could quite get into it because he hadn't seen the others. I'm sure he'll get hooked one day. We did some other stuff too but those were definitely the highlights of our time. I was able to see my friends Ashley and Rachel. Lutheran World Relief was kind enough to fly my good friend Katie Lane into St. Louis for the LCMS National Convention to represent GEO missionaries. She was tied up for one morning and then she was able to spend the rest of her time in St. Louis hanging out with me. This was fabulous. Her first night in St. Louis, we went to dinner and then people-watched convention-goers in the lobby of her hotel for a few hours. You would be surprised at how much fun that was. The next night, the seminary hosted an event for the convention-goers. Because Katie was part of the convention and because my dad is a seminary student we decided to attend. We ran into some of our friends there and got in some more quality people-watching. Katie was a minor celebrity because she was featured at the convention. We had an excellent time. All in all, my visit to St. Louis was a great success. I had a good deal of quality time with my mom and dad which is just what you need sometimes. I was very happy to return to my husband though; two weeks is a long time. Below are some pics from Grant's Farm.




Now my focus is working on getting my classroom ready for the school year. St. Paul decided to call me to be a teacher in the school which is exciting. This is my first call out of Concordia. Due to Nate and I moving around because of seminary, I wasn't able to take a call before this. I will be the 7th grade homeroom teacher and I will be teaching other various middle school classes. I am excited and working like crazy to be as prepared as possible. 

Nate just moved into his new office and is still settling in. He is also busy preparing for Confirmation and all the programs that start up with the school year. 

That is all for now! God is good!