Things have been non-stop since call day. We have been busy traveling and getting things ready for the move.
Because we are moving, I have been taking in as much of St. Louis that I can. I probably should not have eaten as much Ted Drewes in the last month. Haha. I have also been visiting Busch Stadium quite often. The staff of Lutheran High School South had some great tickets given to them, since my mom works there, we were blessed to receive some. We had two nights in a row of great seats at the Ballpark. My mom, Victoria, Dad and Steve all went together. It was a great time! I will miss the Cardinals a great deal.
I traveled to Wisconsin for the retirement party for one of my college professors, Dr. Mary Hilgendorf. She is excellent, CUW is going to be very different without her. I had a great time seeing her and hanging out with friends. I had a chance to spend a great deal of time with my friend Lindsey. We had lunch and then had a lovely time trying the samples at Costco. Got to love warehouse stores on the weekends. I had a chance to also spend some time with our family friends, the Kelm's. They put me up for the weekend. Their soon to be second grader and I played some quality kid games. We had a good time.
Nate graduated from Seminary! Call Day is a more climactic day than Graduation Day at the Seminary, but it's still a big day at the Sem.
Later in May, Nate and I traveled to McAllen, TX to check out our new church and find a place for us to live. We flew from St. Louis to Houston. Houston Hobby Airport is a hotbed of lovely people watching. I love to fly purely for the people watching. When my dad and I picked up my sister from the airport a couple of months ago, we got there an hour early just to people watch. People watching is just one reason that I love layovers. Some people hate layovers but I like to get off the plane and stretch my legs. We had lunch at Papa's Burger's. This restaurant is part of the Papa's restaurant chain that started in Dallas, TX. They have several different kinds of restaurants, American, Steakhouse, Cajun, Mexican and a few others. My dad loves their restaurants. We then sat down again in a prime people watching spot until our flight.
When we got to McAllen it was warm, but not as warm as we thought it would be. There is a constant breeze off the Gulf of Mexico that makes the heat bearable. Here is a picture to show you the breeze and the palm trees!
We then went to look at apartments right away. We were only there for a weekend and If we didn't find anything, we would be up a creek. It was actually pretty hard to find an apartment because McAllen had a couple of intense hail storms a month and a half before we went down there. These storms are very uncommon. They were so severe people had to move out of their homes while they were getting fixed, so they gobbled up all of the rental properties. We did find a two bedroom place about 15 minutes from the church. It has COUNTERSPACE!!!!! I'm so excited. The worst part of our apartment right now is that the kitchen is horrible. I can go back to cooking and baking! That means I will go back to posting new recipes on the blog.
The music director, Elin, gave us a wonderful tour of the church on Saturday. They have a beautiful sanctuary and they are finishing up a new portion of the school.
The Sanctuary
If you can't see it, the middle one, it says "howdy". Those banners are McAllen.
Prayer Garden outside the portable classrooms.
We then tried to take a trip to a restaurant across the river from the border. Nate wanted to see the other side. Sadly, we had some troubles with our GPS and with directions and we didn't end up making it. Part of the problem was that I am ridiculous and thought we might accidentally cross the border if we got lost (this clearly would not happen). My nervousness was part of the reason we turned around. After dinner, we spent the evening relaxing, mostly because I had contracted a pretty severe cold and wanted to sleep it off.
We got up the next morning and went to St. Paul for church. It was very nice to meet all of the people. They were so nice and welcoming. I felt bad though because I was coughing, sneezing and my nose was running. It will be a great blessing to be part of their congregation. We then went out for a lovely lunch with the Senior Pastor and his wife. That night we had a nice dinner with Elin and her family, who were visiting from St. Louis as well.
Monday we secured our apartment and traveled home.
Last weekend, Nate went to Mequon to go to Chris Davis' ordination. He was able to catch up with the people of Beautiful Savior in Mequon including Pastor Hillenbrand and his family. He said it was a great trip.
While Nate was gone, my mom and I started packing my kitchen. She is a genius. Every time I needed to figure out how to fit something into a box or wrap something, she had an answer. I spent the rest of the weekend with my family. My sister, Victoria, is leaving for Army ROTC officer training on Monday for a month. It was good to have some family time.
I am currently in Iowa, on my way to Minnesota for my good friend, Amanda Ackermann's wedding. Amanda and I were roommates in college. Our other roommate, Rachel McCall, is her maid of honor, so I will be getting to have some quality girl time tomorrow. I will then be moving on to Wausau, WI to see our other roommate, Shannon. I finally get to meet her 1 year old daughter. I am super excited! I will then be making my way down to meet Nate in the Cedarburg/Mequon/Milwaukee area for the wedding of Vanessa Zellmer and Marcus Lane. I am very excited for their wedding not only because they are a great couple but also because I get to see Marcus' sister, Katie. She is returning from being a missionary in Peru and I haven't seen her in a little over a year. Busy and exciting trip before we head to Texas!
I think I may have mentioned this in the last post. Nate and I will be traveling to Connecticut for his ordination on July 8th. We will be there for a short time and then the moving company will be picking our stuff up on the 12th to take it to Texas. We will most likely be leaving St. Louis on the 14th. Nate will be installed on the 22nd of July in McAllen. If you would like more information about Nate's ordination or installation, just let me know!
So many things...so little time! Anyway, that's all. God is good!