Friends, Family, Ordination and Serious Packing

Hello Everyone! The last month has been a crazy one! It started out with a great road trip. This was my "see all my girls before I move to Texas trip". First, I stopped in Lakefield, MN. This is where my good friend Amanda Ackermann married Dustin Voss. Even better, my lovely, Rachel McCall was her maid of honor. Rachel and Amanda were roommates of mine in college. I got to see two of my very best girls on the same day! The service was beautiful with a phenomenal sermon by Rev. Ken Klaus. It was a true country wedding. The wedding party rode in a wagon attached to a tractor to the reception site and partied until 1am. I couldn't even stay up that late. Rachel and I showcased our dance skills for all in attendance. It was a great night!


I then moved on to see our other roommate, Shannon. Shannon and I were roommates all four years of college. I hadn't seen her in 2 years and had never met her daughter! We had a great time reminiscing and joking around like no time had passed at all. Her daughter Emmalin is such a cutie and I am so grateful that I was able to spend quality time with the Grosnick family. Here is a picture of Emmalin and I.


After a few days in Central Wisconsin with the Grosnicks, I ventured to Cedarburg, WI to attend the wedding of Marcus and Vanessa Lane. They attended CUW with Nate and I. Marcus started his first year at the seminary last year and worked with Nate at Tower Tee. I had the opportunity to stay with some family friends, the Kelm's for a few days leading up to the wedding. In that time, I reunited with the groom's sister, one of my besties, Katie Lane. She has been a missionary in Peru for the past two years and I hadn't seen her in about a year. This is a picture Katie's mom took when we reunited at the mall. :)


Marcus and Vanessa's wedding was beautiful. Nate was able to join me for this one. The campus pastor from CUW, Steve Smith, who Nate and I both know very well, gave a great sermon. It was great to visit with him and his wife Loretta at the wedding. We were able to spend time with some great friends and dance the night away. If you haven't noticed, I love to dance. If there was a wedding reception every night, I would be in great shape. This was a great end to my trip to the North.


Pastor Smith and the Lovebirds 


Katie and I in our signature pose. There is a similar one from my wedding.

When we returned from the north, we kicked into high gear concerning packing for Texas. If there is one thing I really dislike, it is packing. It also didn't help that our window unit hasn't been doing much with the most intense heat wave St. Louis has seen in years. We are almost done! The moving truck comes Thursday!

After finishing my time working at LWML on July 3rd, the next day, Nate and I flew to Connecticut for his Ordination. He was ordained Sunday, July 8th at 3pm. It was a really wonderful service. The church was packed! Nate's childhood pastor and mentor, Pastor Hillenbrand, gave a wonderful sermon. The New England District President ordained Nate and gave him a shepherd's staff. The only drawback was the lack of air conditioning. It's funny because I come from a place where the thought of not having air conditioning in July, makes you want to cry. Luckily, Connecticut was not as hot has St. Louis but we did need a few fans. There was a very tasty meal following the service. Three words: Chocolate. Covered. Strawberries. Simply amazing. There were also some very yummy red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting made by Nate's cousin, Jonathan. That kid is talented with cupcakes. We concluded the fellowship at Nate's parent's house up the street, with his friends and family. There was also a very intense ping pong tournament at one point. I did not partake. Here are some pictures from the day.


Getting Ordained


All of the Clergy

Today we got up at 4am to catch our plane back to the Midwest. If I never get up at 4am again, it will be too soon. I am the opposite of an early riser. My parents used to have to pour cold water on me to get me out of bed. We made it home before noon, had lunch with my dad and continued packing. As I said before, the moving truck comes on Thursday and we will be driving to Texas on Saturday. It will be hard to leave our friends and family but exciting to start our new adventure in McAllen. Goodbye from the "Show Me" state; I will be writing to you all from the "Lonestar" state soon!

That's all for now. Good is good!