So Many Things...So Little Time

Hello All! I’m sorry it has been so long since my last post. I actually wrote this about a week ago and haven’t been able to post it. Things have been terribly busy. Here comes a long update…okay go!

Good news! We finally acquired internet for our apartment. Sadly, it is only a 3G wireless card, so Skyping is still not possible. The day we regain normal high speed internet will be a beautiful day. Until then, Skyping can only happen at church.

More good news is that I got a job. I am a teacher’s aide for the 1^st grade at St. Paul and I tutor after school as well. This is my first experience in a classroom with children younger than 3^rd grade. They are exhausting but they are also a good deal of fun as well. They say the funniest things. I wish I could record them all day long.

Here are some of the things they say:

First Grader: (After saying goodbye to his mom already moves to the doorway as she walks out) Goodbye Mom! I love you! Then he blew her a kiss... First Grader: (After saying goodbye to his mom already moves to the doorway as she walks out) Goodbye Mom! I love you! Then he blew her a kiss...(this one made my heart melt a little)

Miss Schultz: Please give me some examples of "How" questions.
First Grader: How do you do, partner?

Miss Schultz: God is watching you all the time.
First Grader: He knows where we are?
Different First Grader: Like how, with a map?

First Grader: (While very intensely staring at his hand) I wish I had four fingers like Mickey Mouse.

Miss Schultz: Peanuts are a healthy snack, except for Emilia, she can't have them.
First Grade Boy: She's electric.

First Grader: I dropped my pencil box; but it's okay, it didn't break. It's waterproof.

I do enjoy my time with them and my tutoring but working a straight 10 hours a day, five days a week, having choir and bells Tuesday night, small group Bible study Thursday night and Family Fun night on Friday night is wearing me (and Nate) out and causing our apartment to look like a warzone. (I am very aware that sentence is very long and most likely grammatically incorrect.) I keep looking to the first 2 days in November. There is no school so I should be able to get in some cleaning and possibly some baking and crafting. Those are high hopes but we’ll see. There’s always Thanksgiving and Christmas break.

Our weekends have been very busy too. Since we have been here, we went with the youth to the water park on South Padre Island, Schlitterbahn, (It blows my mind that they worked that name into a radio jingle). Nate went to the area’s confirmation retreat. There were several churches there and had a great time. They buried him in the sand and made him look like a mermaid.

One weekend Matt (the youth director) and I decided we would teach Brittany, one of the new teachers, how to cook. Our cooking lesson turned into an all day event. In the morning, I took her grocery shopping and taught her my secrets of savings. Then, we came back and made 6 meals. We had 3 crock pots going and did few meals in the oven. One of our oven meals was a very exciting experience; Matt put some chicken with some oil on it a little too close to the broiler in the oven. We heard a crackling noise, so I went to see what was going on. I opened the oven and there were flames. Now, instead of reacting to the situation, for some reason I saw the flames, calmly closed the oven door and simply said, “That’s a fire” and walked away. Matt and Nate quickly responded with “WHAT?!?!” and Matt turned off the oven.  I guess the flames shocked me. I made a new recipe that day, a simple, tator tot casserole that was delicious. I have never met a tator tot I didn’t like. Here is the recipe:

Tater-Tot Casserole
SERVES 4

1 lb lean ground beef (I doubled the meat to make it go farther to feed 4)

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 (10 1/2 ounce) can condensed cream of celery or cream of chicken soup (undiluted)

1 16oz package frozen tater tots

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Brown ground beef. season with salt & pepper.
3. Add chopped onion, cook until tender.
4. In a casserole dish, combine ground beef mixture & cream soup.
5. Top mixture with tater tots.
6. Bake , uncovered, for 30-40 minutes till bubbly and Tots are golden brown.
7. remove from oven & top with cheese, return to oven until melted.
8. Enjoy!

Source: http://cravingcomfort.blogspot.com/2010/01/tater-tot-casserole.html

We also had a school pool party one weekend in which I needed to take a dessert. There is a reason I chose the dessert that I did. As most of you know, I am a sucker for a deal. The grocery store down here was having a deal that if you bought a $5 tortilla warmer, you would get 36 tortillas for free. These tortillas are the best tortillas I have ever had, however it failed to dawn on me that it would take a really long time for just Nate and I to eat 36 tortillas. This leads me to making the Apple Enchiladas which, if you like things really sweet, this is your dessert. I could only have a half of one, but they were delicious.

Apple Enchiladas

Cherries or peaches can be substituted for apples. (I used apples)

1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling

6 (8 inch) flour tortillas (I used smaller ones which made them half the size and doubled the tortillas.)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1. Spoon about one heaping quarter cup of pie filling evenly down the center of each tortilla.
2. Sprinkle with cinnamon; roll up, tucking in edges; and place seam side down in prepared dish.
3. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, white sugar, brown sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.
4. Pour sauce over enchiladas and let stand 45 minutes.
5. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, or until golden.
6. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Source: http://cornfedmomma.blogspot.com/2011/04/apple-enchiladas.html

Two weekends ago I had the chance to attend the Texas District Pastors’ Wives Retreat at Camp Lonestar. I was very impressed with the retreat. The committee did a great job picking topics that were very relevant to pastors’ wives and engaging speakers. That is a pretty big compliment coming from someone with the attention span of a first grader. I was able to see some lovely ladies that I haven’t seen in a while and also meet some new ones. I also had a great time driving up with the pastors’ wives from the valley. It is always a good time when you get to cross through a border patrol checkpoint (this one was not on the border). I left the retreat feeling refreshed and happy to be in the Texas District with such great women.

This past Sunday and Monday, Nate and I ventured up to San Antonio for our PALS gathering. PALS stands for Post Seminary Applied Learning and Support. That basically means that for the first 3 years of your ministry you come together with pastors and their wives from your area that are also in their first 3 years and talk about your experiences and the guys also have some study time. We have a great group from South Texas. We played some crazy bridge to get acquainted which if you haven’t played it, you really should. One of the best parts of the trip that had nothing to do with PALS was that there is a Panera near the church we were at up there and I was able to get a Cinnamon Crunch bagel. YUM.

That is all for now. God is Good.

Hola, Howdy and Hello from Texas!

Hello from Texas! As you have noticed (or maybe not), I have changed our blog to Nate and Kate in the Lone Star State. Very exciting! (At least for me).

We have been in Texas for almost 3 weeks now. We are finally starting to get settled. We live in a part of Texas called "The Rio Grande Valley". It is not actually a valley, it is just a piece of flat land along the Rio Grande River. Since we have moved here, things have kind of been a comedy of errors. Now they are funny, not so much at the time. A week before we came down here the rental company that we are renting through told us that our newly built apartment would not be ready because the electric meters had not been installed yet. Obviously this is when panic set in because we had a moving truck coming from St. Louis a week from that day. Thankfully, we were able to move our stuff in. Sadly, we couldn't stay there for obvious reasons. We had a few very gracious members of the congregation take us in. We also had a very nice couple let us use their home because they were leaving for a mission trip. We got by just fine. We finally got electricity and then the air conditioner started leaking. After a firm message that I left on the rental company's answering machine, it was fixed the next day. We have been living in our apartment now for about a week. I have the kitchen unpacked which was a huge deal because I have way too much in that department, of course, nothing I am willing to part with. Haha. We are still working on the other rooms so that they don't look like a war zone. It might be a little bit yet before we invite people over or post pictures of our place to Facebook. I am very excited about the palm tree in our front yard!

Something that isn't so funny still is that we still don't have internet at our apartment. I know that people lived without it for a long time and still do, but this "first world problem" is killing me. You know it's bad when I, a person who isn't a big reader, reads a 385 page book in less than 24 hours. Even though we don't not have the internet right now, we have had the Olympics to keep us occupied. There is one thing for sure. Nate and I LOVE the Olympics! I have been glued to the TV for the past week. Today we had Dish installed with DVR, so I won't miss any of the coverage!

Nate was installed at St. Paul on July 22nd. It was a very nice welcome. My parents and sister came down for the occasion. We were so happy that they made the trip! We had a great meal after the service, consisting of some very tasty Mexican food. I am going to have to capitalize on living in this part of the country when it comes to learning how to make the native food. Since then, we have just been trying to get settled in both at home and Nate into his office. He is preaching for the first time at St. Paul tomorrow.

Here is a picture from the installation:

Well, that is all for now. Hopefully the next time I post there will be some pics of our place! God is good!

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!

Cardinals,Traveling, and Preparing for a Move

Hi All,

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!

Called to McAllen!

Hello Everyone!

I know it has been a while. I have partially not posted because we have been so busy and partially because I didn't want to post until we knew where we were being called.

Not in relation to call day or our move, I help out my parents at Lutheran High School South on the weekends when they have track meets. In the fall I would help with football games. My mom runs the concession stand and my dad does the grilling. I love being up there for these events. Some of the students I taught at King of Glory are in high school now and I can see some of them compete. I also run into random people. Last week I ran into my good friend Lyla Buuck! What a great surprise!

Now what you all are most curious about, we have been called to St. Paul Lutheran Church in McAllen, TX. This is a great church and school! We are so excited to be going down to McAllen. If you are wondering, gee, where is McAllen, TX, don't worry I will show you. McAllen, Texas is a border town on the border of Mexico. Some people may think wow, that is far south! It is, but it has so many opportunities and it will be a great adventure.  Here is a map to help you visualize:

St. Paul has a school which is a awesome! I am one of the biggest fans of Lutheran school, not just because I am a teacher but also because Lutheran schools are such a rich mission field.

We will be going to visit McAllen in two weeks to look for an apartment and see the church.

Fun facts about McAllen, TX (I don't know much about the town yet, so these are few):

1. It's a border town, which is very unique. 
2. It is about an hour or so from the beach! Loving that!
3. The average temperature for 6 months out of the year is in the 90s. 
4. There are outlet malls. (enough said)

We have a very busy couple of months ahead of us. I will be traveling to Minnesota and then working my way over to Milwaukee to attend two weddings and visit friends that live up north. I am very excited! Nate will be meeting me in Milwaukee for the second wedding.

We will be traveling to Connecticut for Nate's ordination on July 8th. If you would like more information about the ordination please contact Nate or I.

We will most likely be moving to McAllen in Mid-July and Nate will be installed on July 22nd.

We are so excited about starting a life in McAllen and getting settled in one place for more than a year. I have been moving at least once each year since 2005. I am tired. I want to stay settled for a while.

I'm sorry that I do not have a recipe for this post. I have been so busy that I have not cooked anything in so long. My top priority for a place in McAllen is a good kitchen and washer/dryer hook-ups. So look forward to more recipes in the future!

That's all for now. God is good!