A Magical Trip!

The seminary runs on a quarter system, and the quarter breaks come in May, August, November, and February. Two years ago, we decided that we would save up for a big trip during THIS February break, as a pre-graduation celebration.

We decided to go a three night Disney Cruise to the Bahamas, then spend a day at the Magic Kingdom. It was absolutely wonderful. Those Disney people really know what they're doing. Micah and the kids had never been to Disney World, and I had only been there once, more than 20 years ago. The ship was spectacular, and while very crowded, the Magic Kingdom was... magical!

 Our first stop on the cruise was Blue Lagoon Island off of Nassau. It has a sugar-white sand beach and turquoise water. And really bright sunshine!

 The water was so clear, you could see all the way to the bottom. Even though we were in water that was about thigh-high, the boys still got to chase this poor crab around.

 For the most part, Joel preferred to spend his time making sand sculptures, like this cross.

 A highlight for Maci was the "Princess Gathering" back on the ship. Cinderella, Tiana, Belle, Ariel, and Snow White all get together for a meet and greet. Here Belle is complimenting Maci on her Belle dress!

 Ariel liked Maci's dress so much that she thought they should both try twirling their skirts. This may have been one of the most adorable moments of the whole trip.

 The staff were all wonderful. Our "cabin host" was always surprising us with not only "Sleepy" chocolates on our bed every night, but cute things made out of our towels and blankets, and sunglasses!

 Although we were sad our cruise was over, we knew that we had two more fun-filled days ahead. We hung out at the resort and at Downtown Disney the first day, and then had one full day at the Magic Kingdom. We had early breakfast reservations, so we were one of the first people in the park and had the front of the castle to ourselves!

One of my favorite things at the Magic Kingdom was the evening Electrical Parade. They had the floats all lit up and it was beautiful.

 We capped our day off by watching the light show on the castle, and the fireworks behind it.

Now that we're back to reality, we're anticipating an exciting spring as we look forward to finding out where we will be moving this summer. We would welcome your prayers as we get closer to Call Day on May 1st!

Blessings to you and yours!

Summer Adventures

The five of us in Immanuel's beautiful sanctuary on Micah's last day of vicarage.

Micah preaching his last sermon. (Uncle David was brave enough to snap this during the service!)

The beginning of August brought the end of Micah's vicarage. It was an amazing year of learning and blessings. We are so grateful for the people of Immanuel - St. Charles for welcoming us into their church family this past year.

Micah has four weeks between the end of vicarage and the beginning of his last year of seminary classes. We decided to take full advantage of his down time by having some outings! Missouri Botanical Gardens had a beautiful Chinese Lantern display this summer. All of the lanterns were gorgeous, both in the daytime and when they were lit at night.

Then we made our first trip as a family to Six Flags - St. Louis. The boys had earned free tickets from their reading program at school. We had so much fun!

 

Our dear friends from the seminary took a call to Milwaukee last summer, so we took a quick trip to visit them. We got to spend an afternoon at Lake Michigan, having a picnic and frolicking in the waves! 

 Jonah and I decided to spend part of our summer "training" to run/walk our first 5K together. It was so fun to do this with my big boy. We had a blast.
 

We marked the end of the seminary summer sessions by celebrating with the students who had just completed summer Greek at  - what else but a toga party!

And now it's time to buckle down and get back into our school routine. Our boys are in 4th and 1st grade. We can't believe that Joel is now the age that Jonah was when we came to the seminary.

We wish you every blessing as we head into fall!

Six months gone by?

I'm a little embarrassed that since my last blog post, a new year has begun, 3/5ths of our family got a year older, and the seasons changed from winter to spring to summer. Not too much has changed for our family, though. We are still thoroughly enjoying Micah's vicarage year. He's learning so much. The kids are excited to end their school year and start their summer fun. For me, the balancing act of being vicar's wife, mom of three, and full-time worker is going as well as can be expected. Through it all, we are immeasurably blessed.

During one of our two small snowfalls this winter, the boys got a chance to go sledding on Art Hill in Forest Park. They had a blast.

On Easter we experienced our first holiday ever away from family. Although we missed everyone back home, we were where we needed to be, at beautiful Immanuel - St. Charles celebrating the Lord's resurrection with our vicarage congregation.

My sister had a baby girl in February. We got to go visit her in March, and again for her baptism in April. Our kids are crazy about their new cousin.

We had such fun at Immanuel's annual parade and picnic earlier this month. We were so surprised to learn that we were going to get to ride in a Mustang convertible! We loved every minute of waving to spectators from that fancy car.

Unfortunately Micah's schedule hasn't allowed us to go camping this year, but we make do. On Mother's Day my wish was to spend the afternoon in our screen tent so I could pretend we were camping. I thought it was lovely.

This weekend has brought some very welcome rest and relaxation for all of us. Now we feel recharged and ready to for whatever adventures lie around the corner for us.

We wish you all a blessed summer!

Fall Roundup!

 Greetings!  I've been on a blogging hiatus for a few months, so I have a lot to catch up on!  Our family's schedule has changed quite a bit since Micah started his vicarage in August.  Hopefully I'll get a post done in the next few weeks with more details on that!  In the mean time, here's a bit of what we've been up to this fall.
 

In honor of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, a flag project was created in nearby Forest Park.  There were 3,000 flags on Art Hill, each one bearing the name and picture of someone who was lost that day.  It was very powerful and moving.
 

 September brings my favorite evening in St. Louis: the Balloon Glow!  Prior to a hot air balloon race the next day, all of the balloon pilots fire up their burners to the delight of everyone in the huge crowd.  We pack a picnic and grab some friends and head out for an always memorable evening.

 In October, we attended the Fall Festival at the Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna, MO.  It's a day of old-fashioned fun.  The seven boys we had with us, and the one girl, all had a great time.  Here are all seven boys lined up in an old barn very patiently waiting for their turn on the rope swing. 

 We had the opportunity to attend the Missouri District Pastor's Conference at Lake of the Ozarks in mid-October.  It was a wonderful trip.  We rented a speed boat for a quick tour around the lake, went on a cave tour where we got to use the sluice to hunt for gemstones, and just enjoyed the scenery. 

 The kids and I took advantage of a warm November day to make our first visit to Powder Valley Nature Center.  They have several hiking trails and a cool nature center.  The kids especially enjoyed climbing on the giant frog.

 We get to visit historic Old Main St. in St. Charles regularly, since our vicarage church is just a few blocks away.  They have a really fun Christmas festival every weekend in December.  We've been there twice already, and probably will be back again before the end of the month.

Micah has been busy being part of the cast for the Boar's Head Festival at church.  It's a beautiful show that tells the story of Christ's birth through Victorian music and characters.  That's what's left of Boris the Boar on the table behind the kids.

We pray that you and your families will experience the joy of Christ's birth surrounded by friends and loved ones this season.  Blessings to you and yours!

2nd Annual "Sharing about Shutterfly"!

I can't believe that the Christmas season is almost here.  My family members started making holiday plans over a month ago, but I've hardly even thought about this year's preparations!  Thankfully, Shutterfly has started getting me inspired!

I was surprised last year to receive an e-mail invitation to do a blog post about what I love about Shutterfly Christmas cards.  My thank you gift for doing so was 50 free Christmas cards!  I got some absolutely beautiful cards last year.  I got several compliments on them, including "that was the nicest Christmas card I ever received."

I was thrilled when Shutterfly extended the same generous offer to me again this year!  Even better, they are letting me share this gift with my friends!  Post a comment and I'll send you a promo code for 25 free cards!

Are you a blogger? Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q  

If you want to check out Shutterfly's new collection of Christmas cards, go here:   http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

While you're at it, check out some of the other products.  We also ordered some cute photo thank you cards last year.  http://www.shutterfly.com/greetings/index.jsp 

I can't wait to pick out my free cards this year!  Thank you, Shutterfly!  

Late Summer Wrap-Up

I'm finally catching up on pictures from the last month or so.  A big event in our family was that Joel started kindergarten!  And, of course Jonah started third grade and Maci started her second year of preschool.  Here they all are on the first day of school.

Here's Joel standing at the doorway of his new room!

Any nerves quickly wore off and he made himself right at home on the playground.

We did a little sightseeing when my parents were here visiting, and we stumbled upon a ferry that took us across the Mississippi river.  The kids thought it was amazing that we could drive our minivan right onto a boat and float across the water.  Actually, I thought it was pretty cool too!

Then came our baby girl's 4th birthday.  Unfortunately, Micah can't take credit for decorating this cake, which is usually his job.  My mom was willing to dust off her cake decorating skills before she left town.

Up next was the seminary's annual Field Day.  The bike parade was a favorite activity.  

But the highlight is always when the fire truck arrives and sprays all the kids on the field. 

 

Two summers ago we had a delightful camping trip to Jellystone Park.  We had such fun that the kids have been begging to go back ever since.  We took advantage of an extra day off last weekend and headed out to visit Yogi.

This time we were treated to a reptile show where we got to hold a six year old alligator!  Jonah apparently lost his head that night...

 

All in all, it was a beautiful summer, the heat notwithstanding.  We're enjoying the cooler temperatures now, and we're looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us in this next season of our lives.  Blessings to you and yours!

It's my birthday, and it's HOT!

OK, maybe it's not really that hot, but it's been hot. My dad called to wish me a happy birthday this morning, and he said, "you know, it was 107 the day you were born." Maybe that's why this heat doesn't actually bother me quite as much as it should. The chilly 90s will feel good this weekend, though!

Speaking of my birthday... I had a great day today. It started off with a text at 1:30 am from one of my favorite former co-workers who never forgets a birthday. My dear Nebraska friend was next, with a 5:00 am shout-out on Facebook. (I love morning people!) It just kept going from there.

Micah made me breakfast, the kids made me cards, and I got serenaded over the phone four times before 7:30. Then Micah surprised me with new throw pillows (as modeled by Jonah)!
I love when he picks things out for me that I wouldn't normally choose myself. Now we have a little splash of color in the living room.

At work I got balloons, lunch, cake, and cards. Our final celebration was going to Maggiano's for dinner. It was fun to go to a "fancy" place and practice our manners! I don't know of a better way to end the day than with creme brulee. Unless it's with another complimentary creme brulee, which we brought home for tomorrow!

I'm so blessed, even when it's not my birthday. I'm thankful for all of my friends and family, who always make me feel so loved.