...and We're Still Waiting!

Our Christmas Day due-date has come and gone, still no baby. I joke and say that Baby would be smart to stay inside until June with all of the cold, nasty weather we get up here. Calie doesn't seem to find that very funny. But she is doing well and feeling fine, just ready to have the baby and begin the next chapter of this always exciting journey into parenthood. If Baby doesn't come on his (or her) own within the next couple of days, we will be going into the hospital early on Tuesday, December 30th and Calie will be induced! Please keep Calie and Baby in your prayers!

Until then, here are some beginning pictures of the baby's room:


Because we still do not know if we are having a boy or a girl, it was not easy coming up with a "theme" for our room. Of course, we have also been known to make these decisions much more difficult than they really need to be. But we now have our "jungle theme" and a homemade sign to welcome people to our child's room.

Our first wall sports our fancy, coffee-colored dresser and changing table. As you can see we have a sweet jungle lamp and three lovely wall-hangings: a monkey, a tiger, and a giraffe.

Just beyond our fancy dresser/changing table we have a lovely, comfy rocker given to us by one of our favorite Our Redeemer church ladies. The chair is surrounded by the Diaper Genie (part 2), a jungle pillow boppy, and the very-beginning stages of our library. And that ridiculously beautiful picture hanging upon the wall is a maternity picture that Calie and I had taken somewhere in month eight!

Turning the corner, you will see our lovely crib. Overlooking the baby you will see a well-crafted shelf (more on that later). What you can't see too well is the baby's own boom box for bedtime lullabies and his (or her) very own humidifier.

Let's start with what you can see: a simple shelf with a few jungle animals overlooking the sleeping place of our future bundle of joy. What you can NOT see are the plethora of unused holes and broken screws that accompany this masterful final display. Also not visible is the dent in the aluminum closet doors to which I threw a hammer and wrench at in my assembly frustration. After using enough four-lettered words to make a sailor blush, the only other thing that would help was hitting or throwing something!

And off to the right of the crib, our elephant and frog wall-hanging complete our jungle decor.

Mary's Journey

So I know that many of you have been checking and hoping for an update. Sorry it has taken us so long. Each time I think of blogging I think, maybe I'll wait and just update it when the baby comes...so far, obviously no baby. And so here is the update...

There has not been a real significant change/progress in the progression of labor. I just found out this morning during a non-stress test that I am having Braxton-Hicks contractions. No big thing though, I hardly know when they are happening. It only means that my body is getting ready for birth. So if we don't have the baby before December 30th, I will be induced. So we will (keep your fingers crossed) have a baby before the New Year!

I was thinking about this whole experience the other day, and realized that since it is the day of Jesus' birth, Mary and I have something in common. I know it may be a stretch, but being due around the same time, I was thinking how uncomfortable I am. That led me to think about Mary and how she must have felt. I have the luxury of riding in a car, wearing shoes, and not traveling on a donkey across a desert and mountains. I can only imagine that must have been what induced her labor. I am excited that tonight I get to reflect more on this thought and celebrate with all people the joy that I am feeling and the joy that Mary felt too.

I wish you all a Peaceful Christmas and time to enjoy your loved ones company. We will be thinking of you all during this joyous season.

Merry CHRISTmas!
With love from the Vera's

Ready or Not...

I can't believe how busy we have been... and we haven't even had the baby yet! Yikes! Our apartment has long looked like it was hit by a mini-tornado. Now with part of a day off, I am hoping to do some serious cleaning. These past few weeks since Thanksgiving have flown by; we have had something going on just about every weekday night and weekend since then. It seems like we are only in our apartment for sleeping and an occasional bathing! So as we have been running around, the boxes and garbage and dirty clothes have all been piling up. By the way, thank you to all of you who have sent gifts and cards to us for Baby Vera!!!

Advent is indeed a time of preparation. Calie and I are anxiously looking forward to the birth of two babies. The birth of our own, and of course the birth of the Christ Child who must never be overlooked at Christmas time. It certainly appears that these two babies may have pretty similar birthdates as Calie is perfectly on schedule to deliver pretty close to our December 25th due date. Unfortunately, the doctor certainly didn't seem think the baby would come any sooner. Hopefully they decorate those hospital rooms nice and cozy for Christmas time. Calie is still feeling very good—no sickness or anything like that! Her feet are a bit more tired at the end of the day but she's a trooper and rarely ever complains. She is definitely ready for this little bundle to leave her body, but she would be the first to tell you how lucky we've been thus far. But as you can imagine, we are sooooooooooo excited! We sat at our church's childcare Christmas program last night and couldn't help but become even more excited about our own incoming cutie as we watched all the kids singing their Christmas carols. Although this is being said BC (before children), but I'm even looking forward to getting up multiple times in the middle of the night to attend to a crying baby. I know, I know I’ll change my tune quickly in a few weeks! Oh yeah, and my sister sent me a "Father to Be" t-shirt a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty dang sweet. I think I have worn it more days than not. In fact, I am wearing it as I sit here blogging.

This upcoming Saturday afternoon our church is throwing us a baby shower. The congregation that has already warmly embraced and shown us so much love is now very excited to share in this baby experience with us. Our newborn will have plenty of honorary grandparents and I'm sure that, at least for once in our lives, we will never be at a lost for babysitters! So on Sunday after church, Calie and I hope to spend the rest of the day making sure we are ready for whenever Baby Vera arrives. We'll make sure our diapers and spit-rags are well stocked. Put the finishing touches on the baby's room decor. Finish installing the car seats. And probably head to good ol' Target for some last-minute essentials. I'm not so sure that we'll ever be really ready, but hopefully this weekend will give us a chance to feel a bit closer!

That's about all for now. Please keep Calie and Baby in your prayers, for safe and healthy delivery for both! And stay posted as we'll have news and pictures up as soon as possible. May this Advent season fill you with hope and joy as we celebrate the in-breaking of Christ and live in expectation of His return. Merry CHRISTmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Not only a popular Christmas song, but it is also what I woke up to this morning! I have been ready and waiting for the flakes for awhile, and here they are! Although they are very scarce. (It's only a light dusting). Here are the pictures from our porch door.











We had a fantastic Thanksgiving celebration this year. The car rides seemed longer than usual, but we made it! We managed to arrive only a few minutes before the food was on the table! Our brother-in-law wasn't feeling good, but made it to the table to eat, which was comendable! We celebrated birthdays and had a few good laughs. My nieces made some great turkeys out of oreo cookies, which were both nice to look at and yummy to eat! It was a great meal and evening, eventhough my sister and her family had to leave early.

When we arrived, there were Black Friday ads all over the table. We all looked through them, but didn't find anything that any of us needed. We thought that it would be fun to go, but decided against it. While we were eating breakfast the next morning, we quickly decided that we should go and just check out the good deals, so we left the boys to haul wood from the woods, and we (my mom and I) went shopping. We were victorious at our first stop. We found a doorbuster, at 9:30, that was sold out online and in other stores. What a deal! We also found some other good deals on clothes. Regardless of the deals, it was nice to spend the day shopping and bumming around with my mom.

Now we are back and starting the real countdown until our baby is born. Only 25 days!! When we returned last night, we also found out that our friends Nikki and Andy Becker from Seminary welcomed their first child this weekend. He was a week early and 7 pounds 1 ounce and his name is Nathan Andrew Becker. We are very excited for all of them!

My nesting feelings have kicked in, so I am going to scrub the kitchen from top to bottom right now. Sounds fun huh!?!

Don't Mess with Thanksgiving

So I was looking back at all of the pictures of me each month of pregnancy. What changes...here is month 8.



Steve and I have been quite busy these past few weeks. We somehow seem to get lost in the day-to-day routines, and get to catch up together on the weekends, which also go way too fast.

We have finally put together the baby's room, which means that I put away what clothes we have, and made the crib. My wonderful Mom sewed us a crib skirt and curtain valance out of fabric that we found. So this past weekend we found a curtain rod and long curtains to block out light. Here is what we have done so far.





The only problem that I have now is that the room looks very Green Bay Packerish, which is NOT what I was going for. If you know me at all, you will know that I am the anti-packer backer. How this happened is beyond me, but I am very distraught about this!

Aside from the baby, and the count down, we have been busy with church events. We finished up our big 50 Days Ablaze Bible study with an ethnic potluck which was very well attended. Steve preached at a different church on Sunday, which was fun to see another, more contemporary church.

I am gearing up to eat a feast this week, and I hope that you all are too! I am excited to go back to my parents house, see family, eat food, and relax.

I hope that you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving, and give thanks for all that is in your world. We owe it all to God, and Thanksgiving is a great time to remember all that He has done for us.

We Got a House!

Yes it is true! Though Calie and I are only here for one year on vicarage, we took the plunge and got a house. It really is a beautiful home with a two-car garage. It is in a great neighborhood, has a lovely backyard with a 3-season patio, and enables us to do free laundry whenever we want! OK, truth be told...we are just house sitting. For the past week and a half, Calie and I have been house-sitting and dog-sitting for our pastor and his wife while they were away on some well-deserved vacation. And I have to say, the concept of having a home and not renting an apartment is awfully nice! Direct TV has been an added bonus too! Plus I think we've done about 20 loads of laundry (We were storing up for awhile, though I'm exaggerating a bit...I think). Our time here at the house ends today, so as I await the buzzer to go off on the dryer I thought I would take the time to blog. Even though I should be memorizing my sermon for Sunday and looking over my Bible study material. Oh well...

This past Wednesday, we celebrated 3 years of wedded bliss. We went out and had a nice dinner, after much indecisiveness as to where to eat. But as always, we had a nice evening together and capped it off with our local favorite ice-cream place. Because as "G" always says, 'there is always room for ice-cream'! Of course, to Calie these first years felt like forever! Just kidding, but she does think it seems a lot longer and when you consider our moves from Hudson to St. Louis, seminary, new jobs, and now a move from St. Louis to vicarage it's easy to see how jam-packed and full of change our first 3 years have been. Oh, and then there's the small measure of having a wife who is prego!

Well, as Calie last blogged about, we did purchase our stroller/car seat. It has since been delivered, assembled, and now just awaits our little bundle of joy. Everything is still going very well. Calie feels great while she continues to blossom. The baby pretty much moves and kicks non-stop! Currently, we have doctor's appointments every other week, but pretty soon it will be on a weekly basis. Last night we had our first Lamaze class; these will continue over the next two weeks. It's always nice to see a little bit of what we're in for. However, I did learn that Calie is a bit to ticklish to practice some of the relaxing techniques we tried. The time is quickly approaching! We'll soon have to put some finishing (and starting) touches on our extra bedroom which is excitedly becoming the baby's room. Thank you to everyone who has sent clothes, gifts, cards, and all that fun baby stuff! Honestly, right now it's all still in boxes, piles, or stuck in the corner so we'll have plenty to keep us busy in the next 48 days. Ready or not, here baby comes!

Other than that, things are going well. Vicarage continues to be a great learning experience for me. I love the church staff and all the congregation members. It has been a very good place for me to learn about different types/places of ministries, as well as affirm and fine-tune some of the gifts and passions God has given to me. Over the next month or so I'll have the opportunity to preach at some small rural churches. Also I will be able to lead worship and preach at an area LCMS church plant, very contemporary and full of young families. I also continue to try and figure out the art of ministry with our area college campuses. Campus ministry takes a special type of person and passion; I'm not sure if that's me or not yet but it has gotten me to move out of some of my comfort levels and try new things. Thanks to the inspiration of a good friend and classmate, my next project is trying to figure out how to record, create, and post weekly video devotionals on YouTube for my college students. This way a Gospel message and invitation to church is only a click away while they sit in their dorms and classrooms.

That's more than enough for now. So much to say, so little time. I always get too long-winded when I start rambling and blogging. Perhaps that just another affirmation that I'm going into the right vocation! God's richest blessings to you all...

Long awaited pictures

So I am sitting here watching morning TV, sipping on my Carmel Reindeer drink from Caribou, and enjoying my morning. It's true life is good.

The thought is become more and more real that we will soon have a little baby in our home. This weekend we ordered our stroller system. I am super excited to get it! Here is the picture of what we ordered...


So I think that we only need to buy a few more things before the baby comes. We have started to make a list, but I think that most of the "big" things are already purchased. I am probibly missing something obvious, but for now, I think that we are ok.

So some people have asked for the following pictures, so here they are... enjoy my bump!


4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

It's been too long

So first I must say that I found my camera cord, so this blog is full of pictures...hope you don't mind. I must not have looked too hard, because it was in the most logical place ever...the drawer next to the computer! Who knew?!

So here are the pictures of our crib and dresser puting together days:

We also enjoyed the fantastic wedding October 4th of a friend from our old church in Hudson. THe wedding was beautiful. In between we had the chance to visit Minnehaha Falls in St. Paul, since 10/4 is the anniversary of our "offical dating". We didn't have that much time to spend there, but it was beautiful.

After the wedding and reception, we drove to my parents house for the night. We were blessed to have a baby shower on Sunday. I know that this isn't going to be a hit, but we forgot to take any pictures. We had wonderful food, laughs, and fun. Thanks to all who came!

Steve and I also were fortunate enough to get away for this past weekend. Steve took me on a birthday/last-time-away-before-the-baby-comes getaway weekend trip to Alexandria. It was SO nice to spend time together. He also surprised me with a 3 1/2 hour spa treatment ... pedicure, manicure, pariffin wax, and massage. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Here are the pictures:

Quickly

I should be walking out the door to church, but I wanted to take a few minutes to update you quickly... here are the cliff notes:

+ Last weekend we assembled our baby's dresser
+ This weekend we assembled our baby's crib
+ In between our week was filled with ministry, meetings, and work
+ This week our niece also celebrated her 1st birthday
+ We had a nice day on Saturday walking around the Red River

We look forward to another week, of meetings, ministry and work. We also look forward to our friend's wedding, and a baby shower with family!

So I was told to Blog tonight, but I am not sure where to start. It seems that nothing much has happened in our lives these past few weeks, just regular life.

Last weekend we were privileged enough to share a weekend with our friends the Friedrich's. We met up with them at the prayer service of Leonard Dryer, where we got to hear about a man who lived his life as God would have wanted him to, spreading His word to everyone. The Friedrich's invited us to their cabin to spend some time fishing, relaxing, and eating. It was wonderful to get away, even though it was only overnight, and see friends.

We also made our first big baby purchase, actually I think that it really is our first baby purchase. We bought our crib and dresser. We feel lucky that we ordered it when we did, because both pieces are back ordered. We should get them in time for the baby though. Little Jesus will just have to wait until after the first week of November for the crib to arrive.

We also were able to receive our first visitors over Labor Day weekend. It was a short trip, but Calie's parents came to trade vehicles and enjoy (at least I hope they did) Steve's first sermon as a vicar. We toured the Fargo-Moorhead area, enjoyed some good food, laughs, and free mini golf.

After church on Labor Day weekend, we all headed out and Steve and I went to the Greatest State Fair in the world, yup folks, we went to the Minnesota State Fair. We ate our way around the streets, took in some lasso-ing in the coliseum, and walked a ton! It was great to be back at the famous Great MN Get-together!

By the way, I have not yet located the cord that connects my camera to the computer, so there has been a lack of pictures here. I hope to locate the cord as soon as I get back to my parents house to look for it.

More Baby Pics!

Well as I post this we are now 22 weeks and 6 days along in our pregnancy. On Monday, Calie and I finally made it back to the doctor since moving up to Minnesota. We were very bummed that we had to leave our doctor in St. Louis who was really great, as he said he was only throwing out the first pitch. But our new doctor here also seems to be very good. We lucked out because a church member is a labor & delivery nurse so she gave us a list of the top doctors in the area. Our new doctor was number two on our list; and even though she was not accepting new patients she made an exception for us! We both really like her even though she talks super fast. Our appointment went well and we got to hear the strong, healthy heartbeat of our little miracle baby. And this time I know I heard it!

The very next day on Tuesday, we had to go back to the health center to get new ultrasound pictures! It took over an hour as they took over 100 pictures but it was awesome! We saw so many different pictures and views of our little one, though not enough to determine the sex; we'll just have to wait 'til baby is born. I was a bit humbled though because every time I thought I knew what I was looking at I was corrected. I wasn't usually even close--not even on the right half of the baby.

Even the ultrasound tech was impressed with how photogenic little baby Vera was. She had never seen such clear pictures of the heart and got very excited over our 3-D pictures. But she kept clicking away and printing pictures. She had to check all the different body parts to make sure everything was there and forming properly. She checked the lips/nose to make sure the baby did not have cleft lip. She checked the heart many times and we saw it pumping with all four chambers. We saw the different pockets near the brain that are holding the fluid for the spine and the inside of the umbilical cord which showed three open areas (that's good!). She showed us the stomach, kidneys, lungs and liver. Everything looked strong and healthy so we certainly give God much thanks for that. It's a wonder how anyone can look at ultrasound pictures like these and not believe that God exists or that He doesn't carefully craft a human from the very moment of conception. What an awesome thing to be a part of God's miraculous process!

That's all for now, hope you enjoy the pictures...

Here's a picture of the baby's profile. It's amazing how much they grow in a few short months. The baby is now too long to view from head to feet so we could only see one half at a time. In fact, the only way for them to take measurements of the baby now is to measure the width of his (or her) head, and the femur bone. As of right now, baby weighs 1 pound, 2 ounces

Say Cheese! Who would have thunk that our baby would be such a ham; this is the face of baby and he (or she) is looking right at us! You can see the eye sockets and nose, even a bit of the jaw.

Here are the little feet that baby uses to regularly flip around. Baby moves around so much that I almost thing we should call him (or her) flipper until they're born.

Actually, on Sunday night I felt the baby move or kick for the first couple of times. Calie has been feeling it for a long time but now I have too. I smile just thinking about it!

This is the first of two 3-D pictures. These were awesome and we had no idea we'd be able to have them. You can see the entire face of the baby, along with the umbilical cord in front of him (or her). Poor baby looks like an alien with those big eyes!

Another 3-D picture. A child after my very own heart. If you look real close at baby's mouth you can see him (or her) sticking out their little tongue!

Updates and more

Since our last post, we have been busy getting acclimated to our new home and trying to get into a routine. It has not been easy as it's just been go-go-go. I have quickly realized that in the life of a childcare worker there is no such thing as a routine day. You go to work thinking that you know what to expect, and then BAM the day changes. I forgot how tiring daycare can be but I am enjoying the children and most of the people I get to work with.

This past Friday night we had a couple from church take us to a Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks game. It is the town's semi-pro baseball team. Basically these guys play hoping to get noticed and called to a AAA club for the Major Leagues. It was a lot of fun, but it got pretty chilly towards the end. They game was fun but really sloppy, 15-14 was the final score with a ton of walks, hit batsmen, errors and more. There was not a single pitcher that could throw strikes that night. But it was nice to see live baseball since we are so far from being able to watch the Twins. They concluded with fireworks, which made Steve very happy.

Saturday morning we were busy at a sidewalk event on the campus of MSUM, spreading the word to freshman students about our church and ministry. Steve was pretty uncomfortable at first but warmed up to it eventually as we got talking with students. It really is all about relationships! But it was a lot of work setting up and moving stuff, we filled out table with candy, free soda, frisbees and Ramen Noodles. They were a hit! Even though it was a long afternoon, it was definately worth it when we saw some of the students that we talked to at church on the following Sunday. That's what we all about, hoping students will make our congregation thier church home, away from home!

Right after that, we headed to a town about 25 minutes away to help and ride on our church's float in the Potato Days Parade. We partnered with a number of area LCMS congregations to walk the parade. We handed things out to kids and information on the churches to adults and parents. A fun, easy way to reach people and let them know our chruches are welcoming. I was able to just ride along the float with a fellow pregant lady. It was a lot of fun, but let me tell you that ripping apart over 2000 frozen freezy pops, makes your hands numb after awhile.

That's all for now. Steve will be posting some other things pretty soon about our most recent doctor's visits. Other than that we anxiously await the passing of this week as my parents will be coming to visit to hear Steve preach his first vicarage sermon. And then after church on Sunday we will leave to head back down to the Cities for the MN State Fair. We'll have to stop eating sometime on Thursday so we can get ready to eat all those unhealthy, deep-fried, treats on a stick!

Working...

Well, as promised, our root beer floats were a hit! The person who came up with that idea at the church was brilliant! We got some very generous gifts from the pantry shower as well. Our church is full of great people, whom we met as they left church on Sunday. There are so many names to remember, what a test of the memory!

Sunday evening brought some more fellowship opportunities. The staff and staff relations committee gathered for some yummy food and games. The Wykoff's grilled to perfection some delicious pork chops. They may have been the best pork chops that I have ever eaten! My mouth is salivating just thinking about them! We also relaxed and played ladder golf, horseshoes, and boche ball. It was so nice to be outside enjoying the weather and new friends.

Monday brought the start of a new job for me(Calie). The first day was overwhelming, as new jobs usually are. I am working at the childcare which operates in the same building as the church. I work in the Infant 2 room, which is the 10 month to 16 month old children. Man, I forgot how many runny noses, poops, and cleaning there is with 8 little kiddos! It has been about 6 years since I have worked in the childcare system, so it was...overwhelming. I am also the Lead Teacher in the room, which leads to a lot of paperwork, most of which has to be done (read remembered) monthly. Thankfully, I am getting the hang of things and I hope to be "in the groove" of things by next week.

We're Here!

Greetings faithful readers,

We have arrived in MN! We are settled into our lovely two bedroom apartment with a dishwasher! We got here Sunday afternoon and were greeted by about 5 men and 1 women from church who wouldn't let me lift a finger and had our two cars unpacked in about 45 minutes!! It was so nice to have so much help! We are very grateful! They even bought us our first meal here, pizza. We had two more guys come and help us eat the pizza.

So since then we have been unpacking and hanging things on our walls. We finally put the finishing touches on the walls today.

I have attached a slide show of our new digs for your enjoyment. All of the furniture was donated from various church members, as well as the possible first ever vacuum.

We are looking forward to Steve's installation and meeting new faces this Sunday, but mostly root beer floats! More on that to follow!

Joys of Moving

There is a certain about of emotion that accompanies moving. Steve's emotion is happy to be getting out of St. Louis. Mine is happy to move back to the great state of MN. I am, however, sad that I had to put all of my prized belongings into storage yesterday. I also thought that it would be the greatest thing to be pregnant and not able to physically move boxes. That is until I realized the lack of control I had in the matter. I tried not to watch as my "prized"belongings were whisked away and thrown over our friends (who came voluntarily to help!) shoulders and crammed into small spaces. Yes a few things did get broken along the way, but I am trying to let it go, after all, it's just stuff. I am certainly more than grateful that we have friends in our lives that are willing to help carry our heavy treasures around. They will get us on the payback, as Steve is busy moving three of those friends today and tomorrow.

So now I am sitting in our mostly empty apartment with only an air mattress and the floor to sit on, soaking up my last few hours with cable TV and the Internet. I should be working on finishing up those last minute boxes, and cleaning this place, but I felt that blogging was so much more important. After all, this will be our last blog for while, until we can get settled and back up and running.

Thankfully the hard/sad part of this move is over, and now I am just excited to sleep in a bed that doesn't deflate.

4 1/2 inches

Well, the new news here is that I am finished working for two weeks! Yesterday, Friday, was my last day. Now my life consists of packing, packing and more packing. I think that I would rather be at work!

Steve is trying to finish his last week of school. He only has two classes this session, but he has never had SO much homework! He is spending the whole day in the library, which kind of works out, because it is one less item to move around in the house!

We are also trying to do all of the last minute things, like the last dentist appointment, haircut, and errands. I went to get my haircut yesterday, and ended up with 4 and 1/2 inches cut off of my hair. I really like it, it's just hard to get used to!

Other than that, there is really nothing new. We are all still doing just fine.

Packing is Overrated!

How do the days go by so fast and get so full??? It seems like this past week has been the longest week in history, but then I look back and wonder where has the time gone?

Last weekend I was in Shaumburg, IL, which is a suburb of Chicago, working at the first ever National Children's Ministry Conference. It was so fun to meet people that I have only heard about, written emails to, or talked to on the phone. It was also nice to see familiar faces such as my bosses, pastors, and other friends that I have met during the past 2 years. It was a great conference and an exhausting one too.

Sunday night brought me back to my sweetheart, and reality.... only two days left of work by myself, and three weeks before we move! After my slight panic attack, I realized that I still had time to pack an entire apartment, no problem. Remember when I asked the question how do the days mysteriously get so full and go so fast? Well, it happened. Monday came and went, Tuesday came and brought us a baseball game, Wednesday brought us an unexpected babysitting gig (although it was only for about an hour). Thursday I worked 10 hours and bowled on my league, Friday we got to hang out with some friends and I got to listen to one of my favorite bands (OAR) for free at an event called Live off the Levee. So as you may be able to gather, there has been little or no progress on my packing agenda. Even today we woke up early to gather with the seminary community at Planned Parenthood to pray for the people who were going inside. We got there and couldn't find our group, so after waiting for awhile, we decided to give up and come home. The day continues with Steve working, then baseball practice, then we have to cater for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow is looking a little better, but I am sure the same thing will happen, something will come up... not saying it's a bad thing.

I have also been lucky enough to train the woman who will be taking my job for the next year. I never realized how much it stinks to talk all day non-stop!!! Not even water could quench my thirst. I only have 5 more days left of work, but who's counting!

We Did It!

Now that we are over 15 weeks into the pregnancy, something like 170 days until our Christmas Day due date, Steve and I made the much anticipated trip to go and register.

We started our adventure at Babies-r-Us ... two hours later, we made it out alive. I have discovered that Babies-r-Us is the mega for pregnant people. Of course it makes sense, but I have never felt so comfortable in a store...surrounded by people who are all in the same boat as we are. It was fun to watch how many women came with their Mom's, or another woman to register. Then there were the couples. All of the men held the scanners, as the women told them what to scan. That is how our day played out. I shopped and compared, while Steve scanned. If you check out the registry, there may be random things on there...I apparently went to slow at times for his trigger finger!?!

It is amazing how little we actually knew, and how many choices there are out there for just one little human. So many items are also used for only such a short time, and the price! I never realized how expensive a crib could be!!! That lead us on a whole new search ... We already knew that we wanted to get a crib that changed into a toddler bed, then a full size bed. That was the easy part. We then tried to narrow it down to the color of wood that we wanted. We thought that we knew, but just couldn't find anything that we wanted. Our search then lead us to multiple websites and stores. Finally today, Sunday, we found "The One" at JC Penny's, and registered for it!

Our search on Saturday also brought us to Target, which was easier to handle, since we had just researched all of the products at Babies-r-Us.

Finally, we headed home to rest our tired feet before celebrating our completed task at the Olive Garden.

Kicks and Heartbeats

Well, yesterday we could hardly wait until 3:45 when it was time to see the doctor. I think that I would feel better if I could just check in on this little baby once a day to make sure there is still a heartbeat. After yesterday, it's probably a good thing that doesn't happen daily, because I think that I could watch our baby move forever!


We were able to see the heartbeat, yes, that's right see the heartbeat. Here is the heartbeat. Don't feel bad, I think it just looks like lines too! On the right though is a picture of the head.


We were also able to see what I think is really cool, Steve still can't really see it though. Down the middle of the picture is a straight white line, that is the spine. Coming out of the white line, Spine, are little white lines that look like a star burst. Those are the ribs!


I know it's a little hard to see, but way to cool not to share!




The coolest picture that we got was our little baby giving us the thumbs up! The doctor said this is the clearest and earliest thumbs up he has ever seen! he was really excited too!




I just liked to sit and watch our baby kick his/her little feet around! I can't wait to meet her/him.

Penny for your thoughts...that's all their worth

To give you an update... my weekend meeting was fantastic, and it was great to see friends once again and get reconnected to the Lord through others words and ideas. It was inspiring and I was hoping for a day of rest and reflection afterwards, but it ended up to be a sudden jolt back to reality. So now here I am supposed to be working, but thought that I would instead put down a few thoughts for y'all. After all, I have a l-o-n-g car ride up to MN this weekend to process my thoughts.

We get to "see" baby Vera again today. I hope that we will get another picture, but I don't want to make any promises.

Well, I really do have a ton of work to do...less than once month left...yikes!
Enjoy your day

For all you out there who were wondering, things here are going well. We are extremely busy right now.
I have a work meeting that lasts Friday through Monday here in St. Louis. Actually it is more of a training event that I was lucky enough to become a part of. It is called SLED, and it is sponsored by my office. This group gathers LCMS teachers from all over the United States to give them the skills that they will need to become principals. We are given a group and a mentor. We also meet 3 times in one year before we "graduate". This is the third meeting. There is a lot of work that is assigned over the year and also throughout the weekend. It is also a lot of information to take in, so I am fried by the time I get home everyday during this meeting.

While I am having fun in my meetings, Steve will be writing a rather large paper. Next week marks the forth and final week of his summer classes. He will then get to enjoy summer for two weeks before heading back to school for four more weeks.

Thankfully we have been able to relax and sleep a bit during this week, to gear up for our up coming fun weekend.

I hope your weekend plans include more fun than ours!

Naps are Good

Since we found out that we were going to be parents, life has gotten busier. New doctor appointments, sleep, shopping trips to find clothes that fit, sleep, deciding on what to register for, and sleep. As you may have picked up, I have been a little on the tired side. I am assured that this will soon go away, but for now I live in a state of exhaustion.

I am lucky that I have not been sick other than a little queasiness every now and then. And sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing, my sense of smell has increased. All the joys and many more of being pregnant.

I started to realize one morning as I was getting ready for work, that the sink in the bathroom needed to be cleaned. I promised myself that I would come home and clean it quick before heading onto the next activity. Well, I got home from work and realized that the couch and a snack sounded much better than cleaning the sink. So the next morning I made the same promise, with the same results. I realized that I can not keep doing the things that I have always done before.

This gave me a thought, Steve and I enjoy a clean house. Now that our lives are changing, can we still achieve this? I would like to think yes. Maybe we are being unrealistic, but I hope that we can still live our lives the way we like to, in a clean put-a-way house.

For now, Steve has really stepped up and helped pick up my slack. And hopefully soon I will have more energy to get back into the swing of things.

The news is true

Well, it is true there is going to be a new little Vera coming to our household. We found out Friday morning around 9:30 am that we were going to be parents! And here's the kicker, we really had no idea.

We had an ultrasound done and we got to see our baby waving it's arm at us, an occasional leg, and it's face. It was a busy little thing! For all of those who understand the stats that they throw at you when you are pregnant, here they are:

The baby is 10 weeks old, 3 centimeters, heart rate of about 160, and due to enter this world on December 25th. Yup, Christmas Day. That is why we have chosen the name Jesus (said Hay-Zeus) Navidad Vera.

Now I have to say that as a person who has never had a child before, I used to get quite annoyed with people who talk about how many weeks along they are, and I have to try to convert it into months, but now I am understanding why you have to do that. The baby grows so much each week, that it is impossible to simply keep track of months. Also those little ultrasound pictures, where you have to be trained to see something that resembles a baby. But oh yes, I have turned into one of those people who share the first pictures of our baby! Here it is!

The other question we have gotten from everyone is, "Are you excited?" the answer is simply how can you not be excited? So yes, of course we are excited!

Basking in the sun

It seems weird to me that I am blogging about the sun? But I just had one of those moments where life was a whole lot sweeter because the sun is out. It seems to change a mood from bad to good, a sour day into a sweet one. I mean really, how can you have a bad day when the sun is finally out after what seems to be months of rain?

Along with the absence of rain today, the trees, grass and flowers all seem to be that much brighter. Some who have allergies may not express these same feelings, sorry. I even took a little walk through our building (here at work), and found a little patch of sun. I stood there basking in the sunshine just like my cat used to do. It felt so nice, warming me to the core!

I really enjoy the sunshine, and I hope that it is sunny where you are too! Don't take this wonderful tool for granted, enjoy it!

Comforts of home

Hey there all you blog readers. I have to apologize for the lack of blogging recently. Yesterday was Tuesday, and I swore it was Thursday. Needless to say, it has already been the longest week of my life.

Reality is starting to set in that we will be moving in about 2 months. We have looked forward to leaving St. Louis for so long, but now that it's almost here I find myself having mixed feelings. First I should clarify that I am more than excited to leave my job here, but with that brings the unknown which can be worrisome especially if you are like me and HATE change. I also am having a hard time realizing that when we move, I have to leave all of my possessions behind. (OK, so maybe you have figured it out that I also tend to over exaggerate?!) Our vicarage apartment is furnished, which is nice, but it hit me the other day that whenever you move, and where ever you go you always have the comfort of home and your own comfortable belongings. I will not quite have that next year and it has sent me into a mood.

We will be traveling to MN this weekend through next week. The main point of the trip is to visit with the outgoing vicar and the pastor at the church where we will be serving next year in Moorhead. Along the way we hope to see our apartment, which hopefully will relieve some of my anxiety, visit with family and friends, enjoy the delightful tastes of the Dome Dog while cheering on the Twins, and much more.

For now I will enjoy the comfort of my home. I hope that you do the same!

Kansas City

Finally

All right, I am FINALLY getting around to writing about our MN Twins weekend in Kansas City!

It already seems like forever ago, but as promised here are the highlights...

Steve and I left on Friday afternoon so that we could make it in time to check in to the hotel before heading to the game. Our hotel was right across the street and was very nice! Unfortunately the weather was not as nice. We put on our Twins gear and started out towards the ball park. Half way there I think that I had wind burn on my face, and I was COLD! We made it just in time for the game from the nose bleed seats. The game was great as we huddled together. Then in about the 8th inning we heard someone yell, "hey, it's snowing!". Low and behold it was snowing tiny little flakes. Not something that two people without proper winter clothing or a blanket want to hear in April. I told Steve that if the game was not over by 10:00pm, I was breaking his rule of never leaving a sporting event early. We ran back to the hotel, and I believe that I had frostbite on my legs.

Soon after we got back to the hotel, our friends Luke and Megan arrived! We love that they drove all the way to catch some games and fun times together!

Saturday was another fantastic day (or just the opposite). We lounged around in a hot tub that later closed due to nastiness and paint chips in the water. We also took a trip to the brand new Bass Pro Shops. We quickly realized that we can't wait to get back to MN so that we can do some fishing. Steve even mentioned that he would like to try hunting. I say more power to him! Maybe I can convince him to shoot birds? We also took in the 2nd win for the Twins that night. We just came a little more prepared! It also snowed that night. (See the slide show for the picture).

We were determined to do some tailgating, since you really can't do that at the dome. So we packed up and headed for the game. We ended up parking next to some people we knew from the seminary, who actually ended up getting their final call in the same district as us. We sat through the cold to enjoy some tailgate grilling. We got into the game to watch Liriano make his first start of the year. (Which doesn't really matter anymore, since he is back in the minors again) This was the worst game out of the three that we saw, but we had awesome seats, and the sun came out!

We had to say our good buys and head our separate ways, but now we will be able to see every twins game on TV from Moorhead, MN!

Enjoy the slide show!

We're going to Hawaii...

Just kidding, not quite Hawaii but Moorhead, MN. Far away from the beach but we could not be happier! We will be at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Moorhead, MN. A church of about 535 members and weekly attendance near 300. We have already heard very, very good things about our supervising pastor and his wife from numerous sources. That was our biggest request for our year of internship...a positive place to learn and grow.

The majority of my time will be spent doing campus ministry at the colleges in the surrounding Moorhead/Fargo, ND areas. I believe the two main colleges are the University of Minnesota at Moorhead and Concordia Moorhead. I will be spending about 75% of my time doing ministry at the colleges and 25% doing ministry in the parish. Hopefully, I will have plenty of opportunities to preach, teach, and learn from all the people of the parish. My time at the colleges seems to be to primarily just be present on the campuses. Incarnational ministry and relationships... I love it! Also I will be leading Bible studies and hopefully helping start and establish a weekly, evening worship service for college students. (Guess it's a good time to learn to play that ol' guitar!)

We don't have many other details beyond this as of right now. We have to wait awhile before we can work out the details of our living arrangements, job for Calie, and things like that. But again we are really, really excited. Plus we will be about 3 hours to family and friends--that's seven hours closer than where we are now. About 1.5 hours to a certain cabin on the lake. About 9 months of winter for snowmobiling, if not more! Oh, and I can't forget to mention that Calie is super excited to watch the MN Vikings year-round next football season!

So this was our fallout from Call Day 2008! No doubt God has blessed us, and all the future vicars with places to learn and grow. We are so happy to have a place to be excited about! Thank you to everyone for all their thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement. God is good, Jesus is Lord, and remember that no matter where you are, you are in the mission field! Look out Moorhead, here come the Vera's!

It's here

First of all I would like to dedicate this post to our most faithful reader G. This one's for you!

Well, I know that I told you all that next time I blogged it would be about our fabulous weekend with our friends in Kansas City attending the MN Twins games. Well time has once again passed me by and now we are here at one of the more important days of our lives...call day.

Yes indeed, in a few short hours our fate will be sealed as we are told where we are headed for the next year of our lives. We have no idea where they are sending us, or to do what. A bug has been planted in our ears that Campus Ministry may be in our future, but we will have to wait and see what they tell us at the 3:00 service. Since we are "V's" I don't expect to know until about 4.

Shortly after the service ends I hope to blog to let you all know where we are going! Until then we could sure use some prayers that A. the rain stops, B. we get a placement where we can thrive, and C. everyone gets placements that are good and suit them best. I know that God knows what He is doing, but a little extra prayer never hurts!

Earthquake?! In St. Louis?!?

Yes indeed! Last night at 4:37 I woke up to loud noises. Our windows were shaking, which is not uncommon since they are neither new or good windows. The brass knocker on our door was knocking away and my bed was shaking. I believe my words were something like, "Geez!". After the windows stopped rattling and the door knocker was quite, I tried to go back to sleep, only to realize that our bed was still shaking. It felt the same as when Steve shakes his legs when he can't sleep. So I asked him, "why are you shaking your legs?" he replied "I'm not". So that's when my mind started going and I knew that we had just been through an earthquake.

This morning when I got out of the shower I was going to wake up Steve and tell him that I thought there was an earthquake last night, but I didn't think that he would believe me. (He does not get as excited about this stuff as I do!) He was already watching the news and confirmed what occupied my mind from 4:37am until a few minutes before my alarm went off. Isn't that just the way it goes too? You fall back asleep just before you have to get up!?

So here are the facts: The earthquake was located in Mount Carmel which is 131 miles East of St. Louis in Illinois. It is right on the boarder if IL and IN. It was rated 5.2 on the Richter scale. The shocks have been reported to have been felt in Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL, and Cincinnati, OH.

This is definitely the hot topic of the office today, and I wonder how many times I will have a conversation about this today? But I am excited to say that I have now officially been in an earthquake!

I would like to add to this post, that we just received an aftershock of the first earthquake at 10:28am. I still think that it is exciting to experience this, especially in two different locations. I do have to say that I prefer to be at home with Steve.

Running out of time!

Well, There is just SO much to say under this topic!

First I will say that I am a touch sad that my embroidery class is now over, and we have been thrown to the wolves to try to do this on our own. I don't anticipate a problem, but now I just need to get the time to order the fabric and get going! Time seems to be running out on me!

I do not, at least right now, have pictures of the final two projects. I promise they will come.

Time is running out on our lives here at the seminary. Good, bad, scary, nerve wracking, exciting, and sad are all feelings that are running trough our heads. Steve probably has a few more that may not be appropriate! We are down to 5 days until we officially know where we will be headed after this summer for the next year of our lives. We are running out of time!

Right now I am running out of time, as it is 5:30 and I am still at work, trying to leave. I am waiting for a phone call, and thought this would be the perfect time to catch up on something that I have pushed aside for "when I have time". I just realized that is not going to happen, so this is the short and simple message that I have. We are running out of time!

I will blog again soon to talk about our Twins weekend!!!
Until then, thanks for taking your time to read this!

A New Hobby

I (Calie) have started a new hobby. I am taking a wives class through the Seminary to learn how to do ecclesiastical embroidery. This means that I am learning how to sew the stoles that Steve will be wearing as a pastor. If I get good enough, I would even like to sell them.

So every Tuesday night I meet with 14 other wives and a teacher, who is also a Sem. wife, to learn how to embroider. The first week we accomplished learning how to "couch" stitch. Here is the picture. While it's not perfect, it was a good learning tool.

I was the only one who actually finished the "homework". Our instructor was so impressed she showed off my creation and called it "amazing". I leaned over to my friend and said, "it's either amazing, or shows you how big of a loser I am" She told me to go with amazing, but I'm leaning towards the other one.

The second week we learned the Satin stitch. Here is the picture of this sample. (also not perfect)

Sorry it's so dark, I'll try to take a better picture soon.

I know that this week I am not the only one who finished, so I won't have to through the embarrassment again! Thank goodness!

So tonight is the third class and I am excited to start another pattern. I think that we are learning the long and short stitch tonight.

I will keep you updated on my progress!

Easter Blessings

We hope that all of you had a joyous Easter! We sure did! Sure we wished that we could be with all of our friends and family, but we had a nice relaxing few days together.

Thursday we toured the Illinois country side as our GPS (aka Calie) got us safely to church via a different route. We stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel to use the last of our gift certificates.

Friday was a nice day to sleep in, but of course we can't sleep past 7:30 anymore anyways. We decided that it was the perfect opportunity to watch The Passion. Since it was actually a nice day, we decided to take a walk in the park before heading to church. We got to church and a nice older man seemed excited to see us. His eyes then filled with tears and told us that he had suddenly lost his wife to a heart attack on Wednesday night, while fighting back the tears. We joined him in his pew to try to comfort this man who said there is nothing that can keep him from his Lord, especially now. I don't know about you, but I would not be that brave only two days after losing my spouse. Steve was able to miss a class so that he could attend the funeral. What Steve realized after this man said he had lost his wife was that they were avid bible study goers, and she had just asked Steve what he thought Heaven was like and told him that she couldn't wait to get there, and she didn't wait.

Saturday we worked around the house and capped the day off at Dave and Busters. It is an arcade for adults.

Sunday was a cold snowy day here. We started the day with an Easter breakfast that pales in comparison to the Easter breakfast at Trinity, WI. We then went to church. We had a relaxing afternoon and had some friends over for dinner. Somehow we got on the subject of the old wives tale that you can't break an egg if it's in the palm of your hand. See the picture for the results of Steve's attempt.

Overall it was a joyous occasion of sleeping in, worshiping the struggles and triumphs of our Lord, and time with each other.

62 and Sunny

Easter greetings to you all! We want to wish everyone out there the best celebration of our risen Lord through this exciting season.

Our lives have not been as exciting as the life of Jesus was this holy week. We celebrated today that it was 62 and sunny! Please do not get to envious, we have endured two days of heavy non-stop rain and gloom. There are LOTS of people right now here in St. Louis and surrounding areas that are suffering through flooding waters. There have been many roads that close the flood gates, which literally means that a huge metal wall goes across the road and it is sand bagged. This obviously prohibits travel and even quarantines some communities. Growing up next to a river that flooded often, I am not too surprised by this event. So we are rejoicing in the sunny weather today and tomorrow. It is also supposed to get rainy again on Monday.

I seem to write a lot about the weather, which could tell you something about the state of our exciting (or not-so-much) lives. It actually does affect the extra-curricular lives of both of us. Steve has become more and more frustrated with St. Louis due to the weather. In MN when it started to get nice, you could count on it progressively getting nicer. Here, however, it gets nice then cold again. Never consistent. Steve has started his intramural softball season. However the first game was rained out. The weather allowed them to get two games in one week, and Steve was named the MVP of the season due to his amazing catch from third base. I'll set the scene.....the game had gone into extra innings, and both teams and the umpire were getting tired of playing. There were two outs and the go ahead runner was on second base. The ball was hit above Steve's head, but he managed to catch it while running with his back turned to the ball without looking. His team rushed over to him and threw him on their shoulders. It looked like they had just won the world series. For their team, who hasn't ever had a winning record, it was just as good.

We hope that there has been some event in your life that has felt this good.

Well, we are off to enjoy a meal at Cracker Barrel before heading to church to celebrate the washing of the feet and the reason we celebrate holy communion.

Have a blessed Easter celebration.

The Return

So Steve and I are concluding our first full week back after vacation. Let me tell you, it has been the longest week ever!

Steve started a new quarter of classes, that hopefully he will like just a bit better than the last quarter. He really enjoys the class that the President of the seminary teaches. I think that he mainly likes it because of the professor.

I am back to work also. This week marks the nation wide celebration of National Lutheran Schools Week, which I have spent a great deal of time and effort planning, preparing and shipping things for. Our office arranges schools to come and sing each day for our chapel service, then we provide a small "breakfast" for them. It has been a fun and exhausting way to start each day! It makes me realize how much I miss teaching. Now I am experiencing a lull in the flow of work that comes my way. Which may sound nice, but it makes the days seem l-o-n-g! But I find time to do things like update our Blog.

On Tuesday St. Louis experienced "the biggest snow storm in years". It actually angered me though. One thing that I have learned about St. Louis is that if there is the threat of snow, most places close. If there are 2 inches of snow the whole town shuts down for at least a day. Sounds nice unless you are stuck at work and they will not let you go home. Finally after about 9 inches of snow fell at a rate of 2 inches er hour, they let us go home. Let's just say that nothing was plowed from the sidewalk to the interstate. It was very dangerous driving. A five lane highway turned into three and at times was only two lanes. While I understand that this area does not get much snow, I believe that they should have more that 4 snow plows for this reason alone. Sorry, I just realized that turned into quite the rant!

Well, At least we only have a few months left!

Florida

So this is the slide show of our Week in Florida! We had a BLAST! Who can't when you are at the beach with the sun warming you to the core and a nice salty ocean to cool off in???

I will give you a quick recap of the events:

Day 1: We arrived in the most beautiful place we have seen in ages! We proceeded to Grandma and Grandpa's house to settle in and have dinner with Aunt Sherry. I had to go to bed early, I couldn't keep my eyes open!

Day 2: We were chauffeured to the Fort Myers beach to enjoy some lovely seafood amid a flock of birds who were trying to get some of it. (I survived, but barely. I HATE birds for those of you who do not know!) We took in a few stores and picked up a few souvenirs.

Day 3: BEACH DAY!! Only problem was that we forgot to put sunscreen on some very important parts. We also went to a dinner and a show called Anything Goes. It was a buffet and a great show.

Day4: Grandma and Grandpa were kind enough to let us borrow their car for a day without tour guides. We went to Manatee Park to see some Manatees but no luck. Then we toured downtown Fort Myers, drove past Thomas Edison and Henry Ford's winter estates, and went to Sanibel Island. We stopped for a quick game of mini-golf amidst 30 live baby alligators, and yes Steve won...this time. On the way home we got the biggest scoops of ice-cream I have ever seen, but they were delicious. While we were away, Grandma had been making us stuffed cabbages.

Day 5: Adventures took us south to Naples to visit a shopping center called Tin City. It was filled with quirky shops and fun eateries. We enjoyed some ice cream yet again. And as if we did not buy enough wine on our trip to Hermann, we bought some Pina Colada wine made at the Naples winery. That night we went out to dinner to celebrate Grandma's 75th birthday at Bahama Breeze.

Day 6: Steve and I drove back to Manatee park and this time we finally saw one!!! He was an adolescent that was probably waiting for his mother to return, since the park is a safe place for them to hang out. We also experienced another highlight of the trip when we were able to catch the MN Twins during their spring training practice. We were impressed that we could see our favorite team so up close and for free! We returned home to celebrate Grandma's actual birthday at Buca di Beppos. YUM!

Day 7: Took us back to the beach to work on our tan some more. The temperature of the ocean was even warmer than the last time. We finished our lazy day with dinner and another game of mini golf. Steve wanted to get ahead, so he turned the first 9 holes into 1 game and the back 9 holes into another. So Calie got to add two wins to the tally!!

Day 8: Thankfully for us the weather, for the first time, was cloudy and 60 degrees. It made leaving just a little easier.

So that was our trip in a nut shell. We had a great time and are not too happy to be back in St. Louis and back to reality.

Hermann, MO

First Things First

Steve and I have had more excitement and trips in the past few weeks than we have all school year! The weekend of February 16th (Happy Birthday Dad), Steve and I travelled to Hermann, MO with our friends Emil and Heather. (I think this was previously posted.) Hermann is Missouri's wine country.

I know Steve just blogged about our Hermann experience, so I will just shut up and create the slide show... Enjoy!

Quit Your Wining!

Before I get into the blog two quick thoughts...

Today I am privileged to be wearing a certain hat that reads, "Super Bowl XLII Champions." It sure does have a NY Giant logo on it too! Yup, the victory is still sweet. Every fan dreams of being able to watch and enjoy a championship run for their favorite team at least once during their lifetime. Who'd have thunk that this would be the year of the Giants?!? I'm pretty sure that the sweetness of that victory will never leave. Especially with the locker room shirt and hat (thanks Mom and Dad!) to bring back the awesome memories of February 3, 2008. Not sure which player said it before the game but it was something like putting an end to the Patriot dynasty and starting one of our own. Back to back Super Bowls? Sure, why not? You heard it here first…

Second, I am procrastinating. Very much so! Our winter quarter at the seminary ended this past Friday but I still have one more reflection paper to write. It's about 98% done but the last few finishing touches are just not high on my priority list. At least I have another 4.5 hours to get it done today. As I sit here blogging, there is something like 63 days until Call Day. It can't come soon enough! Calie and I are so ready to get the heck out of here! But first I must continue to press on; the spring quarter may just be the busiest and most demanding one yet.

OK, thoughts over and now onto the main course. This past weekend Calie and I, along with our good friends (also Giants fans) Emil and Heather, went to Hermann, MO. It's a very small, old historic German town. Each year, right around Valentine's Day, they sponsor a "Chocolate Wine Tour.” If any of you have ever come out to visit us in St. Louis...chances are we took you out there! Anyways, there are seven separate wineries that partake in the weekend. You head to each winery to sample one of their selected wines with a chocolate dessert accompaniment. It was a weekend thing and so we spent a night in an area Bed & Breakfast. It was a great weekend to just getaway from seminary life and relax with some friends, food, and booze. The town of Hermann is beautiful and we had a great time. We had some tasty wine and chocolate and some not-so-tasty wine and chocolate. FYI: if you ever get the urge to make chocolate waffles or apparently chocolate pasta… resist the urge! But we did stock up on a few bottles of wine that should last us for awhile.

I'm sure that Calie will soon be posting some pictures of our past weekend. In addition to pictures from our upcoming trip to Ft. Myers! The weather there is a nice 84 degrees, a far cry from the 24 degrees in St. Louis. We sure will be spending the next week in Florida—sitting on the beach, stuffing our faces, and hopefully seeing some MN Twins spring training festivities! Grandma and Grandpa here we come!