Vicar Craig

The past few weeks have been busy and hard...

Craig attended his SMP (Specific Ministry Pastoral Program)orientation at Concordia-St.Louis Seminary, completed yet another test and has begun his 'official' vicarage at Shepherd. He is required to say 'NO' to any and all requests outside of what he already has on his plate work-wise, and has been encouraged to cut back a bit on even that. He has a minimum of 15 hours per week school lectures, and all the lovely schoolwork that comes with it!

We've wrapped up the final week of Girl Scout booth sales...thank God! Ella's schedule requires the bulk of Meissler family running between scouts, sewing, choir and youth group. This past Friday she had the quarterly 'midnight madness' choir rehearsal...basically a 6 hour practice session to identify and wrap up any loose ends for her upcoming Spring concert. Booth sales consumed Sat. & Sun.. Ella will be attending the Youth Quake conference along with the youth of Shepherd next weekend, and has the following 2 weekends busy with Cadette conferences.

Natalie is moving forward with violin, exploring recreational music (Harry Potter & The Beatles) in addition to her Suzuki studies, and she's looking forward to the next competition! Natalie has also developed the reputation for video taping unsuspecting siblings with her iPod, and she has recorded some really great 'candid' moments:-).

Grace LOVES reading Green Eggs & Ham and is showing a talent for fast math along with her natural artistic ability. She is eagerly anticipating the delivery of her special edition Platypus Littlest Pet Shop!

David has made real progress with his pre-school, the 'key' being mom waits until HE asks for school time vs. setting a time. Batman and super computers are his favs.

Claire is still in the heart of 'terrible 2's' (and yes, they DO exist...she's our first to really go through this stage!), so we lovingly refer to her as our porcupine (so cute but hard to hug) or our chub-chub, a sweet, chicky looking critter with the ability to terrify/terrorize even the scariest monsters with its razor sharp teeth (that would be Claire's cry) and volatile temperament. We are ALL looking forward to the end of this stage!

Our weather was beautiful today, but crummy this month (as a whole) with lots of rain (needed, always needed!) COLD (waking up to 27 and hitting a 'high' of 35 is cold no matter where you live!) and this winter is truly a winter. Our landscaping, which consisted of a boatload of tropical plants and flowers, is now dead beyond dead and will require lots of work come spring. Something to plan for to pass the dreary-weather week ahead (wintry-mix and highs in 40's come Tuesday!).

So that's our update...hope all is well with you & yours!

The Meissler 7