I’m home from a wonderful weekend away! I left Thursday evening to drive to St. Louis, where I spent the night at my brother’s apartment. Friday morning, we got up early and drove to Lincoln, Nebraska. We stopped so I could visit my college roommate, Grace. Sadly, it had been almost 4 years since we had seen one another. Our visit was long overdue. Plus, I needed to meet Grace’s newly adopted daughter, Samantha. It was nice to sit and talk for a bit.

Then, Joel and I drove into Seward, where we met up with my parents and cousin, Crystal. We had time to change before driving to St. John’s for the Baccalaureate service. To me, the Baccalaureate service is a very special part of the weekend. This was especially true this weekend, as my Pastor Dad was preaching for the service. He did a wonderful job (as he always does), speaking to the graduates about our location to serve and vocation of service. Even though it has been nine years since I sat in those same pews for my Baccalaurate, Dad’s sermon was exactly what I needed to hear as well.

Saturday morning, we woke up early and headed to the new gymnasium for graduation. We arrived two hours early – to get good seats – so used the time to visit with my parents, grandparents, second-cousin Crystal, and Aunt Becky. Liesl even called while we were waiting. Thanks to technology, she was able to stream the graduation and watch Mikaela gradate – even though she was in Okinawa.

Not only did we get to watch Mikaela graduate, but also her finance, JohnDavid. Our second cousin, Joey, was also graduating as well as Briar, another second cousin’s fiance. It was hard to believe it’s been nine years since I walked across the stage to graduate from Concordia, Seward. Now, Mikaela, Liesl and I have all graduated from Concordia, Seward! Of course, we’re very proud of our brother who graduated from Maryville University, even though we don’t share an alma mater.

It was good to celebrate Mikaela’s graduation as a family. We missed Liesl, of course, but we were thankful that the rest of us could be there this weekend. It also makes us look forward to this summer when we all will be together for Mikaela and JohnDavid’s wedding!

After graduation, we spent time visiting with one another, as well as our Rempfer cousins. We also loaded Mikaela’s things up into three separate – and very full – cars. On Sunday, we worshipped together at Calvary Lutheran Church – where Grace serves as DCE and Mikaela did her DCE practicum. After that, we took Mom out to Panera for Mother’s Day, before we had to say good-bye. Why is it that time together always goes so quickly?

It meant over 27 hours of driving in 4 days, but that was a minor detail. Graduations only happen once – and this was the last college graduation of our family. I spent four wonderful years at Seward and I loved remembering so many special moments. I received an excellent education at Concordia, and best of all? I met my husband there!

For my birthday last week, I received a wonderful gift from my in-laws. They surprised me with the gift of three apple trees! For a long time, I’ve been dreaming about apple trees of my own. The funny thing is that earlier in the evening, I had told Andy (again) that I wanted to plant apple trees. Then, Mom and Dad surprised me with this early birthday gift!

Do any of you have apple trees? Did you know that you need to plant at least 2 apples trees together so they can pollinate? Did you know there are more than 7500 known varieties of apples in the world?  I’ve been doing my research about apple trees. Needless to say, I’m learning a lot.

Let’s start with varieties. I now have three different varieties of apple trees. Two of my varieties are specialties of the Stark Brothers Orchard, which is where my apples started. Here is how their catalog describes my apple trees.

• Cortland apples won’t turn brown. This productive tree bears gorgeous ruby red apples with a snowy center that won’t brown in salads. Also perfect for pies and cider. Ripens in mid September.
• Lodi apples are the “early bird” of the orchard. While similar to Yellow Transparent, these apples are larger and keep better. Resistant to powdery mildew. Cold-tolerant. Ripens in July.
• MacIntosh apples are one of America’s most cherished apples — made better! Our [Stark brothers] improved McIntosh has more fruiting spurs than regular trees, so it produces more fruit in the same space. That way, you can enjoy more tart, crisp apples with that distinctive McIntosh flavor and aroma. Good for eating fresh or baking. Cold-tolerant. Ripens in September.
  

My mother-in-law chose well. Don’t all those apples sound delicious? These specific varieties also pollinate well with each other. Here are the differences in trees, again, according to the catalog.

• Dwarf fruit trees are perfect when space is limited; they provide an abundance of full-size fruit that can be picked without using a ladder.
• Semi-dwarf fruit trees are medium-sized and very productive; they give you maximum fruit yield per square foot.
• Standard fruit trees are a good choice if you have plenty of space or want a multi-purpose fruit or shade tree.

My apple trees are all semi-dwarf trees for maximum fruit yield. Semi-dwarf are projected to grow about 12 to 15 feet in height as well as width. In time, semi-dwarf trees will produce 10 to 15 bushels of apples. How much is a bushel really? According to my research, 1 bushel equals the following.

• 42 to 48 pounds of apples
• 126 medium apples
• 15 nine inch apple pies
• 30 to 36 pints frozen apples
• 16 to 20 quarts canned apples

Multiple that by 10 (estimating the low average) and then by 3 (for my trees) and we will be having lots of apples in the near future! Of course, it will take 2 to 5 years before my trees beginning producing apples, but I will wait patiently until then.

For now, I thought I’d share my excitement as I wait with you. Oh, and I’ll let you see a picture of my cute apple trees as they are right now. My in-laws even planted them for me (in alphabetical order) while we were in Florida. Wasn’t that nice of them? Now, we’ll wait to see how much they grow by next year…and for years to come!

Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for your wonderful gift! I hope you all enjoyed learning a bit about apple trees. I look forward to sharing more with you as I harvest my apples in the years to come!

Today is my 31st birthday. We are celebrating by enjoying our Spring Break trip to Florida.  Since it’s my birthday, I thought I’d tell you a bit more about myself – that you may or may not know. Last year, I wrote a list of 25 things about me and followed it up with 25 more things about me. Many blogs have a list of 100 things about them so I’m slowly working up to that. Here’s the latest additions to my list.

1. The Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond) is my new cooking inspiration.
2. Edie at Life in Grace is my Lutheran blogging inspiration.
3. Money Saving Mom (aka Crystal Paine) is my frugal inspiration
4. I have a fascination with wreaths. I love looking at them, making them, and displaying them.
5. I had a childhood dream of being an Olympic gymnast…despite the fact that I can’t even turn a cartwheel.
6. I love to cook and bake. Anything. I do.
7. I like watching Dancing with the Stars because I wish I could dance like that.
8. One of my favorites author is Lori Wick. It’s too hard to pick only one, but she’s at the top of the list.
9. I cry at the Hallmark commercials just as much as I do at the Hallmark movies.
10. I recently rediscovered how much I like to eat cauliflower.
11. I fulfilled my lifelong dream of seeing a musical on Broadway when I saw Mary Poppins this summer.
12. Now, I want to see more musicals on Broadway. Many more.
13. My love languages are words of affirmation, followed closely by physical touch.
14. Dusting is my least favorite chore.
15. I prefer cheesecake over actual cake.
16. If I do eat cake, I do so for the frosting. Isn’t that the real reason to eat cake? Give me a homemade chocolate frosting, cream cheese frosting or a good butter cream and I will happily eat cake!
17. I am very ticklish.
18. Listening to people with accents makes me smile.
19. I do not talk with an accent which surprises some people when they found out that I grew up in Texas.
20. So far, I have been to four foreign countries – Canada, Mexico, China and Japan.
21. In the future, I would like to travel to more foreign countries like England, Germany, Brasil, and Italy.
22. Actually, I would travel almost anywhere because I love to travel.
23. I am not always so great with directions so I am thankful that my husband is amazing with directions.
24. I recently appeared in a commercial promoting our Fort Wayne Lutheran Schools. It was quite the experience, and has been fun to be recognized by people who have seen my commercial.
25. I have big plans for my 31st year of life – but that seems to be true every year!

There you have it. Now you know 75 things about me. Did you learn something new?

Can it really be 2013 already? Oh my. Another year has come and gone, and now it’s time to greet a new one. I rang it by celebrating quietly at home with my husband and brother. It was perfect.

For the last two years, I have written about my goals. What would a new year be without goals? You can read about my 2011 and my 2012 goals, if you like. Once again, I met some of my goals and didn’t met some of the others. Isn’t that how it goes with goals? Despite our best intentions, some things fall by the wayside. Other goals come up that we didn’t forsee at the beginning of the year and that’s okay! Yet, we still make goals. It’s good to make goals.

Here are a list of some of my goals for the upcoming year, along with my explanation of why I picked this goal.

1. Continue to read – a variety of books. This is always a goal of mine and one that I have no problem keeping. My goal is to read an average of 10 books a month – whether audio, Kindle, or in traditional book format. Over the course of a year (12 months), this averages out to 120 books. That is my goal for 2013. I want to read 120 books this year. I better get started reading!

2. Read the Bible through in a year. I have made this goal several times and have come close, but never finished. This is the year. My devotions have been scattered as of late, so I need a plan to hold me accountable. I plan to use a “Seasons of Reflection” Bible that we used at church years ago. Like I said, this is the year!

3. Eat healthier. Yes, it’s the standard New Year’s Goal that so many of us make but it’s an important one. My goal is to eat more fruits and vegetables. That’s the primary goal. I always want to try to eat less processed foods. That means I need to get back to the kitchen more and plan ahead more. I’m going to work at using my slow-cooker and cooking from scratch so that we are eating healthier.

4. Walk more. This isn’t a goal to lose weight, persay, but that would be a nice perk! I simply need to get out more to exercise. It’s hard when it’s cold and snowy, so I need to be more active inside, too. This is the year that I’m going to dust off my pedometer on and get walking.

5. Organize my pictures. I haven’t exactly figured out how I want to go about this yet, but I know it needs to be done. I need to print some more of my pictures and get them in albums. I also need to back up all my pictures somehow online. I’m still evaluating the options. Picasa? Flickr? Any recommendations?

6. Start an emergency kit. This is one of those necessary, practical goals that I’ve been researching for a while. If a snowstorm knocks out our power, or a storm comes through like Hurricane Sandy, I want to make sure we are prepared. I want to make sure we have the recommended 3 days of water, as well as candles, matches, flashlights and batteries, to name a few things. I plan to budget $5 to $10 every month to make my kit, and will fill it up gradually. Do you have an emergency kit set aside for your family? I’ll update you periodically as I create my emergency kit, and you can do it along with me, if you like!

Well, there you have it. Those are some of my goals for the upcoming 2013 year. I have the best of intentions, so I will do my best to meet / complete these goals of mine. What goals have you set for this upcoming year?

Oh, the wonderful busy Christmas season! I knew these weeks would be busy weeks and I planned ahead, but it’s still been busy. Take a look at my calendar with the big events for the past couple days and the days to come.

Saturday, December 15 – Host Piano Recital

Sunday, December 16 – Church, Christmas Program Practice, Christmas at Concordia at the Embassy, Host Basketball Party

Monday, December 17 – Perform Preschool Program for the School

Tuesday, December 18 –  Christmas Caroling with 4th Grade, Preschool Christmas Program

Wednesday, December 19 – Grade School Christmas Program with Handbells Preservice

Thursday, December 20 – Three Year Old Class Party, Young Adult Bible Study

Friday, December 21 – Four Year Old Class Party, Host Faculty Party

Saturday, December 22 – Whirrett Christmas in Indy

Sunday, December 23 – Church, Schiffli Christmas in Fort Wayne

Monday, December 24 – Christmas Eve Church at St. Paul’s

Tuesday, December 25 – Christmas Church at Ascension, Host Family for Brunch, Christmas Dinner with In-laws

Somewhere in the midst of this there are still cookies to bake, presents to wrap, and ornaments to make (with / for my preschoolers). There are parties to plan, parties to attend, and parties to host. There are menus to plan and meals to bake. There are worship services to direct and worship services to attend.

There is lots to do – and I’m excited about it all! I am going to add this disclaimer. I need time to focus on all there is to do, so I can enjoy it. I don’t want to be rushing through Christmas, focusing on the details instead of cherishing the moments.

For this reason, I am officially going on my online Christmas vacation early. What does this mean, in good Lutheran words? It simply means that I am not going to be posting daily through New Years. I may post occasionally, when I have time and something to share, but I am not going to worry about the daily posting that I generally do.

I hope you enjoy all your Christmas moments – busy as they may be. We only get this day – and this Christmas – once. Let’s savor our journey to the manager. That is what truly matters.

It seems like we were just celebrating Thanksgiving. Actually, we were but now that December has started, Thanksgiving already seems long past.

I had good intentions to start December off with some of my favorite Christmas links but it’s not going to happen. At least, not today.

This week was busy and the next weeks are shaping up to be even busier.

I need to take down all my pumpkin decorations and put up the Christmas ones. That involves a lot of boxes. A lot.

There are many musical events to direct. I have my choirs singing in an upcoming Advent service and with the high school Christmas concert. There’s a Christmas caroling date and a piano recital concert date. Plus, there is the Preschool program and the grade school program – back to back nights, none the less.

I have classes to teach and presents to make with my preschoolers.

There are cookies to bake and parties to attend.

I have a bit of shopping to finish and presents to mail to Okinawa.

The list can go on and on, but none of it will get down today. Why?

It’s simple. I’m in Bowling Green, Ohio, celebrating my Grandpa and Grandma Lehenbauer’s 60th wedding anniversary with my Mother and 5 of my Uncles (plus 1 aunt, and 2 cousins). That takes precedent.

That’s where I am and what I am doing today. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing today, I pray that you are savoring the moments. Enjoy the here and now. That’s what I am striving to do this Christmas season.

And next week? I will have lots of Christmas links to share with you!

It’s Thanksgiving week, and what a Thanksgiving week it is!

I had a normal day of school on Monday. My fours loved cooking our rice krispie treat turkeys.

Tuesday was our Thanksgiving party for our 3s, and Wednesday (today) is our party for the 4s. These are our first parties of the year, and the children were so excited!

Tonight, I’m finishing my baking. I have a wonderful mother-in-law who is cooking the turkey and hosting. One of these years, I’m going to have to learn how to cook a turkey. Isn’t that a life skill all women need to know? For now, I’m happy to leave it to her capable hands and help where I can.

I’m bring my Aunt Ann’s refrigerator mashed potatoes (in one slow cooker) and cheesy creamed corn (in another slow cooker). I’m also bringing pumpkin pie for dessert.

Tomorrow, we have church at 10 because what better place to be on Thanksgiving than in church, giving thanks to God who has given it all? Then, we’ll head to my in-laws and where all of Andy’s siblings will be home. Yea! Grandpa and Grandma Whirrett are joining us, too. I’m still thankful that we have all of our 8 grandparents living.

On Friday, we have plans for a little bit of shopping. I confess that I’m not an early riser, but my husband will be up – for basketball practice. Then, we’ll have lunch at my in-laws, before going to cut down our Christmas trees, as is the Whirrett family tradition. We are planning to go to the gingerbread festival that evening, too.

Saturday, it is our turn to host everyone for lunch, and we have plans to head to the local shops in Grabill.

And then it is Sunday again and back to church before getting ready for a new week at school!

I am thankful for this week, and the time we get to spend with family. We have so much for what – and whom – to be thankful!

I pray that your Thanksgiving is filled to the brim with thankfulness!

Today’s election day. I’m praying for our country. And I’m voting. I pray you are too!

It’s finally here. School starts tomorrow! Actually, our grade school started yesterday but my preschoolers arrive tomorrow for their first day.

It’s been a busy three weeks since I posted my to-do list and I have tried to make the most of it. What a summer! Here’s what I’ve accomplished.

• Read five more books.  I’m currently in the midst of book 100 for the year!
• Update my book read list.
• Write a new book review.
• Set up my classroom.  Clean, classic and cozy. It makes me happy.
• Organize my classroom library.
• Plan the first week of school. My goal is to plan the second (and maybe third) today. 
• Finish planning music for the year. All the dates are scheduled with songs selected. 
• Attend first faculty meeting of the year.
• Host my Aunt, Uncle and cousins from Illinois.
• Have friends over for dinner.
• Clean the carpets. I bought a Groupon to do so. Does that count?
• Visit with extended Whirrett family.
• Catch up on laundry.
• Can two batches of blackberry jam. I canned salsa instead!
• Upload (a few) vacation pictures to facebook.
• Hang picture frames in upstairs hallway. It simply didn’t happen yet.
• Begin a new fruits and vegetable challenge. Just this week I started. 
• Cut all my vacation coupons.
• Organize coupon binder.
• Share an updated post on my coupon binder. Stay tuned for that post next week!
• Record a couple hymns and songs on the clavinova at school to get a good start for the year.
• Pick a musical to perform this year. I’m still pondering what would be best for the students I have, but I do have scripts from which to choose. 
• Mail Mikaela’s dress to her.
• Check with Kindle customer service about scratch on screen. They replaced my Kindle quite quickly and smoothly. Excellent!
• Buy a case (with a light) for my Kindle.
• Sleep in – once or twice more!
• Watch the Olympics.
• Enjoy these final weeks of my summer! That I did!

Well, I didn’t do it all, but I did a couple more things that weren’t on my original list.

• Made a crayon wreath that looks adorable on my door!
• Planned and led Preschool Parent’s Night.
• Spoke at K-8 Parent’s Night.
• Canned 8 pints of salsa.
• Hemmed two pairs of my husband’s dress pants.
• Planned ahead and ordered my husband’s birthday gifts (coming up in another month).
• Found some good bargains at the grocery store.
• Cut lots of lamination for Andy.
• Created a year’s worth of calendars with our dates of note for preschool.

It’s good to accomplish a lot but there is always a lot left to do. Now that school starts, it’s time to break out my list notebook once again. Teach my first day of preschool is at the top of that list!

What’s on the top of your list?