LCMS Installation Day Part 2

After the 2 1/2 hour service then there was a reception at the Seminary. We could smell the brats they cooked when we stopped by the Seminary the night before. They planned it very well that one area had a booth sponsored by CPH that gave away bookmarks, one tent gave out brats and potato chips, and one tent had condiments for the brats. Then another area had a few pop/beer tents and the band. We stayed up by the brat tent to eat because it had rained the night before and down by the band it was very muddy. It ended up being a nice spot for us because lots of people we knew went to get their brats and stopped to see us then. I met Pastor Weeden and his wife then. We were there such a short time that we saw more people by being there. Ram and my dad went and brought drinks back for us. We stopped by the band area to talk to a few people and then we had to take Ram to the airport. We weren't able to stay long, but we were glad we were there. Here's the photos that I did get at the reception.


This photo isn't very good, but here is the Lambs with Ram and my dad eating brats and chips. Lamb 3 refused to eat anything-I think he was tired after the service even though he slept during the service.

Ewe with Michael and Sarah Hollman. Michael is the organist at Zion, Fort Wayne and also played for the installation service. They didn't stay at the reception long because they had to get back so he could play organ in the morning. He did a great job playing the organ at the service-especially timing playing music for communion correctly which is hard to do with that many people being served. Sarah turned pages for him and she waved at me from the balcony. Michael played for our wedding and we loved his suggestions for music for our wedding. I think of him every time we sing the processional for our wedding (Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven LSB 793) at church.

Ram with Rev. Jim Gier, one of Ram's Seminary classmates.

Elephant's Child with Ewe-we met in person this day.

My favorite photo of the day! Ewe with Rev. Harrison's oldest son. "Little" Matthew Harrison is not so little any more. I will always think of him as my first grade student though. He was kind enough to let me have a photo taken with him while he talked to his friend about his first grade memories. He left in the middle of his first grade year to go to Saint Louis so his dad could begin work at LCMS World Relief. It's hard to believe that was 10 years ago. He said to that was a rough time for him to move in the middle of the year. He carried the cross in the processional for the service.

Ewe with Cheryl Magness-we met in person on this day.

Much better photos of the band were on the LCMS website. I wasn't able to get closer to take a better picture because the Lambs were with me, it was muddy, and we had to get Ram to the airport. But I did want to put my photo on the blog to show that I was there! Rev. Harrison had a great time playing.

We needed to go and I had not seen Kathy Harrison yet. I put the Lambs in the car with Ram and my dad and I decided to go look one more time. I found Rev. Harrison and asked him where she was at and he had no idea. He said the last time he saw her was at the chapel and we had already eaten and visited with several people so quite a bit of time had passed since she was at the chapel. I finally found her off to the side watching the band. She was having a great time. It looked to me that she was just soaking in the day-visiting with people and listening to her husband play in the band and taking photos with her own camera. She will have many happy memories of this day. She was so glad the weather cooperated after rain the night before. I'm am so happy that she is our new "first lady of the LCMS". I only visited with her for a few minutes, but I was glad I found her before we left. I don't think I had seen her since they moved to Saint Louis. I am keeping the Harrison family (Pastor, Kathy, Matthew, and Mark) in my prayers.

We then took Ram to the airport and my dad and the Lambs and I drove back to Fort Wayne. We got back late. Ram drove home from the Twin Cities airport. I'll post more about the rest of our vacation later.