Miss Lowe's Book Nook

How is it possible that I have already been at CPH for four weeks?! The time has flown by, but this week was a long one. Monday was fairly low-key this week. We finished taking down all of the decorations that had been up for the promo shoots and luncheon. I spent a lot of time carrying foam core, deflating planets, ripping up tape, and riding on elevators. The big excitement of this week was shooting the skit videos for Miraculous Mission . I got to help put together the set for the videos. Borrowing quirky items from offices all over the building, we ended up with a funky set that's sure to intrigue next year's viewers! On Tuesday, the shooting actually began. We had two actors brought in, including one former CPH intern. Cameras, a stylist, lights, and a clapboard all made me feel like I was on a tiny movie set. While I didn't get to stay for the whole shoot, it was so fun to see a production in a different format than my usual theatre. My other exciting activity this...

This week of my internship flew by! I was busy every day, doing a variety of fun tasks and really digging into my role as the VBS intern. Every day held something new. Monday was working to reset the VBS rooms, getting ready for Tuesday. I also got to work on converting documents from this year's Splash Canyon  VBS into documents for next year's Miraculous Mission . It was like a game, hunting down the things that needed to be changed and those that could stay the same. It also gave me a chance to really familiarize myself with the Bible stories, memory verses, and themes for Miraculous Mission . On Tuesday, we had another promotional shoot. For this one, we brought in about a dozen child models - ones that had experience taking direction and being photographed and filmed. It was an adventure to say the least! Overall, the kids were wonderful and I know we got a lot of great shots, which will be really helpful as the promotional materials get put together. I just had fun shar...

My first full week at CPH is complete! It flew by quick as a wink, but it was packed with great experiences. Most of this week was dedicated to decorating two of our large conference rooms for the Miraculous Mission VBS promotional shoot. I spent my days hanging backdrops, blowing up inflatable planets, taping down tarps, and cutting galaxies out of paper. It was tedious at times, but it was all worth it when Friday rolled around and I got to see the reactions of all the kids who were part of the shoot. One highlight of this week was a celebration. On Wednesday, the curriculum department went out to lunch in honor of Lisa Clark, a member of the team and author of the popular Messengers  series from CPH. We ate at the Taco and Ice Cream Joint, which was delicious, authentic, and fun. It was nice to just "hang out" with the department and get to know people a bit better. It was also fun to just see a small part of St. Louis that I hadn't explored yet! Friday was my bigge...

Hi all! To share about my experience as an intern at Concordia Publishing House, I thought it would be a fun idea to do a sort of recap blog post at the end of each week. I hope you can get a smidgen of the joy out of these posts that I've gotten from this week! I began my journey at CPH on Tuesday, May 29. My family and I had driven out to St. Louis on Sunday, stayed in a hotel, and then moved me in with my host family on Monday. We explored the quintessential St. Louis Arch, got some blisters and a little too much sun, and the fam hit the road back to Kansas, leaving me in the big city. Getting a handle on how to drive in St. Louis has been... interesting. There are people everywhere! I've seen more people jaywalk in the last week than I have in my entire life. There's so much traffic! After living in the quaint, quiet town of Seward for three years, having to deal with three lanes of traffic is a little stressful. Thankfully, my drive to work is only about ten minutes,...

Have you ever encountered a book that was both highly popular and widely despised? That was what it felt like when I ran into We Were Liars  by E. Lockhart. It's been out for a while, and I had seen a lot of publicity about it, so I thought it was high time to read it. However, several people, including my sister, warned me that it was the sort of book that I would want to throw against the wall at the end. They were right. We Were Liars  tells the story of Cadence, the heir of the Sinclair family. Every summer, she can her two cousins and their friend Gat spend their days on the family private island. One summer, something happens - Cadence is found in the ocean, she can't remember anything, and she is plagued with migraines that confine her to bed for days on end. Why can't she remember that summer? Was there more going on than people will tell her? With three generations of Sinclairs struggling to survive, something was bound to explode sometime or another. This was a ...

Wow, wow, wow, my pals! It's pretty much summertime and I finally have time to read again. On a whim, I picked up Big Little Lies  by Liane Moriarty - I had heard about the TV adaptation and when I saw a copy for sale for $4, I couldn't resist! Then it sat on my shelf for several months. This weekend I actually picked it up and BOY did it hit me right between the eyes. This book was insane and I loved every second of it. The beach town of Pirriwee is home to an absolutely lovely public school. The kindergarten mothers are all so excited for their little boys and girls to start school! But the advent of young mother Jane and her son Ziggy knocks down the first domino in a chain of events that may just cause the town to explode. Madeline, Celeste, Jane, and their husbands and children are thrown into a bizarre world of conflict, violence, bullying, subterfuge, and drama. I can't say any more because the plot is too crazy! I did not have any sort of expectations for this boo...

If you won the gene pool like I did, you know how it feels to have the world blur and fuzz out unless you have glasses on or contacts in. Thin pieces of plastic help us see everything in a completely new way. As I was thinking back over the last year, I realized that I got the chance to view life through a lot of different "lenses" thanks to all the opportunities and experiences I enjoyed. When I say lenses, I mean that I got to view familiar experiences from new perspectives. Junior year brought change in so many areas of my life and I was able to serve those around me in new ways. Rather than just being a member of Concordia Youth Ministry, I was given the honor of serving as a co-president. My role within the group changed - rather than leading teams to lock-ins every weekend, I became much more a coordinator and day-to-day problem solver. While I missed getting to stay up all night and ruin my sleep schedule, it gave me so much joy to see new people getting the chance t...