Devotion of the Week: This past week we celebrated and appreciated our teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week, and this Sunday, we will celebrate moms and grandmothers on Mother's Day. We are blessed with Christian teachers and mothers who point children, young and old, to Jesus our Savior. God has blessed us with these people in our lives who nurture, educate, guide, discipline, support, and love us, and we are thankful to have them in our lives. They know that their strength and courage comes from Christ alone! Thanks be to God that He blesses us with people who teach and share that great news of Jesus with children. Thank you teachers for the work that you do every day in our Lutheran School. Thank you mothers for your work in loving and caring for your children in a Christian home. May God continue to bless our teachers and our mothers with His grace and love as they point us to Jesus, the one who has paid the price for our sins and has forgiven and redeemed us so that we can spend eternity with Him!

Call Declined: "I am very blessed to be a Called teacher at St. Peter. God has shown me over these past few weeks that my ministry at St. Peter is still needed. I didn't know how deep my love for St. Peter was until these weeks of deliberation. The Holy Spirit filled my heart with all the great things about St. Peter, especially all the wonderful people that have helped to guide and instruct me as a student when I came to St. Peter in first grade (1992) to now, a first grade teacher (2024). I feel God has directed me to remain a teacher at St. Peter, and I pray that I may continue to do His work here as I serve." Psalm 28:7 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and He helps me." -Mrs. Patrice Sherry

We are very happy and thankful that Mrs. Patrice Sherry has declined her call to Peace, and she will be remaining at St. Peter. May God continue to bless her service in our church and school.

Serving in Worship: The Cherub Choir (grades 2-4) will be singing in church on Sunday, May 19. Please have your child(ren) in the music room to warm up at 9:10am. Thank you!

Our Condolences: Our prayers are with Mrs. Alyssa Shirely and her family upon the death of her grandmother, Brooks and London's great-grandmother, Margot Knoll. May God surround this family with His comfort and peace at this time. Click anywhere in this article to view Margot's obituary.

Music Festival Schedule: The annual Lutheran Schools Music Festival will be held on Friday, May 17, at Valley Lutheran High School. Everyone is invited to attend the various school performances throughout the day. The following St. Peter students will be participating:

Matilda the Musical: The performances of Matilda the Musical will take place on Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11 from 7:00-9:00pm and Sunday, May 12 from 2:00-4:00pm all at Bethlehem Lutheran School. This musical will feature three of our St. Peter students: 7th graders, Hannah Biber, Larkin McQueen and Dean Thomas.

Helping Hands: Last week our 5th-8th grade students helped with the food distribution at God's Helping Hands. They received this very nice compliment, "Several people said what a pleasure it was to work with such nice cooperative young people. They should be complimented on the way they conducted themselves."

Loons Baseball Time: Our 5th-8th graders enjoyed their time at Dow Diamond on Tuesday for a Loons Baseball game. Some of our students even made it into a photo on the Midland Daily News's website (last picture)!

We All Scream for Ice Cream: On Thursday, all of our students enjoyed a delicious ice cream treat thanks to some generous donations from our PTL auction. Thank you to Mr. Glenn Hubbell for purchasing this for the auction and to all of the people who purchased this for different grade levels: PS3 - Mrs. Jill Wardin, PS4 - Mrs. Karin Keel-Todd, Kindergarten - Mrs. Mindy Miller, 1st Grade - Mrs. Carrie Lafore, 2nd Grade - Mrs. Carrie Lafore, 3rd Grade - Mrs. Barb Wardin, 4th Grade - Mr. Kyle Smith, 5th Grade - Mrs. Carrie Lafore, 6th Grade - Mr. Kyle Smith, 7th Grade - Mrs. Amy Hyatt, 8th Grade - Mr. Larry Klemish.

New Lockers Being Made: Our new lockers are being manufactured by Metro Fabrication in Bay City, and one of our grandparents, Mr. Ray Wardin (Alexis and Kelsey Knezek's grandfather) happens to work there and sent us some pictures. These lockers will be for our 2nd-8th graders. Funding for these lockers was given in memory of Paul Wardin, St. Peter Class of 1981, by Mr. & Mrs. Jeff & Rhea Yackel. Jeff and Paul were classmates at St. Peter, and Paul passed away on January 8, 2023, after a long battle with cancer. These lockers will be completed and delivered in mid-June and installed this summer by our Trustees. These will be a wonderful addition to our school! Thank you Jeff & Rhea!

Preschool Spirit Day: Students had a fun time today wearing their pajamas and carrying their stuffed animals (stuffies) around school today.

VPs to Take Office on Wednesday, May 15: Ms. Darlene Jungnitsch and Mr. Noah Jungnitsch will begin their duties as the vice-principals this Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Their spirit day is Blue or Pink Day. Students are encouraged to wear blue (in support of Noah), pink (in support of Darlene), or wear both colors to support them both. Their special lunch is Macaroni & Cheese, veggie mix, strawberries, and brookies for dessert. We look forward to having Ms. Darlene Jungnitsch and Mr. Noah Jungnitsch as our VPs.

Thank You Teacher/Staff Appreciation Committee: Thank you to our Teacher and Staff Appreciation Committee who brought in so many delicious meals and treats this week to celebrate our amazing teachers! Committee members are: Mrs. Katie McQueen, Mrs. Lindsey Cramer, Mrs. Rhea Yackel, Mrs. Lonnie Buckbee, Mrs. Jenna Stainbrook, Mrs. Sara Grunow and Mrs. Rachel Van Strydonk. On Monday, they brought in Chipotle and cheesecake, Tuesday's treat was Tom's Coffee Truck, Wednesday's lunch was picnic-style with sandwiches, chips, etc., a Trail Mix Bar was set up on Thursday and on Friday the Ignite Donut truck stopped by. Thank you so much for everything, it was very much appreciated!

Thank You: Thank you to Mrs. Toni Wardin who brought in fresh bread, jam, cheese, cupcakes, cookies and fruit tarts on Tuesday for all of the faculty and staff. Thank you also to Mrs. Samantha Brickel who brought in a fruit and dessert tray on Thursday. It was all fantastic!

Teacher Appreciation Week Challenges: The teachers were not only teaching this week, but they were also involved in an assortment of challenges (prizes will be awarded Monday at their faculty meeting). They had trivia questions to answer, selfies to take, math problems to solve, corn hole and a basketball challenge. Below are some of the selfies the teachers took with their co-workers and with students.

Early Childhood Playground: Our early childhood playground construction is underway! Take a look at the short video clip under the picture showing progress being made.

VBS Registration: Come "Celebrate the Savior" at VBS this summer! This year's VBS will be held June 24 - 28 from 9:00am -12:30pm. Click anywhere in this article to register. If you are interested in helping please contact Deaconess Shirley or the church office!

Retirement Celebration: We will recognize Ms. Parsell at our closing awards ceremony on the last day of school, June 5, and we will have a reception for her following the closing service. There will be a card box available at the celebration to express you thankfulness to her.

Thank You Dale Brown: One of our basketball referees who has been refereeing St. Peter basketball games since the 1990s is retiring from refereeing after 36 years. Mr. Dale Brown has been a great referee for our school, and he commented, "St. Peter was one of my favorite places to ref." We are thankful for his many years of reffing our home basketball games, and we will miss him!

Summer Camps: It is already May and summer is just around the corner! Below is a list of some of the summer camps that are available to students this summer.

Camp Concordia: Camp this summer will run from June - August with activities such as kayaking, swimming lessons, horseback riding and sailing. For more information, click anywhere in this article.

Camp Lu Lay Lea: Camp Lu Lay Lea is a Christian Summer Camp for youth ages 8-14. Camp Lu Lay Lea is located on Henderson Lake near West Branch, Michigan. They are offering 5 one-week sessions (Sunday-Saturday) this summer. Youth campers have the ability to participate in daily Chapel, boating/canoeing, campfires, arts and crafts, gaga ball, devotions, three different games a day, skits, singing, swimming, making new friends and more. To learn more about our camp and schedule, click anywhere in this article.

VLHS Summer Camps: Valley Lutheran will be offering camps focused on sports, technology and the arts for students in grades 5-8. Click anywhere in this article to view the full schedule and sign up!

S.K.I.L.L.S. Basketball Camps: There are nine S.K.I.L.L.S. Basketball Camps this summer and the one at St. Peter is July 22-25 from 10am-3pm each day for children ages 7-15. For more information go to www.skillsbasketball.org or click anywhere on this article.