Random updates & Miscellaneous musings

This morning we are leaving to go to Shan’s final dance competition. We will be gone until next Tuesday because we are taking a few days for a family vacation, and then we are dropping the kids off at Camp Sharon (our state church youth camp) for the week. So, if anyone needs to reach us (Mama, I hope to have the info you requested by today), just call our cell phone.

Okay, because I know you all are just sitting on the edge of your seats, waiting with bated breath…   😀

Mama hamster had 7 pups in this litter. They are really cute. Shan has named them the Seven Dwarfs (since they are dwarf hamsters) and as soon as we get back from Camp Sharon, they are headed to the pet store.

We now have water back at the parsonage/church office.  Yay! No more hiking over to the church. From what I understand, the pump that, yes my dear sister, took out on us was in bad shape and the pipes had holes in them from the acidity of the ‘granite water’. Made me wonder… if the water will cause holes or corrosion in the pipes, what is it doing to our bodies? Hmmmm.

My garden is doing fairly well. It got a little dry while we were gone, but it has revived. I would post more pictures, but the memory card for the camera is already packed. Hopefully it will rain a little while we are gone this week and it won’t be so dry when we get back.

Well, all other miscellaneous updates must wait until we return. Right now I need to go get the cooler packed and the last load of laundry out of the dryer so Tim can get it packed up and we can get on the road.

The continuation of the previous continuation :)

  One of the things that I really enjoyed about our trip was the safety and small town feel.

We brought the kids’ bikes along with us so they could ride at the campground, but they ended up riding quite a bit when we got to Trenton.

Here at home, we do not allow the kids to ride any farther than up to their friend’s house down the street. They cannot go to the end of the street because of the crack house and registered offenders that live in that direction. And we definitely don’t allow either one to walk anywhere by themselves.  However in Trenton the kids could ride most anywhere without fear. I was completely amazed, and I think they were completely happy.

While we were there, Tim also put on a children’s show.

(Seeing him in this picture reminds me of Grandma and how she would always ask me, “How’s my Timmy the Clown doing?”  I miss her so much!)

The evening of the kid’s show it stormed quite a bit, in fact one of the guys in the church said that the storm had put down a tornado to the south.  The kids were thrilled!  They got quite a few pictures of the clouds and storm.  I think Shan has some posted on her blog.

We left on Tuesday and arrived in St. Joseph pretty late. It was amazing the difference in the humidity. There isn’t much in western Nebraska (and my joints were jumping up and down, singing hallelujah!) However once we got back into Missouri, the humidity was overbearing – you could cut it with a knife. When we arrived in St. Joe, we found out that there were many large events going on in both St. Joe and Kansas City. We had to go about 30 miles out to find a hotel (as we didn’t want to start setting up a tent at 11:00 p.m.).

The next morning we decided to go to the Patee House Museum and look around before heading home.

It was a very interesting museum about not only the Pony Express, as it housed the headquarters, but also about the west and Jessie James.

After driving through some pretty intense storms, we finally made it home just before midnight.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip.  We met more of God’s family and fell in love with them, we met relatives we didn’t know we had, the kids were able to see and video some ‘good’ storms, we had several educational experiences, and we enjoyed spending time to gether as a family.

Nebraska cont.

Before we left for our trip, a person in our church pulled Tim aside and assured him that Nebraska was completely flat.

Ummmmmm. No.

It’s beautiful, vast, and peaceful.  The area we visited had endless miles of rolling hills and canyons. The hills are not tree covered, so you can see for miles and miles. I loved it!  Unfortunately, on the day we went out exploring I failed to ask  Tim to pull off on the side of the road so I could get all the pictures I’m now kicking myself for not taking.

The people of the church welcomed us with open arms and made us feel completely at home. Their sense of humor, warmth, love, and honesty was very refreshing.

After service on Sunday, we stopped by Massacre Canyon, which is a historical location of where the Sioux massacred the Pawnee (thus the name) while they were on a buffalo hunt.

A sweet couple, who attend the church, volunteer at the site in the Visitor’s  Center.

We stopped by again on our way out of town Tuesday and discovered (cue music to It’s A Small World) that Tim is related to one of the volunteers at the Visitor’s Center. I missed the exact relation because I was still picking my jaw up off the floor after the discovery that someone there actually knows where Doe Run is,  however this person is related to Tim’s second cousin.

There is more to share, but I’m going to have to finish up a little later.  Right now I must get to the grocery and get back out to the church.

Our trip to Nebraska…

Although the trip to Nebraska can be made in one day (11 hours and 25 min of drive time, according to mapquest), we decided to make it a two-day trip, and enjoy ourselves along the way.

I also wanted to make the trip as educational as possible. We spent the night in St. Joseph, MO, and had planned to go to the Pony Express Museum when we got into town, but by  the time we arrived, we would not have had much time to reap the full benefits of the museum. So, we set up our tent,

got a fire going,

and Tim took the kids swimming while I made supper.  And I would like to add here that Tim said I have redeemed myself from the whole exploding slate – ash in the hot chocolate water event from the last time I cooked over a campfire.  (Dare I mention the grease fire I had going in the cast iron skillet the next morning??? 😉 )

The next morning we got up, made  a grease fire  breakfast, broke up camp, and went to the Pony Express Museum.

We had a great time there, and it was a very educational experience for all of us.

We left the museum and headed into Kansas.

Now, I have been told that Kansas is as flat as a pancake and lasts forever. However, the northern part of Kansas (we were on Hwy 36) is NOT flat. It has beautiful rolling hills and is mostly farmland.

It does last forever, though. So much so, that when we finally saw this …

Tim teasingly told me to call the Chairman of the Board at the Trenton church to tell him we would be about 5 minutes later than planned because we were stopping to kiss the Welcome to Nebraska sign. (And I might have – had we cell phone reception)

I will continue this post tomorrow. Right now I need to get back to work… I was correct in my thinking yesterday about not getting much done at work with two teenagers there. Also, our pastor and his wife are at Anderson Campmeeting right now, and yesterday when I got to work our Board Chairman called to let me know that the pump at the parsonage took out, the problem is down in the well, and the well company would be there the next morning to work on it. So I need to get there early before they arrive.

We’re Home

We made it home last night around 11:30 p.m.  It was kind of a rough day – weather wise. 

I have much to share, but not much time.  Right now I am off to pick up my “adopted son”,

who I am homeschooling this summer, and then will be heading off to work to meet up with my “almost daughter.”

Seriously questioning how much work I am going to be able to get done…  🙂

Of course, I am planning on putting them to work as well. 😀

When I get home this afternoon I will be uploading pictures and will be able to update everyone on our trip.

On our way

Good morning all!

This morning we are leaving for Trenton, Nebraska.  The hope was to be out of town by 9:00 a.m., but as it is 9:30 I don’t think we are going to make it.  We will be leaving in a few minutes.

The truck and trailer are all loaded up, and I am hoping that I haven’t forgotten anything.

We might have left right on our target time – or even earlier – but this morning I had to take Max to the Vet. Clinic.

She has to have surgery today. She has a hematoma in her ear, and we couldn’t wait until we got back to take care of it.

I felt bad leaving her there.  She was so excited to go bye-bye this morning, however when I got her to the vet and on to the exam table she was completely put out with me, turned her back and started snubbing me like she does when I put her in her crate. It was actually quite laughable.

Well, Tim’s about ready to go. I will be back in a week. Please keep us in your prayers.

Annie

Shan’s dance recital

Shannon’s fifth dance recital was held yesterday at the Centene Center.

Usually, each year at the recital she is in three dances and then joins the whole dance school in the finale,

however since she is in competition this year, she had six dances.

All of the girls did a wonderful job.

Unfortunately, most of the pictures of the girl’s dances didn’t turn out too well.

Joel played a role in the recital. His job was to operate the curtain.

Tim played a part as well, and while his dive and belly flop onto the stage to save everyone’s ears from the squealing sound system was not planned, he still received a huge round of applause. (unfortunately, I missed his performace because I was backstage helping Shan into her next costume)

In other news…

My pastor’s wife was correct, mama hamster is ‘great with child’. (again)

By the time we found out about the first litter of pups and separated the adult hamsters, it was too late. Poor mama hamster. Yesterday I found her leaning up against the side of the cage with her five babies running around, she looked miserably large, and the look she was giving me said, “Please get me out of here! I don’t remember signing up for this and I don’t want to be a mother any more.”

Today

Finally starting to feel better.

I was actually able to stand long enough to make some laundry soap this morning (trust me, it would have been really, really bad if I didn’t get it done today!), and can now walk around without resembling a drunken sailor. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be completely back to whatever my “normal” may be (hush, sister, I CAN read your mind 😛 ) , and can get everything caught up and start packing for our trip next week.

Spoons

The dish ran away with my spoons.  (just kidding 🙂  )

Give me a few days to collect them and I will be back to post.

Continued…

Before I let you in on my bonus, I found out yesterday that Joel and Shannon have been blessed? with an additional bonus.  Let’s just say the pet store guy was wrong about both of the kids’ hamsters being female. So far we have found 3 babies, and today I’m going to be searching for more. Joel will be getting a picture and posting it on his blog soon.

My pastor’s wife assures me that in about 4-6 weeks we can expect more.  Sigh….    I think Mr. Pet Store Guy may be receiving some little ‘gifts’.

Moving right along…

So, why did I miss out on the ending of the Country Days Parade and most of the activities of the weekend?

I had a wedding to attend.

One of the many duties that come along with being the Administrative Assistant for the church (besides mind-reading, humming-bird rescuing, and weed-pulling) is that of Wedding Coordinator. I’m not sure many churches provide this service, but I am glad we do, and most of our brides are very appreciative. It is my goal to do whatever it takes to make the couple’s day as stress-free as possible.

I had not met this bride and groom before they came to the church to see if G would marry them, but I they have been the most enjoyable wedding couple that I have dealt with. Their wedding was simplistically beautiful.

While I did miss the quilt show, the tractor show, the rides, and the craft booths,

I did get to see ‘kids’ running to grab candy during the parade,

people I dearly love enjoying themselves,

and I did get to see some of the tractors in the parade…

(thought you would enjoy this one, Daddy)

I witnessed love transform into a life-long committment,

and got a surprise of new life (I just went in and counted – I have now seen either four or five babies).

Quite a full weekend!

Oh yeah, I also found what I would like for my next vehicle 😀

More on that later.