continuation part 2

Ok, so I left of with our long journey to Mom and Dad's. The day before we left Karen's there was a huge chemical explosion north of Wichita, so I was wanting to take a route that wouldn't put us in the air, for Nathan's sake. We decided to take 56 through Great Bend and then go north on 156 to I-70 and then book it across. Well, eariler in the week, there had been major rain, so parts of 56 were detoured as well as 156 was closed to a point. Now, if you know Kansas very well, detour doesn't mean you get diverted a little ways. No, it means driving 20-30 miles only to go back 10-15 ,miles to dump you out somewhere else. We left Dodge around 10:15, and didn't make it to Mom and Dad's until almost 6pm. We stopped at one point at a McDonalds playland just so that I could rest and the kids could get out and run.
We did make it, though. Mom had supper ready along with some water balloons. We ate and the kids got distracted from the eminent water fight due to 2 things. A brand new kitten and Papa's new train cars. Hannah kept going out to see and sing and visit with the baby kitten. It was so sweet. I wish that I had caught it on tape. She was wandering around on the patio holding the newly opened eyes kitten and telling him how cute he was and singing, "you are a baby kitty" to him. It was sweet. Unfortunately, the mother cat decided to move the baby after the evening was over and the kitty was not to be seen the rest of our trip.
Nathan was evaluating the 2 new train cars that my dad had gotten from Tim for father's day. He lined them up behind a diesel engine and ran them around the track. Then he decided it was time for the steam engine to give it a try. . After Grandma's reminder of the water balloons everyone got a turn at throwing a couple. We then went inside to do baths and bedtime.
Thursday we woke up and mom made a nice breakfast for all of us of waffles. Hannah was her special helper. We then went down to grandma's for lunch and we spend the afternoon playing games. We played stadium checkers probably about 15 times as well as chinese checkers and regular checkers. The little people stuff was a big hit too. We had arranged to go to the farm that evening, since it would be the only time to see Joy. We planned to spend the night with Grandma Friday night, so we left there and went to the farm.
Now, since in the last 3 months the kids had been to Shatto dairy farm here in St. Joseph, they were much more interested in the animals and production at the ferdinands. Hannah was super excited about the calves. Nathan hit it off with Jake. We went and told Joy hello and then walked down to the newest calves before seeing the big mommy cows. Then we went to see the rest of the calves. while we were in the calf barn, my dad was cleaning their stalls and giving them new water and hay. So, Nathan and Hannah helped with that. They were having a good time of letting the calves eat hay from their hands. And it helped dad with the chores he was doing. We then decided before we hit the sand pile, we should enjoy some lemonade that Joy had offered us. After a glass of lemonade and about 10 minutes of chasing Jake, we made it to the sand pile. Who knew that Jake was so much fun in the sand. Nathan would race up, followed by Jake, who would sit down on his stomach and wait. Hannah was busy make a horse stall in the sand to bother with the "boys". Jake would watch Nathan slide down the pile and then he would put his front two paws out towards the bottom and slowly slide until he was sideways. Then he would roll over the rest of the way down and race back up again, only to do it over. I laughed and Nathan thought it was the best thing. He so needs a dog.
Anyways, then it began to sprinkle, so we got shoes back on and were looking to head back to mom and dad's when the bottles of milk for the bottle calves came out. Well, Nathan and Hannah were ready to be a part of that. After the first calf, though, Nathan was done. He didn't much enjoy the jerk at the end that the calf gave. Hannah, however, was glad to feed another. She ended up feeding 9 calves total. She was in farm heaven.
We went home and washed up and headed to bed. Friday, Dad was off, so the kids played with him all morning while I did some laundry and packed up for home. I made a seperate bag for spending the night with Grandma 8. We headed there in time for supper and played bingo with her before beginning the night routine. Grandma and I stayed up a little looking at some old pictures of her and her family. It was nice.
We woke up Saturday morning to eat some muffins that she had baked special and then got ready to head out for St. Joe. It was hard to leave her. I am so thankful that my kids get to know at least one of my grandparents and they have such an amazing friendship with her. It means so much to me.
Anyways, we made it home in time for lunch with Chris. The kids were hungry for Ryans, of all things. We showed him all our pictures and the kids played and hugged him for quite some time. It was nice.
At church, we realized that this week was Vacation Bible School. So they were excited for that. We missed Sunday night, however, because we got busy with Brett, Amy and Abram and lost track of time. We went Monday night and they kids were with friends they knew. It was a really fun week for them and they really learned a lot. Since I hadn't signed up to help due to not knowing anything, I went with Hannah's group Wednesday night and with Nathan's group Thursday night. It was my favorite of the VBS's we have been to so far at Central. Really memory verse focused.
Other than VBS, cleaning up after being gone 10 days, grocery shopping and a trip to the library were a part of this week. We are glad to be home and are starting next week on getting everyone back on a school schedule. We will see how that goes.

AS for things with Chris, he is in the final crunch time of his training. He had to be in Independence this week for some training and goes to Olathe 2 days next week for more. Then they have inventory, which he is a part of and the week after that they are sending him to Springfield for his final week, where they test him and evaluate him and pretty much scrutinize him to a fault. He will either leave that week an official zone manager, or a failed mtp candidate. He is really worried because in addition to all that, he has to have his department ready for heating and Christmas by the end of his springfield week. He lost 2 guys from his department while the kids and I were gone and so it leaves him, Eric and Charlie (who just returned from having pretty major surgery done to his arm). We have been doing a lot of praying about what God is going to do with us next. We really don't want to leave St. Joseph as it is home to everyone and we see so many things that we need to do here, however, at this point, there is no advancement at the St. Joe store and if the store manager had something to say, he would fire Chris if he had the option to. For Chris to become his assistant is not in the near future. There is a lot of unknown and a lot seems to be conflicting. We want so much to do Gods' will and we want to so much be a more active part of the church. We just don't see any openings in any direction. So, if you would be praying.

Well, that is about it from the land of the Crosswhites. I am hoping as I am starting a school schedule with the kids starting Monday that I will be on here every Thursday night. We will see, though. Until then, feel free to leave us a comment and we will look forward to writing again!!
Hopefully my next blog will be pictures of our trip. :-)
All our love!!!!