Back in Kansas...but Homeless!

So now the question became where were we going to stay as we finalized the details on purchasing the farmhouse.  The extended stay hotel was booked, and Cargill’s temporary housing facility was on the east side of town – not too convenient for me since the kids would be at St. Mark’s. So we began asking around and as we have learned many times in our lives, there are benefits to a small town!  As it turned out, our old friend “farmer Paul” who cut the brome behind our former Andale house, owns a R&R house with his wife in St. Mark’s, and it happened to be being vacated the day before we needed it.  Yet another blessing and miracle in this whole move.  So we moved into the R&R on August 19 and enjoyed the wonderful convenience of being across the street from the school and close to so many places we needed to go over the next few weeks…not to mention being just a few steps away from a couple of the kids’ friends.

School started on August 28 for Trace & Hillary so Peyton and I enjoyed a fun day together – a workout at the Y followed by golf in Pretty Prairie and a late lunch at Jason’s Deli (our old favorite hangout). He started 8^th grade the next day.

The Dogs Are Found!

The next morning after my workout I was sitting in the lobby doing SHAPE when my mom called with a “little story”.  She had just gone out the back door for something and to her total surprise, she saw a black and a yellow lab frolicking in the horse corral! Sure enough, it was Aspen and Colt!! Absolutely crazy that they had found their way back to the house after being gone all that time to who-knows-where on the 14,000 acres!  After shedding a few tears I called John and then woke the kids up to tell them – everyone was so excited.  What a great day.  I made arrangements for the kids the next day and met mom in Meade - after many years of exchanging kids at the park we exchanged dogs!  The lost were found.

When I got back to Wichita and took the dogs to the Jobbins', Dallas just looked at them as if to say, "where have y'all been??"  Although she seemed happy to have company again, I think she enjoyed her privacy and calm surroundings for a couple of weeks.

On The Road...Yet Again!

So Tuesday morning we loaded everything up on the trailer to head back to Wichita and everything seemed to be going very smoothly…until we went to load the dogs.  They had been running around in the yard the night before and all morning but when we went out after breakfast, Dallas was the only one we could find.  What a terrible feeling to realize that Colt and Aspen were gone! Peyton and I drove to the potato barn, the feedlot and all over the pastures near the house.  They were nowhere to be found.  For the next 4 days we looked, called, sent out alerts, and tried not to panic.  Getting back to Wichita in time for me to go to Tulsa became a challenge, but God provided another Insanity certification training in of all places – Amarillo! – on the same Saturday.  So I drove to Amarillo, did the training, drove back to Dalhart and we left the next morning for Kansas.  Even though the dogs were still lost, we left their kennels and dog food at the ranch, and kept believing that we would somehow find them.  There were so many people looking and staying actively involved!

We had a little panic that evening when mom called and said that a yellow and a black lab had been spotted in Dalhart but the black one had ran off after the police tried to capture them.  She called the animal shelter to make sure they knew these dogs had owners, because they euthanize unclaimed animals on Monday mornings.  No one answered so we all left messages and planned to call first thing Monday morning. That night we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and felt a little hope that maybe the dogs were found.

All this was going on AND we were in the process of negotiating on the farmhouse in Mount Hope…and trying to figure out where were going to stay until we could move in.  We did find a place to keep the dogs…after a Facebook plea the Jobbins family offered to keep them in an empty fenced kennel behind their house.  We delivered Dallas and hoped she would be joined by her cohorts soon L.

On the Road...Again!

As the weekend wound down, John and I loaded up and drove to Wichita so I could see the farmhouse.  Our realtor met us out at the house, as did the owner, Jeannie, and her son Zack.  We spent almost 2 hours walking through the house and chatting. We really liked the place and felt a kind of bond with them after noticing that we not only own the same king size bed as Jeannie, we also have the exact same antique armoire! 

We really loved the place and could truly see us there.  Although the house needed a bit of love, she had taken great care of it and we could tell there were many memories made there by her family.  One of the most unique things about the place was a half-basketball court built in the loft of the big grey barn - the location of many a pick-up basketball game by their 8 kids and their friends, no doubt.

The next morning I flew to Cancun for my annual girls’ trip!  Nothing like squeezing in one more thing J.  As always it was so much fun, and a welcome event with all the craziness of the move.  While I was there we decided to make an offer on the house – very exciting!  After a few days of R&R, I headed back to Amarillo…or so I thought.  My flight from Houston to Amarillo was cancelled, with no additional ones going out that night.  So instead of staying the night in what I am sure would have been a luxurious hotel courtesy of United (after my friend Lori Polterock’s horror story of an overnight in Chicago at United’s expense I decided NOT), I rebooked myself to Wichita instead.  This ended up being a great idea considering I had a bad reaction to something I ate in Mexico and was sick the entire next day L.  And…my luggage ended up going to Amarillo before ending back up in Wichita the next evening!  After recuperating for a day, I loaded up and drove the suburban to Dalhart, and we arranged for the truck to be re-routed and delivered to Wichita instead of Dalhart.  Whew!

Of course, in the midst of all this, my personal training certification expired in August so I had to figure out a continuing education option so I could keep training! I thought my only option was another 400-page book and test, but when I got online I discovered that since I am a Beachbody coach I could become a certified Insanity instructor to take care of my CEU’s for the next 2 years.  There were a number of them in California within a few hours of Fresno, but none worked for our crazy schedule.  However!  There was one in Tulsa, OK the next weekend, so we decided it was worth the drive from Wichita to do it. 

On the Road...Day 3

The next morning we got up and on the road with no major glitches.  When we got to Tucumcari we saw a sign for a Dinosaur museum so we turned down the street to find it (we were trying to make the most of the historic sights along highway 54!) but they didn’t open until 10 so we just took some pictures to show that we tried J.

As we neared Dalhart, we saw signs for Ute Lake and so we turned off the main road for a little stop.  I went up to put money in the little park fee box, not realizing I was supposed to put it in an envelope...oops!  So I filled out the envelope and put it in too hoping they would figure it out J.  The dogs had a great time fetching and swimming, and John was amazed to see so much water so close to the ranch!  After a few more miles we arrived at Nana and Grandad’s – ready to be in one place for a few days! 

We had a fun-filled long weekend of family, activities and XIT events.  It was great to see everyone and celebrate 100 years of the Finch Family Ranch. Lots of pride to be a member of this family!!