Truman & the New House

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to travel to the Northeast corner of Missouri and visit our daughter Shallen at school, Truman State University (and for all you old timers, formerly Northeast MO State Univ). Kirksville is a nice, small town with very little to do outside of the college. Shallen, not surprising, loves the college life! Staying up till when ever and making that early class the next morning. The sleep deprivation finally catches up with her after about a week and she sleeps for a day or so...then back to the same old grind.

Stephan came up with Stephanie & I to visit with Shallen. We had breakfast together then met up with her later at the football game (Truman was playing host to Emporia State Hornets). It turned out to be a good game. Truman is not known for it's football program, so this was a nice surprise. It was tied 24-24 after 4 quarters and they went into overtime. The Hornets finally got a touchdown and it was all over.

Shallen plays in the marching band for Truman. They're not bad, not real good, but not bad. They did a couple numbers at half-time...one was a rendition of Thriller by Michael Jackson (of course they did the zombie dance during that performance). After the game, we met up with Shallen's friends at the nearby pizza place in downtown. Shelly and Claire are from North Kansas City and went to high school with Shallen at Platte County. Man, that was a long drive home with a full belly and little sleep from the night before (3 hour drive).

On Sunday, we went out to the new house to pull carpet, clean the kitchen and vacuum the carpet upstairs to make ready to move in. Oh, I guess I haven't blogged in so long, I didn't mention the fact that we finally sold our house and found another within two days. The new house is in Blue Springs, not much off I-70. It's a Colonial style with 4 bedrooms and sitting on almost a half acre lot. We plan to be in this house for about 5-10 years then sell to get into our dream home just in time for retirement.

We took a beating on the sale of our house - it truly is a buyers market right now. But, we also got a great deal on this new house. We bought it from the bank with the intent of selling in 5-10 years. I'll be posting some before & after pictures a little later.

Family!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've missed putting my thoughts down.

This week, I was very fortunate to have dinner and visit with distant family members in town for a Dr.'s appointment. Genealogy has been such a great tool to reach out to family I never knew existed.

A few years ago, after my grandmother died, I really got the bug to find out about my heritage...where I came from and who was in my blood line. Much to my surprise, I found out that my grandfather's brother (Harold Elkins) was still alive and living in Overland Park, KS. In doing a little more research, I found that he had cousins still living in MO and IL. This road has led to some great friendships and interesting stories.

Steph and I met with the ladies after work on Wednesday evening. Sitting to my right is Mary Elkins. She lives in St. Louis, MO and is my great grandfather's (James D. Elkins) niece. Her father was Woodie Elkins, a postal carrier back in the 1930's.


To my immediate right is Betsy Wharton, the daughter of Russell Elkins, my great grandfather's brother. Betsy lives in Monticello, IL. She comes to KU Med Center once a year for a Dr.'s visit.

And to my far right is Marcy Buckles, Besty's daughter and my second cousin. Marcy drives her mom into KC. This year, they grabbed Mary and brought her along for the ride.

The only one missing was Harold. Evidently, a few weeks ago, he had what was reported as a mild heart attack and has been convalescing in a retirement area until he's able to return home. Our prayers go out to him and he gets better. What a great time we all had talking about old stories and creating new ones that we will cherish for years to come.

Thanks for the wonderful visit ladies...I really enjoyed myself!