Ruby Slippers

Last Saturday we pulled in front of our house in Atchison, Kansas, dredged up the hill to our front door, and saw for the first time the inside of what will be our home for the next year. It's good to be home. 

It was a long trip, but not a horrible trip. The kids were actually pretty good, well...at least the two that rode in my car were pretty good. I was kind enough to let my mom drive the two year old. I pretended this was fair because I took two kids and one of them was a baby. In all honesty she totally drew the short straw because riding in a car with Connor and Elinor is like a picnic compared to spending five minutes in a car with Sophia Jane. My mom was kind enough to say that Sophia was pretty good during the trip. 

Atchison is an old railroad town, the home of Amelia Earhart, and where you'll find Trinity Lutheran Church and, for the next year, Vicar Benjamin Ockree. Our house is half a block from the church which is pretty awesome. We can walk to church on Sunday. There are a lot of perks to living here. 

Things I am going to love about the city of Atchison:

1. The city is built on a grid. With numbered streets going one way and named street another. Just like a city is meant to be built. 
2. There is a Sonic here (I may have already indulged in roughly a million strawberry limeades)
3. People say hi to you, at the store, as you're walking down the street, wherever you go. People say hi. 
4. People here are just nice. It isn't that people in Indiana were rude, they were just kind of indifferent. I missed nice people. 
5. They drive kindly here. I have not been honked at even once since we got here. This is a pretty amazing accomplishment considering I got honked at basically everyday in Fort Wayne for doing such horrible things as stopping at a stop sign, not turning fast enough, being in my lane, and going the speed limit. 

The very best thing about living here so far has been the amazing people at Trinity. They have been very welcoming to our family.  

1. When we showed up on Sunday afternoon to unload the truck there was a group of able bodied men and women to help us unload. It only took us 40 minutes to unload the entire truck. 
2. A member brought over brownies for us while we were unloading. 
3. When I opened my fridge there was already food inside. Someone had made us baked spaghetti!
4. We found ice cream and freezer pops in the freezer.
5. Another member brought over a breakfast casserole for our first morning in the house. 
6. We also were given another meal by a couple of teachers at the school. Sloppy Joes!

I could get used to this. 

I'll post some pictures of the house and town soon.