One Last Post Before We Leave

We have one last day of packing and running last minute errands before we load the truck tomorrow so today will be busy. We'll post again next week when we're settled. Last night our Lifegroup came over with pizza for one last hurrah. For those who may not know a Lifegroup is similar to a Sunday School class except we meet outside of church in the home. The whole point of one of these groups is simply to strive to live like Jesus did in our everyday circumstances, but to do it together. So we've spent a lot of time helping one another move, enduring job losses, caring for one another's sick kids, welcoming new babies, celebrating birthdays and holidays, eating (we did this A LOT), and just sitting around talking. We have a WONDERFUL Lifegroup and saying goodbye was brutal. Parker gave me a big hug and kiss to last a long time and telling his mom and dad (Heather and Theron) goodbye was heartbreaking. Heather and I were pros at not crying until it actually came time for them to leave. Of course we've known it was coming but its always worse than you imagine.

Parker, Rachel, and Isaac laying on my bed, watching Baby Einstein (prior to Parker throwing up on my bed....unspoken retaliation for me leaving him. Actually, he's getting croup and he just coughed too hard and couldn't help it. I have never seen Heather (not pictured) move so fast in my life! At least it was Kevin's side of the bed! Things got really interesting when we got him out of the bathtub and realized we had no diapers for him. Just making great memories with our friends right up until the last minute!

Isaac was sooo tired.

The boys

I remember when we moved here 3 years ago that we really wanted to turn the truck around and head back to Nashville. But we felt like God would have us stay here so we stayed...and I begged God for friends. He was faithful to provide the best friends we could ask for and they have made our time here wonderful. I won 't miss this city, but I will miss the people in it.

Tonight we have to say goodbye to Lukas, Emma, and Tara (Tim's at a conference so we already said goodbye to him). To put it mildly I'm dreading it with every fiber of my being. Tara is my best friend and I can't imagine not seeing her all the time. Who will we eat dinner with every Saturday night? Who will bring me jello and mashed potatoes when I am finally brave enough to have my wisdom teeth taken out? Who is going to make me endure the heinous experience of bathing suit shopping? Everyone always says, "Oh, don't worry. You'll make new friends." And I know that but it doesn't make leaving the ones we already have any easier. When we first got here I remember thinking to myself, "Tara can do this and I can do it too." She's generally pretty quiet until she gets to know you and absolutely hates being the center of attention (so she's not going to appreciate a partial blog post dedicated to her). But, lucky for me she is the sweetest person I know and doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She also lacks any ability to hold a grudge so I know she'll forgive me.

Tim and Tara (now you know why their kids are so beautiful)

We'll see you for dinner Tharps! Tissues in hand. :(

Love,

Mandy and Kevin

Gerbil Heaven

Okay, we have approximately 72 hours to pack it up and move it out...or at least onto the moving truck. We've made good progress but there's still so much to do. Goodwill is going to love me. The more I pack the less I want to and more stuff gets thrown in the "give it away because I don't love it enough to carry it down 3 flights of stairs, drive it 14 hours, and unpack it again" pile. Box central is located in the living room so very little "living" is going on in there these days. Right now its a gerbil's dream home in there...so much carboard just waiting to be chewed. I still have not mastered the box taper thing we bought to make it easy. Yeah, right. It hates me, but it will not win!

"the box pit"

the spare room...no vacancy

I've got another full day of packing and organizing today. Kevin went to play golf with Tim this morning...its his last chance before we leave so there was no way I was going to object. Besides when it comes to packing clothes I'd rather do it myself since I prefer the folding method to Kevin's "wad and stuff" system.

More later.

Mandy

So Many Goodbyes

Well, the goodbyes started last week and will continue up until we leave. Its hard to move on but throughout the process our friends here have been excited for us and willing to help at every turn, which then makes leaving all the harder! We said goodbye to our congregation in Independence yesterday and it was tearful to say the least. They have given us a great gift because they were our first pastoral experience and they were very loving and encouraging. So no matter where we go or what we do we can always say that our first church experience was a great one. During the service yesterday everyone came forward to give us cards and wish us well. The church also gave Kevin a beautiful name plate for his desk that reads: Reverend Kevin Knight. Every time we see it we'll think of them! Here are some pictures of our last Sunday:

Kevin being presented with his nameplate

Mandy, Tonni, and Kevin

Mary our piano player

Saying goodbye.

We wish you all the best and we hope to see you all again the next time we're visiting Kansas City!

Love,

Mandy and Kevin

Things We Will Miss About Kansas City

Before you read the list let me warn you that it is in no particular order...its not a top ten list. It was way too stressful to try to put things in numerical order and I have enough stress in my life just now with packing. Besides, I couldn't very well put Five Guys Burgers ahead of people because that would be mean...even if I can think of a few people I would trade for a good cheeseburger. So rather than offend we'll just skip the numerals, okay?!

In no particular order:

Hyvee - an employee owned grocery store with great service, good prices, and its a 1/2 mile from home.

Living 5 miles from the airport = easy access and since KC is a Southwest hub we've always got reasonable tickets.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries - I am not a huge meat eater but I would turn complete carnivore for these burgers and hand cut fries. If you haven't been and have one nearby. go. now.

KCPT - We might as well confess we're dorks. We LOVE Kansas City's public television. So many random shows, so little time.

Independence First Church of God - Kevin was their interim pastor for the last 15 months and they are wonderful. We'll miss them.

$2 theatre - just a couple of miles down the road is a cheap theatre. We don't mind waiting for movies to come out later. We can both go and get snacks for the same price it would cost one of us to go to a regular theatre.

Water's Edge - the church I attended most often while we lived here because I was involved prior to Kevin taking over in Independence. So many friends we'll miss!

Sheridans Frozen Custard - Don't even try to go back to regular ice cream after eating this. It ruins you. Normal ice cream has no chance against frozen custard. Just don't count calories.

Living in a 3rd floor apt - wait, maybe this is on the wrong list. I will NOT miss 3 flights of stairs.

All of our friends - we have made a ton of friends here and we're going to miss them all. KC was not on our top ten list of places to live but the people have made it a time in our lives that we can look back on and smile.

Chuck E Cheese

Last Wednesday we took the Tharp kids for an inagural visit to the local Chuck E Cheese. I knew it was Lukas and Emmy's first trip but I had no idea until the day before that it was also Kevin's first Chuck E Cheese experience! AMAZING! When I was a kid I remember going to Chuck E Cheese for birthday parties and all kinds of of noisy, token-fed fun. I was relieved to find that the pizza is still bad, the games are still obnoxiously loud, and thechance that you're going to get plowed over by a 5 year old is still about 85%. Lukas loved the game playing and jumped right in. It took no time for him to learn the drill...1. Find noisiest, brightest, game in vicinity...2. Say "I need more money" and hold out hand....3. Insert token, play game for 5 seconds until distracted by flashing lights and crashing noises at game next to the one he's playing...4. Rip out tickets...5. Repeat. Emma however wasn't impressed. She sat in one slightly rocking car for 30 seconds before she started crying and that was all she wrote. Maybe in a couple more years Emmy.

Ahhhaaa! I knew Kevin would like it.

Lukey's booty. Stickers, suckers, and a rocket launcher....any little boy's dream.

Handsome boys....

Where are my tickets?

Pretty girls.

I don't know about this Mandy.

Then she changed her mind and there was no turning back.

We hope you had fun...We'll find some fun stuff to do when you come to visit. What do you think the chances are Tara will let us strap her babies in a raft to go white water rafting?

Love,

Mandy and Kevin

Saying Goodbye to the Krohns

The time has come for us to start wrapping things up in Kansas City and that means the dreaded goodbye's have started. Tonight we had dinner with the Krohn family - Zach, Rachel, and Isaac. The food was delicious, the fellowship fun, (someday I will win a boardgame against the Krohns!) and the baby was all smiles until bedtime got close. Some of that smiling could have been due to his fascination with the dog's water bowl.

Anyway, Isaac is much bigger than this now (he just turned 1!) but this is a great picture of the happy family (which I shamelessly stole from Rachel's facebook). We will miss you Krohns! Come visit anytime. **By the way, if any of you out there have any architectural firm connections let me know. Zach is looking for a job in the architecture industry and I will vouch for his awesomeness. We'd let him build us a house anytime!**

Love,

Mandy and Kevin

Is It Really Kidnapping?......

.....if you love the kids like they are your own? Kevin and I would argue that it can't be considered criminal. Along with Parker, we have two other small friends that have filled our time in Kansas City with a ton of fun and millions of smiles. We've known Lukas and his little sister Emma Claire since they were born. You don't even want to imagine the number of Kleenexes we're going to go through when it comes time to say goodbye to these little ankle biters. So we thought to ourselves...why not skip the whole sad, tearful goodbye scene and just take them with us? Besides, what church family wouldn't love two such sweet, innocent looking kiddos? So we spent last night trying to find a way to get them on the U-Haul.

Hmmmm...its nice that is has wheels but she's too conspicuous in this. We'll keep looking.

This is much better. Now if we could just get her to stay in there....

Maybe we could fit them both in here.

Yes! They fit! We must remember the pacy....

Well, we've got about 2 weeks to figure out the transportation details. Maybe Tim and Tara would consider a time share?

Love,

Mandy and Kevin

Monsters Inc.

Today was my friend Parker's birthday. Parker has dark hair, big brown eyes, and adorable dimples. Just in case you're starting to worry about Kevin, did I mention that Parker is 3? He and I have always had an unusually close connection and he gets very excited when he sees me or knows he's coming to visit. His parents - Heather and Theron - are in our Lifegroup and are some of the people we will miss most by leaving Kansas City. Anyway, Parker decided he wanted a Monsters Inc. themed party this year and I was more than happy to create a cake befitting the monumental occasion of turing 3 years old! Happy Birthday Parker! Check out some of our fun party pictures:

On the Road Again...

Hey Eveyone!

Yes, we've officially decided to jump on the blog-bandwagon. The justification for this sudden, new foray into cyberspace???.....1. WE'RE MOVING! 2. We have family and friends all over the country and we figure the best way to keep you all "in the know" is to ply you with semi-regular posts including photo documentation of our real-life adventures and/or misadventures. 3. I'll probably be at least temporarily unemployed and need something to occasionally distract me from the job hunt.

But, back to #1: Jasper Church of the Nazarene in Jasper, TN has called Kevin as pastor and we'll be moving around the end of July. Yep, that means a flury of packing tape, bubble wrap, and box assembly...toting those big black trashbags full of stuff I should have disposed of the last time we moved over to Goodwill, and determining just how much we can cram into a 16 ft. U-Haul.

Here's where we'll be on the map. Closer to some of you and farther from others (Tara, no crying...yet.)

We hope you'll go with us, even if its only through occasional internet visits. Better than nothing right?

Love to you all,
Kevin and Mandy