A couple weeks ago one of the nurses from Kiowa called to see if I would be with him this weekend because the nurses wanted to send out us for a nice dinner. There is a nice restaurant about 10 miles away in Burlington, Oklahoma. They said it was supposed to be a surprise "for the Doc" and they would also provide babysitting! I never heard back as to whether the reservation was at 7 or 7:30 and I was under the impression that is was 30 minutes away. So, when Brent sent me a text saying he was going to be home late to work, I started stressing out! He didn't know we needed to hurry and it would be really weird for me to want to hurry and get to Kiowa. So I loaded the van, got gas and literally had the kids in the van waiting for him so we could leave right away. Then on the way to Kiowa he tried to order a pizza on the way to pick up for dinner, I had to pretend I wasn't hungry so we could skip the pizza, all the time being extremely stressed out and Brent seemed to be driving extra slow! I sent a text to the nurses saying we were running late and our current location. When we arrived in Kiowa we stopped at the grocery store to get milk for the kids, Nile and I waited in the car while Brent and Emmy "ran" in. In a little while Brent came out with Emmy (and no groceries) saying she was really poopy and it was leaking out. He just kinda stood there trying to help me and I was like "its ok, just get the groceries" It took him forever! Turns out he was getting meat and cheese cut for dinner and other groceries as well. FINALLY we arrived at the hospital's house where we stay, Brent and Emmy went over to the hospital to get the key, where the entire nursing staff was waiting to give him a card and the news of dinner. I was going to follow him right over, BUT Nile had to pee really bad and of course we couldn't find his shoes in the van, finally he peed outside, I found his shoes, then had to get Chloe tied up and by this time Nile had his bike out and was riding down the street! So needless to say by the time I got to the hospital, I met Brent coming out the door. We changed, a couple nurses came over to watch our kids and we were off! The town of Burlington was SMALL, I mean REALLY SMALL. But there was a little 100 year house that was The Vintage House Restaurant. We had cute little table in the corner, with a little corner bench to sit on. My salad was amazing! Brent ordered buffalo rib-eye and I ordered file minion. After salad they brought out a little cup of delicious cheesy soup, then our steaks which were the best we have ever had. Then we shared a piece of coconut cream pie. The nurses took the kids to the park and said "they were so well behaved" aren't they always for someone else! :-) It was wonderful to have a date since we rarely go anywhere without the kids and such a wonderful blessing from the nurses! They gave him a South Barber Chieftain hat (local high school) that he had mentioned liking one time. They gave him a sweet card and all wrote on it. Brent has really enjoyed working here and has worked here about 2 weekends a month for the last two years. People call the clinic and ask when the next time he will be here so they can have an appointment with him! It has been good experience for him and made it possible for me to stay home with the kids. It is generally not very busy (this weekend is!) and we are able to rest and have a lot of family time at the park. We get to stay in the house the hospital owns which makes it very comfortable. Brent is going to miss it here, he often says he wishes it was closer to home and maybe we could live here. Kiowa, Iowa sounds like it should exist right? We know more people here then in Wichita and we like the church here so we will miss it more. He is working two more weekends before we move, but this might be my last weekend since I have things to do to get ready to move and might go visit friends in Western Kansas one of the weekends. We will be here through memorial day then it's off to close on our new house in Iowa!
