Kansas Trip

 Hello!
 I just (well okay, not just) noticed that our blog hadn't been updated in a while. So I decided to change that. By the way, this is Katie here, and I haven't ever written on our blog. So if I make a major mistake...well, beware.
 On Sunday, April 21, Brittany, Brady, and I had the privilege of driving down to Kansas for a graduation reception...all by ourselves! We had some friends in Kansas who were going to be there that we really wanted to see, so we just decided to drive down.
 It was on the spur of the moment.
 In fact, none of us knew we were going until about an hour before we left.
 It was a perfectly normal Sunday afternoon. Riley spilled milk all over the breakfast table. Colby couldn't find his shoes. We were tripping over each other in the scramble to get to church on time. Just like usual.
 It wasn't until after church that Brady, Brittany, and I got to brainstorming.
 Our cousin Matthew's graduation started at 2:30 pm that afternoon, but it was already too late for us to make it there in time. It takes four hours to get from our house to theirs, and by then the graduation would already be over.
 Or would it?
 Maybe...maybe not. Gradually our brainstorming grew from "just brainstorming" to a plan. When we had all of the details worked out, we approached Mom and Dad with the idea. We told them that we would pay for the gas, and that we'd be very careful (emphasis on very), and we assured them that we would keep Brittany awake on the road.
 I'm sure that last comment helped.
 Have you ever heard the verse, "The prayers of a righteous man availeth much"? Well, in our case, the prayers of a righteous man DID availeth much.
 As Brittany and I tried to persuade Mom and Dad that letting us go to Kansas was a very good idea, our pastor walked down the church steps. "Pastor," I said, turning to him, "we need your prayers right now. Pray that we'll be able to go to Kansas."
 He just laughed.
 "The prayers of a righteous man availeth much!" Brittany quoted.
 "This is your test!" I called out as he left. "Now we'll see if you're a righteous man or not. If Dad lets us go, you are a righteous man. If not..."
 He was a righteous man.
 The three of us left around one o'clock that afternoon. We didn't make ANY stops the whole way there [unless you count stop lights] and got there in record time...three and a half hours instead of four. Actually, I don't think we got there any faster because of the fact that we didn't make any stops. My personal opinion is that Brittany drives fast. But she would disagree.
 Since our cousins didn't know we were coming, we pulled a huge surprise on them. I wish I could have caught the looks on their faces with a camera.
 Speaking of cameras, the reason that there are no pictures on this post is because...well, I wish I could say it is because we don't have any pictures. But that would be false. The real reason is because I am totally ignorant in the way of the latest technology, and I don't know how to download (or is it upload?) pictures from Brittany's camera onto our computer.
 So you will just have to imagine the shocked looks on their faces for now until my smart older sister updates you some more.
 We had lots of fun playing volleyball and visiting with friends and family. We stayed up late that night and talked (and talked and talked). We ate cake and skittles. And we talked some more.
 And I could tell a lot more stories about our visit to Kansas, but I don't have time. Unfortunately.
 Before I go, I will say that we got home safely, thanks to Brittany's good driving. Me and Brady did keep her awake the whole time, by the way.
 And now that we have done it once, we WILL do it again. So watch out, Bergen cousins!

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

~James 5:16~