Happy Halloween from the Waldens!

Parker's cool Grandpa...

Jonathan's parents were babysitting our kids this past weekend and Parker was thrilled to have Grandpa Don play his Playstation 2 with him! He even talked Grandpa into wearing a baseball hat. I think he skunked Grandpa, but Grandpa Don was a good sport anyway! Parker actually can beat his Daddy at these games too! (I don't even try to play!)

Funny weekend...

Getting blog material I'm sure...

Mark Lowry and Lordsong...
Parker and Connor...Two toothless friends!

Angie and I with our lively offspring...
Tired and ready to go home...

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to Frankfort to spend some time with Gene and Angie and their boys before going to hear Mark Lowry that evening. We met Angie's Aunt and Uncle who were so gracious to put up with our laughter and wild children. We had a hurried supper at Applebee's, rushed the kids back home and threw them at the babysitter!

The adults thoroughly enjoyed Mark Lowry and Lordsong. Mark is as hilarious as ever and Lordsong sounded awesome. We rushed back to relieve the babysitter and she practically ran out the door!!! (Not quite, but I think our 5 kids made her earn her money that evening!) After some more visiting and a few funny moments, we drove home and the kids fell asleep before we were hardly out of town.

Thanks Gene and Angie for inviting us to join you this weekend. We had so much fun!

We're back in business...

Today, at 7am, Columbus Regional Hospital will open it's doors again for business. After being shut down just shy of 5 months, we are looking forwards to "going home!"

This has been a summer to remember for many CRH employees. My summer was going along quite smoothly and I was working at CRH on June 7th, the day our lives were forever changed. Those memories will be forever etched in my mind as we evacuated patients and waded through muddy water. I'll never forget walking out of the building that night with Dr Davis as we looked over the balcony, down into the lobby at the muddy water, and he said, "Awwwwh, we'll be back in here by Wednesday!" :)

If you look closely, you can see me in my blue scrub dress and white shoes standing by a lady in a wheel chair. I was on the news and didn't even know it! :)

I was sent to St Francis to work in their Labor and Delivery department. I am not one that likes "change" but found out that I really could do it after all! I never dreamed I would ever work in a big hospital in Indianapolis, but when forced to change, I was able to survive! I learned a lot from the nurses there, but was glad to bid my farewell to them last Thursday evening!

Not every assignment was always a bed of roses this summer. I'll always remember the day we were assigned to cook food for flood victims. Making Salisbury steaks and gravy for 400 people with one stove was not an easy task. We made some memories that day though and had some good laughs.

The day I spent sorting clothes at a local store where people drop off donations was another memorable experience. I along with another nurse from the birthing center were sorting through clothes. Some were pretty dirty and had to just be tossed. A guy came up and dumped a box of stuff out for us to sort through and I started to scream and run! There were live baby rats in that box of items! (I have a HUGE fear of mice and would not go near that bin for the rest of the day.)

I spent a day playing at the Kidscommons here in town too. That was one of the better assignments!! We sat and talked and cut pictures out of old encyclopedia's, played in the toilet, etc!

There were numerous days that I spent cleaning the hospital also. When I would get cancelled from St Francis, I would report for duty at CRH! We wiped down walls so many times we were afraid we were going to remove the paint!

The birthing center got completely remodeled during the summer and I am excited about going back to our new environment! I am looking forward to working with my co-workers again, being 5 minutes from home, and just getting back into a normal routine!

I am grateful to be employed by CRH. They have treated their employees so well this summer when they really didn't have to do so. I've seen our CEO more this summer than I ever had in all my years at the hospital. He has gained so much respect from the employees at CRH and can hardly get through his speeches due to the thundering applause!

There has been a lot of change already and more to come I am sure, but we will survive! After all "We're more than a building, we are Columbus Regional Hospital!"

You can also visit our local newspaper, the Republic, and watch a press conference recorded this past Friday.

"roughing it..."

Ready to pull out on Friday morning...

(Special thanks to Mom and Dad Walden for letting us use their truck and trailer!)

Our kids were So excited...
Finally sitting down to supper at almost 8pm!!!

Thank goodness Montie brought a lantern!

Yummy steak and fried potatoes...
Pagie thought this decoration was scary!!!Ready to roast marshmallows and make smores...

(Peyton was not thrilled to say the least...)

We are having fun "roughing it!" This is about as rough as I care to get!!! :) Thank goodness there's Wi-fi here and we have great signal on our cell phones! The kids are getting filthy and I just cringe every time they throw sand on each other!

Last night had to be the longest night of our lives. The kids slept well until about 1am. They all ended up coming into our bedroom to sleep! Jonathan ended up on the hide-a-bed with Parker and later came in to beg me to trade him! I ended up out there the rest of the night. We had good intentions of sleeping in today but Parker and Paige were wide awake at 7am!!!

Montie has been quite the chef and it is amazing to see what all he can cook outdoors! I'm impressed! Sure is nice to not have that mess in Mom Walden's kitchen!

The campground is having a hayride tonight at dark and we are all signed up and ready to go!

Hope you have a great weekend! The leaves are beautiful in this part of the country!!!