Well, it wasn't firmware, but the software you recommended showed me that it did the same thing with pronterface... it took me quite a while to get that software running in ubuntu 17.10 since there are some newer packages in that that pronterface doesn't exactly work well with.

BUT... it still kept going up in the z axis. I finally found that the z axis lower limit switch was stuck in the depressed position. I took it apart and popped it back up and it seems to be working now. I was able to home the printer... calibrate it the build plate and print from the sdcard now all while watching the g-code scroll through pronterface.

Now to start learning to draw and print ourselves. Thanks for the help!