Youth Meetings 2009

  Alright here are the promised pictures. 

 
Different scenery pictures.

Two crazy girls... who surprisingly enough didnt get sick.

We climbed a mountain to reach a non-existent top on Thursday.
Daniel and Verlyn... Quite the mountain climbers they were. Daniel Found out his phone had service up there and so he just HAD to call someone.

Some of us girls. (Left to right: Joy, Me, Bethany, and Debra)

Sarah and I.
  
Regina.....(aka The Bed Hog)

Daniel telling me in great detail how it happened that his toenails were pink. His sister Regina painted them pink after he used the console in her car for a footrest. Apparently she told him to get his feet out of her way or he would regret it. He decided that he'd risk it due to the fact that it was a lot more comfortable, and he wanted to read a book. Next thing he knew his toenails on one foot were pink. I love it!
Jammin'


We played skum....a lot... Had a blast.

Sarah thought she just HAD to sweep under our table. The boys thought it'd be easier to to lift the table up....apparently moving ones feet is a lot of work. Oh well, dont argue with a guys' logic....if it makes sense to them my advice is to just humor them.
 
Daniel leaped into the pond. I dont even want to know how cold that was.

Friday afternoon some of the young married couples shared how they had met and started dating...
 
All the other days the boys were gentleman and let the ladies go first. But the day we fasted....no. They didnt even wait for the cooks to get out of the way!
  
I became a coat rack.

Loretta entertaining us....

Phil, Reynold (one of the speakers from Mexico) and Phillip. The worship leaders Sunday night.

Reynold was showing the guys a whole bunch of tricks you can do with a string.

Me and Veldon. This makes me laugh so hard. I found out that brothers seriously object to getting their pictures taken with their sisters. Oh well.

Vonda and Rhonda.
  
Bethany, Regina Bontrager and me                          Anya, Melanie, and me

Me, Liz, Loretta, Rachelle, Julie, and Marty


Beverly and I....

Suzy, Me, Rhonda, Beverly, and Helen

Suzy and I...

Bethany, Regina Bontrager, and me....lol she was feeling short so Beth and I decided to give her company.

Ciara, Bethany, and me.....

Loretta and I...

Well, thats all....I have to git. I tried to find ones I hadnt already put on fb...see ya next time!  
 

So I'm back. I had a lot of fun. I made a lot of new friends. Experienced a lot of new things. Learned some valuable truths, and have been overall encouraged and made a better person because of it. Coming face to face with God and His power is an awesome thing. I have been showed anew what an amazing and merciful God it is that we serve.

I got another cold somewhere along the way and so I'm back to battling that. Gotta hate it. I forgot my camera, (dont ask) so they're sending it. When it arrives I'll post pictures. But for some odd reason it seems like pictures will do the week a serious injustice. There's no way they can effectively portray just how awesome it really was.

Anyway, have to run. Talk to you soon. Oh, and just so ya know, it isnt a crime to comment. Xanga might be boring, but facebook actually isnt all that fabulous. Seriously, if you're honest with yourself you'll admit. So just leave me a comment or three....cause that would be pretty cool. I like comments.

Montana

"Better late than never", is my new and totally original motto. Here are some pictures of our trip up to Montana 2 wks ago.

We played Rook and Black Rook, and Rook and Black Rook.....24/7. Pretty awesome.

I was terrified. I got the Kitty at 180, we were playing Bird High and I didnt have it. Luckily, Andrew did, and somehow we averted serious disaster. I've never been so scared in my life. My highest card was a 12.

Nevin was so cocky. The only thing he seemingly knew how to do was brag about his hand. FYI, he shot the moon here, then, shortly after this picture was taken....he crashed. Gotta love it. We all had a great time rubbing it in.

Playing Confusion. No kidding. The guys and Emma won EVERYtime. If that isnt confusing I dont know what is. How did the guys win the girls anyhow? Actually that isnt a question I want to ask. 

For memories sake* the boys decided to do the four-man-push-up. Verlyn refused to participate, but we did manage to talk Jesse into it. So Jesse, Vance, Andrew, and Nevin.....demonstrated how it was supposed to go. Pretty cool.  (* We stayed at Jesse Byler's folk's place. I guy that my bros went to B.S. with and down to Mexico.)

I am Blonde. People torture me senseless. For hours on end. They pulled the "Show me your intelligence and I'll clap for you" on me...."The three solemn judges" (Or in their case not so solemn)...and then they drew something from me. I never got it. They drew weird shapes, telling me to use my imagination. Which I did. Something I never saw the point in, because it didnt get me one iota closer to the answer, and only served to draw peals of irritating laughter from my tormentors. (i.e. Esther, Liz, and Emma) They finally saw that they'd be there forever and told me. They were drawing my attention. Yeah. For like, 2 hours. Yeah. Uhhhh. Yeah.


I did forgive her, in case you were wondering. But I fear that Liz will never be the same again. The poor girl laughed so hard. She was still laughing, as you can see, when we finally took the pictures. You can also tell that I am still feeling rather unimpressed with the entire charade. Come to think of it I doubt I'll ever be the same again either.

Anyway....so there are some pictures and an update...what I've been up to recently is just utter busy-ness....crazy. Relatives galore...work....all sorts of great stuff. Me and my 3 oldest bros are leaving tuesday morning for Montana again and are gonna be gone a wk....they're doing some youth meetings/bible school up there so....yeah. Adios.

Spring Break

I just got done reading about ten bedtime stories to my little sisters and cousins.  Wow. I really dont know how they talked me into that. I must be getting soft in my old age. Mom came down, and when she found out what I was doing, informed me that if I hoped to get them to fall asleep anytime soon I had to read a little bit boringer. So I tried.........but really! do you have any clue how difficult it is to read a ridiculous bedtime story that has goofy words like 'outlandish' in it, and quaint little maidens dressed in petticoats and straw hats gracing its pages? Utterly impossible. I tried, I really did. But, for some odd reason, the only person I managed to get yawning over the whole "boring" ordeal was myself. I'm such a failure.

Well folks, I'm off to bed.....well, to be honest, not really bed....but I had to say bed, because saying that I was off to the loveseat just sounds a little odd and uncomfortable. Ya know what I mean? Nevertheless, odd as it may sound, I am off to the loveseat, with the lofty hope of catching a wink of sleep somewhere between all the questions I have to answer, and scaring off the boogy men that my lil sister and 5 yr old cousin are just sure are out there lurking around the corner... How the boogy men will manage to get past our protective dog who has been made doubly so by the arrival of 1/2 a dozen puppies, is beyond me....but in the minds of two blonde little girls, with overly active imaginations, all things are possible I suppose... So of course there are all sorts of lights on to scare off the aforementioned boogy men. (as if they need to doubt my ability to take care of them myself! ) And anyone that knows me, knows that I cant put up with any light when I'm trying to sleep...... I can already tell this is going to be a.....growing experience....I guess....I just hope that after putting up with all of the above I'll be allowed at least one fight with a boogy man..... I wonder what a boogy man looks like??.....will I be able to recognize one when I see it? Hmmmm. Maybe I should warn all my bros not to venture out of their rooms tonight, cause I might just "mistake" one of them for something else.....

Things Left Unspoken

    
When you walk down the street and see the living dead
With regret on their faces, their thoughts left unsaid
The evidence surrounds us of their pain and tears
Their hatred, their bitterness, their greatest fears

You see the lil girl with her fragile hopes and dreams
The teenager finding out that nothings' as it seems
From the writer struggling with how to put it down
To the young man on the bridge taking a last look around 

Chorus;
The pain of this world, the scars of its people,
With their hope almost gone, their faith shaken feeble.
They've got nothing to lose
And neither do you,
So give them the love of Christ while you are able. 

The hopelessness is not really all that hard to find
In this rat race of life where the blind lead the blind
How did it start and will it ever end...?
This senseless struggle, this craving revenge
 
We've all seen it but what are we gonna do?
Its our choice that God's left to me and you
Are we gonna keep walking staying out of the fight
Or are we gonna listen then tell them what is right? 
                              -- Vonda  Glenn &   Linda Hershey

(Oh, Lin I just realized it doesnt have a name....help? lol)