California, here we come!

Well, I am getting behind myself. After coming back from Ohio, Micah and I stayed at the Quemahoning Reservoir in PA. It was just 2 miles from the kids camp and there is a second "Summer's Best Two Weeks" on the reservoir. It was very wet and rainy almost the whole time we were there, but the campground and lake are just beautiful. For those of you in California, it looks very much like Bass Lake. Micah and I enjoyed walking down to the water and we could hear all the cheering across the lake from the Summer's Best camp there. We realized Hannah, Nathaniel and Aaron were doing all the same things. Boy did we miss them. We also missed Mark, whom we would be picking up Thursday night!

On Wednesday, Micah and I went to an old amusement attraction in the Ligonier area, called Idyllwild. Despite checking before I paid that they wouldn't close the rides if it rained, they closed the park at 2pm that day--due to inclement weather.
Well, thankfully, the crowds were almost non-existent, so we got to ride a lot of rides.
Also, on Thursday, we were supposed to go to an old friend's home after picking Mark up, but Mark was bumped from his flight and wouldn't be coming in until 11:30. So, Micah and I went by ourselves.
We got to visit with Mike and Muff (Martha) Dunlap. We went to college together. Mike and I were in the same graduating class. What a wonderful visit we had catching up. I hadn't seen them in twenty years! They both created and run a ministry to youth in the area of Boswell, PA. They were getting ready for their day camp the following week. We could have stayed and visited forever, but Micah and I had to drive to Pittsburgh to get Mark.
Mark arrived safely. We hadn't seen him for 16 days. Micah slept close that night, so Daddy would still be there in the morning. We took off early Friday to pick up the kids from camp. We arrived at the dining hall while they were still eating breakfast. (And of course, I know from all my years there as counselors, the parents wait outside.) Aaron spotted us and got up from his table and tried to "hug" us through the screen. He actually had tears in his eyes. We spotted Hannah and she waved. Then the singing began. What an experience to hear almost 300 voices when you add in counselors and staff raised in song praising Jesus!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The kids were dismissed to flag to hear who won the week's competitions. I almost got tears in my eyes when they raised the Galatian flag. (Loyalties die hard). The Romans gathered their team together for prayer.
We then went to cabin assemblies for awards and then to the large assembly. Nathaniel got the "Life is Good" award for having a great attitude with everything and never complaining. Aaron got the "Point Guard" award for practicing best amongst his cabin the "I'm Third" motto (God first, others second, yourself third). Hannah was praised by her counselors for always looking out for others--they didn't give specific awards. It was great being back in the large assembly, Camp has a worship area outdoors, under the canopy of trees that I used to love worshiping in.
I got to introduce my family (of course the kids had already met him) to Jim Welch, the man who started all this 44 years ago out of Fox Chapel church. He is one of those individuals you learn from just by having a conversation with him. While we were talking he told us two stories about his son, Kyle that I am still thinking about. There is always a lesson in anything Jim shares.
Well, we left camp happy, but tired. The kids talked our ears off for the next two days, just telling stories about camp. What an experience they've had.
On Father's day, we went to St Paul's Presbyterian in Somerset, where the kids got to see what the churches looked like when I was living in Western PA. They are generally at least 100 years old, with beautiful wood balconies and pulpits, and the stained glass windows are mesmerizing. The acoustics are wonderful and though the church was small, the singing reverberated off the walls.
We spent the rest of the day at the lake and then packed up to go to our next stop, Grove City PA. I went to school at Westminster in nearby New Wilmington. So, we spent a few days touring the Amish countryside and visiting my old stomping grounds. The kids were impressed by Westminster, especially when I had stories to go with everything, but I think Hannah was far more impressed by Grove City College. The chapels at both schools are magnificent. I included a few pictures from Westminster's, but Grove City's was under renovation, so we could only peek inside. The library had been refurbished, so no longer had all the secret stair cases to show the kids, and Browne and Ferguson Halls were locked, so we didn't get to run through the underground tunnel joining them---but we did get to see the mummy. It had been moved from the scary ground floor of the library, to the Hoyt Science Center, but the kids were still impressed. They enjoyed seeing the beautiful old homes in this quaint town. There weren't as many Amish buggies going through town as I'd remembered, but many Amish shopping in the small downtown area. I missed the sound of their buggies clopping down the brick streets on a Sunday morning.
The next day we toured Wendell August Forge in Grove City and the Cheese House in New Wilmington. We even stopped at the Grove City outlets for a while. (Like we need more stuff in the trailer). The next day we were headed for Western Ohio, finally headed toward home, with a stop at the Creation Museum.

Friends and fellowship among the Amish

6/12-6/15 After surviving a cross country trip and getting the older kids off to
camp, Micah and I headed to Ohio Amish Country. We stayed in a little
town called Mt. Eaton. You know, before we left on our trip, I had
explained to the kids that we would see parts of the country where
people grew up reading the Bible more and worshiping in church. Well,
in New Mexico, we found casinos everywhere...and a lot of unhappy
people. In Oklahoma, we found friendly people, a lot of old churches, but
only old people attending. When we crossed in to Missouri
(remember--part of the "Bible Belt"?), we were greeted at every exit on
the interstate with giant billboards for "Adult Superstores". Lots of
very nice people in MO, but lots of things that made your heart ache. Of course we realize, you find sin everywhere--even in church! However, we had expected something
different.
That something different we actually found in Ohio. The RV Park we stayed at had a church right on the premises. It was a very small church, but quite active. The pastor preached a great sermon on Sunday and the people were wonderful. I met a nice Mennonite woman, Ruth Hershberger and we had quite a chat.
Micah and I had a great day of rest, because everything (and I mean everything) shuts down on Sunday. There were no stores, no restaurants, not even a gas station
open on Sunday. There are a lot of non-Amish that live in this area,
yet everyone honored--at least in business--the Lord's day.

On Saturday, Micah and I shopped at Lehman's. Some of you might have heard of them from their catalog/internest sales. What a fun store! It was like a whole mall in one store. It had everything you might need for cooking, baking, canning, working in the garden, feeding the animals. They carry quite a bit of non-electric
home supplies needed in an area where many people don't use electricity.
We also shopped for quilts and Amish maple baskets. But mostly, we just
toured the countryside.
What beautiful country! Everything is so green! As a Californian, in the middle of summer, I appreciate that. The farms stretch for acres and acres. The Amish farms have large, neat houses all painted in white. There are large fields and no electric or gas machinery equipemnt to work these farms. You see large (usually four)sets of matched work horses all pulling wagons or threshers or giant hay wagons. These farms look like they would have in ourgrandparent's or great-grandparent's time. What's more, the Amish start their children working very young. I saw boys as young as eight driving the team, so the older boys and father could throw the hay up and over the wooden bin into a 15 ft high pile on the wagon. These people work very hard, and yet they are quiet and friendly and seem very happy.
I got to meet Henry Hershberger(no relation to Ruth above -or maybe distant)He ran a farm and he and his wife made baskets on the side. He invited me to their home to buy
baskets any day, but Sunday. When I showed up Monday, I met his wife, Sarah and their nine children. (Sarah is only 32 and their oldest child is nine)
Emmanual Miller gave us an Amish buggy ride that Micah will remember for the rest of his life. Emmanual surprised me by explaining that he and his wife grew up in Berlin Ohio and live there now for seven months of the year, and then during the hardest part of winter, go down to Florida, where they "have a place". I didn't hink to ask how they travel to Florida.
I made a new friend at a furniture store, Ada Yoder. It's amazing to me how you
can walk in a store and just take care of your business, or you can
pray and look for the Lord's leading and walk out with a new friend.
She and her co-workers spoke Pennsylvania Dutch while they were
working together. What a gentle, soft spoken language. Ada explained
that Amish children grow up speaking this specific dialect of German
and then learn English before attending school. No Amish attend any
public schools, but attend their own community schools.
One of my favorite people I got to meet was Alma (yes, Hershberger). I met her in an Amish house Micah and I toured. She was cooking in the kitchen and had
cookbooks to sell. We toured the house quickly and then went back to
the kitchen to chat a bit with her. She cooks all day long in that
kitchen canning, baking and making candy--then goes home and quilts or paints. She contracted polio as a child and has had a very difficult life and yet lives joyfully and thankfully, working hard everyday. I hope I never complain again about my feet hurting after cooking in the kitchen for long periods of time.
I could go on for ever about our three days in Mt Eaton, Kidron and Berlin, Ohio. It was the first time on this trip that I really relaxed. I will post pictures below. Don't look for a lot of people in them. Most Amish folks don't take
kindly to having their picture taken. I was able to snap a few while driving, at a distance and then cropped to get closer. Enjoy.

Make a Smilebox slideshow