Beautiful pix by my beautiful friend Arlis

 A beautiful pond hidden between two ridges.  A lovely place, rarely visited, it is filled with tranquil beauty.

 Delicious black raspberries that have filled our berry buckets and mouths this summer!  Protective clothing is a plus, and don't pile too many berry pickers on the four-wheeler!

 "Daisy, daisy, give me your answer true..."  Enough daisies to keep any doubter busy for a long time! :)

 Queen Anne has a bug crawling on her lace.  Did you know he was there Arlis?

 Daisy-chain crowns we made and crowned each other with.

 The butterflies love this flower as much as we do!

 A beautiful flower arrangement by the photographer.  Her love of beauty cheered and encouraged me.

 And last, but not least, my lovely friend.  She was such an encouragement to me and lots of fun to be with.  Thanks so much Arlis, for your friendship, your pictures, everything.  I am so grateful to count you as my friend.  Come again, anytime!

Memories of long ago times with good old friends...

 Matt and Annie Joking - you guys are great!  I miss you a lot.  Cousin parties and youth group sure wouldn't be the same without you.  Keep up the quiet humor and don't let your brother Austin get out of line. :)

 Another great brother/sister combo.  Our families used to go hiking here on Mothers' Day but now since we're all grown up and scattered it doesn't happen so much anymore...

 Overlooking the Holtwood Dam.  The water was much higher than the last time people had been there and was really a spectacular sight!

 My friend and cousin, Lena.  I think she's being a tourist in Germany at present.

 The Calebs - one is somber and the other sports a cheesy grin.

 So we were hiking along and got to a nice spot by the water.  Some people got a little too close and one person fell in.  These people thought it was funny! :)

 The part of the trail where boys do things girls wish they wouldn't...

 Ivan's "facebook profile" picture.

 So we kinda lost the trail and came down a different way.  Close to the bottom we saw the back of a sign and thought, "Oh no!  It probably says, 'No Trespassing'!"  Well, too late: we just hoped we wouldn't get a rash from the poison ivy we say in the restricted area.

 A great way to get around unless it rains... We were very impressed however, that they got three guys in the back seat.

Like Ivan said, "A good picnic spot for beavers!"

My youth group is so much fun to hang out with!  I really miss the social life now that I'm in the woodsy wilderness of Ohio.  The woods just aren't as much fun if you all aren't here to hike them with me.  Keep on having fun together - don't take each other for granted. 

Happy to be where I am but missing the folks at home...

I am really enjoying my time in Ohio cooking at the boys' camp.  This week I am on my own since the other cook's friend is getting married on Saturday and she is helping her with that.  I am really looking forward to having James come out this weekend.  He is bringing the post hole digger and the floor mixer that were so generously donated from folks in Lancaster, plus "a few" things from home for me, AND best of all - a helper for me on Saturday!  Josi is coming along to help me cook.  There will be a work group here from Canada on Saturday and I am serving brunch for 46 people.  On Saturday I will be serving four meals and getting food ready for Sunday so I'll be really happy to have some help.
I keep trying to post pictures but there is always something that keeps me from it - either I can't get to a computer, or if I do I spend so much time chatting... or, when I get a computer and am not chatting my flashdrive doesn't work...  one of these days surely it will all come together and I'll be able to post some pix. :)

some youth group pix from winter 2011

 Jet and Mary

 Melanie and Janae cracking themselves up with a game of "Yes or No".

 Parties at Melanie's house are great fun!

 The Settlers of Catan

 Can't Stop - at least I think that's what the game was called.

 and the ever-present ROOK

 Some people do a pretty good job of making pests out of themselves.

 Two of the crazy Fisher boys - gotta love em!

 At our house after gym night or chorus practice or something.  God keeps blessing our kitchen floor with strength to uphold our friends.

Amazing how many ppl you can get into that little kitchen!  I love when my friends come over like this.

A few pix from Paraguay April 3-20, 2011

Daddy so desperately wanted to sit by the window so he could see out.  He actually got his wish on the last flight and could see the dam right before we landed.

 It was Daddy's first time back in 32 years after having lived there for 6 years before he was married.  Many things were different from how he remembered them.  Some things were even different from how I remembered them after having been gone for less than a year and a half.

 After the LONG trip we were happy to be met at the airport by Mark, Gina, Josue, and Natalia.

 We had asado the first night we got there.  After catching up on some sleep overnight we were ready to get outside and have some fun in the warm PY sun.  Gina and the children and I started planting the garden.  By the time we left the beans were up several inches already.

 We did lots of this - visiting people and drinking the national beverage - terere!  It is a very good way to stay hydrated in the heat of Paraguay.  You can tell this is one of the first days because Daddy is still as white as a sheet - we all changed colors pretty quickly! :) 

 Many of the colony people invited us to their houses for suppers.  This was at Mario and Linda's where they served us fish from their ponds.

 One day we started off at 2:30 to go on a great exploring trip to a Lava Lake etc... but then it poured down rain and we couldn't take the dirt road back in.  We did some other sight-seeing then at the grave site of a famous Paraguayan soldier.  We were a bit miserable all day from lack of sleep and lack of planned activity but had lots of fun anyway.  On the way home some people played Scum and others drank terere.  The two didn't mix the best - you kind of had to do one or the other...

 There was no good place to stop for lunch so once everyone was famished we just stopped beside the road and set up in the back of the van. 

 Jay, E.J., Keith, and Karl

 We stopped for ice cream on the way home.  That helped break the trip up and bit.  We felt like tourists because we kept trying to take pix of the Mexican Mennonite couple behind us.

 Nemecia and Arlis - we did LOTS of visiting when were were down there!  Some together and some apart.

 Daddy eating his coveted "chipa caliente"!

 Lynford and Amelia Bontrager - they live on the piece of land that adjoins the one Daddy used to own.

 Where Daddy used to live.  You would never know it now.  They don't let old houses standing because of all the campesinos that would love to move in.

 Like Esther said, "A man with a belly ache!"

 One night we went out to eat at Don David.  Did you ever hear of corn on pizza?  Well we had it here!

 This might not be a very nice picture but the other one was a lot worse! Poor Mary Jo was jealous that I got to see her brother.

 We made quite the show for all the quiet Mennonite couples that were in there.  It didn't take beer to get us to talk and laugh.  We are always amused at the way they act and they with us...

 Arlis, Gina, and I - great friends!  I love these girls and really appreciate their friendship.

 Lactolanda came out with waffle cones since I left.  The only bad thing about them is that with so much ice cream you can barely eat it fast enough before it starts to drip.

 I had some wonderful talks with this lovely lady.  Friends are so valuable!  Chipa with the Garcete ladies and Elsie and Arlis at Lactolanda.