Crazy Week Coming Up

Oh my, what a week is next week going to be! I am going to be at camp, being a mother/counselor/friend to 9 girls between the ages of 13/14. I am looking forward to it but I am nervous. I am used to working with city girls. This will be different. These are churched girls, so it should be easier, right? Ummm, I don't know about that. It's going to be a challenge to not treat them like I do the city girls. I can only pray that God will give me the words to speak that would help them on their Christian journey. And, maybe not all of them are saved yet so I need to hear the Spirit on that so I can help to lead them that way. I have never been to this camp before so I hope it's not complicated to find my way around. It's very embarrassing how directionally challenged I am so I hope I don't make a dummy out of myself in front of the girls. When you think about me, please pray that I can be all God wants me to be and that He uses me for His kingdom while I'm there. He's gotta help or I'm going to flop everything. I'm not sure why I bit off such a huge chunk but I will remember that His strength is made perfect in my weakness.

Yesterday was a pleasant day off. In the morning I went shopping to Flo-Ann and Ken's Joys with Merci and Johann. I got a few things for camp and Merci got a few things and Johann found a pocketknife he liked and I bought some birthday gifts. I stopped in at Rhonda for awhile to see the parrot they are keeping temporarily. It says alot of things but it did not talk much while I was there. It mimicked Joash's gurgling water noise, it mimicked Stephen's sneeze, it said, "Can you say that" and I think that's about all. But it has a long list of vocabulary, the bird is smart! It even says some dutch words. I wish my parakeets could talk like that. I just do not want such a huge bird because the mess it makes is much bigger than a parakeets and they have strong beaks, I'm afraid it could hurt me:( So I'll stick to my sweet little parakeets! These that I have now do not talk like my Sunshine did but I spent more time with her so that is probably the problem. I really should talk to them alot more.

I went to Weaver's Store then and got a bunch of camp devotions, etc. together when I got home. Sharon and I hung out together for a relaxing time in the evening. I talked to my brother for awhile too, which is unusual because we hardly ever talk on phone!

Well, breakfast is calling me and I must sweep the floors before I leave for work..

Guess I won't write again til I get back from camp and I should have LOTS to say then!!!

Family Fun

Well, why didn't I hear any comments on my last blog? I challenge you readers, let me know what you think!!!! Am I crazy to wonder those things about war? I felt foolish for writing them for others to see and now that everyone is so deathy silent, I feel even worse!!! Speak up, all you'all!!!!!! Don't make me stop writing my personal ideas! I want to hear if I'm off my rocker or what others think. You all know my email! Speak, for your friend will listen!

Well, the reason I did not write on Saturday or Sunday is because I was at the cabin with my family, my boss's cabin, that is! There is no wi-fi there of course. Oh, but we had a blast! I reserved it for my family, my grandparents, and my dad's two brothers. So often the two sisters do things with my grandparents and this time I thought it's nice to do the brothers. We got there Friday night. It had rained a little and wasn't as warm as would have been nice but the boys swam anyway. We were up pretty late, like around midnight. Saturday morning was gorgeous. Alot of the crew went to the Haiti benefit auction since it was so near and the rest of us swam while they were gone. I had fun sewing my new brown dress, started and finished while there! Fun! It was great to be away from home and not see the work and therefore not feel obligated to do anything. I went through some forward emails that I got weeks ago and had not time to go through. I sifted through gobs of other emails and trashed alot. My computer feels less cluttered. Ever know your computer has feelings? Don't ask me how I know, I might freak somebody out! Oh, and Sunday was great with lots of relaxing and more swimming. I went to a concert in the evening but I did not enjoy the concert. At least I enjoyed the fellowship. Ever since I've gone for voice lessons I am much pickier and don't like as big a range of people's voices anymore. On the other hand, I like others I never liked before so maybe it all balances out! I guess you could say my taste in voices has changed.

Today I had the day off and I had a delicious morning of just getting things done around the house and shopping. I had lunch at a park with a friend and her children. I babysat part of the afternoon. I have church tonight, have to leave in 10 minutes and I'm not even dressed yet..........HELP! Oh, and I made salad, corn on the cob, Zuchinni quicke from a friend, and peanut butter cup bars all for dinner. Oh, I feel so full but it was healthy, well, most of it! And I took a 30 minute brisk walk today! Goodness, if I don't go now I won't be ready for church in time! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!

War and What do you Believe?

Here is a question that has plagued me for some time. Let's talk about Christians who go to war, first. Why do you go to war when the Bible says to "turn the other cheek, do good to those who spitefully use you and persecute you". It even says, "if a man ask you to go one mile carrying something for him, do two, and heap coals of fire on your enemies and pray for them." Another thing it says is to love your neighbor as yourself. How can you be obeying all of this when you participate in war? One of the 10 commandments is to not kill. Also the 11th commandment that you love one another. Killing is not loving!

Now on the other side, this is for non-resistant Christians. In Bible times even though all the above verses are spoken, still God endorsed war. In fact, He actually asked the Israelites to go to war and to kill certain peoples. He purposely gave them victory different times. Why? If it's not right to kill, if you are to love your neighbor as yourself, then why did He have his people kill others? Where would America be today if no one had fought for our freedom? Would their be freedom? If everyone would just sit back like the nonresistand Mennonites, wouldn't we all just be killed or taken captive and made into servants? Why don't you stand up for what's right with the law? Why don't you fight abortion, why don't you fight the gay rights, why don't you fight for anything? Is it actually God's will for His people to sit back and just pray for the right things to come to pass without any action on your part?

I'm just confused about war right now. I wish someone had some opinions or could in some way educate me more. I don't like when I am neutral on an issue such as this. And neutral is what I am, because I don't know what to believe. All my life I've been taught the nonresistant Mennonite stance on war. Yet, I have questioned it for years, and it's just building up. I need answers. I am not one of those who is willing to just do/believe certain things without knowing why and without having to be totally convinced. I want to know why I do the things I do. I want to know why I believe what I believe. The Bible says to always have an answer for every man. How can you do that when you don't even know what you believe or if you are neutral? That's my point, you can't. Somebody help me out!!!!

Now that I got that puked out of me, I can think about something else for the moment. Oh, by the way, this was a scary subject for me to let others read so I trust that the people who have my blog will be wise enough to not talk about my ramblings to other people. The reason that I only give my blog to certain people is because I only trust certain people with what I write in this thing, so please don't defeat that purpose by broadcasting my ramblings to anyone else. Oh, what an uproar this one would cause if it were to be read by the wrong person! Oy, please no! You who are reading this and are not Mennonites might not understand what I mean, but just trust me when I say Mennonites tend to be judgmental on their own people. Anyone with strange ideas is not exactly looked up to and my question about war would certainly be a cause for their alarm! That's why it's not easy for me to ask people questions. They usually ask others and soon EVERYONE knows that Dawn was doubting ______ and she must be unstable, etc., etc., etc.!!!!!! I only ask questions of people I fully trust.

Oh, that's right, I was going to talk about something else now. Sorry! Well, this week looks pretty full. Wednesday on my day off, I plan to spend most of it in Lebanon County. In the morning I want to visit Darlene Eberly. I have not been to her place at all this year yet. She is an hour's drive away but I guess that's not a good excuse, considering how close we were as friends at one time. So I will visit her for the morning. Then I will go over to my Aunt Karen and probably shop or swim in their pool. Last I will stop in at Doris and I was planning to stay for the evening but then I had this thought that that is my only evening that I don't have something planned and this is my week to mow. So I guess I will have to come home and mow instead of visit.

Then this weekend I will be at Wolfrock, my boss's vacation house. My grandparents and cousins and Dad's two other brothers will be there. Oh, I'm taking Sharon F because otherwise I'd get bored.

Last night I was at a hot dog roast and before we ate we went hiking. It was a peaceful evening. I gave a friend the computer she ordered through Dad and she was excited to finally have her own. Her brother didn't really like when she used his and he moved out recently so she was without one for sure then!

Well, I think that's going to have to be the end of this post because it's time to eat breakfast and go to work!

July 4th

I hope you all had an excellent holiday! I had to work July 4th:( I don't get off on holidays so it was kind of annoying. We were not busy and I was so bored I was silly. My cousin Karena was with me all week so she was at work too and she was bored as could be. We had a good Friday but I guess everyone was doing anything BUT shopping at King's. After working we went to my Grandma Weaver for the celebration. It's an annual thing, she always has us for a cookout. I had a good time. I was glad my cousin Angie was there. She has only 3 more weeks to go if her baby arrives on schedule. Angie goes to the same church I do and she talks. I have another cousin that does not talk much. She sits there and smiles pretty. I thought it was going to be maybe only her there and I was dreading it but then Angie did come.

After that, I went to see some fireworks at the Lititz Park. I met Michelle and we walked the railroad tracks til we had a good view. It was a Mennonite hangout. The fireworks were good but I would have been just as happy to have a little more light so I could see what all aquaintances of mine might be there. I was no more than sitting down when my phone rang and it was Karena's brothers. They live in Berks county but came all the way to Lititz to watch. I thought it was funny that Karena got to see them! So she sat with them then. I was glad she did because Michelle had a heavy heart and Karena would not have had any fun sitting with us. I thought the fireworks weren't too bad.......but now since I saw Sunday's display, I changed my mind!

Sunday I was back to my regular church. I really liked the Grace church I was at two Sundays out of June but there's something that feels really good when you go back to the church you're a part of. It feels like home, oh, so good. The pastor was going to preach but he had a......I forget what it's called but something like a mini stroke on Thursday so he chose not to preach this Sunday. He was there though. Duane preached instead and I always get fed from him sermons. He preached on bearing one another's burdens.....and showed how the Bible is interesting in that if you were trying to be a pain you could try to say it contradicts itself. It says not to take thought what you are going to eat or drink but to just trust the Lord. In other verses it talks about going to the ant and working like her and how only those who work shall eat!!!!!! What's up with that???? And how...shoot I forget the passage.....but it says to bear one another's burdens and like 3 verses later it says that each shall bear his own burden!!!!!! Excuse me???????????? LOL! He was explaining how it's kinda like moderation in all things..........and when you bear someone's burdens you are not making it go away, they are still bearing it themselves, only you're helping them to get through it!!!!

Ah, Sunday afternoon and evening were so lovely I don't even feel like writing about it because that would take away from the loveliness! Karena, Jeremy, and I went to Long's Park with the Brills. Got there around 3pm and we picked our spot and then walked around. They had a wonderful concert there. They had an army band there. They had some dancing. We ate a picnic lunch and just had a good time visiting. Oh, the cannons were awesome! Loud, but awesome! I wonder why I never went to Long's Park before. It was so neat and the best part is that it was all free! The fireworks were MUUUUUUUUUUUUCH better than Lititz park. And they played music, like march stuff the whole time the fireworks were going off. Totally cool! Jeremy and Yitzhak were off by themselves alot and I was a bit annoyed that Jeremy did not tell us what they were doing so we wouldn't worry but it was alright, they came by the time the fireworks were almost over. There's something special about sharing something fun with friends. I would not have had near the fun if I wasn't with some of my most precious friends.

And, today is a lovely day. I get to have off. It is so rare I get to sleep in on a Monday morning. Never mind the fact that I have to go to work 5 solid days in a row. Yuck! I'll worry about that then, not gonna let it ruin my day off! It was fun having Karena at my house. She did an excellent job at work and I'll miss her. She helped me clean my house. On Wednesday I took her over to the Hursts and we went swimming to some folks down the road. We ate pizza and hung out til bedtime. Ah, that's the life!

This week I am going to church Wednesday night. They have a music topic that night. I will eat anything up like a starved puppydog when it comes to music. I cannot ever get enough teaching on music. Thursday I sing with Steve's at the home. So my two nights are packed for this week.

Well, I think that is enough of jabber for now.