Mainly about Maine

The windy harbor was filled with every type of boat imaginable, I raised my camera for another picturesque shot. West Rockport Maine was beautiful and I will not forget the beautiful scenery of the breakwater lighthouse sitting on the end of a half mile long rock levy. My family left for Maine early on Friday morning, and after a long tiring ten hour drive we arrived at some friends's house. The family had four daughters that we had known from our last deputation when we visited Maine. After an evening of reacquainting ourselves, we all went to bed. 

We began Saturday with a hike including us, the family we were staying with, and a few other people from their church. It was a short walk up to a rustic stone house where we played games and picked blueberries, and of course we ate the blueberries :) Lunch came and we all sat around and ate our packed lunches while we talked. After the hike was over and everyone left for their separate ways; my family went touring to the breakwater lighthouse. It was a beautiful day, at least I believe so, but it is hard to see clearly with the wind constantly blowing my hair in my face.

Evening arrived and my family went to a church meal, the church is the reason for the visit to Maine. I got to do my first speaking in sixteen years as part of my dad's presentation, even if it was only about three sentences. The food was great and the people were friendly, the evening as a whole was really enjoyable and a nice end to a very fun filled day.

Sunday arrived so then we made our way once again to the church where my dad preached for sunday school and got to just sit and enjoy the sermon. For lunch my parents ate with missions people while Rebecca and I got to go to pizza hut with the family we were staying with. I really wish there was a pizza hut back in Switzerland! In the evening Dad had to speak again and present our work along with a short message. Afterwards I left earlier then my parents to spend one last evening with the four girls, we got along very well and I will miss them all!

Six forty-five on Monday morning I woke up to say goodbye to the girls before they left for school then I got packed up and ready to leave on the long trip "home." We stopped by LLBean for a few hours before continuing our journey to York. By the time we finally arrived back in York it was 4:45 on Tuesday morning! I was a bit tired to say the least. I slept in Tuesday morning, what was left of it, and then completed a whole day of school. Now I am back into the routine with only a slight cold to hinder me. 

Weekend at a Church

This passed weekend my family stayed at a church's missionary house where we could easily visit the church throughout the weekend. Though the church is located in Pennsylvania, we still stayed over night because it was over an hour drive across some mountains. We arrived on Saturday and had an ice cream evening with some of the church people as they talked about a recent missions trip they had. On Sunday we went to the church and afterwards joined them for a fellowship dinner with good food and a long table of desserts! I got to try a shoe fly pie for the first time and I decided that I really like it despite it's not so appetizing name. On Monday Rebecca and I had to do school, which wasn't to bad since I got to be on a sofa chair next to a large window, of course I also did some school between the twirling and rocking on the chair as well as staring out of the window. For lunch we visited friends who had been to Switzerland before, I became homesick seeing all the pictures they had. On Tuesday morning we left for our home in York.

Fair Time!

In York county Pennsylvania, every year the York fair comes to town for two weeks about. I was able to go two times last week, once with my aunt and uncle and once with my family, which gave me the opportunity to see just about the entire fair. I got to go on different rides and end the day with the fares wheel at night and see the fair filled with different colored lights, it was beautiful! I got to eat American food such as blooming onions, funnel cake, and cotton candy! I am allowed to eat all that junk food because I only do it every three years :) yum, it sure was nice though! Other things I got to see was the amazing pig races! I know it sounds very exciting, the pigs even had creative names such as Lindsay Loham and Britany Squeals :) Also there was a singing group called vocal trash that sang using trash. They had trash cans for drums and strummed on washboards as well as many other creative methods as they sang popular songs. In the very late evening there was a laser light show where the colorful laser lights pierced the night sky forming creative patterns in beat with back ground music. The whole time was very tiring yet very fun, I love fairs!

Five Minus One Equals Four

School has started up for me and Rebecca this past Monday, the reason for the late start is the leaving of my sister, Heather. She is not leaving the family, at least not yet, she just left for college down in South Carolina at Bob Jones University. At the end of August, beginning of September my family of five left all excited and happy down to Bob Jones, we arrived and stayed at the house of very nice people. We dropped off Heather at school on Saturday, after having a tour of the campus, and cried a lot. We recovered, left South Carolina as a family of four and visited friends in North Carolina (the Jarretts, for those who know them). We spent a day with them then continued on our way. We are starting to see the good in leaving Heather behind, such as the fact that most things in this world come in even numbers, whether seats at a restaurant or food packaged at the store, now we don't have to fight over the last schoki gipfli anymore. We really do miss Heather. (check out Heathers blog for more information about her life as a "wise" college student) Now me and Rebecca are starting school, nothing as interesting as Heather is going through. We are kept busy with learning, now at least I have seen the campus of Bob Jones and know what I am learning for ... a campus full of other teenagers for four years! Don't panic Mom and Dad, that was a joke. Heather, if you read this, we all miss you and love you and say hi!

Sweet Sixteen!!!

I am Sweet Sixteen finally, and loving it! I turned sixteen over our missionary refresher that went from 5-14 August. We left on Sunday the 3rd and drove two days out to missouri with an overnight at a hotel (with a very nice heated indoor pool :) and arrived Monday evening at CEF headquarters in Warrenton, Missouri. I shared a hotel room in Warrenton with both my sisters, in the room was a TV and phone and many other nice things, i didn't mind staying there for two weeks :) While my parents took classes on missionary things, my sisters and I spent our time with such activities as swimming, watching TV, playing in the rec room, doing our email (free internet connection :), and exploring the grounds which were big enough to take some time to explore (only if it wasn't to hot out). One evening my sisters and I were taken to an out door theater to see the musical "Fiddler on the Roof." A few evenings we visited friends and had fun talking and playing games. 

On the seventh of August, a very important date, I turned sixteen! I had a spread out party that started on the sixth of August when the International Ministried people threw a surprise party at lunch with a very tasty cake. The party continued on my actual birthday with my sisters and I doing a full make over, then in the evening my family went out to Dairy Queen for a blizzard. In the even more evening I got all my presents and my parents came into my sisters  and my room and we watched a movie together, they even surprised me with balloons everywhere, I really like balloons :)

After we arrived back from Missouri, again a two day drive, my party continued. My parents surprised me again by inviting a Mary Kay lady to come and do a make up demonstration. The reason for all the make up is I am finally allowed to wear make up now that I am sixteen. By the end of the day all the Shirey girls were fully makeuped. Then in the evening, another surprise (I am thinking it is not very hard to hide things from me, I get surprised very easily) my family on my mom's side came and we had birthday cake and games that went till late. I think I had a very nice sixteenth birthday and I am so glad I was able to celebrate it with my extended family.

The first picture is a view out of the window of my room in Warrenton, the light is not a Missouri sunset, it is a Nikon sunset (otherwise known as my flash). The second picture is of our "home" while we are here in Pennsylvania, the two windows on the second floor are the bedroom widows of the room that me and my sisters share.