I don't even know where to start...

I wasn't sure what to title this entry because, like it says, I don't even know where to start. I guess a good place to start would be where I left off. And that would be...

-Worldview!!! Wordview was awesome. I had an amazing small group and small group leader. The faculty were spectacular (of course). We had Randy Sims, who is, I'm convinced, the world's BEST story teller. When he's telling them, you feel like you're really there. The way he describes things makes you feel like you can really smell, feel, and see everything. We also had Andy Frye, Nathan Pegors, and Josh Fairbaugh who were all awesome as well. I guess you kinda just have to be at one of their lectures to understand. That's why I think it should be mandatory for every high school student in America to attend a WVA camp.

-Triathlon! The triathlon was the day before we left for camp, and was so fun. We weren't here last year because of North Carolina, so it was great to be back. The have a kids triathlons for all different age groups, but once you're 16 you have to the adult. But a lot of people also have teams, and that's what I did. Because there ain't no way this girl could've done the whole thing. I barely could do the bike! My neighbor Rachel, swam, I biked, and my cousin Dorothy ran. And I think we came in last, but as Dorothy said, "We're doing it for fun, not the time!" But also, in my defense, I didn't know I was even participating, until the night before. Uncle Tom, decided that they were gonna head home early, but since he was a biker, he needed somebody to replace him. So being the good niece I am, I blondely said I'd do it. I say blondely, because I had to have been having a blonde moment, because only then would I volunteer to bike this mountainous terrain that I had never trained a single day for. If I had had time to train, I'm sure I would've done much better. But I had never biked miles the 11.3 to the Francis E. Walter Dam before, which was the bike course. And that hill (or should I say mountain of doom, death, and demise that uses up ever once of lactic acid in my body) by Knorr's bridge? It's a killer. But I made it. And even though ever time I come out on top of that hill and say I'll never do it again, I always do. And I'll probably do it again next year. Because in the end, you feel great and know it all was worth it.

-BCP! The Bear Creek Picnic was the day after we got home from camp. It was a blast as usual. But it was especially fun this year because some of our really good friends, the Youngs, came back. They had be coming to every picnic since I was 12. But they didn't come last year, and it just wasn't the same. They have three boys, Tyler who's 19, Stephen's 16 and Corey's 15. Then they have three little girls, Story's 3 and Journey and Eden who are twins are 2.
     Every year Corey and I would run the three legged race together and we got so used to running together that we seriously were like one person. The only people we couldn't beat were Tyler and Stephen or Stephen and Anna, depending on who Stephen ran with because he just so stinkin' fast! But this year Corey had a hurt foot, so I ran with my brother Andrew. And we were good, but Anna and Stees still took first. But we beat Tyler at least:)

-The Dellies! In the beginning of August, our friends Erik and Liz Dellenback came for a visit. They are parents to three cuties, Blake (8), Tyler (7) and Emma (4). We always have fun and crazy times with them. I think the event that wins the crazy award this time is Liz running over a rattle snake. I had never seen one in my whole life and convinced Erik we wouldn't see any. (he doesn't like snakes) But of course we had to see one. Erik then proceeded the next day to decapitate it to make sure no one got near any venom and then Kate and Blake went ahead and dissected it, pulled a mouse from it's stomach, then skinned it. Blake said he now wants to be a doctor. He says if he can handle cutting open a snake, he can handle surgery. And Katie, if she doesn't become a track star, is gonna be some sort of medical genius.
    So even though the rattlesnake was a big thing, we also just had a great time hanging out at the lake, sleeping over at the guest house, having dance parties on the long car rides, and having game nights. Erik definitely brings out my competitive side (yes, I have a competitive side). Oh, and the football game!! How could I forget the football game?!
  So on Friday, August 9, the Eagles had a preseason home game against the Patriots. That's also Andrew's birthday, so he came with us which was fun. I told Erik as soon I we walked into the stadium, "I feel like I just stepped into a TV." Because it was my first time ever begin that close to the field. I've been to one other game and we were a lot higher up.
     They pulled Brady pretty early in the game, and Ryan Mallett their back-up got hurt late in the first half, so Tebow was on to play. He did okay, but Erik said he's had better weeks. And personally, even though I'm not a big Pats fan, I really think he's gonna learn a lot and improve a lot while he's with them, because they are one of the best teams in the league and have a great coach.
      But we were definitely in Eagles territory. Seriously, there was equal, if not more, cheering when the Eagles got a first down and when the Pats scored a touchdown.
     On the way home, I said, "I was cool seeing Tebow play in real life. Normally we just see him on TV"
Mariah, "No, we saw him at the Jaguars game."
Me, " No, remember he didn't play?"
Her, "Ohhhh yeahhhh. I knew there was something magical about tonight!!!"
Hahaha oh that girl makes me laugh.

-New Baby! At 9:34pm on August 8, little Piper Naomi weighing 9lbs 3oz and 21inches long, officially made Andrew and Jen's family a family of six! Since Jen had the baby at home, Anna and I got to be there! Since she was born later at night, all the kids were in bed so neither of us had to watch them. Mom was there, and two midwives also.
     After she was born, Andrew turns to Anna and me and says, "So did this prepare you?"
Anna, "No."
Me, "For adoption, yes."
Jen laughed, "adoption's the best option."

-Emma! Our good friend from Sanibel came to visit. And it was over Kate's birthday, which was great since they're such good buddies. It was Katie's 13th birthday. Now Mom has three teen girls, for the first time ever!

-School! SCHOOL?! school.  As you can tell, I'm not sure how I feel about school yet. I can't complain, because I've got great teachers. But I just feel like it should still be summer. And now instead of being able to say I will be senior, I have to say I am a senior. But I guess even if I don't feel like growing up, high school can't last forever.

-On the 18th, we had a church picnic at our lake. It was a ton fun. Especially since I haven't gotten to see a lot of my Dickson City friends since the Wilkes-Barre campus opened. It also worked out well for Brynn, because she was leaving for Bailor in two days, so it gave her a chance to see everyone. It also worked out well for my friend Caleb, because it was his birthday. Leah slept over the night before and we made him a cake. It wasn't our best cake, but it's the thought that counts, and he loved it. I was just talking to him today and he said he still hadn't finished it.

-Velocity! During the summer, my youth group doesn't do normal gatherings at church. Instead, we'll meat at youth leaders house and go swimming or for example, during the month of July, we did a service project every Wednesday. This month, they went on a overnight 'Ropes and Rapids' trip where they did a high ropes course and white water rafting. The week after that we went to a baseball game. The local Railriders (don't ask me how they cam up with that name, and a hedgehog of all things for a mascot) against the Charlotte Knights. Last week was Day at the Lake. We went to Lake Wallenpaupack. Which was a ton of fun. There was swimming, tubing, wakeboarding, and water skiing. We were stationed on this awesome island for the day, which was really fun to explore. But we always have to remember stay in groups of three! I've lost count of how many times I've heard that from a leader.

-Today I went to the Morgan boy's cross country meet, which was so fun. And I'm not really sure why. Maybe because I've never been to anything like it and I just love that kind of atmosphere. Plus, I just love watching them run. Nathan is just a born runner. The morning we all met at church for Day at the Lake, he told me, "I ran 6 miles today in less then 40 minutes! I was flying, I don't even know how I did it." Then Caleb said, "Yeah, he lapped me. And I was thinking, "I'm doing this right??" Haha those boys make me laugh. But seriously, they're all really great runners and I love watching them race. Afterwards we went to Subway. And since I made their family six, it worked out for us all to split a footlong. I shared with Sammy, which I'm sure was weir for him, since I'd don't know him half as well as I do his brothers. But I'm not picky at all, so I let him pick whatever he wanted or just said yes if he asked me if I liked something. And it was really good, I guess we have similar taste:) And we had our normal, sometimes weird conversations, Nathan told me about the time he passed out in Subway, they made Brian Regan jokes(I swear I can't talk to them without them quoting one of his lines) and I just had fun being with them. It was my first time being with them without anyone else, like normally some of my other friends would be there. But it wasn't weird, and I felt like I fit right in. Oh, and Samuel and I decided (after eating the left over, cold, hard, soft pretzels from the concession stand) that soft pretzels are better when they are soft, warm and with cheese sauce:)

     Mom and Dad are away this weekend this weekend in Nashville for a concert. I can't think of the singer though. Some country singer. Brad Paisley? No. Oh, he's the guy who's married to Faith Hill. Ah, why can't I think of his name! Anyway, I think he is having a Show Hope fundraiser at his concept, that's why Mom and Dad were invited/ are going.
     Katie is staying with Anj and Jen for the weekend. So that just leaves Mariah, Nate and I at home. And my cousin Ben comes and staying with us for the nights.

And there you have it, another update from abby:) And since, in my opinion, a post isn't complete without some pictures, I'll leave you with some from the past month.

Game night!

All four of us squashed into the bottom bunk, which of course didn't last long

I went to visit my room mate from Worldview, who lives in Eagles Mere for the summer and these are her younger siblings.

Leah's and my cake for Caleb. They're theater faces, in case you can't tell....even though Caleb and Evan said they look like Sour Patch Kids:)

The little doctors! You can see the mouse b Kate's leg.

I love these boys and this picture, even though Caleb looks ready to pass out:P

We love Emma!

Aurora, moving her legs back and forth, "Look, she's doing exercises!"

Emma G.! This girl is just too cute:)

Me, Leah and Kessy at the church picnic

Velocity Day at the Lake

My small group

Randy Sims!

Me and my awesome rookie! All dressed up for Color Team competition!

I got Katie 13 things for her 13th birthday

Little Piper, not even a half hour old <3

The Dellie kids!

Kohen and Nate made their own version of they think happened in the Garden of Eden. They're so funny

Cappy! I'm not a big horse person, but I sure do love this pony:)

Jeremiah, a boy we fostered, came up for a visit. He and Nathan are going to pick blueberries, and Jeremiah says he's Johnny Appleseed!:)

"If they're Canadian why are they here?" "Because they're transporting."

My friends never fail to make me laugh. Even though I'm pretty sure the correct term is 'migrating', leave it to them to switch it up.

Summer is officially in full swing! Whoo-hoo! I absolutely love summer. I mean, what's not to love? Swimming, going of the rope swing, bon fires, no school, sunshine, longer days (which means more daylight, which means more time to play outside with friends). There's just one thing I don't love about summer.

It's goes by way too fast.

But that is why I'm determined to make everyday count. I'm gonna make the most of every precious, school-less day. That's actually kinda what Mr. Stuenzi talked about in church this week. How life is so short. We are all just a mist. Here for a short while then gone. He had us all look to the person next to us and say, "Hello Mist." He also said two things today that I really liked. One was, " We live wisely by remembering we live briefly." And the other was, "Procrastination is assassination of the future God has for you." This one hit home for me because sadly, I can be quite a procrastinator. Mr. Stuenzi always seems to know just what to say, and how to say it. All the pastors do. Mr. Fitch, Kevin, Errol, and Paul. I don't think I've ever left church thinking, "Well, that was boring." Or, "I can't apply that to my life."
     This summer also marks 25 years of Mr. Stuenzi being at ParkerHill. So in honor of that, some of the guys at church made a hilarious video. It was so funny! And it was a surprise, so he didn't even know it was coming. In the video, Paul would ask Mr. Stuenzi a question and they used clips of his sermons from the past years as Mr. Stuenzi's answers. But they made the answers really funny. Ah, I just love my church. It's just- oh I don't even want to start, or else I won't be able to stop.
   
Okay, back to summer. I just don't even know where to start. So much has been going on! I guess I'll just try to give an update on the Haas happenings, and see where things go from there.

A few days after Mom and Dad got home from Europe, we left for a 10 day vacay to North Carolina. Lake James to be specific. It's about 45 minutes from Asheville. It's the same place we spent out seven month respite/sabbatical last year. We rented a house on the lake. We all had a great time. The girls were in riding camp for the week. Camp Lake James also has kids day camp during the summer, so Nate went there in the afternoons. We also just had a great time relaxing, boating, tubing, and playing with friends. If you ask me, I'd say we have four or five families from the church that we are friends with, but two that have kids our ages. The Waters' have kids 16, 15, 13, and 8. And the Culbertson's have kids 12, 10, 9, 7, 5,  and 3. ( I think, but don't quote me) Anyway we had them over a few times and had a blast. We invented a new sport that we called 'tube wrestling'. Since the pontoon boat doesn't go as fast as the wave runners (and we didn't have them with us) tubing was fun, but you weren't holding on for dear life like you did when the wave runners pulled you. So to make things a little more interesting, we would push, shove, and wrestle until someone or everyone fell off. It was a lot of fun. At one point, all the girls wanted to go, so it was me, Savannah, Abby, Kaylee, Katie, and Mariah all tubing at once. It's a big tube, but we were still squashed. We started out as a pyramid with Mariah, Savannah and me on the bottom, Abby and Kaylee in the middle and Kate on the top. But one corner into the ride and we were just a mound of bodies grabbing on to anything and everything, trying not to fall off.

We got home from NC on July first. We didn't have any plans for the 4th at the time, but ended up being able to throw together picnic at the lake with several families from the community.
     The following Saturday, the Parsons had get to together at their house for fireworks. That was great because we didn't have any at our picnic. We also had a pretty fun game of soccer (highlight of my night), and played until we almost couldn't see. Then we sat on the dock and watched fireworks. It was quite an impressive show. People even stopped on the bridge to watch. Afterwards the Shank's released floating lantern's from their dock across the lake, which was pretty cool. They were just like the ones in Tangled. Only there were thousands more in the movie. After that, they started a bon fire. And there were so many s'more supplies! You could just keep going back and back and back, until you were all s'mored out. But is that even possible?
     The fire was so big and hot that you could barely stand and roast your marshmallow. And you had to turn you face away every few seconds. So, being the genius kids we are, decided to lay on the ground and hold our sticks over the fire. And it worked surprisingly well.

This weekend is the Haas side family reunion. Uncle Tom and Uncle John are already here. And guess what?! Uncle Tom brought this ATV like machine. It's called a commander, I think. I has two seats and  a back with a tailgate, not unlike the mule. But it's ten times more awesome!!! And the best part? He lets us drive it! This weekend (tomorrow) is also the Bear Creek Triathlon. Which most of my family will be participating in. I'm just volunteering this year. Kinda lame, I know. Maybe I'll do it next year. Or at least be on a team. But either way, I'm super excited about it. Mariah has been downing carbs, and asked mom if she can take a 5-hour energy drink. That request was denied.
     Next weekend is the Oechsle side family reunion. Mom really does have the weirdest maiden name. And that weekend is the Bear Creek Picnic. Which is always so much fun. And like every year, I can't wait for it.

On Sunday, Mariah and I leave for Worldview Academy. I went in 2011, but didn't go last summer. So I'm super pumped. It's a pretty awesome camp that I think should be mandatory for every American high schooler. Jess and Julia will be coming, too.

School starts August 12 for me. Ugh-_- I'm utterly disgusted, and living in denial that it is less then four weeks away. But I've decided not to dwell on that and just to enjoy every moment of summer, the best I can.

So I think I've covered most of the summer's happenings. No, actually I haven't. But my summer's are just so jam-packed-full of awesomeness, how can I fit it all in one blog entry? Well, I can't. And I'm not  gonna try. Because if I did, then I probably would get carpal tunnel, and that wouldn't be good now would it?

This is what I meant when I said we had to lay on the ground to roast our marshmallows.

My friend Ally, who I hadn't seen in six months because her family lives in Costa Rica, came back for a visit!

What happens when my friends get my phone? I end up with tons of pictures like this. 

I got to go rockclimbling for the first time while in NC. It was awesome and the views were incredible!

A big moment for me, 12 inches!

 Stopped by Sweet Frog for some frozen yogurt after an afternoon of picking up trash, as a youth group volunteer project.

tubing!

all six of us!

Well hellooooooooo! My name is Scooper Van Trooper oh Lolly IIIIII. I mean VI. I am going to teach you a Lil' Lolly lesson. I call my rabbit Lolly. After me, of course. Well it could have been named after my great-great-grandfathers' wife's cook's stone hedge (you may think that naming a stone hedge is odd but really the cook named everything she had- from spoons to bottles to aprons). And it just so happens that my great-great-grandfathers wife's cook's stone hedge was named Lolly, like me. Anyway, back to the Lil' Lolly Lesson!  

What happens when you leave your computer out in the open? Your blog gets hacked by your little sisters!