Feb. 26, 2009
Homeschool Alumni get together!!!!
I woke up Monday morning with a smile on my face, and thought, “Was it all just a wonderful dream?”
No. It wasn’t.
It was so incredibly real.
I’m talking about the HomeschoolAlumni get together that I was privileged to attend on February 21-22, 2009.
Nearly 30 HSAers from Ohio, Massachusetts, Texas, Kansas, Virginia, and other states, and even Germany, all gathered at Kayla’s house in Pennsylvania for four days of good fellowship, singing, games, dancing, sledding, skating, eating, and laughing.
I debated over the best way to write this post, whether to take you into a fully detailed account and bore you with a million word novel that really only goers of the gathering would appreciate (and then again, they were there, so why tell them?), or simply to do a “highlights/lowlights” post and save you my rambling. I chose the latter, because I really do want to stay in everyone’s good graces!
So here you go:
HIGHLIGHT: Getting to Kayla’s house. Sitting in her living room, with no one really talking, and just enjoying being in the same room with all those HSAers.
HIGHLIGHT: Meeting my dears, Michaela and Anna F., when they finally arrived!!! It was so wonderful to finally get to meet them after a few months of trying to figure out a way to!
HIGHLIGHT: Riding to the archery club where we sledded and danced with Michaela, Anna, their mom, Samson, Marissa, Anna, and Annie. Getting to show them where my house is!
HIGHLIGHT: Sledding!
LOWLIGHT: Having to clear out some sticks and things in order to not get slapped or impaled on the way on the cliff…er, hill.
LOW-ISH HIGHLIGHT: Samson chucking Michaela and I down the hill backwards on our sled. We never did find something revengeful enough to do to him.
LOW-ISH HIGHLIGHT: Avoiding snowballs from Klaus. Watching Klaus and Mike (G.) wrestle in the snow and come up hugging, finding each other’s hats, and brushing the snow off each other.
HIGHLIGHT: Seeing how many girls we could fit on one sled! I think we got five on the biggest toboggan.
LOWLIGHT: Having to go home for a minute. We had to change from sledding clothes to dancing clothes.
HIGHLIGHT: Learning English Country Dancing, swing, a little rumba, and polka! Charlyn, Michael and Bekah were amazing teachers with unbelievable patience.
HIGHLIGHT: Learning Mairi’s Wedding!!! My favorite by far!
LOWLIGHT: Having to leave to take my mom back home. But thankfully we got to come back for a couple more hours!
HIGHLIGHT: Arriving back at the get together at the end of everyone doing the Virginia Reel. That was hilarious to watch and twice as fun to do!
HIGHLIGHT: Watching Michael teach the guys to do the “skip skip hop” motion of the polka. He had them get in a circle, and do the steps without their partners. It was even more humorous when Kim let out an Indian war whoop! So then Michael had us all war whoop at the same time. (I hope somebody got a video of that!)
HIGHLIGHT: Getting to do Mairi’s Wedding and the Virginia Reel before we all left.
HIGHLIGHT: After the last dance, while everyone was getting ready to leave and drinking gallons of water, we gave Michael and Bekah and Charlyn a couple rounds of applause. Someone yelled “speech!” so Michael said “We came. We saw. We danced.”
LOWLIGHT: Being so very sore!
HIGHLIGHT: Sunday morning home church! Mark lead us for about an hour and half of singing, worship, and sharing from God’s Word and our hearts. Kayla had suggested we all share about the believer’s walk. I thought it incredible how nearly thirty people, being given only a very loose theme to speak about, could all have had amazingly similar things on their hearts! There was a consistent idea in everyone’s words about finding our purpose and meaning in life, and focusing on God. It was so refreshing and I left feeling completely full in my heart.
HIGHLIGHT: Michaela, Anna and I begged to do Mairi’s Wedding one last time before we left to go ice skating, and we did! We nearly ran out of time, and everyone was sore and tired, but they did it anyways, smiling and skipping with gusto the whole time. A hearty applause followed and it felt like the perfect way to end the morning.
LOWLIGHT: Gordie and I had to go home to change clothes, and since the snow was picking up, and I was acting a little crazy, my Dad decided to drive us to the ice arena. When he dropped us off, none of our group was there! I panicked, thinking maybe they had decided to go to a different ice arena. To make matters worse, my Dad had left already, and I don’t have a cell phone. I didn’t even have anyone’s phone numbers to try to call them from the place! So Gordie and I paced outside until we finally saw them all pull in! I was so relieved! They had had to stop and get gas first, so that’s why they were a few minutes late.
HIGHLIGHT: Getting to ice skate for the first time in my life! Jason guided me for the first few times around the rink, Michaela gave me lots of pointers and she and Marissa held my hands and pulled me around for a little while. I only fell about four times, which was pretty good!
HIGHLIGHT: Marissa, Michaela, Anna and I did the steps to Mairi’s Wedding on the ice! (What do you think…perhaps we like that dance?)
LOWLIGHT: Some of our party had to leave right after skating; first Calvin and Heather, then Michaela, Anna, Samson, Marissa, and Annie. There were lots of hugs, handshakes and promises of future get togethers!
HIGHLIGHT: Gordie and I were able to hitch a ride back to Kayla’s house and stay for the rest of the afternoon. We rode with Klaus, Jason and Tim, which turned out to be one of the most interesting cars rides I have ever been on. Like I said afterwards, it was like the Roundtable LIVE, with discussions of politics and creation versus evolution flying through the air. I was speechless for most of it, pretty much just enjoying watching the guys talk back and forth. It’s one thing to watch a forum discussion, but its another thing to actually get to hear the voices behind the words, and see the facial expressions of the people in the discussion.
HIGHLIGHT: Back as Kayla’s house, her parents got dinner ready, while several people got online, checking emails and FB’s and whatnot. It was hilarious watching a few of them, still sitting the same room and often right next to each other, chatting on the internet! Susan played the piano, which was so very enjoyable to listen to! After dinner, I sat with sleepy Kayla for a while, watching her zoom around on her computer (DSL is so fast!), listening to Jake watch a movie and other people talk.
HIGHLIGHT: This gets its own highlight! I saw a game of Dutch Blitz get started, and since I hadn’t played the game in a really long time, I decided to go see if I could join in. There was already Mark, Anna, Susan, Mike and Carrie playing, but I asked if I could play because I had seen them get another set of cards. And I was literally pulled into the game! I barely had to ask to play, and Carrie was moving Mike over to make a spot for me, while Mark got me a set of cards. I know that may not seem like something very interesting, but it was for me, because with any other kind of group, I may not have been so welcomed. These people pulled me in and welcomed me, even though none of them knew me very well, and that was so encouraging! In truth, that was how it was that whole weekend. People I had never known before suddenly became my fastest friends.
HIGHLIGHT: We played several heated rounds of Dutch Blitz, entwined with discussions about numbers in the Bible (in which I learned that five is the number of grace), my screen name (in which Mark and I realized that we knew each other), Jimmy Stewart (after I called blitz rather quietly, and Mike told me I needed to yell it!), the size of fast food and how it has changed (in which Carrie “woke up” just when Mike was talking about the size of Cracker Barrel jelly containers, and was thoroughly confused!) and such other sophisticated HSAer topics! ;) We also got to listen to Jason play the piano, and, after they stole Susan from us, Klaus, Gordie, Jason and Susan singing. It was beautiful!
LOWLIGHT: My dad came to pick us up, so I had to say goodbye to everyone. I went around getting hugs and handshakes, and when I got to the last person, I wished I could have done it again without seeming totally weird! It all went far too fast, and I simply can’t wait to see everyone again!
There simply aren’t enough words in the English language to express how much I was blessed and how full my heart was after the time that I got to spend with these incredible people. Sure, I know they are all normal human beings, with all their glorious imperfections and beautiful scars. But they held something far better than flawless personalities; something I find hard to even begin to explain. It was like an invisible bond that tied us all together, almost before being introduced.
Like I told my family afterwards, I find it truly incredible how I can meet all these people that I have never met before, spend just two short days with them, and bond with them so fast and hard that I miss them dreadfully before I have even finished saying goodbye!
So once again, THANK YOU all for such a wonderful experience! You are all such dear people, and I pray we all get to meet again this side of Heaven.
It started out a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder
Till it was a battle cry
I’ll come back when you call me
No need to say goodbye
Just because everything’s changing
Doesn’t mean that its never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light
You’ll come back when it’s over
No need to say goodbye
Now we’re back to the beginning
It’s just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can feel it too
Doesn’t mean that you have to forget
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
Till they’re before your eyes
You’ll come back when they call you
No need to say goodbye
(from “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” (Disney/Walden Media))Comments
Feb. 28, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anna93
YAYYYYYY!!!!!!!! Oh oh oh, it was a glorious time!!!! And we got to meet you, too!
Ah, I'll never forget that weekened.....
Mar. 2, 2009 - how awesome!
Posted by SuperAngel
that looks amazing! I didnt know about that get together! :) glad you had such a great time!
I am hoping to meet up with ya too!
Love ya!
Amanda
http://superangelsblog.com
Mar. 6, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anna93
Hey dear! How are you this fine evening? Have you been praticing those dance steps? Is Mairi's Wedding still ringing in your mind? ;)
What's been going on with you - how has He been working in your life these days?
