It was dark when we drove down so we just talked the whole time; we didn't get to see much scenery. It was cool listening to Cameron. He spent a lot of time growing up in Alaska. He was telling us stories of what it was like fishing for Halibut... and the different things he did and experienced there. When we arrived in Oneida we dropped Cameron off and met his mom. Then we went to Hannah's.
Oneida is a small town that is built around the boarding school, Oneida Baptist Institute. It's one of the cheapest boarding schools in the nation. Hannah's parents work there, and Hannah herself spent her last two years of high school there. It's really small. The town doesn't even have a store, to speak of. It's just nestled out in the middle of nowhere.
Hannah's parents were still up so we met them, and then we met Abby. Abby is Hannah's adorable dog. We played around with her a little while and then grabbed some headlamps to go on an adventure. First Hannah took us down to the "creek" that flows behind her house, at the bottom of a field. Then we walked downstream, seeing part of the area. There was a big swinging bridge across the water. That was really fun to go across, and bounce on. The farm that the school runs was on the other side. We went and Hannah showed it to us. They don't want the kids to have nothing to do and be bored, so the kids have to work there some. We petted some of the calves, and tried not to wake up the immense amount of pigs. After that we all walked back to the house. I went to bed, but Josh, Sean, and Hannah stayed up a little bit later talking.
I woke up at 9:30 the next morning, but then I just laid in bed for a while listening to music. Finally, I got up and went downstairs. Hannah was in the living room; Sean and Josh were still sound asleep. So we sat around talking, and then later Hannah decided she was going to make some waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon for a "breakfast lunch". Still, Josh and Sean did not get up. Hannah's parents came home for lunch, to eat with us. That is when the other guys finally crawled out of bed and came on down.
It was a really good meal. Unfortunately, after eating food service for so long our stomachs had shrunk, drastically. I can't eat anything near to what I used to when I lived at home. Afterwards, Hannah's parents went back to work. The rest of us cleaned up, and then we started watching some show called Leverage. Hannah left a couple hours earlier to go with her home. Us guys just continued watching Leverage.
As soon as Hannah got back we all gathered our gear up and drove up to where we were parking. Hannah's friend Miriam joined us. It was only a 10 minute hike or so, until we reached a good spot. Josh and Sean had brought a couple army surplus tents and sleeping bags they had borrowed from a guy at the college. Miriam set up a giant tent (which she never ended up sleeping in). Hannah and I set up our hammocks. So did Josh Best, but he never slept in his.
After we got our camp set up Hannah began making dinner. She took carrots, potatoes, onions, and she made hamburger patties. She wrapped it all in aluminum foil and cooked them in the fire. And like her usual, sweet and selfless attitude, she made sure all of us were fed before she ate. After that we cooked smores, and we also roasted some Oreo s over the fire. They were good. I even broke one open, and put in a piece of Hershey's chocolate and then roasted that.
Later on a big hole opened up in the clouds and the stars were really beautiful. So we all hiked out to a big open grass pasture that was surrounded by the woods and we laid down and watched the stars. There were fireflies around, and we saw several really pretty meteorites. We shared stories, and talked about how awesome God and His creation was. It was a great experience, and really encouraging to be out there with Christian friends talking about God's unfathomable power and love.
Miriam wanted to stay by herself for a while so the rest of us went back to camp. Josh and Hannah got the fire going again, but I went off into the woods by myself. I really wanted to spend some time praying. I needed some time away. After a while Hannah and Josh wondered where I was. But I soon came back. We sat around the fire talking and sharing more stories. Miriam came back later and rejoined us.
It was a long night. It never rained, but I got uncomfortable in my hammock. Finally I ended up just leaving my hammock and grabbing my quilt and sleeping next to a log. Still later I went back to my hammock, and then when I woke up again Josh and Hannah were up getting breakfast ready. Miriam had to go back to her house, so the rest of us enjoyed an awesome breakfast! Josh was the chef for the morning. He put a griddle over the coals and cooked fried eggs, bacon, and then buttered toast. We made it all into a sandwhich.
When we were done eating we decided to go hiking. Hannah was going to take us to a waterfall. We hiked up the ridge for a while, trying to avoid the seemingly infinite amount of poison ivy. But it was almost impossible. We finally reached a small stream and we began following it. Sometimes we would slip on rocks. I slipped, and bounced on my rear end twice, hitting two different rocks. The small "waterfalls" began getting bigger as we went down.
We then decided to go past this last waterfall. Hannah had never been past it. We ended up finding a river. We spent some time on the bank skipping rocks.
We then decided to make the long hike back to our camp. When we did get back we packed up and then went back to Hannah's house. The first thing I did was shower. I didn't want to get bad poison ivy rashes. The other three wanted to go swim in the "creek" below Hannah's house. So they spent some time doing that.
When we were all cleaned up, Hannah (showing her servant heart again) made sure our laundry got done and she even folded it for us. Then came dinner :) Hannah's parents grilled burgers, hot dogs, and we had salad, beans, chips, and pineapple & mango. It was an AMAZING meal! Miriam's sister, Caleb, came over too. After the meal Josh, Sean, and I went out below the house and played Frisbee for a while; and then we spent some time talking and then we all played some games. The first one we did was Apples to Apples. Hannah won 5 in a row... After we played a few games of that we did Solitare frenzy, and her parents taught us a passing the cup game. Then Josh taught us a hands game. It all fries your brain and confuses it, but it was fun.
But then we had ice cream cake. Hannah's mom made a giant one for Easter. It was really good. When we were done with that we wound down, and watched a movie. Then we went to bed later on.
We were going to get up to go to the Easter sunrise service, but a thunderstorm came through and it was dumping rain. So instead we slept in. Instead when we all got loaded up we followed Hannah's parents to a church in London (which turned out to be Brandon's church). We went there, and then we came back to Berea with 10 minutes to spare before food service closed.
It was a really fun and awesome weekend. Hannah's parents were really glad to have us, and they appreciated it. It was great to hang out with everyone.
Here is a link to all of my pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/jholcomb8/20110424OneidaKYEaster2011#
Happy Easter!
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