Well after tonight it has become clear that there is nothing like Duke Basketball!!! Tonight Annie and I (along with my grandfather and 2 other cousins) made our way into the tightly packed Cameron stadium. As we watched people with devil tridents and painted chests scream at the top of their lungs, we soon found ourselves overcome with excitement to join the crowd and cheer for our BLUE DEVILS.

HALLOWEEN ON FRANKLIN STREET


This Halloween 75,000 people flooded the main street running through UNC's campus dressed in their best costumes, so of course Annie and I had to go. Our favorite costumes were the Tetrus pieces, Mr Peanut, and a man dressed as a woman giving birth. Annie went as the Broadway "Annie," and I went as the dancing man from the new ipod commercial.











RALEIGH HALF MARATHON
There is nothing like a 13.1 mile jog to get you going in the morning. Annie and I hopped out of bed Sunday morning and headed out into the cold dark so that we could go run in Raleigh's first marathon. Joining about 5 thousand other friends at the starting line, Annie and I had fun seeing Raleigh by foot for the first time.


THE WAY OF THE DUKIES
Taking classes at Duke has been a faith building challenge. Every week I feel that God is pulling and shaping my understandings of Him and how to read the Bible. Although I am being taught to wrestle with the tensions, academics, controversies, and historicity issues- it has become more clear to me than ever that our God is a God who has a wild love for us. He is willing to abandon all so that we may come close to Him in a intimate love relationship. This love is not only worthy of our enormous joy and praise, but also worthy of abandoning all to following our King.

God is a God who likes to keep life exciting. It was three weeks before our wheels touched down in Africa that we found out we would be moving accross the world. Annie and I had been praying that if God wanted us in Africa He needed to open the doors. How would we know it was God leading? Annie wanted to be a kindergarten teacher and we only had from mid January to June. Sure enough as December came to a close a call came and WGM let us know that they needed a kindergarten teacher from Jan 11-June 2nd.
When we arived home Annie and i had plans to attend Gordon Conwell in Boston. We were excited...Boston- its like NYC and Charleston coliding. Then God began to shaking life up all over again. Two weeks before leaving we learned that Gordon Conwell was not accredited with the Methodist church. Within an hour we learned that Duke was interested in us joining their program, partially because we had been missionaries in Africa. We had a tough decision ahead of us and Annie and I laughed as we told people that we were moving on August 26th, but we did not know where. After looking at both schools again we decided that life at Duke is where God wants us.
GO BLUE DEVILS!!!

Wow!!! It is always exciting to take off and follow where God has been leading, but it feels so good to come home. Last night Annie and I arrived back in Tennessee with an airport full of excited family. We can't wait to tell everyone about our experience in person. Now we can take time to thank you all for your prayers, calls, emails, comments, and support. We have learned and grown so much. It is wild to think that six months ago Annie and I were stepping into active ministry in a third world country, and now living for Christ continues back in America.

Just to fill you in on a few snap shots of the Europe travels...
Greece- Greek Isle of Mykonos


Rome- Inside the Roman Colosseum

Italy- Venice
France- Eiffel Tower

Our entire lives we have read stories from the Bible, but this week we have been able to see where those stories actually took place. What an amazing place to be learning, growing, and watching the Bible come to life before our eyes.

Sea of Galilee- Jesus walked on water and fed the five thousand near by.

Hundreds of Muslims filled the court yard to pray just 100 yards from the location Jesus was born.

Armed soldiers standing just outside where Jesus was arrested, the Garden of Gethsemani.

Dome of the Rock from inside a church on the top of Mt. of Olives.

Bobbing like corks in the Dead Sea.

We are out of Uganda and making our way back to America...with just a few stops on the way! Annie and I are excited to have the opportunity to visit a few of the places we have always dreamed of visiting. Here are a few snap shots of Egypt. Wow!

Luxor, Luxor Temple- In front of Ramses II

Luxor, Luxor Temple- Hieroglyphic Door

Our final week in Uganda has been a busy one, but a great one.




Graduation



It began last Friday when my class graduated from Kindergarten. We had a full ceremony to commemorate the occassion with caps, gowns, diplomas, and awards. The class performed a song they had learned with lyrics saying, "I am a promise. I am a possibility. I am a promise with a capital 'P'. I am a great, big, fun-to-love potentiality. I am learning to hear God's voice, and I am trying to make the right choices. I promise to be anything God wants me to be." They were so precious! It was a great way to celebrate the end of the year and all their accomplishments.

ZOO
The 1st grade teacher, Miss Heather, and I made (what I now realize was) a really good decision to take a field trip to the zoo on the last week of school. We set off Tuesday morning with 10 Kindergarteners, 12 grade 1 students, Miss Heather and myself, and a few other chaperones including Mr. Brad! It rained the entire 45 minute drive to the Uganda Educational Wildlife Center, but luckily, the rain came to a slow stop shortly after we arrived. We then began our trek around the center escorted by a trained guide. We saw red-tailed monkeys, fish eagles, a lion, African buffalo, antelope, shoebill storks, a crocidile, otters, the crested crane (Uganda's national bird) and many others. We even got to feed the chimps and ostriches! Our day ended with some play time on the playground, and a thrilling donkey ride. Imagine that, an African zoo with donkeys! We all made it back just in time to catch the bus to go home, and we had a great time!





Finishing up
Well, school is out. The final bell rang yesterday afternoon as I was cleaning my classroom. I closed the door, locked it, and said good-bye to my first classroom. It still hasn't really hit me yet that we are leaving and won't be coming back to school. When we first got to Uganda, we thought 5 months was a long time. Now it just seems like a blink. We ran into some friends at lunch today, and it felt so bizarre telling them we are leaving tomorrow. Tomorrow. I've decided that one of the hardest things to do is to say good-bye to someone you will never see again. I've been putting some of those good-byes off, but inevitably, today and tomorrow will be filled with too many to count. "When are you coming back?" many people ask. And all we can really respond with is, "whenever God calls us to come back." I do know that we are both more than willing to if He does call us in that direction anytime in the future.