Manly Men

Kent and I are manly men. For any of you who know me well that phrase alone should raise your eyebrows. We spent two days this last week camping in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Not only were we the only ones in the campground sleeping in a tent and cooking with a backpacking stove, but we also managed to hike 8 miles in a morning. Oh and then there was chilling beverages in a mountain stream, surviving bear country and the scary guy camped next to us whom we affectingly nicked named “Crazy Tom.”

This last week we have been in transition. We left the comforts of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington and hit the road headed towards Nashville. Our last day in DC we had the pleasure of experiencing Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, taking in a Nationals baseball game, and worshiping at Calvary Chapel Metro DC on our way out of town.

Duke Divinity School was our next stop and our consensus prettiest campus (in terms of architecture) out of the 15 or so campuses we’ve visited thus far. We spent two nights their taking in the school and visiting with friends from college. Then we spent time in the woods being manly men.

The last three days have helped us remember what a good dad and family are like with the Davis family. We’ve been to AYSO soccer games, gathered around a table, and told jokes and swapped stories late into the night. We also helped the neighbor’s move a 426 pound pumpkin. Twice. The Davis’s do live in Oak Ridge, TN (site of the Manhattan Project) but the pumpkin was for a competition in the local country fair. In case you were wondering, the largest pumpkin came in at over 1,000 pounds. We’re glad we didn’t stay next to those folks.

Spending time with the Davis’s has really helped us transition. It reconnected us to kids and the importance of making time and paying attention in their lives. As we move towards Rocketown, in Nashville, it was a great reminder as we prepare to spend three weeks straight with teens.

God’s Peace, Eric :p