Yesterday was quite an eventful day for us! My brother graduated from University of Florida (finally!), but he opted not to walk in his ceremony. Instead he and his wife went to Universal Studios. (Arne’t y’all sick of that place yet?? ;-))

My cousin also got married yesterday. We were unable to attend, but my parents went to the rehearsal dinner and were able to wish him and his new wife best wishes.

The reason we were unable to attend is because my parents, Paul, and I all went up to North Carolina for a thing my sister had! My parents drove up from Florida on Thursday and stayed with us for two nights before we all went up yesterday. They stayed with her while Paul and I came back last night – around 1 am. :-p It was a long drive but fun to be with her.

Amy is an Outdoor Education major at her college, and this semester she had to take what they call an “Immersion Course”. It was basically a semester abroad, though they didn’t leave the country. They lived in cabins on the school’s second campus (which is nestled in the woods and mountains of North Carolina) and went on a lot of trips. It started with a trip to Montana in January where they skied (cross-country) and built and slept in igloos (there are other names for all this stuff, I just can’t remember) and basically just were cold. ;-) I dunno, camping in Montana in January just doesn’t seem like a very fun thing to do for me!!

They also had courses in kayaking and rock climbing, and they even got to help lead some local youth groups (like the boy scouts). Towards the end of the semester, they had a 21 day camping trip around Pisgah National Forest. It sounds like a great semester for people who love the outdoors, and they all said they grew a lot in character and as leaders. (Since the major is education, the school is trying to equip them to be able to be effective leaders with groups of people, especially kids.)

Their semester is over, and they had a special ceremony yesterday celebrating it. All the parents and a few friends were invited, and they had a slideshow and reflections and staff/student appreciation. It was really neat, and it was also really neat how they all focused on how God worked in their lives throughout the semester. We had some time of worship and singing at the beginning, and ended with singing the doxology acapella. They said when they were on the trail they did a lot of singing but had no instruments, so they told us to close our eyes and pretend we were all standing under the stars.

The whole thing made me want to go camping! Except, I like having a tent. And a sleeping bag. And being within a mile of my car. :-) Sorry, Amy! I wouldn’t last a day in your major! :-)

It was fun and good, and I love being this close to my sister to attend her college things! (As most of you know, I went to college 18 hours away from my family.) Now, Paul is at work (he had to switch shifts to be able to take Saturday off) and I need to get dressed and head to church.