"loose the noose"

We're just wrapping up day two of our North Carolina trip and so far it's been a good time.

Yesterday we arrived in Durham at around 6 in the morning. We checked into our hotel room, showered, and met the shuttle bus outside to take us to Duke. Needless to say we were TIRED...but Duke is such a beautiful school and it was great to check it out. They have some really exciting things happening at their Divinity School. I know Lenny fell in love immediately. You can see that they have a real sincere heart for Christ and his people. After lunch time they had a panel with two of their professors. One of them was an older woman who came from a small village in Africa. She was amazing. She is a psychologist and a theologian, which I think is great. She explained how the two fields are much more related than people recognize. I couldn't agree with her more. She was just amazing to listen to. The truth and wisdom that poured out of her mouth was a real blessing and privilege to hear.

At the end of the tour we attended a chapel service. Allow me to inform you now that Lenny signed up for a tour that was specifically directed to "blacks and minorities." So this chapel service was very different from anything I have ever experienced. I don't want to seem stereotypical...but if you've ever seen one of those black churches from a movie, this was very similar. The preacher started off slow but as he kept preaching he really got into the message and so did everyone in the congregation. People would stand up from the excitement of hearing God's Word, shouting their "Amen's," and the preacher broke out into song twice. Duke Divinity School has many different denominations and it was so interesting to see everyone worshiping in different ways. It was really one of the best 'church' experiences I've had. Oh, and message was all about how we have to "loose the noose." I'll tell you about it later. :)

We had plans to eat dinner at this real Southern BBQ place that the shuttle bus driver suggested to us, but when we got back to the hotel we all knocked out! So we missed out on that one.

Today we left Durham and drove down to Raleigh. We spent the day exploring downtown Raleigh. I'm not gonna lie, there's not a lot going on. But we did find a few interesting little places. The best was this little place called Tony's Coffee & Wine. It was very relaxing and the decor was great. This duo came in and did an acoustic set. It was actually good. They played a lot of classic songs. One of my personal favorites, "Landslide." They were nice people. It's really one of my favorite things to do. Sit on a comfy couch, sipping hot chocolate, listening to some good live music. :) So great!

The only bummer of the trip is that I lost my cellphone. Ugh! After years of being responsible and never losing or breaking a single cellphone, I lost my beautiful razr. Maybe you guys can pool your money together and buy me an iPhone...Christmas is coming! ;-)

I'll keep you posted on our trip. There's still much more to come.