Late today we were notified that National's Wednesday supper speaker cancelled, so we jumped in to fill that spot.

Another day of travel, this time up to DC.

Chapel Hill happened to be on our way north, and so we stopped through for the night.

It is interesting the variety of opinions that will be in one audience, so while one person might challenge our assertions, another will back them whole-heartedly.

The Sanders' side, Marthame's Dad's side, all came over to visit.

We then went downtown to celebrate Marthame's parents anniversary.

It's a touch of Georgia nostalgic kitsch - which usually isn't a problem, except that Georgia's past includes a big dose of slavery and racism

We drove downtown to meet up with the religion writer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for an interview.

It was quite an educated and interested group, who asked wonderful, open-ended questions.

"Listen to your brothers and sisters in Christ in Palestine."

Another day of travel, this time down to Atlanta, to meet up with Marthame's parents and sister (who's doing a bit of her own traveling these days!).

Today was the last day of our training, rounded out by a wonderful worship service of song and communion.

One of our friends, who is now a professor of church history, shared that she will be making our journal required reading for her students.

We are feeling wiped out - orientation has involved long days, and arranging all of the logistics for the remainder of our time in the States takes a lot of time and energy.

We were surprised to find that all the tables set out were filled, especially this being a summer evening in Chicago with many other things competing for attention.

The Sunday School children had drawn a mural for us, which we hope to share with our friends back in Zababdeh.