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I’ve only been out here since last weekend and already I’m missing church!  I need (we need) to find somewhere out here to fellowship soon.  There is so many churches it would take months sampling each one.

We seen one last night that looked interesting.  New Life Christian Centre out near Southpoint, Durham.  That’s all I know right now - I need to read their website some more.

This weekend we’re heading off for a couple of days, so it’s going to be a whole extra week before we try anywhere.

Oh yeah, and if you haven’t gathered it so far - this means I probably won’t be doing worship for a while!  It shouldn’t stop me putting up the odd video though when I eventually get a webcam.

As most of you will know I’ve been shipped out to Durham, NC for a few weeks work.  It was all a bit rushed with the packing that I forgot to bring my music with me to practice!

I’m singing at a wedding on Jul 14th back home and I only fly back on Jul 10th.  I have no guitar out with me either although I hope to borrow one.

I’m going to sing “I will be here” by Steven Curtis Chapman, prior to the ceremony itself.  Then during the signing of the registrar I will sing “Amazing Grace” and “Rushing Wind” by Keith Green.

The latter two I’m not that worried about.  I’ve sang them enough in the past.  However, “I will be here” is new to me, and involves a bit of picking on the guitar which I am quite rusty at.

Mark (cheers Mark!) went out to my house in an attempt to extract the words and chords and email them to me.  However, he couldn’t find them on my computer, so he emailed a version off the web instead.  I think it is the same version I used in the first place - so that’s excellent.

Now all I need is that guitar - Barry!

Didn’t do too much today.  My GPS arrived which was good considering I’d entered the wrong shipping address into Amazon!

Liz spent the afternoon ringing round for accommodation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  We ended up booking 2 nights at Springmaid Beach.  So, it will be a long drive down tomorrow after work, but it will be brilliant when we get there.  Liz and I will share the driving on the way down.

We (Liz) cooked in the apartment tonight.  After we headed out to Kohl’s - well attempted to go to Kohl’s.  When using Barry’s GPS to Southpoint the other day, it took us past Kohls.  However, our GPS decided to take us a different route!  Doh!  Didn’t matter too much.  We had a walk around the shops on the other side of the road from the main Southpoint mall instead.

We headed home and called into Goodberry’s to get some ice cream.  It was lovely.  To finish it all off a cup of tea and another Krispy Kreme was called for.

Today, we had lots of fun, although we missed Alastair, who had to work. The morning is taken up by feeding three greedy kids, whose tummies just never seemed to be filled. To top it off, Alastair was due home mid morning (okay… slight exageration) 11.30, to have an early lunch. This gave us a good start on the road.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have the SatNav today, so the kids had to depend on my not so fantastic sense of direction. I decided to head north and hoped we didn’t get as far as Washington! Katie fell asleep pretty much straight away so I decided to keep driving past the West Point on the Eno, which wasn’t as far as I thought it would be, and take a look at the vast country roads. It was great. I suppose we were heading towards Roxboro, although I turned round before we reached any town. There was lovely scenery, lots of open grassy areas then tall spruce trees. The odd, chalet style house was splattered in between. Looked like a nice place to live if it wasn’t for that big dual carriageway in the middle of it all. Saying that, the roads are great, simply because they are so wide. When I thought Katie had slept enough we headed back to our original destination.

West Point on the Eno

This was a great surprise. The boys loved it because they thought they could go a bear hunting. There is an old water mill there with trails for you to follow. We headed for the river and the kids and I had a competition to see how far across the river we could throw pebbles. I, of course, was the first one to get a pebble to the otherside. Nathan still thinks he beat me. I assure you he did NOT! All the kids could be entertained for hours doing this, but it was getting warm so I decided it was time to follow a trail and walk in the shade.

Now the first surprise was the salamander that scurried past on a wall we were standing next to. I took photos, just in case Alastair decided NOT to believe me ONCE AGAIN! (This just proves the deer on the Ballinderry Road story, the red deer on the mountain we drove around in Scotland, and the many bird of prey sitings - just because your eye sight is bad, Alastair, mine isn’t!).

Back to the salamander - the kids thought this was great, even if I thought it was grosssss. Noah was trying to get the thing until Nathan reminded him that it could be poisoness. The next minute a big fat frog hopped to the side of me. Of course I screamed, it was yuck! As soon as Noah realised I didn’t like it he was trying to catch the frog to put it on my head… the rascal! Nathan had to remind him that we didn’t know what type of frog it was and that it too could be poisoness. Thank God for that.

I then moved away from the river and took the trail up the mountain, just to see if my nerves could manage a snake)-; Thankfully we didn’t see anything else. I’m saving that for Alastair’s visit to the woods.

We got home just in time for Alastair and decided to head for Northgate Shopping Mall. Nathan spent his birthday money on a game and we got Krispie Kreme Doughnuts for after dinner. Yes, Aunty Miz, they were lovely, especially warmed slightly. The boys only got half each as they were very rich and we didn’t need to get them any more hyper (and then there’s more for the grown ups…)

Right time for bed. See you in the morning…. or maybe I should just say good morning to all the early risers in the UK now. More tomorrow.

My tooth came out. The tooth fairy stole it. But she gave me a doller. My tooth came out one minute before I went to sleep.

I went to the park today. I saw a squirrel. It was big and long. I’ve been playing my DS.

Yesterday was my first day back to work. I walked from the apartment to the office (only a few minutes) and was in about 8.45. I wasn’t sure what time people started so I didn’t want to arrive too early. The computer I have to work on is a bit pants. It takes ages to do anything on it.

At lunch I went home and had something to eat with Liz and the kids. It’s great having a wee housewife at home to make me lunch!
They attempted a walk in the afternoon but it was much too hot so they didn’t stay out for long.

After work we headed out to Kanki - a Japanese House of Steaks and Sushi! Each table has their own chef, where they slice and chop and juggle food over a hot cooking surface. It’s great entertainment and lovely food. I got steak and lobster combo, Liz got steak and the kids got chicken.

Liz drove on way home - I navigated. We didn’t go straight home, we checked out some of the parks in the area that Liz could take the kids during the day.

Today I got to work at 8am. Liz took the kids to the park this morning and called by the Life and Science museum that is nearby. I came home for lunch again today and we headed out to Chick-fil-a for a chicken burger and some lattice fries.

I tried to order a GPS today (twice), but they kept cancelling my order. Probably something to do with me trying to get it delivered here in the states while my payment address is Northern Ireland based. I’ve tried again on Amazon.com just now - it’s a bit more expensive but if they deliver it I don’t mind paying a little extra.

After work we headed over to Wal-Mart and picked up a few bits and pieces. Katie had fallen asleep before we arrived at the shop and she slept through the whole time.

We then left Wal-Mart and headed to the Golden Corral for some food - $9 all you can eat ($4 for kids). It is quite good quality food. We couldn’t help thinking about how much food is wasted in this place. The boys had ice-cream and sweets for dessert and went totally bananas. We’ve never seen them so hyper.

We got home about 8.30pm and got the boys in bed. Nathan’s tooth came out tonight before he went to bed. He now has a dorky toothless smile.
Liz is sitting snoring on the sofa beside me as I write. It is only 10pm.

Barry wants his GPS back tomorrow - mine doesn’t arrive until Friday - what will we do?!!!

I bought a DS. I have only two games spiderman and Final Fantasy. My Mummy and Daddy like the DS. I’m looking at shops.

Today is Sunday. We didn’t have too much planned except to meet with Barry & Julie for lunch at Champs in Southpoint. I was a bit worried about the drive to Southpoint, but as we’ve borrowed Barry’s GPS it was very straight-forward.

After meeting with Barry & Julie, we stayed around Southpoint for a while and checked out the main mall.

It was so warm today (actual high of 27^oc). It was a nice heat, we loved being out walking around in it. Even at 7pm the heat was still real nice. What a change to Ireland. We bought a load of sun protection lotions today. Tomorrow we are due a high of 36^oc!

I go to work tomorrow and I don’t really want Liz and the kids to be stuck indoors while I’m away. We bought a book today on day trips starting from the Raleigh Durham area. So perhaps Liz and kids will make use of that. I need to get her out in the car driving though - she won’t try it on her own.

Called into Target on the way home to get some essentials and ended shelling out quite a bit on groceries and other unnecessary items.

Dinner is finished now and the boys are in bed with their DS’s. Liz and I are tired tonight again. Could be the flight still, or just the heat? Who knows - only time will tell.

“Ok boys time to turn off the DS’s and go to sleep!”

Well, we’ve arrived in North Carolina last night.  Had a good sleep and we’re about to head out and have a look around.  I’m not going to blog too much about what we get up to on this blog.  I’ve started another blog for friends and family to keep them updated.