We're back!

Monday morning our family caught a noon flight from Athens back to Little Rock. Unfortunately we didn't actually arrive in Little Rock until 3:30 am due to equipment failure and other issues on our connecting flight. I estimated that the total trip was 27 hours from door to door! On a good note, when we got home and walked in the door, we were greeted with a "Welcome Home!" sign that our friends had made, and our frig was full of food. We have some great friends!

After a very busy summer lugging our kids across three continents, Becky and I were certainly ready to be home. At the same time it was sad saying goodbye to our time in Greece. Living and traveling with 32 college students was an extraordinary way to spend the summer, and we will certainly miss the students and the daily interaction we shared at the Artemis. The boys are sure to miss the swimming pool and all the attention they received from the students. I'm thankful we’ll get to continue seeing many of the college students in a few weeks when the fall semester starts back up.



We wrapped up the summer semester with a ton of class days followed by final exams. Becky’s composition course seemed to go well. To the chagrin of my students, we covered every chapter in Part 1 of McRay’s Paul book in the Bible course I taught. I learned an incredible amount of information about Paul and how the gospel of Christ was spread across Asia and Europe in those decades following Jesus’ death and resurrection.

My Speech Comm course also was a positive learning experience for me, and the final week was mainly students giving persuasive speeches. One student did so well that he made me re-evaluate my stance on teaching kids about Santa Clause!

Teaching these courses outside my discipline was challenging, but I found that I enjoyed teaching them about as much as I enjoy teaching CS courses. The great thing about being a professor is that you always get to keep learning new and interesting stuff.

The final week at the Artemis also included a Toga party to celebrate the end of the summer. All the students, the directors, and even my family received humorous awards. I think the best one went to Ethan: Most Likely to Dress Up Like Spider-Man to Chapel.



About twelve of us also took a day trip to the Corinth Canal where we bungee jumped off one of the bridges. It was the first time any of us had bungee jumped, and it was a great place to do it for the first time. A few of us (me included) actually hit the water below!



On a closing note, Becky and I were very appreciative of Mike and Beth who were very supportive of our family. They are excellent directors, and you can tell the students absolutely love them.