Commencement

Well, we weren't tired enough after 3 long days of graduation, so we went to commencement Sunday morning to give us one last fill. We went before hand to take pictures of the graduate that we refused to do the day before because it was SO blasted HOTTTTT!!! Sunday AM was much better.

John in front of Duke Chapel

The whole gang!! Thanks everyone for coming all the way to Durham, NC for the special weekend.

Glade, Carol, Melanie, John, Steve, Kyanne, Suzanne and the kids Jack, Jonah, Madisyn

All of the Magnolia Trees were in bloom.

Yes, their flowers are HUGE... Jack thought they were pretty cool!!

John had to leave us so he could get in line and walk in the procession with all the other graduates. Instead of going all the way home, we brought breakfast with us and ate it in the back of Steve's truck. Banana Muffins and Yogurt... Mom's cooking always tastes better :)

The weather was pleasant most of the morning... thank goodness for the sporadic breeze. The boys did surprisingly well the entire time. They're such troopers. After every single page in my planner had been colored in, all of the muffins were gone, and the people around us were slightly annoyed, we left! Thank goodness we got to listen to the main speaker because he was inspiring!! Nobel Peace Prize winner ("for their efforts to create and economic and social development from below") , Muhammad Yunus spoke. He founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladeshi which helped poor people escape poverty by teaching them sound financial principles to help themselves. It was a very good speech.

After the speaker was over my I took my parents and the boys to church. John's family hung around and waited for John. They picked up his diploma, walked around campus, gave him a ride home, went to the DUKE bookstore... then we all met up in the afternoon for a quick trip to the Duke Gardens before John's dad had to go home.

The gardens were in full bloom and absolutely gorgeous. We walked a new path and found a pond with LOUD croaking frogs and cute little turtles. It started pouring while we were there, but we didn't seem to mind. It was beautiful.

That evening we took John's dad to the airport.