LU Homecoming

I absolutely cannot believe it's been 10 years since I graduated from Liberty University. Oh, what a precious time! This past weekend, Michael and I road-tripped it 4 hours down 29 to good ol' Lynchburg, VA for Homecoming, 2010. I was so back-and-forth about going. Would it be worth it? The drive. The transfers. The fast food. The not sleeping in on Saturday morning. Ugh.

Back, forth, back, forth. Friday, I finally made up my mind that we would go, so I called the box office and bought tickets to the football game. Good move. We really enjoyed the trip.

Does anyone else remember the song, "Everybody is free to wear sunscreen," by Baz Lurhman? It came out circa 1999. I used it a few years ago to make my nephew's high school graduation video.
I couldn't help but remember this line from that song this past weekend:

Understand that friends come and go, but what a precious few should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps and geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

*I LOVE this song, and need to listen to the advice it gives more often!*
Anyway, that particular line is SO TRUE and I was reminded of that as I saw some of the following friends:

1. Christin.
Christin and I both went to LU and had some COMS classes together, but we weren't close when we were in college. Nope, it was years later that we found eachother through our blogs, or MySpace or something. I consider her a dear friend, even though we hadn't seen each other in oh, 10 YEARS, until Saturday. A few years ago, Christin's husband, Dave, had cancer and then life-changing surgery. While being married to a cancer survivor and being married to a quadriplegic aren't exactly the same thing, we can relate to each other in a special kind of way. I'm so thankful for Christin. We have so much in common, it's nuts.

2. The Geukgeuzians.
Right after college, when I lived and worked in Roanoke, VA, I served in the youth ministry at Rainbow Forest Baptist Church. Jonathan Geukgeuzian was the youth pastor. He and Felicia were so great with those kids, and it was such a great time serving together, going to camp, dressing up for Halloween, meeting for small groups, ministry teams, etc. I held their first daughter when she was just a day old. (She turned 9 Monday) It was my first church experience as an adult, and it's a precious time to look back on. Oh, how I miss working with teenagers! (One day, I'll do it again)

3. The Midgetts.
I gave my life to the Lord the summer before my senior year of high school. That was 1996 if anyone's counting. These people were my first Sunday school teachers! I also babysat their two sons, the guy on the far right is Daniel, who was 4 years old at the time, and such a sweet little boy. Now he's a sweet big boy. I was so excited to see Dave and Renee' Midgett, I'm pretty sure I hugged Renee' mid-air because I was practically jumping up and down with excitement when I saw her! These people had a lasting, positive impact on a teenage girl who was just starting out as a young Christian. I am so thankful for their leadership.

Some more highlights from our trip...
Michael got to see Chip and Sharon DeArmon!
I'll let him fill in the details. He was almost moved to tears seeing them, and this is a for-real smile he's got going here, so obviously, they are special to him. I believe Chip was the college pastor at First Baptist Indian Rocks when M was part of that group. Their son is a senior and plays on the LU Football team! He's number 19, can you tell? :)

Dr. and Mrs. Towns!
Dr. Elmer Towns is one of Liberty's founders. I had him for Old and New Testament when I was a freshman at LU! I still stop if I'm scanning on the radio and hear him teaching Sunday school.

A Lynchburg sunset.
These are some of the best sunsets around. So glad to share in the memories with my Babe.
My husband is the first boy I *really* kissed on campus!! Haha. Liberty was (don't know if this still stands) pretty strict as far as boys and girls and PDA and all goes... so I never did kiss my college boyfriend on campus (well, really kiss, you know) so yeah... 10+ years later, my husband has this distinct honor. I told him, "you're the first boy I kissed on campus." Sweet, right? Yeah.. his response: "Boy?"

Oh, Liberty won the game. Guess I should mention that.