Friday, August 26, 2011

The Trip Day 3--updated with a few pics!





We were giggling over this really interesting part of the trunk of our rental car.  Is the little person escaping?  running away?  Really, what kidnapper in his right mind would use this car for his crime?  Too easy!  The victim most likely will be able to figure how to escape!  The Ford Fusion will always be able to promote that it is "most likely NOT to be used in a kidnapping."  Is there a trophy for that?  hmmmmm............


We had an exciting day!  First, we met all of Autumn Rose's new best (girl) friends at Starbucks for some coffee (Laura-so silly! had already "hopped the fence" to the coffee stand NEXT DOOR for their coffee--wish I had seen that!) and some chatting time.  We then zoomed over to the school and lined up for registration.  (I have some cute pictures...but they are in my daughter's camera and not with me!)





During registration I saw someone I hadn't seen in 20 years from my literary society.  That was really great.  Also, I got in touch with one of my roomies from my freshman year.  We agreed to meet at Rose's room.  Can you believe they allowed Rose to have her id picture taken with her hat on her head?  She really wanted to wear it, so she just sat down in the chair and posed.  The guy never said a word.  The picture turned out so cute!



Next, Rose's room ended up being one door over and down one floor from my freshman
 room.  How amazing was that? She is hall mates with two of her Facebook friends and so that makes her move in so much more exciting and wonderful!  

Well, when we finally got the the dorm, I walked in with a load in my arms, and who did I see?  My friend and former roommate, Kyeong!  She was there!!  I was so excited!!  She helped us to Rose's room (we let Rose have the honor of opening the door) and stayed with us until lunch time.  We had such a blast talking about all that happened that year.  This lady saw my husband and I go from being "friends" to ending up as boy/girl friends at the end of the year.  Boy, did she have some funny stories to tell!  We all did!  She just hasn't changed a bit!  It was so nice to be around her and Rose enjoyed the stories as well.  She gave Rose a sweet gift--Vera Bradley paper clips!  They were too cute.  I know she will enjoy using them and they will always remind her of Kyeong and her Mom: roommates and friends.  Of course, Rose got a text and was off to meet up with her friends.  Time just flew by and soon it was time for lunch.  We then met her daughter and friends, my new friend Laura,  Rose and friends, Kyeong's husband and son, and various a-doll-able cute young ladies from Japan for lunch.  We were one large, loud, happy table!


Oh the food?  Well, for starters, we no longer have ladies serving our meal onto our plate!  Bob and I nearly fainted with helplessness. haha.  But many new arrangements were there;  a "rice bar" and a "deli bar" and a huge salad bar.  They had a tremendous amount of drinks--including Pepsi products!  


During lunch, I saw Mrs. Cox, a favorite HomeSat teacher.  My daughter had requested an "autograph" from her if I got to meet her.  She was so kind and sat down and wrote out a little note to Emmaline and also to Emmaline's friend, Deborah, who also does HomeSat (Emmaline's idea! a surprise...shhhhhh).  It was such a pleasure to meet this lady.  She has been "in my home" for so long, I feel as if I know her! ;)


After lunch, we ended up looking around the campus: the snack shop, the dating parlor, and the campus store.  They all had changed tremendously and it was a lot of fun looking around and comparing memories of how it used to look.

Well, everyone went their separate ways, and we headed back to our rental car.  My 3" heels (oh! now I wish I had that camera!  Rose took a picture of them!) were killing me-I guess the shoe maker did not have "hiking around a large college campus" in mind when designing them.  My feet did look fan-tab-u-lous in them though!  

After a foot soothing rest, we brought the rest of Rose's things to her dorm room.  We started some unpacking and organizing.  Rose ran off (again!) with friends for dinner while Bob and I headed out for Bob's favorite college "go-to" buffet: Ryan's.  I did not realize until this trip how much that boy ate out during college.  I do not remember eating out.  I do remember telling people I would met them at the mall after I had gone to lunch at the dining common!  It was an interesting experience.  First, it did not seem to be so popular anymore.  Second, it was about 25% full (this is a Friday night) with families and elderly couples. It was pretty clean and the food looked freshly cooked, er, fried.  I had southern vegetables--fried.  It all was pretty good.  Our server, Maggie, was a piece of Southern Belle sunshine and kept our glasses full of tea.  We had a nice desert and left.  Bob had a lot of memories for us to laugh about, and we had a good time together. 


We called Rose and she wanted to stay with her friends and some more new friends as well.  They were playing a game up in the Dating Parlor and she wanted to stay awhile.  We went to Costco for detergents and then brought them back to her dorm  She came back and I stayed until 9:30pm helping her unpack and make her bed.  She really wanted to spend the night.  I asked her what she was going to do after I left.  She thought about it for a moment, and said, spend some time talking to Jesus.  Good Idea.





We can be tired, weary and emotionally distraught, but after spending time alone with God, we find that He injects into our bodies energy, power and strength.
Charles Stanley 



"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and 
          Trust takes blind faith, taking that step forward when you don't know what is beyond
          that step or where the journey will end.  From the very first step you take, God has it 
          all planned out to the end.  


lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
         Do not try to make decisions apart from God and His Word--that is sinful pride to think that you can
         think or do better than God.  In acknowledging God, you cannot be independent of Him.  God takes
         care of you.  He does.  He has a plan for your life.  God is sovereign-He is not taken by surprise.  We do. 
        He knows what is around the corner, and unlike us, His thinking does not get clouded or deluded!


Be not wise in thine own eyes:  fear the LORD, and depart from evil.  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones."  Proverbs 3:5-8
         God is a bit like a coach in a basketball game.  His players have to trust that He sees the whole picture--
         not just what they see.  God is all seeing and all knowing.  He knows what He wants for you and how it   
        will be accomplished.  The big issue?  Trust.  Since God was responsible for making the universe, the 
        earth, the animals and nature; since it was God who made the you from cells to automatic breathing....do
        you really need Him to fill out an application and sit for some interview so you can pepper Him with 
        questions and arguments in order for Him to be trusted to manage your life?


Rose has a lot of things to think about and needs some down time to adjust to her new life and all of its changes.  She's in a good, safe place to make not only good decisions, but also mistakes-because I believe those around her and the Lord will help her to grow in the areas she needs maturity.  God only gives you a bit at a time--no overnight spiritual giants...just a myth I'm afraid--kind of like fairies and unicorns.  Cool idea....but just not reality.


Her two friends who room two doors down the hall have been joined with another freshman (3 freshmen in one room + 1 senior!), Dawn, who seems to be completely absorbed into their little group.  Although Rose has not met any of her own roomies, we've seen evidence of one.  Her testimony seems to be of a cheerful, sweet, young lady.  I know Rose is in a good room.  


This is like settling down for a play.  Many are still flowing into the auditorium through the doors.  People watching is in full swing.  The orchestra is warming up.  The ushers are quickly doing last minute seating.  The lights now turn low to prime the audience for the beginning.  The laughing and talking morphs into murmuring and then low whispers as the conductor slowly strides out from one side.  There is silence and then he solemnly bows to the patter of applause and excited whispers.  We are ready to see this.  The orchestra is tuned and now holding up their instruments: frozen....waiting.  We hold our breaths as we see a portion of the velvet curtain start to pull........


College is about to start!

1 comment:

Bob said...

You are a little slice of genius just waiting to be discovered.