Student Life Blog

            I realize the story of our Labor Day weekend has been dragged out but it was a really great weekend. I hope you get the enjoyment out of reading about it that I get from writing about it. It is the perfect example of what can happen on a typical weekend at Judson.

            Sunday was probably the best day of the entire weekend. We met up at supper and Julie invited us to her room to hang out. We decided to do a picture scavenger hunt around Marion so we brainstormed and ended up with a list of sixteen things. It was getting late so we decided that was enough. Julie decided to stay behind and study but she lent us her tripod to use.

            The picture scavenger hunt went something like this:  We started with Audra, Holly Beth, and I in the trunk of Holly Beth's car. We went to the cemetery to find a headstone with King on it, did Captain Morgan stances at the time capsule by Archibald, then piled into my car and headed out to Marion Academy and got all of us on a slide. We stopped at Hardees and Audra pretended to walk through the drive thru. At Dollar General we took pictures in masks then with lamp shades as hats. We went back to Marion Academy, decided to swing for a bit, and then headed to MMI to take a picture with someone in uniform. Campus was empty so we went to the guard house and a female cadet was on duty. I introduced us and asked if she would be in the picture. Another cadet came in as we were setting up so he got in too. We found a state flag at the armory then we took a picture with a sign saying not to tamper with the drink boxes. Next was to imitate a statue and then find something with school colors or mascot. We got creative and took a picture of a red light against the black sky. We took a picture of an animal, made JC with our bodies, took a picture of our reflection in something other than a mirror, and got a random autograph.

On our way to tell Julie about our adventure I had the idea to sing to her, so we threw rocks at her window and sang My Girl to her, substituting Julie for "my girl". It was another great day!

            This is a continuation of my Labor Day weekend stories. I told you all about our crazy, silly Friday so now on to Saturday. Saturday was just Audra, Holly Beth, and I. After lunch we headed to Barton's beach, a local man-made beach located in Perry Lakes Park. We intended to try swimming but decided just to play in the mud instead.

When we got bored with that we cleaned off as much as we could and made our way back to where we had sat our stuff down. We had a sheet to sit on but decided to just sit in the sand. We broke out the iPod and snacks, and just sat and talked for a while. While we were talking and goofing off a storm started to roll in but we decided to wait it out and only leave if there was lightning or it got really bad. The dark clouds surrounded us; we protected our things and got ready to run for it if we needed to. We each agreed that we love that peaceful and oh so powerful moment before a storm comes as we sat and watched the sheet of rain move through the trees, across the river, and right over our heads. We sat in the slightly cold rain for quite a while but the river started swelling and the rain was pouring so hard we decided it was best to head back to the car. We were completely drenched by the time we got there but it was so much fun, and I HATE getting wet!

When we got back to Judson we took some pictures and parted ways until dinner. We got dinner and watched movies for a few hours then decided we should finally make our Single Ladies music video we always talked about. We got into our outfits and headed to Tucker (the auditorium). We made up parts of a dance, decided what we were going to do, and shot the video. We had to shoot it three times because we had to figure out exactly what we wanted and for some reason my camera decided not to record one time. Once we were finally done and had watched it on my camera several times, each time laughing until it hurt, we headed to my room where we edited it just right and posted it to Facebook!

Yes, another successful Saturday!

            You might be wondering what there is to do at Judson on any given day but especially on weekends. You might be led to believe that there is absolutely nothing to do but you would be extremely mistaken. It takes a little bit of thought, some creativity, and an open mind but you can always find something fun to do. My next few blogs will be about some of the adventures that my friends and I find here at Judson and in the surrounding areas.

            Labor Day weekend was probably the best weekend I have had staying here at Judson ever. I spent it with two of my best friends here at Judson, Holly Beth and Audra. We spent our Friday afternoon watching movies and just hanging out after seeing our friend Bethany off for the weekend. We decided to go to Selma for some Taco Bell and to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart. We have been trying to include at least one new student when we do something so we can get to know our new sisters - so we invited Julie.

We piled into Holly Beth's car, turned on the tunes, and headed out. We sang, danced, and shared many stories of our freshman year at Judson. Once we were eating, Holly Beth and I remembered our idea to have a fight with glow-in-the-dark paint. We decided to go for it so we headed to Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree to get the supplies. We decided that water guns would be the best way so when we got back to Judson we changed and prepared for the fight. We even went so far as to put "war paint" on our faces. We invited Julie's roommate Haley to join us. We waited for her to change and then we headed out and had our war. We let ourselves dry then went to the dance studio to see the paint and ended up dancing and goofing off for a while. We ended the night with some movies.

            So there you go, that's just one example of an awesome Friday night spent here at Judson. Stick around, I have more!

            I was watching the Sister Act movies this morning and they inspired me once again. If you have not seen them or do not remember them, well we need to have a movie night! Really all you need to know about them at this point is that there are nuns who, in pretty much every respect, are living model lives at the convent and fulfilling their commitment to the church. Then something extraordinary happens, a new "nun" from the outside is introduced and she turns their world upside down. She teaches them to enjoy life on a totally different level. She teaches them how to be excited about worshipping God and serving their church and community.

            I know many Christians are living their lives in the very same way as the nuns were at first. They "get by" and really do live happy lives that they feel are fulfilling. I know many of my sisters here at Judson are living this way and do not even realize that there is so much more. There is a huge difference between being happy about serving God and being excited about it.

            With all that being said I would just like to encourage all of you to take a step back for a second and examine your own personal relationship with God. Is it fun? Are you growing? Do you get excited about worshipping God and serving him? If you do not have a personal relationship with him I encourage you to pursue one. It will enrich your life greatly! I encourage everyone to get involved in the many ministry opportunities here at Judson.

            It was once said, "If you wanna be somebody. If you wanna go somewhere. You better wake up and pay attention." These lyrics could easily be a motto for Judson. Judson is a great place to find "you". After all, college is all about discovering who you are, who you want to become, and having fun while doing so! I challenge each of you to take these words and remind yourselves of them daily. Take chances and never hesitate to dream big! Live your life to glorify God and make the most of every opportunity.