Saturday, May 30, 2009

Lynchburg...Liberty Alumni House

A long time ago...a very long time ago, I flew across the country to attend a Liberty University. After only six months I was sent back home....I got kicked out. Not something I am proud of but God used my rebellion to bring me to Him.
This is the entry way to the Liberty Alumni House. A friend from my LU days moved back to Lynchburg and bought an old, run-down Victorian. Over the past year-and-a-half he has renovated it and declared that it would be open to all alumni. Of course, I am not officially alumni but Marty was still as hospitable as can be.
When I asked if we could stay with him he was quick to reply positively. Later I asked if we were still on for our stay there and he asked how many of us there would be. I told him there would be seven of us....he replied "SIX KIDS?". Marty lives in this house as a bachelor with his mother and another lady that was in need of temporary housing. The house is four stories so there was plenty of room.
I felt like such a queen! This was the beautiful bed that I enjoyed while at the Liberty Alumni house.
Here is the outside of the house. Sorry for the poor quality pictures. These were taken from my iPhone.
Up in the attic where Marty has created a fun play room for the kids. There is also an access to the crow's nest.
Marty's mom who became fast friends with Brown Sugar. Who wouldn't? Brown Sugar fell in love with the three resident dogs.
O-kay, if you knew Marty back in the days you would not believe this....he actually planted a garden! I was impressed. Actually, this guy has had a huge life change in the past couple of years. He is the same fast-paced guy but the Lord has changed him. His priorities are much different which is an awesome thing to witness.
Again, these pictures are taken with my iPhone so the quality is rather poor. This is the DeMoss hall....much different than the original DeMoss hall which was brand new when I arrived in the late '80s.
Liberty U's mascot
Some of the dorms were open and this one was the exact one that Marty lived in. This is the entrance to the bathroom (no one was living in this dorm). Nothing has changed but everything has changed. When I was there the boy's dorms were at one end of the campus and the girl's were at the other end. Now they are side-by-side. They have phones in all the rooms...we had to share two phones for each floor of the dorms. There was only one or two TVs allowed on campus and we were only allowed to wear dresses outside our dorms. Sweats? Absolutely not! Shorts? No way! Jeans? Ha!
Daisy and I celebrated our birthdays while in Lynchburg. Marty bought her a motorcycle....a bit on the small side don't you think? Boo made us a Starbucks Java Chip ice cream cake. Incredible!
Marty gave me a Liberty U mug and t-shirt. He said I would always be a Liberty girl!
What a fun birthday gift! Daisy found a turtle! She had fun with "handsome" and now he is living in a park somewhere in Lynchburg happy as can be.
Marty has great taste. This was the upstairs family room that is adjacent to my bedroom.
The stairwell to the attic.
The dining room.
The official living room.
Marty and the kids!
Marty and me.
Brown Sugar with her sweet friend Lola the dog.
She was like the Dog Whisperer with Lola. It was too cute.

This trip back to Lynchburg was a bit of an emotional journey as well. Didn't see this one coming! My kids found out about the person I was back then. It is never "fun" to have to admit to past sins. I also dealt with lonliness while we were there. I miss my church family and have a few close friends that I miss as well. But, all-in-all it was a very nice stay. Before we arrived I told Marty that he would fall in love with my kids. They are great, fun-loving kids. He did and kept telling me how much he didn't want us to leave.
We are heading West again...yeah! We will be home very soon and with a lot of memories made along the way. In the next few days I will post about our trip to Lexington, VA.
~Heather

3 comments:

Kendra Fletcher said...

Lola??? The dog was named Lola? Oh, wait until I tell Annesley! I hop Brown Sugar didn't replace her little Lola here with the canine Lola :D

Heart4Adoption said...

Thank you for sharing these memories!

Anonymous said...

Hi Heather! I realize this is an old post but hopefully you still get this :) Were you a fundamental baptist at one point? Would you mind sharing your story/journey? Thanks!

Andrea (only anonymous because I don't have a blog anymore!)
aussenfay@yahoo.com