This week the main plaza outside the student center is filled with plywood buildings built by dorms and student organizations. Shack-A-Thon raises money for the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity and raises awareness of homelessness. Lechner, my freshman honors dorm, is known for raising the most money and for getting a double-sized plot to build on. This year our dorm's theme is "Remember the Shack," a spoof off of "Remember the Alamo," and our shack has this amazing Alamo facade! Shack went up yesterday at 4pm and stays up for several days, inhabited the whole time.
Last night I pulled a shift to live in Shack and another girl stayed with me. There was a big party until about 2am watching "Aladdin." But when we stuck in "A Cinderella Story" many of the guys went back to the dorm. After a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints and several hours later the two of us settled down for the night to catch a few precious hours of sleep before our 8am classes...
About 5:30am the tarp started rattling and the plywood walls began to shake as a large cold front bringing a marvelous storm rolled through. We both woke up and looked at each other, decided that we would let the guys during the day shift take care of any damage, and went back to sleep. :-) I got up at 7:30, grabbed a free donut and ran to class dodging the raindrops!
As I got out of lab this morning at 10 the sky just opened up and poured! Shack was empty, so I went back to pull another few hour shift, and here I sit. Wrapped up in my comforter, mocha in hand (got to love the campus coffeeshop opening at 10am!), and listening to the Twilight soundtrack.
So, Shack-A-Thon is supposed to raise awareness for homeless people.... yeah sure. Not when we have a wii, huge plasma screen, Christmas lights strung everywhere, two futons, several beanbags, fans, and several people playing RockBand. :-) Gotta love college hangouts! But even though this is fun, I would hate to actually live out in the elements without the option of going inside and staying warm and dry.
Anyway, that is what I have been doing... this week I am home free with no tests. This weekend will be crazy with a dance peformance sometime in the early am hours during Relay for Life, I'm taking CPR/First Aid with a friend of mine, my dorm is putting on a Spring formal, and I am altering a dress for a friend of mine to wear to her formal next week... life stays busy whether or not it's school related. And that is the way I like to stay. And now that I know I will be living in Lechner again next year as a Sophomore Advisor, I really want to invest in it this year. Unlike the other 200+ people who are moving out of the freshman dorm next year, I have a reason to put down some roots and get deeply involved. I really am looking forward to being there for the class of 2013 and helping them integrate into life at college!
The last few months I have been really ticked at myself and how I have really not been showing Christ as much as I feel like I should. It's almost something I hide sometimes. At a college where it's OK to wear Christian T-shirts, carry a Bible, and be seen praying over meals, it's so easy to let it be just a cultural thing, not a thriving relationship thing. When I know that I have been doing that it makes me sick.
A few weeks ago, one of next year's SAs (Sophomore Advisor) wrote a note on Facebook that really made me think. He was saying the same kind of thing, that he had been slacking off in his spiritual habits and wanted to apologize to the rest of the SA team for being kind of crabby because he was mad at himself for his own complacency. I commented on the note and mentioned how I really wan to encourage next year's freshman to stay active in church or whatever religious activities they are already in, and he said the same. I am excited to have someone else who will help me out with that. If we can help the freshman get involved here on campus and in church-related activities, that will really help them stay on track, I think. I don't know what all that looks like yet, but I would appreciate ya'lls prayers! I can't help but think that God has, in a sense, put me here for such a time as this! :-)
Well, my shift is almost up. I have so much homework to do before my next class at 4pm and a Bible study to finish (well, start actually!) before 7:15 tonight when we meet. :-)
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