Old stomping grounds

Two weeks ago Harrison and I got to go on a road trip back to his alma mater at Lenoir-Rhyne University for homecoming. This was Harrison's first time to return since graduation and first time to ever watch the bears play from the stands. It was also a first time to see his coaches and some former players since graduating.

We drove up Thursday afternoon and met a wonderful family who graciously housed us for the weekend in their basement. Thursday night we had dinner, went to visit Matt and Sabrina (some friends who are currently raising support to go to New York with Cru), and then Harrison got to join the Cru weekly men's Bible Study for Juniors and Seniors. Since we both graduated 3 years ago, the Senior guys were freshman Harrison's senior year and I loved watching and hearing stories of how he impacted so many of their lives. Even younger guys would come up and meet Harrison and respond in excited shock of "wow, I've met the legend" haha but seriously. I am so honored to be married to a guy who left such a huge mark on a college campus as Harrison did.

On campus in front of the LR bear!

Friday we were blessed to get to eat breakfast with one of the now Seniors who Harrison strongly impacted and his girlfriend. I got to meet Rai the summer that Harrison and I were dating in the States and I just love how much he laughs and how Harrison's cheesy jokes never get old to him (or me, mostly). The summer I visited Harrison's fam for the first time Rai drove down to visit and meet me and between Harrison and his dad we were both aching from laughter the whole time. During the breakfast we got to enjoy the laughter of Harrison's discussion with our waitress from Minnesota and Harrison talking about the "pastor there he's known for several years." I of course didn't immediately catch it like Rai did as he teared up from laughter but soon was explained as the lady left and Rai asked, "You were talking about John Piper weren't you?" Gosh I love how Harrison often does things like this with people at restaurants and stores, always looking at their nametag first so that when he speaks to them he starts with their name and asks them how they are. It's such a great quality of his.

Rai plays baseball for LR and we just couldn't resist taking photos with the famous sign of our famous/homecoming court/baseball playing friend!

After breakfast we got the pleasure of going to the house that Harrison lived in and waking his friend Parker up at 10:30am. Parker is now the center for the football team like Harrison and I so enjoyed hearing many stories from him throughout the weekend. We then walked around some of campus, getting to see it and then headed to the downtown of Hickory to meet two of our incredible friends, Sarah and Zach for lunch.

Posing with Parker after the game!

Sarah and Zach were both in East Asia with us and each lived in the same cities as us, Sarah lived near me and instantly became a great friend to confide in and go-to for anything and Zach was near Harrison and an incredible friend to him, too. The two of them started dating this past year in EA, not long after we got engaged and we enjoyed flights together to see our guys and the laughter and joy Sarah and Zach always bring you. It worked out perfectly that Sarah (who is from Orlando) was up visiting Zach as we were coming to the town right next to where he lives and we were able to arrange a lunch date of catching up with each other and great fellowship. Of course as always, you wish for more time with them but we were beyond blessed by the time we had and a small piece of our EA home that we're all missing.

 Love these two so much!

After lunch we got to go to the Athletic department to visit Harrison's former coaches and get to meet them. Coach Boyd was Harrison's offensive line coach and we spent much time in his office sharing with him about our lives in East Asia and hearing about the football team from him. We also got to see some of the players as they met "the legendary Harrison Smith" and see Chandler who was one of our groomsmen in the wedding. Chandler is now serving on the team as a graduate assistant coach.

Chandler also has a famous sign on Campus as last year LR's football team was Conference champs!

After visiting with coaches and friends we then drove out to a mountain area and hiked up a trail to a beautiful sight seeing area. It was perfect weather and beautiful skies!

Here's Harrison on top of a chimney along the trail

Us at the top of the mountain!

After our hike we drove back to Hickory for a good ole date dinner of home style cooking at the Roasted 'Tater restaurant. It was very good and such a fun atmosphere.

Saturday was tailgating and the game. This was Harrison's first time of being a spectator at the game and of tailgating. We tailgated with one of the pastors of the area and many of Harrison's friends who were seniors or like us had come back for the game.

 I was excited to get to see Amy as she and I met the summer we were dating that I visited Harrison and his family.

 Coach Boyd's wife came and found us at the game and we got to get a picture together. She and coach Boyd have also recently gotten married in Vegas by Elvis, he's a huge Elvis fan!

Here we are at the game. We of course sat down low where we could hear and see the action of the sidelines and Harrison got to listen in as coach Boyd would talk to the O line on the sideline benches. LR won 51-6 with 570 yards of rushing in the game!

Finally as we left, we walked through campus for Harrison to get a picture with the Martin Luther statue and see a few final landmarks on campus before grabbing dinner and hitting the road home.