Mars Hill University Trustees and Guest Lecturing

Hello Friends and Family,

After three weeks traveling to and from Colorado, a week in Raleigh, a Braves Game, and an all day pork cooking marathon, you would think the adventures would slow down.

You would be wrong.

Just a couple of day after returning from Raleigh, Courtney wrapped up the bulk of her work while Mills napped and I loaded the car. Around 5pm we hit the road toward Mars Hill, NC.

This was Mills’ first late night long distance car ride. We had plenty of day time experience, but rolled the dice that Mills wouldn’t have any trouble sleeping in the car or transitioning to bed when we got to Mars Hill.

No pictures because it was dark…but he did great.

Courtney is back at work, but her company has been fully remote for over 10 years. They don’t care where she is as long as she has the internet, so we left her at the AirBnB with Willow.

With the whole day ahead of us and nothing more pressing to do, we took an early morning tour of the campus. There is nothing like a college campus on a cool fall morning.

I even wore my favorite sweatshirt that Greg and Beth Miller gave me as a high school graduation present 24 years ago!

Not long after I started college in the fall of 1999 I learned that everyone was allowed to attend the public sessions of the college’s board of trustees. So, in the fall of 1999, I put on my best khaki pants and went to my first ever trustee meeting.

I set a goal back then to become a member of that board and I found out last October that I was selected to join the board of trustees beginning January 2023.

Courtney worked hard the previous two weeks to get ahead of her work load so I could have the entire day free to attend the trustees meeting. Somehow I have ZERO pictures of myself from Thursday.

I’ll tell you the meetings were great and I’m more excited than ever for the future of Mars Hill University.

On Friday morning the whole family went to Camden’s coffee shop in downtown Mars Hill early in the morning. Mills took a nap while Courtney and I chatted with everyone we knew who came in the shop.

Then it was time for Courtney to head back to the airbnb to get some work done while Mills and I went to class.

As much as I enjoy my leadership role with the trustees, my favorite thing to do when I return to campus is interact with students. This year I was invited to guest lecture in four classes.

So, I strapped Mills into his Ergobaby carrier and delivered.

I brought three bottles, a change of clothes, 4 diapers, and the belief that all of our travels had brought us to the point that Mills would have a great day in class with me.

Mills fell asleep about 3 minutes after this picture was taken and slept straight through the rest of this class and International Economics. I fed Mills during First Year Seminar and he had a small blowout and his diaper leaked right at the end of Business Law and Ethics, but we made it.

Not only did Mills do great, I was able to help some students make some major progress toward goals, break down some unhelpful stories they were telling themselves, and generally be an encouraging voice in their lives.

We did so many things this week, that I’m going to cover Homecoming and its related activities in the newsletter on October 30th!

Until our next Adventure,

Austin, Courtney, Mills, and Willow

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