Summer Shenanigans

Our summer has officially begun with a huge and exciting bang! Okay, so he is actually isn't huge, 8lbs 1oz to be exact, but we are still pretty excited that we are officially and aunt and uncle! My brother and sister-in-law (Josh and Stephanie) welcomed sweet little Caleb Neel on May 14, 2012 and we couldn't be happier for them (or lets be honest, for us too). There is no greater way to start your summer than to spend a couple of days with your new nephew and family. (We have officially bragged about Caleb on Facebook and Twitter so we figured a blog shout-out was deserved as well).

Proud new parents!

After spending a couple of days in Columbus, Mitch and I drove back to Hattiesburg on Thursday so that we could be up and ready to move into our new house on Friday! Thanks to help from Andrew & Elizabeth (and Wilson, of course), as well as Mitch's cousin Andrew, the move went very smoothly and we are slowly working towards getting our new place put together! 

We are excited to spend the month of June visiting family & friends, working on support, and preparing for our time in South Africa- only 36 more days until we fly out! 

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First Annual Crusade Crawfish Boil

The first year of Southern Miss Crusade has officially come to an end and what's a better way to celebrate than a crawfish boil?? Down here, absolutely nothing!

This past Thursday night, we hosted the First Annual Southern Miss Crusade crawfish boil to celebrate all the incredible things that God has done on our campus this year and all the incredible things He is sending students to do this summer! We have so many students traveling all over the world this summer to serve God through medical missions, camp counseling, campus ministry, orphanage ministry, and more. They will be serving God through these things in places like Jackson Hole, Ethiopia, South Africa, Texas, Mississippi, New Orleans, Miami, Destin, Honduras, and other cities and countries who are in need of disciples. 

At the crawfish boil!
(From left: Bri, me, De-De, and Claire)

During the crawfish boil, we had a time of prayer for those who were being "sent ones" this summer and an opportunity for them to say where they were going and what they would be doing. Although the crawfish and the fellowship were amazing, I must say that this was the highlight of the evening- seeing students chose to use their summer glorifying Christ rather than themselves. Have I mentioned how incredible our students are and how incredible our God is??

We spent the evening hanging out, listening to Sam (a USM student) sing and play guitar (beautifully I might add!), and digging in to some really good and REALLY spicy crawfish! It was the perfect end to an incredible year and it makes us so excited for the fall semester. God has exceeded our expectations greater than we could have ever imagined at Southern Miss and spending an evening glorifying Him was such a sweet ending to the semester.

The crawfish boil came to a close around 9:30, but was the night over? Absolutely not! A large group of us headed over to the theater to see the midnight premiere of the Avengers together. I am proud to say that Crusade took up almost a whole theater (I'm sure those who were not in our group were not as impressed)! Although our early staff meeting was a tad bit rough the next morning, it was a great ending to a great night and a perfect way to kick-off the summer! 

Crusade at the midnight premiere of the Avengers

Southeast Staff Conference & Southern Miss Planning

This past weekend, Mitch, myself & our Southern Miss staff team travelled down to Destin, Florida for our Southeast Staff Retreat. Not only was the weather beautiful, but the teaching was uplifting & the fellowship was revitalizing! Along with the Southern Miss team, we joined campus teams from all over the Southeast for a weekend of relaxation, worship, fellowship, and incredible teaching from Gary Runn (a longtime minister with Campus Crusade). We spent the weekend in the book of Mark studying three types of hearts: the hardened heart, the distant heart, and the humble heart. It is weekends like this past weekend that make Mitch and I so thankful to be able to work with such an amazing group! How many people get to spend their work conferences worshipping with their co-workers and studying the Word of God??

Claire, me, Mitch and Marshall at Baytown

We kicked off the weekend with a night of worship/teaching and a good old fashioned bake-off! Each campus team entered at least two baked goods and the winners were announced the next night. Marshall represented for Southern Miss by winning the men's category with his Chocolate Chip Bacon cookies (yes they are exactly what they sound like). They claim he won only for creativity but I hear that they are actually pretty good!

Mitch and I 

In addition to the morning and evening group meetings, we also got to spend the weekend catching up with Crusade friends from across the Southeast. Mitch and I stayed in a cottage with a sweet couple that I joined staff with this summer & a couple that is on staff at Ole Miss. We also got to spend some time with Chris & Katy Collins who we will be going to South Africa with this summer. It was such a refreshing weekend and a great time catching up with friends!

Southern Miss Staff Team
(Wilson, Andrew, Elizabeth, Mitch, me, Claire, Marshall)

After the conference ended Sunday night, our Southern Miss staff team stayed a couple more days in Destin to start our planning for next semester. My parents, Chris & Betty, graciously allowed us to stay in their condo for a couple days and we are so thankful! We spent the mornings and afternoons planning out the next semesters events and meetings and we couldn't be more excited for what God is going to do at Southern Miss next year! Stay tuned to hear more about the end of the semester here at Southern Miss and what we will be studying in the fall through out the ministry!