Family and Fun – Page 3 – The Rousehouse

VISA update!!!

Posted on September 5, 2017September 5, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

But you, O Lord, laugh at them;
you hold all the nations.

O my Strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress.

My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

^{Psalms 59:8-10}

It’s time to celebrate! The Rousehouse received our visas for South Africa this past Friday in Los Angeles! After our fourth visit to a South African Consulate office we couldn’t believe it when they handed them to us. I [Spanky] stood there and read them over and over just to be sure it really was the correct visas we had been fighting for, for more than 3 months now. It has taken months, many trips out-of-town, lots of unexpected expenses but more than anything, it has taken a toll emotionally and we have struggled to keep the course. God has once again proven His faithfulness, His presence, and His care for us through this battle.

Before sharing the joys of getting our visas in LA, let me catch you up on all that has happened over the past month quickly...

June 13th the Rousehouse heads to NYC South African Consulate to apply for our visas.
June 21st we get an email from the Consulate asking us to fill out an extra wavier form. No explanation as to why we need this, we were just told to fill it out even though we had all documentation they require for our volunteer visa.
July 30th, 2 days before our departure flights for South Africa, Spanky returns to NYC to hopefully get our visas and passports. He spoke with the consulate who made it very clear that he was not on our side and was intentionally delaying our process.
August 1st, we cancelled our flights and were not able to leave for South Africa like we had planned.
August 14th, Spanky returns to NYC for the third time this summer to get our visas but ended up leaving with nothing more than our passports. We were back at square one with the visa process.
We began pursuing every avenue through friends in South Africa, talking with other people who have been through the process, and our ministry leaders who were talking with am international consulting firm in South Africa.
We started the visa process from the beginning (paper work, background info, applications, etc) while working with this South African visa consulting company.
Planned our trip for all five of us for Los Angeles because we were advised that the LA office was much more willing to work with us to get visas and in a timely fashion.
Headed to the west coast on August 28th and were the first person in line at the Consulate’s office on Tuesday the 29th.

This has been a trying season in our life. Nothing like it to be honest. It seemed like the door to our dreams had been shut. We weren’t sure what to do and the worst part was not having a back up plan or a time line. We were sure that we had heard from the Lord and that He said He had good plans for us in South Africa. There were days that we struggled hard and had nothing else to do but hold tight to the Lord and His promises for us. Thankfully He never let’s go and is always completely in control. The Lord has used this experience to awaken us to His presence and power like never before!

We walked into the Los Angeles Consulate office, handed them our files and moments later were sitting in an interview room. The lady on the other side of the glass was extremely nice and made our kids feel very comfortable. She seemed ready to help us get approved for visas to South Africa as soon as possible and even better with no extra hoops to jump through. Once she found out that we were going to hang around LA for a few days this government official said she would do her best to get us visas in hand before we left town. We didn’t really believe her, after all that we had experienced from the NY office this summer this seemed crazy. Never in our wildest dream did we think we would leave there with visas last week.

On Friday morning we woke up and called three-times to the Consulate’s office. No answer! It rings three times and then hangs up on you, every single time. We decided that in faith, we were going to drive back to the office and ask where we were in the process before we left LA. Lara and the kids went to a coffee shop next door while I went up to check on everything. The lady at the front desk went to ask someone else behind the scene and came back to let me know that everything would be ready in 30 minutes! Nerves, excitement, and disbelief were all going through our minds as we waited those 30 minutes with sweaty palms and a shaky knees. “Was this really about to happen?!?!” Five minutes before the office closed for the day, the lady who did our interview a few days earlier came out with a handful of passports. Talk about my heart pounding out of my chest! The piece of paper that gives us the right to head to South Africa, the key to all of these plans of us moving, and the prize we had been working and praying so hard for these past few months was right in front of me!!! As the passport was opened and I read the phrase “3 year volunteer visa for multiple entries in effect September 1, 2017 to serve with East Mountain Leadership Development” and was speechless. I couldn’t wait to run out of there and show everyone.

I left the South African Consulate’s office praising the Lord and partially wondering if this was really true. I had all five passports and visas in my back pocket! As I saw my family standing across the street waiting on me by the car I could barely hold in my excitement. I decided to walk up to them with a somber look and an empty envelope as if things had not gone well. They looked at me waiting on some kind of emotion as I huffed and said, “I don’t know what we are going to do now.” I started to feel bad as I saw the kids faces turn towards disappointment. I then pulled the stack of passports out of my back pocket and yelled, “WE GOT THEM!!!! WE ARE GOING TO SOUTH AFRICA!” In the middle of the parking lot we jumped around and yelled with joy. We have been hoping and praying for this moment!

We walked through this trial, questioned lots of things, experienced an array of emotions, and felt bombarded daily with thoughts of fear and uncertainty. It is by the grace of our Father and His Spirit that we were strengthen to continue to stay the course. I saw my wife [Lara] battle through this well! We saw and felt the support of our family, friends, and ministry partners through this time more than we could have asked for and it kept us going day after day. And we believe that we saw the hand of God and felt His love wash over us over and over.

We may never know why we had to walk this path but we can trust that it is all part of the Fathers best plans for us! And now we are rejoicing in the fact that He has chosen to now give us visas to go love, serve, and care for those in need while leading people in a growing relationship with Jesus. He is also allowing us to go to be impacted and developed personally and as a family in ways we can only hope for.

When are we leaving for South Africa??? We just re-booked our flights (2 hours ago!) and will be heading out to South Africa on September 18th!

Please continue to follow our journey so you can keep us in your prayers and know how to partner with us further in this journey! To be continued…

Also, following along on Instagram and Facebook, we will regularly be posting pictures and stories.

https://www.instagram.com/spankyrouse/

https://www.instagram.com/lararouse/

https://www.facebook.com/spanky.rouse

https://www.facebook.com/lara.rouse.7

https://www.instagram.com/causing_wonder/ – Mac’s Instagram

Rousehouse Update July 2017

Posted on August 3, 2017August 3, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

Well, we are not in South Africa like we thought we would be right now. I was really looking forward to writing this newsletter from South Africa but things have not gone as planned…welcome to life in Africa!

Here are a few updates from our last months newsletter updates:

Visas to safely and quickly get here in hand

Quick update on what is happening: We were suppose to get our visas and leave on August 1st but towards the end of last week we began getting a little nervous since we haven’t seen them in the mail. It is normal for them to come last minute so until now we hadn’t thought there was a problem. On Sunday morning when Spanky was leaving Portland, Oregon (he was there with a buddy rafting for the week) we decided that it would be best if he flew straight to New York to visit the South African Consulate and try to get our visas in hand. We have called and emailed numerous times but never got an answer so hopefully an in person visit would help. After flying over night Spanky was able to be at the Consulate office before they opened on Monday morning. He was able to talk with the man in charge and get some answers, kind of, not really. He was told that they are waiting on some documents to be sent back from South Africa before we could have our visas approved. This was not the news we were hoping for but there was nothing else we could do therefore we had to cancel our flights until we have a better idea of when we would get our visas. We have been working diligently this week along with many other people here and in South Africa to get some answers and time frames of when to expect our visas. We are frustrated and a bit discouraged but we know that God is still in control just like He has been in every step of this journey leading up to this point. It is still a difficult time. We would love for you to be praying for the people making the decisions on our visas, praying that we get them soon with no more problems, and for us to remain positive and encouraged.

The closing and moving out of our house to go smoothly (Closing is July 11th)

We did close on our house and everything went really well! God showed Himself in this processes and we felt his goodness through it all. We could not have been any more thankful for the way this all went. We had some amazing realtors, wonderful couple buying our house, and a lot of help from friends and family during this time. Praise the Lord!!!

Packing essentials and things we will want in SA. We can only take 2 free bags each but currently have 5 extra bags ($200 each x 5 = $1000!)

We have sold and got rid of everything exce

pt what we have considered the essentials. We had originally thought that 2 bags per person was going to work but we miscalculated. We have 3 bags per person and I think we are done packing.

All of the goodbyes. There are many!

We have learned that goodbyes are hard so we have decided to say “See you later” instead. We have many people that love our family therefore we have had many emotional “see you laters” over the past month. We are pretty worn out emotionally but encouraged by all of the love and support. We have had some fun adventures and created some sweet memories over the past couple of months with all of you that we have been able to see.

Family prayer card

We value all of you who are continuing to prayer for us daily!!! We are learning that we are on a journey that the enemy doesn’t like and we need you to keep lifting us up! The prayers of those in our life is essential to our healthy, growth, success, and safety. PLEASE keep praying for us!

Prayer needs for August:

Visas to arrive quickly and with out any problems or complications
Contentment during this time of waiting
Protection against the attacks of the enemy. Evil is hunting us (our minds, hearts, relationships, etc) daily
New flights
Wisdom and peace to make the right decisions and move in the right directions
Pray that as a husband and wife we will draw closer together and encourage each other daily. Pray that our children will have an overflow of joy while we move from place to place.

If you would like to join our financial or prayer team you can check out how to partner with us by clicking here Partnering with us…. Thank you!

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

May 2017 Newsletter Update

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

May has been a whirl wind of a month for us at the Rousehouse. Busy busy busy! Thankfully we are holding up well and have experienced the joy, strength and peace that the Lord can give. Thank you for all of you who have been praying for us. KEEP IT UP!!! Let me catch you up on a few prayer points from last month to start…

Decisions on what to do with our home. Rent it or sell it?

After many conversations, prayer, wise council, weighing the options, and moments of grieving we have decided to sell our home. We love our sweet little house and realize that it was given to us by the Lord for this short season to enjoy and that is what we have done. We will always remember this blessing from the Father!

Finishing up fundraising, 100% by June 1st

Almost everyday this past month was filled with meetings, speaking opportunities, and lots of conversations. We are now super close to being at our 100% monthly financial goal!!!! We are in need of just $200 more a month! PTL! If you would like to help get our family across the finish line check out how to partner with us here or email us at spanky.rouse@gmail.com. We do still have some set up cost needs too so any special one time gifts would be very much appreciate as well.

Ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to know the Father’s leading in every plan and decision as we prepare to move

This season has been tough but priceless, for sure. I don’t know that we have every heard from the Lord clearer, seen Him at work, and experienced His presences like we have recently. We are reminded that His plans for us are the BEST and that He desires to care for us more than we could ever imagine or ask. We are learning that you get to experience this part of the Father the most by going through tuff stuff which in the moment isn’t too fun but we are learning is worth it.

Successful silent auction fundraiser and all the planning that goes into it.

Lara killed it! She worked really hard and it paid off! It took a lot of work on her part to put it all together and I am grateful for her! We also had some amazing people that donated a whole lot of awesome gifts and packages for auction. Lara and I wanted to keep all of them for ourselves because they were so great! Thankfully we had many of you come out and bid on them instead. I had a really fun evening with our friends and family celebrating my birthday as well as we were able to raise over $3100 to go towards purchasing plane tickets and vehicles in South Africa. Definitely a great night!

From our family’s prayer card, the letter J – joy: That we may be filled to an overflow of His joy. Romans 15:13

Some fun events this month have been celebrating our 15 year anniversary, Elly’s dance recital and 2 weddings.

I can’t believe that it has been 15 years since we got married! Definitely the best thing that has ever happened to the both of us and yes we are more in love today than ever and have so much fun in together! This is the only way we would choose to do life. We were suppose to go out of town for the week but ended up spending the night and next day sitting under a tree in the grass in the small town of Davidson. It wasn’t the week we had planned but it was just what we needed…it just needed to be much longer!

Elly did awesome at her recital! We could really tell that she has improved from the time she first began a couple years ago. Masterpiece Dance Studio is amazing and we will miss all of them especially Mrs. Jackie! Elly’s favorite dance was the Jazz dance because it is fast and she gets to “shake her booty”. She gets her dance skills from her mom for sure! It was a bittersweet time as well seeing Elly and two of her bff’s dancing together for a special ballet piece. Great memories and we got the DVD so we can watch it over and over and over.

Prayer points for this month:

Visas – we need to be applying this week and praying that there is no issues with the consulate accepting and approving them quickly.
Trip to NYC to apply for visas with the SA consulate
Putting our home on the market and selling the rest of our furniture, cars, etc.
From our family’s prayer card, the letter T – Travel arrangements: purchasing the best plane tickets, cost, routes, etc.
To have 100% of monthly support finalized and one time set up cost in
Strength: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual

The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.

Psalms 28:7

Snap, Crackle and Pop

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

Snap, Crackle and Pop…

This is probably the sound that you think of when someone says, chiropractor. For me, when I thought of this type of doctor I thought it was an additive to real medicine, pain relief or good health. Not a necessity or priority. Come to find out it is so much more than popping your stiff back and twisting your neck real hard.

Did you know that the body was designed and able to heal it’s self from many of the common issues we are having today with out surgery or medicines. I had no idea! I also am not one that relies on medicines and prefers a natural way of medicine or healing. This is why our family tries to regularly eat a clean diet (this is a whole other topic I could talk on for a while) and use alternatives to medicines like essential oils. Therefore, the idea that chiropractic adjustments can boost healing for my whole body not just bones and joints, intrigued me a lot.

“As a neurologically based chiropractic team we focus on the master control center for the body. We remove pressure from your nervous system with specific, scientific, chiropractic adjustments, which allows the body to restore mental and physical health. More families are choosing principled chiropractic because no one is too young or too old to live at their optimum health.” – Greater Life Chiropractic

Lara and I went to Greater Life because of an immediate need that was causing regular problems that were more than just some pain. After going through the initial consultation and sitting through an engaging 30 minute class by Dr. Grant on the benefits of chiropractic medicine we knew we had to give it a try. They even use this really cool, state of the art scanner invented by NASA to get a picture of our spine. This helps them to determine problem areas you may be experiencing and plans for correcting these issues. This was really interesting for sure. The Process

Does it work? After a few weeks I can say my shoulder, knee, ankle, and wrist pain and problems seem to be minimal if not gone in some areas. Most of my back problems are gone too, other than when I try to lift weights that are too heavy. Lara’s pains and problems with her neck that were causing nausea and constant headaches seem to be gone too! We are excited to see all of the health the benefits of regular adjustments over more time as well! Here are a few results of health concerns that have been overcome by chiropractic help, Health concerns and research

As for the Greater Life staff , Dr. Grant and his wife Sam, they are awesome people! You will feel cared for and like one of the family before you leave your first visit! They also have the coolest doctors office ever, for real! Greater Life Chiropractic is one of the fastest growing pediatric chiropractic offices in Charlotte and NC which means they are good at what they do because even children enjoy going to the doctor! I promise they are not one of these services that try and talk you into any thing or scare you into believing you need their services. They are to the point and honest people that we trust!

I would strongly encourage YOU to just go check them out! I am definitely not doing them or chiropratic justice so please just check it them out and see for yourself. Greater Life . If you mention the Rousehouse you will get a complimentary evaluation which includes the scan of your spinal cord to see if there are any problem areas as well as they will build a custom plan that is specific for you and your needs. (We do not get paid to promote them either, just in case you are wondering :)) You will not regret getting to know them and learning more!

Will you be a Finisher!

Posted on May 22, 2017May 22, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

Hear where we are in our fundraising goals and just how close we are to 100% of our monthly support raising goal! Will you consider a monthly reoccurring gift to support us? If so, please let us know at spanky.rouse@gmail.com or click on Partnering with us… to go ahead and sign up. June 1st is our goal date and we need your help to get there! #finisher

#allthingsaredying

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

Just in case you aren’t familiar with #Hashtags (please don’t call this the pound sign, your children will be completely embarrassed and call you old) they are a simple and fun way to label something, briefly explain your thought, or make a point. Our family plays this game where we have an entire conversation using only hashtags. Elly is the queen at using hashtags and she is hilarious!!! I should video one of these conversations for all to enjoy one day. I will try to keep that in mind.

Lara and I jokingly have a few self labeled hashtags that we are using in this season. When something happens instead of explaining how we feel or getting into a long story we just throw out one of the hashtags like #allthingsaredying. It’s a silly way to recognize the irony of what is happening and allows us to brush it off and laugh at things that normally would drive us crazy. Let me explain #allthingsdying so that you don’t get too worried about us. This one is actually a good thing that the Lord is using to move us on to the next season of life.

A few months ago we began noticing that random things around the house were starting to die on us. Mac even mentioned that it feels like everything is wearing out at just the right time. Just so you get an idea of what we are talking about here are a few examples from the past couple weeks.

Mac’s ipod…he accidentally put that one to death in the car door!
both of our cars began showing signs of dying in the same week – but were brought back from the dead
The A/C in our home – was dead but has new life
our cloths dryer – dead
the ice maker in our fridge – dead
my wireless earbuds – dead
our microwave is barley hanging on to life

We then came to the conclusion 3 weeks ago that we are going to need to sell our home, which honestly felt like a death to us. We love this place that God has blessed us with and didn’t want to give it up. Through listening to others, prayer and a lot of tough conversations we believe that this is His best plan for us. This was not an easy decision and we took a week to mourn our loss. Through this decision Lara began to recognize this theme of dying to ourselves. Dying to yourself and your desires hurts and isn’t all that fun but we know that we can trust the Father! If death is what He has for us then it must be the best for us! Dying to your old life gives birth to the new life and paves away for an abundant life. God doesn’t take things a way too be mean but takes them away because He knows what is good for us.

Through dying we can see He is faithful, trustworthy, present, for us, sovereign, loving, compassionate, mighty, glorious, gracious, and the list goes on. Dying is a necessity and dying is worth it because we get more of Him and His goodness he has stored up for us! Psalms 145

When you are going through a time of death (and you will) and you can’t see past what is happening right in front of you read and re-read what the Lord says in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you. They are good plans, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a future and a hope!” He never goes back on a promise either!

Did you know that your skin cells are constantly dying. In the next minute 667 skin cells will die and fall off your body, the next hour 40,000, over the next day close to a million cells die and fall off your body! That is kind of gross if you think about what happens to all of those that have fallen off your body this week alone. Where are they??? Back to my point, they have to die so new cells can grow. As skin cells grow and others die your body is able to heal it’s self, protect you from infections and viruses, and technically makes you waterproof (seriously, think about it). But none of this would be possible if your skin didn’t die constantly so that better, newer skin could be born.

What is dying in your life that God is wanting to use for your good?

What needs to die in your life to allow you to experience the abundance He has for you?

#allthingsaredying

Fundraising update as of April 1st

Posted on April 3, 2017April 3, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

I get the question all of time, probably daily, “How is support raising/fundraising going for you guys?” I am thankful that I have plenty of people who care enough to ask us how things are going but I really get tired, to be honest of answering that question. The good thing is God that is providing some amazingly, generous people!

I have recently gone to part-time hours at work so that we can focus the other half of our time on meeting with people for support raising and working on all of the millions of details that go into moving a family of 5 across the world. Knowing that I have the freedom to share my time allows me to have the margin I need. We are very thankful for this time UWM is offering me.

To answer your question you may be wondering, “How is support raising/fundraising going for you guys?”…

Short answer is, we are at 62% of our monthly needs and goals! This leaves us with a $3400 gap we are still working on. We have also had 35% of our set up cost donated already in special one time gifts!!! Lara and I are super grateful!

We have enjoyed sharing our story, passion, and vision for ministry and our family in South Africa with so many over the past couple months. Through this we have gained some great relationships with new friends along with new monthly financial supporters! We are thankful for these opportunities and people the Lord has been putting in our path.

Our goal is still the end of the summer so please be praying that the Lord will surprise us with irrationally generous people, churches, and businesses that would love to partner with the Rousehouse!

Thank you for asking the question! (wink wink)

Be still, Wait on the Lord, & Watch Him do it

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

godisdoinganewthing

For the past couple of years I have tried to pay attention to the themes I believe the Lord is wanting me to learn or hear from him. Last year, for instance, was “I am His beloved son”. Those lessons learned changed my perspective on a lot in life and I believe will empower me to run this race of life better, for sure!

It is now close to the fourth month of the year and I am just now starting to see clearly (clear as mud currently) what this years theme might be from the Lord. “Be still, wait on me (God), and watch me do it!” I like the last part of this theme, “watch me do it” but the previous two points frustrate me to be honest. Maybe this is why He has chosen to teach me about them.

Be still – In my personal experience over these past couple months I have since the Lord saying, “CHILL OUT! REST! Let me refresh you!” I love to rest and vacation but I think that there is a time and place for that. So when I hear this part of the my yearly theme (Rest) over and over it frustrates me. Most days I feel like I have 1 million things to accomplish therefore if I don’t do all that I can the world is going to fall apart, right???

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10

Wait on me – Again not a topic that I excel in. I like action. I am a head down, check off the task list, don’t get in my way kind of person. This idea that I am suppose to not only be chilling with God but now I am suppose to stop trying to figure life out and make things happen makes me feel like I am going insane. I have crazy questions rumbling around in my head like, “How long do I wait? God are you paying attention to the time table I have set? How far behind are we going to be, if God ever shows up and gets started”. Don’t judge me I know you have all thought these same things before, I just said them out loud. **BTW, I think God is ok with us getting real and asking our stupid, off the wall questions. He may even enjoy it when we get this honest. What I perceive to be the real meaning for me behind “wait on me” is trust. He wants me to trust that He is good and in control as I rest in Him and wait.

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. Psalms 33:20

Watch me (God) do it – This one isn’t too developed in my head, heart or life just yet but I LIKE IT! I know that He likes to show off His glory and I believe that there is nothing too big for God to do. At least in my head I know these truths so maybe His point with this one is to get it in my heart. The thought I keep having is what is “it” and how big is He going to show up doing “it”? I’ll keep you posted on this one.

I know that my God is moving in great ways and I know that He deeply longs for me to trust him and let go of the steering wheel. The funny thing is, when I do the opposite of these three I don’t enjoy life as well nor do the people around me. I believe that the Father is trying to lead me in my life in such a way that I will thrive, be refreshed, enjoy the fullness of Him and be a blessing to all of those around me. What a surprise, He does know what is best for me (said with much sarcasm).

He is good and is pursuing us with a great passion! Let’s pay attention today to how He is working and loving us! Stay tuned. I know that I will have much more to learn over these next 8 months of 2017.

What’s happening, March 2017

Posted on March 9, 2017March 9, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

I can’t believe that it is already March 2017! This is the busiest season of our family’s life ever, I think! It seems like time is just flying by and we are trying to soak up every moment and event. There is a lot happening around here and we want to catch you up on all things… family, transitions, preparations, kiddos, etc. So here we go…

Elly and Brinley getting their ears pierced

Elly has just taken a big step in growing up. She got her ears pierced this past week along with her bff! It was her best friend’s 6th birthday so they decided to go together and get their ears done. It was a memoriable experience for these little girls to have got to do this together! I think it hurt Grey and Daddy way more than it did Elly. Our little baby girl is growing up!

Greyson doing what he does best…chilling in the sun!

We are learning a little bit of Afrikaans (one of the major languages spoke in South Africa) as a family in preparations for our big move. Lara has come up with this creative board that hangs in our kitchen that tells the days of the week, date, and weather. We have fun talking about these items and trying to pronounce these foreign sounding words each morning over breakfast. I wish I could record it because it is hilarious! Lara and I try to make everything sound like Spanish and Grey is our leader in language learning. He does really well and seems to have a natural ability to learn languages. He can say all of the days of the week, months and count to 10 on his own already!

Mac is enjoying all things middle school and is always busy! This guy just finished up his first rugby season in which he did really well. He is not the most athletic guy on the field but he is a hard and disciplined worker which granted him the title of “team captain”. Mac is also doing judo and is in a robotic/science club after school. He is way smarter than mom and dad, and knows it! When he has a question with his homework the conversation usually ends with, “Google it”.

Lara and I are staying busy with all of the millions of details around moving to another country, raising support, and transitioning all areas of our family’s life. We never knew there would be so many todo’s. You just buy a plane ticket and go, right??? Everyone just recieved passports in the mail last week, which is really cool. We can travel the world as a family now! We are currently at 60% of our monthly financial support needs and 25% of our financial set up goal. This is wonderful and we are constantly looking for, asking, and seeking God for more generous people to help meet these needs and goals. And we believe He will! There is still a lot to do like apply for South African visas, finding renters to move in and take care of our beautiful home, figure out what we are taking with us and what we are selling, while continuing to pray for God’s vision for the work in South Africa! We actually made a list of many of the details we have been praying about in the form of a prayer card with the kids. We love passing these out and inviting others to come alongside us in praying for these.

Current Prayer Priorities:

Strength and joy – This will be what sustains us as well as enables us to enjoy this crazy and busy season of life as we prepare to move.

Sensitivity to the Holy Spirt – We want to hear, see, experience, and be lead by the spirit of the Lord.

Wisdom and understanding – to see what He sees to know what we need to give our time and attention to each day.

Financial supporters – We are asking the Father to raise up in the heart of more people irrationally generosity. People we know to ask and people that we may not even know their name yet. We still need about $4000 a monthly commitments. If you would like info on how to partner with us, check this out… Partnering with the Rousehouse

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Certified Fitness Trainer, What?!?!

Posted on February 24, 2017February 24, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

Four years ago when I began this journey of better health I never ever ever thought that this day would come nor did I set out to achieve something like this. I simply wanted to lose a little (lot) of weight and be able to keep up with my kiddos. To be able to say that, I am officially a Certified Fitness Trainer seems so cool! Couldn’t have imagined that I would ever say that.

Why? Well, I enjoy learning about fitness and nutrition in all forms. From stretching, to lifting techniques, to multiple forms of cardio, to all of the many details of nutrition. I actually think that it’s fun learning about the effects of glucose, resistant starches, and clean foods have on my body. Weird, I know. So, when I was asked if I would be interested in getting my certification and helping fill in at my gym (Carolina Sweat), I immediately said yes. I think I might had even said at one point that I was going to go back and read a few chapters for fun. And I have done just that, a few times.

I took 31 quizzes, one after each chapter I read. I then took a 160 question exam (only missed 9!), wrote 7 essays on different topics, and lastly did 2 case studies where I had to build workout plans and nutritional guides for new clients. It was a ton of reading, lots of writing, and a bunch of studying but I did it!

Lara and I talk often about how we can serve others better. We like the idea of having multiple tools in our “tool bag” of life that we can use to help and bless people. We know that we all are holistic people and if one area of our life is out of balance then everything will be out of balance. We can’t just pay attention to one area of life and expect to be healthy in all areas, much like fitness. You can do biceps curls all day everyday and have great looking arms but that will never help you have strong legs or good cardio. I have learned that when I physically feel better I also feel stronger mentally and emotionally.

Helping with the physical fitness side of life could very possibly lead to helping someone become spiritually, mentally, and emotionally a healthier person as well. That is the best reason I have for pursuing this hobby as a Certified Personal Trainer.

Much thanks to Lara for supporting me in this and Sarah Pay for pushing me to do it!