friends

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)

Have you ever had someone do something so awesome that it makes you want to tell people about it? Well, fortunately I have, many times. God has blessed the RouseHouse so much and He often does it through the amazing people He has put in our life.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” – C.S. Lewis

When we began talking about moving Lara and I thought about how we want this to be a place of community. Therefore, we wanted a really big table that could fit a bunch of people and a ton of children. Well, those kinds of tables are not cheap! We know a friend that had just built a large farm table and it looked really good, so I asked him if he would be interested in helping me build one for our new house. Before any of you say something I did fully disclose that I have 0% skills in craftsmanship! My friend quickly said, “would you just want me to build it and you can paint and stain it?” to which I respond with a “OH YES!” I think he knew that it would probably be more work to have me actually help. He got started and it quickly came together.

Lara and I sat and looked at the table the other night when I finished staining it. We talked about the many years that we will be using this beautiful piece. Our hope is that God will use this piece of furniture in hundreds of people’s lives and our dream is that one day it will sit in one of our children’s house and will be a place of community and long conversations for them too.

What a friend and servant! Who builds a table like this for someone else house without charging them??? The RouseHouse is so thankful and blessed!

PS, the top was made out of reclaimed wood from a construction demo project at Piney Grove School which makes it even more special! We not only have a table that will have a bunch of people around it in the years to come but a piece that will always remind us of how God has used us in this community for many years. How cool is that!

Fundraising update as of April 1st

Our table