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
April 2017 Rousehouse update
Spring has sprung! The Rouse’s love the warm weather, blooming flowers, and outdoor activities. But we hate the allergies that come along with it!!! This year we are trying to enjoy every moment of Spring with the idea that we only have a few more months left until we leave for South Africa. The past few weeks have been a lot of fun but super busy. Spanky ran his second Spartan race, Mac joined the social media realm (IG), Spring Break arrived just in time, we went to see our favorite band in concert, Lara is working hard on our silent auction event, and fundraising is moving along well!
Over Spring Break Mac had the chance to go to the mountains with some friends from church. From all of the stories that he has told us it was lots of fun! He went hiking, zip lining, shopping, junk food eating, stayed up late, and played games. I think his favorite part of the trip was saying up late and hanging out in a hot tub in the cold mountain weather.
Oh yea, Mac also got his own Instagram account. It’s a new season for us as parents but thankfully our first teenager is a remarkable guy, therefore social media doesn’t seem too scary…yet! His Instagram name is causing_wonder incase you may want to check out some of his posts. He chose that name because he wants his life to cause people to wonder, why is he different? I think it is a very accurate description of this young man. I am constantly in wonder of this guy, he is ridiculously awesome!
Spanky ran his second Spartan race with a team from our gym, Carolina Sweat. They had been training hard and it paid off. The team came in the top 5% of all teams and Spanky came in the top 2.7% of participants on Saturday. It was muddier than normal, cooler than he would have liked, longer than planned but invigorating! Next we are going to try another mud run as a couple in June! Couples that get muddy together….
Carolina Sweat Team – before the mud
My buddy Justin and I jumping the fire at the finish line!
Mac hung out with us old men but had fun
We found ourselves needing to take a break from the regular routines of life which is why we were so looking forward to Spring Break this year. Breaks like this one offer us the chance to forget bed times, ignore some of our responsibilities, soak up the sun and forget the diets. Spring Break 2017 was a success! On Monday we went on a nice looong (Elly, “I’m not going to make it”) hike up Crowders Mountain. We started the hike off with excitement and energy but come 6.5 miles later we were so glad to be in the car heading to Rita’s Italian Ice for a nice reward!
We also had the chance to head to the beach for 2 days with RuRu (Lara’s mom). We LOVE the beach! We are immediately refreshed by sitting on the beach with our feet in the sand. The weather was perfect but the water was freezing. That did not stop the kids though from going in head first
. Our kids seem to have a different internal thermometer than we do.
An update on where we are in preparations and fundraising for our big move to South Africa…
We have begun to realize that our time for departure is coming near, and fast! We are thinking about and actively working towards selling our furniture and other home furnishings, applying for visas, figuring out plans for our home here in Piney Grove/Charlotte, ordering school supplies, picking out the limited amount of clothes we are taking and working on roughly 1 million other items that are on the check list. Even though Spanky helps others move over seas regularly as a job it never seemed like that big of an ordeal until we started going through it ourselves. There’s a whole lot of work that goes into it. We are constantly being reminded and are so grateful that God is at work for us.
Fundraising Update: Things were slow-moving for a few weeks even though we keep having great meetings with great people. During this time we were hearing from the Lord a lot and He was constantly shaping our hearts. Over the past two weeks it has really picked up and we are very thankful! Support raising initially was this dreaded necessary evil that we knew we just had to endure to pursue this passion of ours. Today we can say that we are actually enjoying it, well just a little more than we use too. We are grateful for the opportunity to share our story and passions with other people. The best thing about support raising, donor building, fundraising, or whatever you want to call it are the relationships that are formed, for sure! God is raising up people who have a real heart for our family, believe in us, and desire to bless us and be apart of what He is doing all over the world. We can’t express enough what this means to us and how this community fuels our tanks! If you are currently one of our “people” we say a HUGE thank you for playing such a great role in our lives and journey!
We are currently at 67% of our monthly funding need. We NEED to be at 100% by June 1st (FYI, that is my birthday if you didn’t know)! We have a bunch of asks out there that we are waiting to hear back on but are still needing to find a few more families, individuals, or churches that would be willing to support our family and ministry. PLEASE get the word out and connect us with those you may know! If you would like to become one of our partners you can learn how here.
In lieu of my birthday we are hosting a silent auction fundraiser on the evening of June 2nd at a fun venue from 6-10pm. Proceeds will go towards our set up and travel expenses. STAY TUNED for more details and an announcement coming soon!
Things you can join us in Prayer about:
- Decisions on what to do with our home. Rent it or sell it?
- Finishing up fundraising, 100% by June 1st
- Ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to know the Father’s leading in every plan and decision as we prepare to move
- Successful silent auction fundraiser and all the planning that goes into it.
- From our family’s prayer card, the letter J – joy: That we may be filled to an overflow of His joy. Romans 15:13
Fundraising update as of April 1st
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)
What’s happening, March 2017
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 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!
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
The Rousehouse is Moving to AFRICA!
The Rousehouse has taken some big steps before but this may be the biggest one yet! We are moving to AFRICA!!! We are so excited to publicly announce this news as well as tell you a little bit about our story. So here you go…
Last summer our family moved into the neighborhood that surrounded Piney Grove Elementary, the school we had built a partnership with through Ridge Church and had been volunteering at for the past few years. We had no idea how the Lord was going to use that step of faith to call us to even bigger ones. We moved into the neighborhoo
d because we loved the idea of our family living missionally beside these people we had been serving and fallen in love with. We loved the idea of our family being intentional about building relationships in a community of people that maybe didn’t look or act exactly like we did. We believe there is a great big God who is constantly at work in this great big world and by living our lives this way our family will be able to experience Him more and hopefully, just maybe, He would use us to bring others closer to Him. What a privilege!
Fast forward to this past March…
Lara and I had the opportunity to travel to Cape Town, South Africa to visit a missional community that I serve with at UWM called East Mountain. As we spent time with this group of people we saw something that sparked a passion inside of us. The excitement began to grow as we saw how they serve and support the local church and how they live in healthy community with one another. It was also very exciting to see how they are partnering with ministries in South Africa similarly to how we have partnered with Piney Grove. As East Mountain is serving alongside these national workers God is using them to grow His church, strengthen indigenousness leaders, and do good works while living in healthy community with each other. Lara and I have patiently been waiting for God to provide an opportunity for our family to serve overseas for a few years and through this trip He did just that. Our time in South Africa was awesome, simply because we heard the Father’s voice calling us to something amazing.
After a whole lot of prayer and discernment, we feel like this is how the Lord wants the Rousehouse to, “Live a life that is worthy of the calling He has graciously extended to you” (Ephesians 4:1). We feel like this calling is God extending His grace to us. It is a privilege to serve alongside the other missionaries in this community as well as be a part of how the Lord is building His church all over the globe, especially in Africa, a part of the world we fell in love with many years ago.
We have committed to serve in South Africa for 3 years on staff with
East Mountain. East 
Mountain is a community of people who love Jesus and are passionate about teaching, developing and empowering leaders. They accomplish this through one-on-one discipleship, training workshops, theological education, and spiritual formation as well as forming authentic relationships with leaders already engaged in excellent Kingdom work in churches, non-profit organizations, and schools. While we are there we will spend a third of our time doing a specific role/job, and third of our time will be spent serving as a family in one of these local partnerships, and a third of our time being developed ourselves as leaders and Christ followers.
Lara and I have been involved in missions from the very beginning of our marriage. We have served in Brazil, Panama, Uganda, our local church, and in our community, Piney Grove. Our whole family shares this love for people and we know that we were created to live our lives this way. By living in community we care for others and we are cared for, we disciple others and we are discipled, and as we serve others we are blessed beyond measure. We are super excited about the work God has called us to and we know He has not called us to do it alone. We are seeking a team of partners that will help with meeting our financial support goals, praying for us, and connecting us to others who may be able to partner with us as well.
There will be many stories and lessons learned that we will want to share here on our blog, we hope that you will stop by and follow us along the way! God is doing a good work and we look forward to telling you all about it!
If you would like to grab coffee, a meal, or simply give us a call to hear more please email Spanky directly to set up a time we would be honored to answer your questions and share more with you! spanky.rouse@gmail.com
You can also learn more about East Mountain at http://www.eastmountain.tv .
It is our desire to make an impact globally, serve locally, and invest deeply in God’s people and we would love to have you on this journey with us!
If you would like information on how to partner with us through sending us, praying for us, and supporting our family in this mission you can either let us know by emailing Spanky or clicking here. 
2016!
What a big year!
-2016 Summer Olympics
-Cuba, you can now freely (legally) visit this beautiful island!
– Zika virus outbreak stormed Latin America
-The Queen of England turned 90 years old
– US Presidential Elections…Oh my!
– Syrian Crisis
-Hurricane Matthew
-Is the UK leaving the EU???
And so much more happened in 2016!
For the Rousehouse it was a big year too!
-Elly started Kindergarten
-Mac began middle school
-Lara and I took a trip to South Africa
-Mac made it to Africa for the first time!
-I was able to play a role in mobilizing/recruiting 61 new missionaries. PTL!
-Family camping trip for Fathers day
-I visited China for the first time
-Beach Vacation
-Family trip to Atl to see the Braves play one of their last games at Turner Field
-Spanky ran his first (of many) Spartan races! hoorah!
This past year also included some significant spiritual formation for both Lara and I. Both of us went on an amazing weekend with the Battle for the Heart where we have seen the Lord spark something great in us for Him and His word. We have seen the Lord grow our children physically, mentally, and spiritually this past year. We have seen our relational influence grow in different circles of life. Our fitness and nutrition has been on a good path where we have seen some wonderful changes and feel much better. We have heard from God in many ways and as a family have been seeking after His plans for our lives more intentionally.
This has been a memorable year for the Rousehouse! I know that 2017 will be even more eventful, challenging, and more rewarding than we can even imagine. I can’t wait to share more details about our next steps in this journey of life come January. Be on the look out because it is the biggest “MOVE” we have ever taken and we are super excited to share it with all of you!
2016 verse of the year is Psalms 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” This is one of the things that I believe the Father has been trying to help me understand. Be still, slow down, wait on Him, don’t try and make it all happen, rest in the fact that He has it all figured out, and enjoy His presence fully.
J-Life Leaders Summit, South Africa part 1
![IMG_5573[1]](https://rousehouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/img_55731.jpg?w=281&h=375)
This week I was invited to come to a leaders summit for a new ministry that we are looking at partnering with called J-Life. J-Life focus is raising up indigenous leaders who will passionately pursue the mission of making disciple makers. I don’t know that I have seen any other organization so laser focused on making disciples like these guys. Their vision is clear and their methods are simple and highly effective! They believe that if they can especially disciple the youth of this continent they can reach the entire continent of Africa. They are currently serving in 30+/- countries and doing pretty well. I am excited for the future of United World Mission and J-Life’s partnership. J-Life
While being here in South Africa I have come up with 10 things that I have seen, heard, or experienced that stood out to me this week. When I get the opportunity to travel to a new place I love seeing the differences as well as similarities of other places so making a list of 10 things really helps me with this.
So here they are…
- Africa is the most beautiful place in the world to me and I find myself falling in love every time I come back.
- No matter what country, region, or tribe you are from, all of us need some close relationships to make life better.
- Africans wake up ridiculously early and when they do they are not quiet they immediately get LOUD! Usually with singing.
- Africans will willingly give you the shirt off their back if you asked for it or not.
- Everybody loves free stuff! No matter what continent you lI’ve on, you love free stuff but Africans appreciate the free stuff more than most.
- Africans love you and make you a part of the family within a couple minutes meeting them. They have never meet a stranger.
- God is always present no matter where you go in this world. The problem is, the enemy is also.
- Africans don’t always do simple things in simple ways. They do it the way their families have always done it.
- Africans love to sing and dance no matter what country, culture, or language.
- This place and these people are like good medicine for my soul! You should try it sometime too.
A late afternoon way out away from the city enjoying a long walk
The Rousehouse 