Our Endless Entertainment

I cannot believe that Rhett is 3 months old already! Oh, the fun that we have had with him. 

He can ride a motorcycle

He makes an excellent cup holder

Scoutin out the neighborhood with dad

Grant couldn't decide on an iPhone case so Rhett was helping hold a few

Rhett beats dad in some Tiger Woods on xBox

On a side note - I made these cupcakes last week for Sam's baby shower. I had a blast making them. I designed the toppers, printed and cut out the circles and then glued them onto a toothpick. Pretty easy, but I learned that I am not good at cutting out perfect circles!

South Africa

Okay - Before I start blogging about life here and now, I want to back up to last October and write about South Africa in a nutshell.

My first trip to South Africa was in July of '09. I immediately fell in love with the kids and when Grant and I got married I told him the one thing that I wanted to make sure we did before we had kids was take a trip to South Africa together. (Not that I think that you can't go to Africa when you have kids. I just wanted to make sure that we could go together and not let the kids become our excuse.) So, when I was 20 weeks pregnant we headed over there :)

I could not wait to meet the kids and see how things were going at the new orphanage. I thought that the Lord was going to just reteach me the things that I had learned last time that I was there: to find joy even in the hard times, to LOVE on orphans and widows as He commands and to find satisfaction in Him alone. And, while I did get a refresher course on those things, He taught me so much more (but I'll get to that in a second.)

The boys were busy helping build the house that would be Louie and Amber O'Tools. To me it looked more like they were playing with legos the entire time! I wasn't able to help out with that - but I did get in on a few other things that we did while we were over there: planting a couple gardens for families in Thabong, sharing the gospel with some kids there as well and helping the girls at the village with homework most days.

I LOVE this picture - Those little, bare feet and dirt-covered knees are always
a reminder of the precious kids that we spent some time with in Thabong.

As we were there serving I was able to see Grant fall in love with the place the way that I had my first time visiting. It was so great to know that he would finally 'get it'. While we were there we also fell in love with the kids - and the Lord laid it on our hearts to sponsor a girl named Lerato.

Please notice Grant's creepy mustache.

What I believe the Lord sent me over to Africa for this time, though, was to learn a little bit more about the lives of the missionaries over there and to learn how to be a great wife and mother. I was able to see their amazing love for Christ, for the people, and their love and support for one another.

You see, the boys were out building the house most days, and I wasn't able to help since I was pregnant. So, I got to stay back at home with Amber and 'help' her out with her everyday life. She was such a great example of a Godly wife and mother. I began to realize very quickly that family is the most important part of ministry. Without help and support from each other, neither would be able to accomplish much. I felt like I was seeing a couple working as a team for the Lord in a way I hadn't ever quite seen before - and I am so thankful for that. My challenge was (and is) to be that same support system for Grant with the ministries that we are involved in. Crazy that I had to go all the way over to Africa to learn that - but God had His plan!

This is Amber. I'm sure that she appreciates I'm using this picture of her :)
SIDE NOTE: Masterpiece is great!

All of that doesn't even begin to tell of all of the things that we experienced and learned while we were in Africa. I could go on and on for hours about the specific ways that the Lord taught me while I was there - and I'm totally willing to share more so feel free to ask. But, for right now I just wanted to share with you that snippet of our trip.

And, if you want to learn more about Restoring Hope Village, click HERE.

Two Year Anniversary

I can't believe that it has been two years since Grant and I got married. Time has flown. We have learned so much together, traveled together, and became a family together. I can't wait to see what this next year has instore.

I just redesigned this blog based off of this print that I made for Grant and I's two year anniversary. Hope you like it!

Now, I have a lot of blogging ahead of me to do. I take pictures all day long and I want to start sharing some of them along with the happenings around our place. We will see how that goes :)

Changes

Wow it has been a very long time since I have written on this blog. A lot has changed in our lives this past couple of months. Fr starters we have moved out of Ankeny and now live in a great little house just outside of Elkhart, this house has been such a blessing for Kristin and I. We now I have a lot of space that we can make our own, which Kristin loves! This past year in October Kristin and I got the amazing opportunity to take a team to South Africa for two weeks! I could write page after page about that trip, but I will wait till a later date to do that. But in one sentence I can sum it up. God is amazing!Now I'm sure if your reading this then you already know that we have a new addition to our lives, which makes us a family now! On March 8th 2012 Rhett David Etherington came into this world!! That has been life changing for Kristin and I. It's only been a month and we have learned so much. Kristin's natural mother hood has been awesome to see. She is so great with Rhett. I still feel like I have no clue to what I'm doing, so hopefully that will change. I know Kristin and I want to try to keep up on this blog this time! So keep checking back to see how Rhett is doing and to read all about our failures!

Choices

Not sure if everyone knows that my wife and I lead the single's ministry at our church and it's been a growing experience for the both of us.  I personally try to be an open book to these guys, I want them to see my struggles and to know that i'm a sinner.  I want them to know that I fail daily and thats not ok with me, it rips me to pieces.  On the other side of that, I want them to know that I do have victories, I have moments of triumph and I'm joyful when those things do take place.  Three years ago when I accepted Christ my life started over and I have been on this roller coaster since then.  The things that have followed since then can only be gifts from God.  I have the most amazing wife that I don't deserve, and have hurt many times with my sinful choices, and yet she still loves me with all of her heart.  I have a relationship with my family that I never had before.  My parents have always been there for me, and until three years ago I never realized that.  I was so selfish and never noticed the love that they had for me!  I feel like now I have a life worth getting up for, a life that is not about me, but rather a life hopefully for my Savior.  Living a life for Him is by no means "easy street" it's a WAR between spirit and flesh.  When I go through the day I have two choices to make, either it will benefit the kingdom, or it will push people away! I know personally that I push people away from the kingdom, by just being selfish person that this culture wants me to be!  We are to love Christ because he first loved us, for even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for the many!  You and me are the "many"  and if Christ gave His life for me, then I would hope and pray that I can life my life for Him.  I think that is going to look different for everyone, but I hope that you would at least try to benefit the kingdom in your choices and to be a light in this dark and selfish world that we live.  If one man can give His life as a ransom, than I think we should be able to at least step out on a limb and just share that with the people that  we love and with the people that God has put into our lives!

Night rider

This season so far for biking has been an absolute blast.  At the beginning of the season I was able to purchase a sweet road bike which has been great.  My wife and I put on a bike ride to raise funds for a close friend of ours (if you ever get the chance to do that its a blast to see people come together for a purpose).  My brother-in-law and I rode the Annual Mayor's ride in Des Moines it was very cold, but so much fun!  Went to Okoboji and rode in one of bike rides up and my family joined us for that one.
Throughout the season I have ridden with all types of people, all types of weather and different areas, but last night was something I will never forget!

Last night a small group of us rode to the High Trestle Trail Bridge at night! If you have the chance to ride there its a MUST! If you can't ride there you need to walk out there from Madrid.  We started this ride at 7:00 wanting to get to the bridge at dusk to get some pics and to see this "masterpiece".  This bridge lived up to everything that I have heard! It was stunning, I really do hope my pics can give you some idea out how AMAZING this looks! Ridding at night was a total blast and i'm looking forward to doing it again!!

O the good ol fair

Iowa State Fair 2011
The fair was a blast this year!  Got to the fair at 2 and left at 9....Just enough time to have some unhealthy food and do some people watching!  You really do see it all at the fair..... I think the best buy at the fair this year had to be "Bucket of Cookies" for $15.00 I couldn't believe how many cookies they could put into the bucket and the cookies were warm to boot!
We met up with Jake and Paige and had a blast just walking around and trying to guess what person or thing we would see next. Example-will you see a child in a moby wrap, excessively long goatee or a person in a wheel chair, so those are the options then you have to pick the one you think you will see first! Sounds dumb, but it was a ton of fun. Just try to think of how many different things you could do this with at the fair!
The pic i'm attaching along just shows Paige, Jake and I laughing our butts off and having a lot of fun on this roller coaster at the fair...

Well just one more year and we can do it all over again.