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.

The Norm

I won't write much. I just wanted to mention something that is on my mind.

It's so great to get to a coffee shop right as they open, when hardly anyone is around.  It's just nice to be able to hear the usually unique music, to be able to read without hearing the banging of the expresso thingy(I HATE THAT THING) there has to be a quieter way, but that can be talked about another day.
It's nuts to see people come in the shop getting their "usual" and without that cup of joe or whatever they get it just won't be a good day.  I hope and pray that people can have a good day maybe even a great day regardless of getting that cup of joe, regardless if the morning commute stinks or whatever else could possibly ruin your first hour of existence into the day. Maybe we should try getting out of the "usual" and just thank God for this day of life that He gave us. Thank God for the job that we get to go to.  Thank God for the car we get to drive rather than walk.  It's so easy to walk in this world and do nothing but complain (believe me i'm great at complaining, ask my wife) but wouldn't it be great to find things to praise, things that make us smile and things that we can be thankful for.  No matter how small these things are it has to be better than always complaining.

Great Saturday

What an awesome Saturday!  This day started with an adventurous ride to the Des Moines farmer's market.  You might be asking your self whats so adventurous about riding to the farmer's market.  Well the trail that we rode was flooded last year and so the city of Des Moines is re-building the bridge which means no paved trail for us (Jake Heisterkamp, Crystal Schulz and Shawn Schulz).  So after passing and disobeying the road closed signs we rode on and sure enough we came to no more paved road. Decision time! do we walk on the dirt road and hope for the best or do we turn around and admit defeat and take the detour!  We chose to walk the dirt road, which was a great choice.  Once we walked for a while we found 6th ave and just rode on that to get to the farmers market.  It was a ton of fun riding on that road through downtown.  Just a few awesome things to let you know about if you go to the market..... If you ride your bike you don't have to park it outside you can take the http://www.dsmbikecollective.org/ free valet instead and not have to worry about your bike being stolen!!!

The other diamond in the rough has to be the cinnamon rolls at Great Harvest Bread Compnay (http://www.greatharvestdesmoines.com/)
They are only $2.00!!! Thats right $2.00 and you won't find a deal like that anywhere else at the farmer's market!!

My Review of Profile Airstryke Aerobars

Originally submitted at REI

These aerobars have spring-loaded Z brackets on the arm pads, allowing use of the tops of the handlebars.

Profile Airstryke Aerobars

Awesome Bars

By Grant440 from Ankeny, IA on 8/1/2011

5out of 5

Pros: Versatile, Lightweight, Strong Construction
Best Uses: Road Biking
Describe Yourself: Avid Cyclist
Was this a gift?: No

I ride my bike like crazy and on longer rides I was wanting to have something else other than my drops.... I saw these and for a 119.00 you can't beat them... They were very easy to install and you can adjust them to fit just you so that is nice!!

(legalese)