Leaving a Legacy

Garner Trojans

What a gift it has been to love and serve Garner High School for the past three years.  Clint is a trail blazer (if you didn't already know this about him), he has a great gift of beginning new projects, meeting adults, raising money, blazing the way, Clint Rouse is unstoppable! 

Clint was giving the fun project of beginning Young Life at Garner High School, and he has certainly done that with the assistance of The Lord (the credit and victory is given to Jesus, obviously!) and an incredible Young Life Team: Nolan, Taylor, Maggie, Sarah, Cameron, and Becca!  When we think of "missing Raleigh" next year the thing we will miss the most is our Young Life team at Garner.  They are really like our children.  We have gotten to watch them grow as men and women of Christ, we have seen them fall down and scrape their knees, and we have seen them learn to walk.  We love our team!  I may have two tears rolling down my face writing this, because we love these people.

Last night was Clint's last Young Life Club, but CERTAINLY not the last Garner Young Life club ever!  We really feel like we are leaving a legacy in Raleigh Young Life with Garner Young Life.  I have never seen people love one another the way this team does.  They have included and embraced all their roommates, boyfriends/girlfriends, friends, class mates to make up "Garner Team Extended."  Through this extended part of our them they get to include the people they love into a ministry they love.  To the High School Kid's its like they have more then one college friend!

So, seniors spoke to share with the club what they learned from Young Life.  A lot shared how great their leader was and a few shared how great God was!  What an honor to hear!  The last person to share was Clint and his final nugget to share with Garner High School was, "Will you take the trade?"  Will we trade this life of brokenness for full life that Jesus offers to us by dieing on the cross for our brokenness?  He spoke specifically about Jesus on the cross and the two criminals being crucified on either side of him.  One of the criminals rebuked him and threw insults at him, while the other criminal saw who Jesus was, he was the Son of God, this criminal accepted the trade!  So, Clint's main point was which response will we have? To reject Jesus' offer on the cross or to accept Jesus for who he is, the Son of God!

Luke 23: 39-43

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Jesus is so gracious, he is so forgiving, there is nothing that we have done that he will not forgive!  He forgave a criminal in the final hours of his life, why not allow him to come in to our lives?  

Here are a few shots of Garner Club last night: 

After Clint was introduced by David "Moo Moo"

Clint, David "Moo Moo", and I. This sweet young man will always have a special place in the Rouse House.  We love David!

A few of our sweet friends who make up Garner Team Extended!  There are probably 20 people not in this picture!

 Outdoor club is the best!

It has always been Garner's tradition to give the seniors a small blue mason jar to represent all the memories shared at Garner Young Life.  All the students, the team, and extended team gave Clint and I the biggest blue mason jar we have ever seen full of notes and memories about Garner Young Life.  This will be a cherished center piece in our life ALWAYS!  We love y'all so much!

Happy 6th Birthday Carter!

Carter Elizabeth Kincaid

This sweet girl is SO loved! I love her more than words can explain!  It seems like just yesterday she was born!  Her parents are my oldest brother and his sweet wife, Thom and Margaret!  Carter has played many precious roles in my life: she was my first niece, she was our flower girl in our wedding, and she is such a source of joy in my life!

Here are a few photos to celebrate this precious girls birthday!

April 24, 2007

This is the day she came home from the hospital!

My big brother Thom and Carter on her "time out" step.  Please notice her ankles!  She has been a little lady since birth, crossing her ankles!

 Carter on the day of her Christening. 

Carter at her 3rd birthday party!

Carter at my College Graduation Party!  She thought it was my birthday!

Playing dress up at Papa and Grand's house!

Christmas morning!

The sweetest flower ("feather") girl to ever live!

There she is in action! I love her little bare-feet!

At her 6th Birthday Party on April 24, 2013!  Sitting on her Uncle Clint's lab!

Happy Birthday Carter!!

Sweet Carter!  I love this little girl and her love for her family (very BIG family!), her social skills (she speaks as if she were 17), how she loves her dogs, her passion for dolls of all sorts, her imagination, that she never meets a stranger, and the love and joy she radiates to everyone around her!  Carter, I hope you feel so special and loved!  Happy Birthday!!!

Instagram...

an Unhealthy obsession

So, Instagram my friends is super addicting!  There is nothing like opening this little camera shaped app on my phone and seeing beautiful pictures of babies, delicious meals, sweet vacation snap shots, and the occasional selfie picture.  Sounds not as interesting in words, but to the eye it is so appealing!

I read this blog post earlier this week and it spoke loudly to my inner soul, you should read it right now!!  For real... read it! It will take 7 min of your life, but probably save you more minutes from wasting it checking social media....

Instagraming a Perfect Life

Favorite "nuggets" from this blog:

"The danger of the internet is that it’s very very easy to tell partial truths—to show the fabulous meal but not the mess to clean up afterward. To display the smiling couple-shot, but not the fight you had three days ago. "

"Facebook is always going to yield a prettier version of life than the one you’re living right now. That’s how it works....The Internet is partial truths—we get to decide what people see and what they don’t."

"Our envy buttons also get pushed because we rarely check Facebook when we’re having our own peak experiences. We check it when we’re bored and when we’re lonely, and it intensifies that boredom and loneliness."

"It makes sense, then, that anyone else’s fun or beauty or sparkle gets under our skin. It magnifies our own dissatisfaction with that moment."

"For many of us, walking away from the Internet isn’t an option. But using it to connect instead of compare is an option, and a life-changing one. Using technology to build community instead of building carefully-curated images of ourselves is an option, and a worthwhile one."

"...life isn’t about the story you tell about yourself on the Internet. It’s about a million more beautiful and complex things than that, like love and faith and really listening. It’s about using what you’ve been given to craft a life of gratitude and passion and grace."

Wow!  Now that is truth!  Now that is convicting!  So, in reading this blog post on Monday from Relevant Magazine, it made me want to change my blogging.  I want this blog to be filled with real life, not this partial truth I tray to display of myself.  My friends, I do not have it all together!  And I am beginning to see and face the truth.. I will NEVER have it all together!  I will never be perfect!  We have dishes in our sink for days on end, laundry piles fill our bedroom most days, dog hair will be on your black pants if you enter our home... all of this truth about my weakness and my inability to have it all together makes me run to the one person who is perfect... Jesus!  I love the truth that Jesus says, "My power is made PERFECT in your WEAKNESS!" 2 Corinthians 12:9

"Good-Bye" Young Life Leadership

 The closing of a chapter has occurred!  Clint and I have been in Raleigh as Young Life Leaders since 2005.  In this room we have been stretched as a man and a woman to become Christ followers and Young Life Leaders.  It has been a JOY to love and encourage this community of Young Life Leaders in Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Garner, Holly Springs, Fuquay, etc.! 

Clint and I had no expectations of what this night was going to look like, but tears were shed, laughs were laughed, prayers were prayed, and Christ was present!  Raleigh and Western Wake said "Good-Bye" to about 20 faithful leaders.  It is overwhelming to think of the lives touched and changed by these Seniors in college.  It is wild how many hours are sacrificed a week in this room of young people, about 2,250 hours a week are given to pursuing high school kids, middle school kids, and college aged kids... now that is community changing!!

So, it is Greater Raleigh Young Life's tradition to honor the Seniors that are leaving this ministry and moving on to adult life/graduate school/marriage/etc.  Clint and I fell under this category this year.  It was an emotional time for us because I was a high school kid that my Young Life leader set in this room and prayed for me, I was a Young Life leader in this room who prayed for girls at Leesville Road High School, and now I am a Meredith College Life leader who sits beside my serving "MCD" (Meredith College Divas) in this room.  Clint has sat in this room as a Leesville High School Young Life Leader, sat in this room as a Garner High SchoolLeader, and as a Raleigh Young Life Staffer, and now he sits beside boys who have met Jesus who are now loving High School Boys at Sanderson, Millbrook, and Enloe.  Let's just say there are A LOT of ripples in this room! WE LOVE THESE PEOPLE! We love this ministry!  We love Raleigh! We love Garner High School! We love Meredith College! But, more then anything in this world we LOVE JESUS!

My 2 favorite thing said on Sunday night came form the lips of Mike Strawbridge (via Courtney Lancaster) and from Clint Rouse. 

Mike said, "Satan is really mad about what is going on this room!"

Clint said, "The Lord could have done this ministry any way he wanted, but he chose US, he chose US because He had something in store for US in this ministry!' 

This is so true! Yes, we got to see lives changed! Yes, we got to serve Jesus in countless hours sacrificed to loving people!  But, it is undeniably true that Jesus changed Clint and I's heart, our marriage, our home, how we love, through this ministry of Young Life.  And for that we are SO THANKFUL! We are SO GRATEFUL!

Clint and I are SO excited about the journey to come in Kinston, NC! WOW! We are prepared, excited, and anticipating our socks to be knocked off by what Jesus had in store for us there.  And to that we say, "BRING IT ON!"

Here is a picture of the Garner Young Life Team "stacking hands!" We do this after every time we are together!  This isn't the last time we do it, but it is a fun time to remember!

Windy Gap: Raleigh Family Camp

The Rouse house Playing dress up

Clint and I had the great privilege to do program for Raleigh, Western Wake, and Little Washington Family Camp at Windy Gap.  Our team consisted of Chris Cockerham (who was a Young Life leader at Apex High School when I was in High School... for real a dream do do program with this guy!), Matt Williams (he is the Area Director for Western Wake Young Life), and then Clint & I.

This was such a fun weekend full of joy and laughter.  My character was the little sister who wore a glittery too too, I was a celebrity for the weekend for little girls.  It was a really sweet experience!  Clint was the bad guy, R. Cade, which was sad because a lot of children were genuinely scared of him.  

It was also SO fun because Mom and Bigdaddy game to be Adult Guests for the weekend.  They relaxed and enjoyed seeing their children be silly!

This was such a fun weekend especially with the news of moving at the end of the summer to Kinston. We love Raleigh SO much, but more then just the town we love the people!  This was a fun celebration to be with all the families we love so dearly at Windy Gap.

Speaking of Kinston... we are SO excited and feel an abundance of PEACE in regards to this decision of moving to Kinston, NC to begin the minsitry of Young Life!  We have felt so encouraged by people giving us contacts to people they know in the community, texts from friends in Kinston saying there is a buzz around town talking about Clint and Mary coming to town, and people from Kinston weeping with joy because we will be loving the youth in their hometown.  We are excited, but are faithful to finishing strong in Raleigh, enjoying this present day!

I wish we had a video of the entire weekend, but here are a few pictures!

Clint dressed up for the Hoe Down.  Move over Scotty Mcreery!

Clint and I in our western gear:

 Matt, Clint, me, and Chris AKA: Rocky, R. Cade, Wiibecca, and Ricky! 

 So fun to do this with my friends!

 Wiibecca and R. Cade

Have a great day!

Mary

The Rouse House is moving to.......

KINSTON, N.C.

Wow! What a 10 days it has been!  We went from April 8th deciding to stay in Raleigh on Young Life staff because there were no openings as an area director to then receiving 2 phone calls asking us if we were interested in becoming the area director in the towns.

We have had 2 interviews, 2 town visits, and 1 decision be made.  And we are headed EAST!  Moving to Kinston, NC.  For the past 3 days I felt like Clint and I were on the Bachelor and we had to hand a town a "final rose," not exactly about romance... but a very big decision! This is an exciting decision, but also a bitter sweet decision.  In accepting the position in Kinston we had to turn down the position in South Charlotte and to staying in Raleigh.  I love Raleigh!  I will miss this town and the people here more then I can put into words!

So, Kinston here we come!  Clint will have such a fun opportunity of being the first Area Director in this town.  There is volunteer led Young Life at Parrott Academy, where they took 35 kids to fall camp.  He will be leading and training a sweet Jesus loving committee.  He will be helping raise the budget for Young Life! Please pray for the budge to be met.  This is the step of faith we are taking.  As of today Kinston does not have the budget to hire us, but they are having a banquet on May 17th to begin raising money for Clint to begin August 1st.  We are confident the Lord will provide this budget!!  HE has faithfully called us to Lenoir County and Greene County, so we are not worried that HE will also provide the means to do ministry!

We are so excited to buy a house, join a church, and to invest in this community!

Mean while in all of these interviews and town visits, life has carried us on some fun journeys!    We had a very sweet visit with my Bunkle Buh in the Charlotte Hospital (He has an awful infection in his body around his liver, so please pray for my uncle!). Bigdaddy had a heart attack, but is doing great!!  Praise the Lord for great medicine and doctors!  He had two stents put in his heart!  In all of these things we are reminded how sweet life is!!  What a gift it is to live this day and to take advantage of each opportunity and moment.

So, in closing!  We are so excited to invest in Kinston, NC.  But, it isn't about us... It isn't about Clint and Mary... It isn't about what town we choose to live in... It is ALL about Jesus!  Jesus could do this work with out us, but he chose us because He has something for us in this journey!  Bring it on!!  He is faithful!

My nugget of truth that I have clung to in this stage of life is John 10:33...

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!  I have overcome the world!"

Easter

Happy Easter! He is RISEN!

"He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us PEACE, and with his stripes we are HEALED!" Isaiah 53:4-5

Happy Easter! Happy Holy Week! He is risen!  What a fun time to remember Jesus!  To remember His death, to remember the pain, to remember that he did it for us, to remember the sadness of Jesus saying "It is finished!," to remember he rose from dead 3 days after his death, to remember that he conquered death!!!! To remember the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave is alive and active in our lives!  What faith and confidence we have in our Savior!  What JOY we have to celebrate the full story of Jesus in a week!  Forget the Easter Bunny, I want Jesus!!!  

Easter was incredible for the Rouse House!  We had such sweet, intentional, and quality time with each other and with our families.  We were sad to not see my brothers and our Statesville family, but it was a family full 4 days!

Here is a fun time line in pictures of our sweet Easter East Coast Tour:

Stop 1: Little Washington with Mom and Bigdaddy

 Taking My Girl for a cruise to the Washington Waterfront 

 The Captian and the Skipper!

We want to be like each other

 Beautiful Day!

 Crusin'

Stop 2: Goldsboro for Easter Saturday and Sunday Church

We hung out with Riley and Ginny with their new puppy Maddie!  Reynolds was jealous and wanted to be held like a puppy... Big Boy!

After church on Easter Sunday.  Biggie and Betty!

Stop 3: Swansboro with Hannah and Charlie and Biggie and Betty... and Reynolds!

We played a TON of Mexican Dominoes!! So funny with sweet Grandparents!

On the beach in March... COLD!

Reynolds thought the water was just right! He found this soccer ball!

A sweet summary of 2 days in cold Swansboro!

Here is a song that I enjoyed jamming out to Easter weekend, it really shares the entire story of Easter!

Christ Is Risen!

Have a great day!

Mary