Category Archives: Always Remember

Always Remember, God Sightings, JOLTeON!

JOLTeON! Community In Action

Leave a comment

My women’s bible study is a strong force, my heart community. These women are my sisters in Christ in these days as we walk out life together. We have spent over a year together in the book of Romans and recently finished the study of this intense book of Paul’s most inspiring work in sharing Jesus with us in the bible. We all gracefully gave each other space to take it slow, sit with the verses where challenged, grow together. In celebration of it all, our group came together to share and laugh this week.

These women are the best at lifting me up out of the mire of grief and loss. The best at encouraging and praying through the challenges of living life now. We experienced another JOLTeON build together, this time with LEGO’s beautiful flowers! Thank you ladies for sharing your stories at the table and doing this life with me… even in the bricks! You are all amazing!

Looking forward to finishing the second part of our build and continuing to live out the life of the teachings of Paul through Romans with you all.

Let me say it!
These flowers are complex and challenging! This is a treasure that I will keep always in remembering our time together!

LEGO Botanical Collections keep growing… encouraging us to always be in awe and wonder of our Lord’s creation even when we are not outside in nature.

The teacher in our midst, Nancy, brought not only the LEGO’s but had these really great trays to help us keep things in place. Dollar Store Find! Thanks for making it happen AND awesome, Nancy!

Always Remember, JOLTeON!

JOLT-ON! 2024: RAILs Around the Country!

Leave a comment
LEGO Groot

When I think of GROOT from Guardians of the Galaxy, it strikes me how much he shares his strength for his friends. No matter the situation, GROOT is found encouraging this band of galaxy trekking guardians. He shows up not only to fight, but also to listen, care, encourage, support, defend, love and laugh with his friends throughout every moment he shares with them…

GROOT is also one of Ethan’s favorite characters! When I consider the friendships he forged in his 22 years, I can see how he encouraged his friends with strength and a gentle, fun-loving spirit.

In these last two years, there are a number of friends that have really stood out with GROOT-like strength as we are walking through the most unimaginable grief of living without Ethan in our days. It is amazing to me to look at how God has provided each of them as encouragement in unique ways. Some I have known for years, some I have only recently met. Some are brave souls whom purposefully show up without our prompting. Some reached out to introduce themselves during the early and hard days when our son first leaped into heaven and are now close at heart. I am blessed to know each and every one and consider them guardians of strength appointed by the Lord Almighty! While I do not always know or understand what HE is up to in my life, I can say for certain the Lord continues to send each of them during times when we need them most…

With that, we sent several LEGO GROOT sets out to our guardian friends around the country during this month of June. GROOT has traveled near and far to places in Illinois, Connecticut, Texas, Wisconsin, and Washington!
It has been a blessing to get to know these friends in far places…

I am forever grateful!

Above is GROOT in Connecticut with my sister in the Lord,
Kim Wan!

Left… GROOT is in Washington State hanging out with David Farache as he moved across the country!

It has been a joy to share these Random Acts In LEGO with them.

Always Remember, JOLTeON!

JOLT-ON! 2024: The Great Wave

4 Comments

Today, in this second year on Ethan’s Eternity day, we are keeping focus with a LEGO art piece: The Great Wave by Hokusai.

As we have been remembering Ethan in these last ten days through his engineering and builder spirit, we turned our basement into a studio. The purpose: to work through this large memorial build as a family. We have posted below the time-lapse progression of our journey throughout the day. It was finished by days end…

Chapter 1: Unboxing
The Great Wave

Chapter 2: Getting Started!
Segments 1-3

There is a LEGO audio recording offered in the set for historical info on the artist Hokusai found at this link if you are interested!

Chapter 3: Water
Segments 4-6

Chapter 4: Base Layer Complete
Segments 7-8

Chapter 5: Making of a Wave
Segments 9-10

Chapter 6: Frame Work
Segments 11-14

Chapter 7: Finale!
Segment 15

Our finished piece! This has been a peaceful way to remember our son. Thanks for sharing the time with us. Please let us know the impact you have felt in the comments below. We will be pulling all 7 chapters together into a full time-lapse video along with music from Joe Hisaishi’s “Princess Mononoke”. in the next few days.. as you can imagine, Hisaishi’s music was playing in the background as we built all day today!

We hope and pray Ethan’s legacy will inspire you to share LEGO’s and God’s love with others in the days ahead this year!

NOTE: Comments are moderated and posted within 24 hours of submission. If you have a file or image to share, please email it to jolton@wfour.net and we will add it to your comment!

Always Remember, JOLTeON!

JOLT-ON! 2024: RAILs Inspirations

Leave a comment

Random Acts In LEGO sharing with The Atkinson Family

LEGO Inspiration: UP! House,
Groot!
and…
LEGO Avengers video games!

The Atkinson family joined in on the JOLT-ON! 2024 Memorial Game Days starting on Ethan’s birthday, May 30th, this year. They very thoughtfully were inspired to share LEGO together as a family and with others over these ten days. Here is their update from Nichole…

“Thinking about you and your family today. On Ethan’s birthday the kids thought it would be nice to pick out a new Lego set to work on together. We found the house from the movie Up!, which they felt was just perfect. Then they found Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy and then they were torn. So, they wondered what I thought we should do and were certain I wouldn’t let them have both, but thinking about how they’re only little for a little while and they were actually agreeing on these things, and why we were even having the discussion, I couldn’t say no.

We came home and had dinner and the younger 2 rediscovered (sort of accidentally) a Lego Avengers game for Switch and they played that for hours. They know Ethan loved Splatoon and told me it was okay because they found a Lego video game! So it was like they were doing both! So we worked on the Lego’s together as a family and finished the Up! House over the next 2 nights.

Since Ethan’s birthday they’ve finished both Lego sets together and reminded each other why they are doing them and told and shown our various visitors through the last 10 days why there are Lego’s everywhere and who they are for. The Up! House is now proudly displayed in the China cabinet so it won’t get wrecked, as they worked so hard on it for me to remember Ethan’s birthday and Heaven Day this year.

I miss that contagious smile, the sweetheart of a kid and young man he was… talking video games and young love with him. I miss a complete Wang family unbroken by tragedy, but I love you all so completely.”

Nichole Atkinson

Thank you all for joining us in the LEGO challenge! Your random acts in LEGO sharing over these ten days is so very thoughtful. We are blessed that you all chose to remember Ethan and share his legacy with others. It is just like Ethan to find LEGO in everything… life, play and video games!We will be sending you our 2024 memorial stickers and magnets in gratitude for joining us!

Are you catching on? Where in the country will we see Random Acts In Lego next?…

Always Remember, JOLTeON!

JOLT-ON! 2024: RAILs LEGO Games with Friends

Leave a comment

Inspiration: Game Night, LEGO style!
When: Friday, June 7th 2024
Where: Feryance House, St. Charles, IL

There is more to our intention of Random Acts In Lego sharing than just handing out LEGO’s everywhere this week! On Friday, June 7th, we gathered together with friends to reminisce and play games. Of course it’s games! That is Ethan’s capacity… he brought people together through games and LEGO has always been a great way to share the fun of games with friends.

On this night, gathering with Ladies in our community, we enjoyed snacks and fellowship around the theme of LEGO games:

  • LEGO “I SPY”
  • Left Center Right (Dice Game) with LEGO bricks
  • LEGO Creator Board Game (a building classic released in 1999!)
  • LEGO Bingo (we ran out of time for this one but it was on the list!)

Winners received a small LEGO set to keep or share forward. There are so many more game ideas from LEGO… do you have any favorites to share?

Watch out for our next RAILs Inspiration…

Always Remember, JOLTeON!

JOLT-ON! 2024: Droid Builds

Leave a comment

Vacuum Cleaner Droid

Created: 2006

Builder: Ethan

Building Droids is something we loved to do on a hot summer day. After outdoor activities proved too hot, Ethan and I would head to the cool of our basement, spread out a large bin of LEGO’s and start free-building. It was one of his favorite activities! He created this Vacuum Cleaner Droid in the summer of 2006. Part of the fun was the story we would create with our builds. Star Wars and Droids were always a popular story line.

In remembering Ethan this week, I pulled out our LEGO Sandcrawler and all the Droids for some stop-motion capers… check it out!

We would love to see your free-build creations! Comment below and send your pics to jolton@wfour.net and we would be glad to post them for you in the spirit of remembering Ethan.

Always Remember, JOLTeON!

JOLT-ON! 2024 LEGO Replay: Campus House Kids

Leave a comment

An update came in from Campus House today! It is great to share how they are putting to use the LEGO’s and DUPLO’s within the kids ministry. Here is the update from Tiernan McDivit, Sunday School Coordinator:

“I used some of the DUPLO’s to teach in the nursery the other day and wanted to share with you 🙂 

I’ve been teaching lessons about the characteristics of Jesus this summer, and this past Sunday’s lesson was Jesus loves God’s House (the story about young Jesus in the temple). I had a temple out of LEGO’s in front of us. Then I gave each of the kids an alphabet DUPLO with their initial on it, and talked about how when we have Jesus in our hearts, we are also being built into God’s house (1 Peter 2:5). They each got to add their block to our temple. 

The kids really enjoyed using the DUPLO’s and played with them for awhile after the lesson! And I enjoyed using them to teach. 
Thank you again for this gift! It has been a blessing!” 

Tiernan 
Campus House Kids!

If you are a Purdue University student attending in West Lafayette next Fall, check out Campus House and serving opportunities! Hope to see you there and to share the love of Christ with the kids of Campus House!

Always Remember, JOLTeON!

JOLT-ON! 2024: Happy Camper by Chappell Cinema

Leave a comment

Enjoy this Stop Motion Caper and original story featuring the Volkswagen T2 Camper Van by Chappell Cinema!

It is no simple feat to create a short video in stop-motion style! Our friend from Texas, Elizabeth Chappell, took our challenge and created her first ever masterpiece showcased above. Elizabeth received the LEGO Volkswagen T2 Camper Set last Christmas from her sons and has been working towards finishing the set. Our challenge brought it back to mind and she very creatively captured the fun that our boys brought to our lives through countless LEGO adventures. Elizabeth mentioned, “In remembering Ethan and planning the video, bringing out the LEGO set also helped me remember a lot of great memories of raising my boys through LEGO”. Her guys, Jacob and Drew, were cheering their mom on and anxious to find out how her “camper caper” would end!

Thank you, Elizabeth, for your awesome submission in memory of the creative spirit Ethan had through LEGO. He loved utilizing LEGO’s to tell stories in stop-motion fashion and encourage others with humor just as you have!

Always Remember, JOLTeON!, Purdue Life

JOLT-ON! 2024: Campus House Kids

Leave a comment

In this last year, we have been back to Campus House Church at Purdue several times to serve or attend in one way or another. Time within the walls of this amazing church is one way we stay connected to the people and places where Ethan was on mission. He was so eager to continue life with Pastors, staff and this community at the time of his passing. We are grateful to each and everyone whom impacted Ethan’s life in the four years he lived at Purdue.

On our trips in 2023, we noticed a Kids ministry building and growing each time we visited Campus House. During Sunday worship times, volunteers and staff provide classroom space for children to come and hear Bible stories and engage in age appropriate activities while their parents attend church service. It is evident to us that Campus House is a multi-generational church right in the heart of this Big Ten University, seeking to serve students and families alike.

In our son’s early childhood years, we admire how our local church’s kids ministry creatively used LEGO’s in the classroom and summer camp programs. Ethan and Noah have experienced learning the love of Jesus Christ all throughout their growing up years simply by creative activities with LEGO. We see LEGO’s helping kids:

  • develop motor skills
  • learn cooperative play
  • giving kids a sense of accomplishment
  • learn persistence
  • encouraging kids to explore
  • teaching kids to be creative

As the month of May 2024 set in, we purposed to remember Ethan and honor his Legacy in a way that would remind us of his engineering and building spirit. Our son was an avid Lego fan. So much so that he became a Materials Science Engineer at Purdue and his focus was polymer science… the study of plastics! He enjoyed creating and teaching with LEGO’s, as well as stories and games even into his adult life. He was active in community at Campus House for his years of undergraduate study and he had intended to continue to be active after college. Therefore, in the week leading up to Ethan’s would be 24th birthday, we delivered several key LEGO Duplo and LEGO Classic sets to the Campus House Kids leader, Tiernan McDivitt and Pastor Erin Good. We pray that continuing to honor Ethan’s legacy will impact the kingdom of God as more children hear the message of Jesus Christ.

We look forward to seeing how the staff and volunteers at Campus House put to use these LEGO sets in the Kids ministry to share the love of Jesus Christ right in the heart of Purdue University’s campus! Do you have a passion to share the love of God? We encourage you to grab a LEGO set and create space to share LEGO activities and tell the Big God Story with children in your life! Come back and tell us how you share in the comments below.