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!
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!
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.
Random Acts in LEGO… sharing the antics of Road Runner and Wylie E. Coyote with Elise and Sophie!
What is “RAILs” you ask? It is our take on sharing “Random Acts of Kindness”… LEGO style! Watch out for them along our ten day journey between Ethan’s birthday and his leap into eternity day this year.
We sent our friends, Elise and Sophie Chamberlin, the Looney Tunes set of Road Runner and Wylie E. Coyote. Last night, they set aside time to complete the set and remember their long time friendship with Ethan on his birthday. Our family met the Chamberlin family back in 2005 through Bible Study fellowship at our church. At the time, Ethan was 5 years old, Elise age 3, Sophie just a baby and Noah was not born yet! Our families have been doing life all these years together.
Even Ellie their dog joined in (however it is obvious she is not so trusting of that Road Runner!).
Thank you for joining us in remembering Ethan!
Do you have a story of sharing “Random Acts in LEGO” with others? Please share your story in honor of Ethan’s legacy with us! We cannot wait to read it and be encouraged by your creativity.
If you knew Ethan, you know his capacity for Lego! It has been two years since Ethan took his last giant LEAP into Heaven … In this second year, we have been carefully investing our time and resources into the friends and communities that Ethan cared so much about.
In honor of the engineer and builder that Ethan was and will be forever, we have chosen to theme this years Memorial Game Days on one of the favorite activities both our sons enjoy, building with Lego’s. To those who choose to remember Ethan with us, we invite you to have some creative fun with these iconic bricks.
If you do not have any Lego’s, feel free to participate with any other fun activity that builds fellowship with those you care about. Please also consider sharing a photo or short story with us. When you do, we will send you a JOLT-ON! commemorative sticker or magnet as our thanks.
WHAT: JOLT-ON 2024 Memorial Game Days remembering Ethan through the world of Lego
Ethan had earned a Material Science Engineering degree (Polymer focused) with the dream of working for Lego. He often enjoyed building, creating and teaching with LEGO’s throughout his 22 years.
WHEN: May 30th through June 9th, 2024
This time period starts on Ethan’s Birthday and ends with his Heaven day. You are welcome to extend out into the year ahead if your timeline of remembering is further along in the calendar.
We are looking forward to all the ways you are remembering Ethan as this second year comes to a close! Please share in the comments below. If you have a file or image to include, please email it to jolton@wfour.net and we will add it to your comment post.
NOTE: Comments are moderated and posted within 24 hours.
As we prepare to remember Ethan as of the 2nd anniversary of his Leap Day, please check back for more information on what we are doing to bring forward his Legacy in 2024…
A long time friend of mine held a Memorial Game night on June 9th 2023 with three friends she had not seen in quite a long time. Nancy Blume has never met Ethan in person; however, as fellow sisters in Christ, she has known him through prayer requests and sharing life stories over the years. I have been in bible study with Nancy multiple times in the 20+ years our family has been members of Christ Community Church. We have personally shared the ups and downs of life over these years. I love how she took to heart the idea behind the Jolt-On! Memorial Games and championed her own time.
June 9th Game Champion Nancy Blume (2nd from left) and Friends
In Nancy’s own words, here is the time she shared with us:
I have only known Ethan through your memories and stories and I am grateful every time you share Ethan with me. I shared some of these memories of Ethan with my Jolt-On Game Night friends before we jumped into games. When I decided to host Jolt-On, I reached out to a few friends who haven’t all been together for a few years and they all came. We started with Left Center Right, and I took Nicole’s suggestion about the “loot” and used Hershey kisses! Who knew chocolate would turn on the competitive spirit in our friend, Linn, who won three rounds in a row!! After that we switched to Dutch Blitz, where Carrie took the crown! Beth and I may not have championed in any of the games but we all treasured the evening of laughter, and reconnecting with friends.
Nancy also shared with me another way this time ministered to her. She stated she “re-realized” how much she LOVES playing games! She is now praying for opportunities to keep playing. This is really the spirit of Jolt-On! and the joy Ethan brought to our lives and others through games. The joy of community and time connecting together. We will be praying with you, Nancy, for the presence of game opportunities to be a consistent reality with those the Lord brings to your life.
365 days without Ethan. June 9th, 2023, has arrived very slowly. We marked Ethan’s first year gone and his Giant Leap into Heaven day as peacefully as possible today. No doubt due to the huge amount of prayer we have been supported with by friends and families. We have been very grateful for everyone whom joined in the Jolt-On! Memorial Game Days as well. You all gave us such strength to finish strong.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever!
1 Corinthians 9:25
After the anticipation of being back at Purdue and Campus House this week, we returned home and spent today quietly… enjoyed an Ethan favorite activity. Lingering at Barnes and Noble is one of his all time favorite things to do. We found ourselves contemplating favorite books (Mysterious Benedict Society Riddle of Ages volume 4, Science reads on how stuff works (yes, Randall Munroe!) and materials of our world, Math reads, explored new Lego sets with dreams of what he would be doing in the Lego sustainability world today (thinking also of our next annual Christmas memorial build set… most promising is the Lego Star Wars Endor Speeder Chase Diorama), enjoyed Studio Ghibli finds and browsing the huge selection of new games. We settled on purchasing a new card game for a Memorial Game play finale this evening and to add to our collection, Happy Little Dinosaurs.
365 Days now without you… missing you every moment… missing building memories with you… your laugh in the midst of games and conversation… your warmth and your smile. There is no “moving on” even with a year of firsts behind us. I know you would want us to keep going strong, so we continue to game-on your way… we can only seek to Jolt-On!
We are so grateful for the staff and student community of Campus House at Purdue University. This is Ethan’s church. This is the community he chose to ground himself within while living at Purdue during his undergraduate years… he was deeply connected in fellowship and bible study leadership. Therefore, we invited the Campus House community and anyone else at Purdue into the Memorial Games on the evening of Wednesday, June 7th (2023). Even though it is summer semester and campus is quieter, it was a blessing to have about 25 in attendance to enjoy a wide range of games for the evening.
Joshua House Friends, David and Ben
We pulled out all kinds of board games and card games. The staff at Campus House know the value of game time very well. During Fall and Spring semester, they champion weekly game time for any student to join in. Having access to their collection was awesome! Here is a window into the time:
Blokus Honestly, this was the first game I pulled out of the cabinet! Ethan and I played this game A LOT as he grew. It is a great strategy game for all ages. 2 to 4 players, though. It was fun to see it in action again!
Catan This was a new one to me and several fans of the game came to enjoy it. There is a lot to the base game alone as well as many additions to the game that make it appealing for long term play. Lots to learn!
Dutch Blitz This one is a FAVORITE at Campus House! During Fall and Spring semester, students are invited weekly to challenge their lightening fast speed and love for this card game. In the spirit of Solitaire, Nertz or Pounce, the Dutch Blitz card game uses a uniquely designed deck of cards. Many of the students gravitated to this one specifically and it was fun to watch them go!
Euchre Another well loved card game in the MidWest, there were a few new faces to Euchre during our time. Some veterans shared their love of the game to teach it to those whom wanted to learn. Euchre is a team play card game employing the use of the Jacks as “Bowers” to set the suit of play each game. Ethan enjoyed playing this game with our family at just about every holiday back at home!
Minecraft Noah brought along is Nintendo Switch and set it up on the large screen for anyone wishing to engage in video gaming. Minecraft was one of the first games Ethan had shared with his brother, Noah. It was fun to see a few of the youngest participants figuring it out for the first time!
Secret Hitler Another new one for me, but not for the Campus House and Joshua House attendees! I found out many of them personally own the game and we could see the game circle grow quickly as it was brought out. There were well over 8 players seated around the game boards vying for one of three roles: Liberal, Fascist or Hitler! Set in pre-WWII Germany, players are German politicians attempting to hold a fragile government together. It took a few turns and a really good game mentor (thank you Four!) for me to get the flow of the game, but I eventually joined in. To play is to either bluff or investigate your way through. I loved seeing the multiple acting personalities come through in this exciting game!
Warhammer 40K Noah challenged family friend, Jacob Chappell, to a W40K skirmish. It is no secret that our family loves the legend, lore and artistry of the model miniature game, Warhammer 40K. Ethan had actually introduced his friend Jacob to the game back in the days of high school when we lived in the Dallas TX area. It was fun for attendees to see the team models in action and learn more about the depth of the game.
During the event, we served cake and had the blessing of sharing fellowship time with many of Ethan’s friends that we have stayed in contact with during this long year. It was great to meet new faces around the game tables as well! Campus House is a community of believers whom seek to welcome all into the family of Christ. We certainly feel like a huge part of this family! It is very encouraging to us to see how the staff remember Ethan as they continue to welcome students at Purdue in the semesters to come. If you are a Boilermaker or are interested in the work and ministry of Campus House. Check out their website for more information!
The Memorial game ideas keep rolling in. Our long time family friends, Milt and Sharon Feryance, did not let distance come between them and gaming with friends this last Wednesday, June 7th. We love how they took to heart being Game Champions and used an online venue to share connection time!
Game Champions: Zoom with the Feryance’s
We just finished playing games for the Jolt-On Memorial Games Week. It was the Riveras in Iowa, Rich Phillips & Maureen Hughes-Phillips and Milt and I. We had a lot of good laughs playing Trivial Pursuit,Two Truths and A Lie and answering questions from our leader 1000 questions book! Thanks for helping us bond more and using this opportunity to remember Ethan and the ways he brought others together through games. May God comfort you, Joel and Noah, and may he continue to give you the strength to persevere as you continue to bear this heavy burden of grief. Love, Sharon & Milt
Thank you for encouraging us and providing another awesome idea to enjoy games when separated across the miles. All of you are a blessing for joining us and we hope you find opportunities to keep playing!
