ONE DAY

We call it our "Science Lab", but so far there are currently only two features that distinguish this room from our other high school classrooms: first, there's a decent sized, air-conditioned closet full of microscopes, beakers, and dissection trays and such ...

And secondly, there's an emergency shower head mounted on the front wall.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          (And it works - we tried it!)

All of the numerous other items that will truly mark this room as a laboratory are coming "One Day".

For example, where these pipes jut out of the concrete wall (at exactly shin level!), there will One Day be a row of sinks.

For now, Bunsen burner use is not 100% safe here, but One Day this space - where our homemade wooden tables currently sit - will see a set of 6 tall lab tables and 24 tall lab stools.

One Day, Mrs. Love will need to relocate her periodic table to clear space on this wall for a fume hood, safely making possible some truly top-notch chemistry experiments.

Finally, (and Mrs. Love says this might be the top priority in many ways) One Day the floor of the Science Lab will be tiled. 

You would not believe the amount of dust created DAILY from the action of feet and chairs across an unfinished, unsealed concrete floor. This dust ultimately could be fatal to the microscopes and other tech equipment with which God has blessed Cowman's science program. Not to mention, the uneven floor is a genuine safety hazard in general and could be doubly so in the presence of the open flame of a Bunsen burner. 

You might have guessed that the Science Lab is not alone in having an unfulfilled wish list; there are plenty of One Days all over the Cowman School campus.

Our sweet first graders, our principal, our secretaries, our junior and senior high students all await that One Day when tile covers their rough, concrete floors too. 

Mr. Adams, Ms. Kacie, and I each look forward One Day to ditching our DIY dry erase boards (made of $12 bathroom panels from Lowe's) for proper white boards that don't take 30 minutes to erase at the end of the day. (It's the little things...) 

All of these things and many others are on a waiting list because Cowman doesn't currently possess the resources even to construct the next few classroom walls we'll need by next school year, much less this substantial punch list. But we trust the Lord will provide.

Maybe you can guess why I am telling YOU all of this. We have learned over the past 5 years that the Lord most often provides what is needed for His Kingdom work through the generosity of His people. 

I am sure that you, like me, know Haiti is a place of deep hurt, great needs and plenty of injustice, but maybe you're skeptical of whether anything will ever change here. I want to reassure you that One Day life will be truly different here in Haiti.

If you'd be tempted to give if only you were as certain of positive outcomes, let me humbly suggest an approach that can truly make a lasting difference: Invest in Education.

Cowman now serves 181 students who are being prepared to be world changers. Our goal as teachers and administration is to give them an educational experience that is second to none, to the glory of God. 

Listed below are several projects waiting for a completion date. Would you look over this list prayerfully and consider the possibility that the Lord might use YOU to bring One Day closer to Cowman School and to all of Haiti?

A few possibilities:

Project 1: Dry Erase Boards

(Cost amounts for each project piece is a current "best guess"; some factors, like customs taxes on imported materials, are always wildcards!) 

     1A - Ms. Kacie's First Grade Classroom - $500

     1B - Mr. Adam's History Classroom  - $500

     1C - Mr. Gross' English Classroom  - $500

Project 2: Tile Floors

     2A - Tile for Ms. Kacie's First Grade Room - $2,500

     2B - Tile for Main Office  - $2,500

     2C - Tile for Science Lab  - $2,500

     2D to 2G - Tile the Other Classrooms and hall of the 2nd Floor

                            - roughly $10,000

Project 3: Furnish the Science Lab

     3A - Fume Hood - $3,000

     3B - 6 Lab Tables with Epoxy Countertops - $1,500

     3C - 24 Lab Stools - $1,500

     3D - Cabinetry- $2,500

     3F - Sinks and Fixtures - $1,000

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have passed and "Giving Tuesday" is upon us. If you are feeling prompted by the Spirit to support the work of Cowman School on behalf of Christ's Kingdom and the future of Haiti, we would be so grateful. And LIVES WILL BE CHANGED. 

Perhaps you are in a position to take care of one of these projects from your own budget or perhaps you'd be willing to spearhead a fundraiser with your Sunday school class or bring Cowman before your church's mission committee. Whatever your support might look like, I ask you to take one simple step right now:

Email me at sgross@onemissionsociety.org and share with me what you are thinking and how you might be able to contribute to the realization of One Day. Then I will gladly share with you information on taking further steps.

If, on the other hand, you simply want to directly give a gift to be used toward the general construction fund, you can do that at this website.

TRASH PUPPY GETS A NAME

Looking for a warm and fuzzy story?

About a month ago, I noticed Caleb heading out our front door with a bag of trash in one hand and a bowl of food scraps in the other. He said the scraps were for two puppies he'd discovered living in the trash pit where refuse from all the missionary homes gets dumped for periodic burning.

Not the loveliest corner of Haiti:

After dinner that night, curiosity drove Caleb's siblings and me to follow him down the trail to the trash heap. Sadly, one of the two puppies lay motionless against the wall. It was too late for him.

But this little girl came to greet the five of us, timidly wagging her tail. She was in rough shape - open sores on her head, ears and back. Ribs showing. Seemingly alone in the world and surviving on scraps of food found among the garbage.

Hannah went running back to the house to grab some Q-tips and antibiotic ointment and within minutes she and Sarah were doctoring up that pitiful puppy.

Now, I am a dog-lover ... but I'm also a realist. I was immediately concerned that the kids were going to get attached and go to great lengths to nurse this pup back to health, only to be heartbroken by the inevitable visit by the Angel of Death!  Or ...

OR the dog was going to survive and then the kids would be begging to keep it. And I would have to be the one to say "No". We had tried to raise a Haitian pup a few years ago and it had been disastrous - that whiny, yapping puppy (misnamed "Buddy") had quickly grown into an unpredictably fierce biting machine with no friends outside our immediate family. (And even the family was not unanimous in that!) 

Besides, we already HAVE a dog. Oreo joined our family 14 years ago, just before Samuel was born. And this past August we had finally brought her to live with us in Haiti, relieving Grandma Trudy after four years of dogsitting duty she had never asked for.

We joke that we brought Oreo down to the Caribbean for her retirement, but in reality, we had all missed having her around.

So we already have a dog and she's plenty enough to look after on her own (especially since she's developed a leaky bladder in her old age).

But I certainly couldn't object to the heartfelt compassion which drove the kids to begin making morning and evening trips to the trash pit to check on and feed the little Trash Puppy. (Even though sometimes it involved scrambling eggs that I had paid good money for.)

After several days, the kids were excited to report that the pup was beginning to gain strength and her skin was healing up. She was always happy to see them but never once attempted to follow them back home. Which I thought was PERFECT.

And then, one dark evening, there was a faint whimper outside our front door. Trash Puppy was sitting on our porch. She had found us! And SOME inhabitants welcomed her wholeheartedly. (And some did not.)

If you look closely at the above photo, you'll notice Oreo on the inside of the front door, shooting laser beams out of her eyes directly at Trash Puppy's head. (And I was on Oreo's side.)

Trash Puppy was still there the next day... and the next ... and the next.

She was given a water dish to drink from, table scraps to eat, and an old towel to sleep on. In other words, she wasn't about to leave anytime soon.

And then Trash Puppy got a bath ... several baths ...  

And then started turning on the puppy charm full blast every chance she got.

She won ME over with a quality extremely rare in puppies and highly valued by me - the ability to quietly sleep through the entire night without a single whimper or yelp.

She has yet to win over Oreo - who alternates between pretending Trash Puppy doesn't exist at all and snarling loudly in her general direction.

There was really only one final, big step to make it all "official". She needed a name. 

Sarah was especially helpful in suggesting several dozen options. Eventually, we settled on ...

"Ginger" seemed appropriate not only for her color, but for her general demeanor. Under the puppy friskiness, she most definitely has a gentle, grateful heart.

For several weeks now I have talked tough to the kids (and on Facebook) about "Trash Puppy" and how I didn't want her sticking around, but the truth is I'm a sucker for a good redemption story. 

It's looking like Ginger has been rescued from the trash pit, given a new name, and adopted into a family. Who can resist being a part of a story like that?

Psalm 40:2

"He lifted me out of the pit,

Out of the mud and mire;

He set my feet on a rock

And gave me a firm place to stand."

Keep Oreo in your prayers ... she might be overcompensating just a bit as she attempts to step up her cuteness game...