NEW HOUSE/NEW PROJECTS!

I need help. Lots of help. 

It is no secret that I am largely lacking the handyman gene and I have never needed it more. Melissa and I are seeking individuals and small teams who have some expertise in electrical, plumbing and kitchen renovation who are willing to join us in Haiti in the next few weeks and months

You might have heard by now that our family is in the process of moving into a new house. When we left Haiti last week to spend the summer in Indiana, we left empty the house on OMS grounds we have called home for the last five years.

None of us were terribly sentimental about the move. I do believe, all four kids have literally doubled in size in five years, and the house had all the character and spaciousness of a shoebox.

A few weeks ago, motivated by factors too numerous and complicated for this blog post, Melissa and I started to look around for housing options outside of the OMS grounds. We found this intriguing option just down the road a mile ...

It's up the hillside at the top of a long lane off the main road to Cap Haitien in a beautiful, uncrowded and park-like setting. There is the main house - where we plan to put down roots - and several apartments, literally in our backyard - which we hope to fill with new and returning Cowman teachers in the fall. 

Here's one of the apartments. Last week it was getting a new roof...

And the best part of this whole prospect: our landlord-to-be is a trusted friend to us and to Cowman School (his mother taught there for decades while living in the house we will occupy). And he has given us a great deal on the rent. Really, it's one of those rare and awesome win/win situations: we get more space for our family and for hosting guests (hint, hint) at a great price and he gets someone to keep up the family property in Haiti and make repairs and improvements while he and his family live in the U.S.

The main house is full of character ...

The ceilings are vaulted and there are plenty of windows on both ends of the house. We've noticed this house feels a couple degrees cooler than the old one on any particular day. 

But this house has plenty of PROJECTS! 

Here's the kitchen:

The kitchen sink ...

And the current stove ...

Except for burgers, we prefer the convenience of a gas range over wood or charcoal!

Beyond the need for a kitchen remodel, the other major project is getting power for the house. We've kicked around several options - generator, solar panels, inverters with battery packs, local power company - and various combinations of all four. Each has unique drawbacks and challenges. 

But we'll definitely want to replace a couple of energy-hog electric water heaters with a single on-demand, gas-powered unit. But that will require running some PEX tubing (I'm just starting my own education!). That plumbing will need to go to four (FOUR!) different bathrooms and the kitchen sink and washing machine. (BTW, I noticed there's no drain anywhere or 220 outlet for a washing machine ... but there is, at least, physical space for one.)

The house actually has only two bedrooms, but a few years ago, this huge bonus room with its own little kitchenette was added to the side. THIS is what gets our kids excited and willing to overlook the fact that all four of their beds will be in one room:

Outside the bonus room is a little pool. We haven't tested it yet to see if it still holds water ... it's higher on the kids' project priority list than it is on mine. 

Mid-June, Melissa will be returning to Haiti for a few days via the Dominican Republic, where Hannah will get orthodontic attention and Melissa will travel to an Ikea in Santo Domingo (I know, right?) to pick out cabinets for the kitchen with the help of our friend, Matt. 

Local workers have already patched and replaced sections of leaky roofs and have repaired and added mosquito screens to windows and doors, but the other projects do not have a specific timeline yet.

If you have some experience in home improvement projects involving electricity and plumbing and a God-given prompting to visit/return to Haiti (or know someone who does!), please contact me and let's work out some dates. It would be a huge blessing to my family and other Cowman teachers. Thanks for your consideration!

Currently we are in Indiana and the best way to contact us would be:

Steve's email: steve_gross@juno.com

Melissa's email: grossm123@gmail.com

Steve's phone: 812-371-5114  (My Indiana number)

Or contact either of us through Facebook Messenger

One of our new neighbors!

COMMENCEMENT AND CONTINUATION

I simply cannot believe that four years have passed since my good  friend, Daniel Rodolphe, started taking classes at Emmaus Biblical Seminary in order to become a pastor. Back then, a leader from an international feeding ministry came to Haiti to see where her group's soup mix was being put to use. At the time, Daniel was receiving bags of the mix on a monthly basis and preparing it each Saturday and Sunday morning to feed the hungry right outside his door.

This ministry leader was struck by Daniel and his dedication to his neighborhood. When she asked him about his dreams, he told of his desire to learn more about Scripture and to become a pastor. (I've learned over time that Daniel always has more dreams than funds!) She decided to sponsor him personally as a student at Emmaus.

And so for the past four years, Daniel has lived and studied on campus (just five miles down the road from us) all throughout the week and then headed back to his own neighborhood in Cap Haitien each weekend to see and feed his kids - about 50 each Saturday morning and a different 50 on Sundays. 

(Over this past year, he has also been serving as a pastor at a little church near the airport - a tough job for which he receives no compensation.)

But four years have passed and have brought Daniel to this weekend. And THIS weekend was special: Commencement.

FRIDAY, MAY 11:

I was honored to be Daniel's "Paren" for the morning - a sort of honorary godfather. I wrote up sub plans for my students at Cowman because there was no way I was going to miss this graduation.

Daniel was among 19 in the graduating class. I learned firsthand what I had always heard: Emmaus goes all out to celebrate their accomplishment.

There was plenty of appropriate pomp and circumstance. For instance, special occasions in Haiti REQUIRE a marching band.

Emmaus has a brand new outdoor stage with shade sails over the seating for the graduation audience. The sun changed its position plenty during the two and a half hour program, so there was a fair bit of shuffling throughout the ceremony as people shifted to regain lost shade.

After four years together, Daniel's class seems to have been unified in a quite beautiful way. I thought the highlight of the morning was their performance of a song they wrote together. Great stuff and a very catchy tune!

The big moment - being handed the diploma by our friend Dr. Matt Ayars, the president of the seminary:

Unfortunately, none of my selfies with Daniel turned out very well - must have had a droplet of sweat over the lens!

After the service concluded, there was a delicious lunch for the graduates and their special guests. A truly wonderful morning all around. 

As always, after spending time with Daniel, I am left with a deep appreciation for him and am simply in awe of his servanthood.  Unbelievably, after all the pomp and celebration of Friday morning there came ...

SATURDAY, MAY 12:

The crowded little courtyard in front of Daniel's "house" was once again filled with dozens of hungry kids, holding out plates, waiting for Daniel to scoop a heaping spoonful of rice and beans their direction. 

It took only 15 minutes to empty the huge pot of its contents. One little boy came back shortly to return a borrowed plate, looked down at this empty pot, picked up the spoon and scraped the last clinging grains of rice into his open mouth. 

There is never enough here.

Thank God for believers like Daniel. 

I can't recall the name of the author, but a few years ago I came across a sentence on a blog that stuck in my head and always makes me think of Daniel: 

"The pastors of Haiti will be famous in Heaven."

I believe Daniel was a pastor long before he was handed that diploma, but I am so thankful for the opportunity the Lord provided for him to get a solid, Biblical education and I pray that his time at Emmaus will serve as a firm foundation for many years of fruitful service here in Haiti. He is an inspiration to me.

FATHER SON COLLEGE SEARCH ROADTRIP

Earlier this week, Caleb and I completed a 10 day trip back to the States together with one main objective - helping him clarify a direction for college. I am happy to report, we succeeded (to a degree) in our main goal and, as a bonus, we met several minor goals along the way - some planned and some serendipitous!

One minor goal was to get Oreo and our family van back to Indiana. Oreo flew in her pink crate on Missionary Flights International's old DC 3 ...

Our van was waiting for us in Fort Pierce, Florida and we were able to head north just minutes after departing the plane.

(Our family will be hightailing it out of Haiti at the end of May directly to Indiana for our niece's wedding and we didn't want to be encumbered with a long drive or a doggy companion.)

Our second day of driving brought us to Waleska, Georgia. Reinhardt University is there, but our purpose was to spend a few hours catching up with my old seminary pal, Jamie Hudgins, who is now working there in campus ministry. It had been YEARS since I last saw Jamie and it was a great visit. Reinhardt, though, is a bit out of Caleb's preferred range of schools. We are looking for something within a few hours of Columbus, Indiana - where both Grandmas and a gaggle of aunts and uncles and cousins live.

We got to Indiana in time to attend our home church, CCC, for Sunday morning service. Caleb got to hang out a bit with his big cousin, Alex. After church, Grandma Gross treated Caleb and me and my brother Spencer's family to lunch at our favorite local Mexican restaurant - a good way to power up for our hectic week ahead.

Our first stop on an early, cold, and rainy Monday morning was Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. 

We took the official tour and attended chapel but then had the pleasure of spending a few hours with one of Asbury's top salesmen, Justin Spoon. His enthusiasm for the school (where he is just finishing up his freshman year) is absolutely contagious. Justin's mother, Robyn, is now a member of the Cowman School Board but is best known in my family as the one responsible for setting Melissa and me up on a blind date over 18 years ago. 

After leaving the University, I couldn't resist crossing the street to wander down memory lane through Asbury Seminary - a very formative place in my life. Here we are with John Wesley:

We decided to end our first day of college visits with an overnight stay in Cincinnati. We arrived early enough to catch a showing of Black Panther. The seats were awesome but the movie could not possibly live up to all the hype...

The next day it was on to Cedarville University in Ohio, another Christian school. They had a fairly large group on campus for visitation and their presentation was pretty slick.

Chapel was like attending a mega-church staffed and attended exclusively by college students. (I haven't decided yet if that observation is meant as a compliment or a slam.)

We got to sample quite a bit of college cafeteria food throughout our week. I thought Cedarville's was one of the best.

Caleb's eyes lit up at the thought of getting to classes on a skateboard.

His eyes lit up even bigger with each sports complex we visited. I noticed athletic options were a big selling point with each school. Caleb can't wait for intramural basketball...

On Day 3, we visited two schools. The first was my alma mater, Wabash College. (Still cold and rainy!)

We sat in on a physics class. Caleb was impressed with the professor's knowledge and the research he is currently involved in.

During our campus tour, we had to stop in at the chapel. Even though Wabash is definitely NOT a Christian school, I have a lot of great memories associated with this spot, including my brother's wedding.

After a quick lunch at Wabash, we headed south to Terre Haute and Rose Hulman, a school for STEM nerds. This was our most expensive prospect - ringing in at $63,000 per year.

Caleb was most impressed with Rose Hulman's giant garage, where you can find nerds working on a variety of projects amid organized chaos.

Again, Rose is a secular campus, but the chapel, perched on the edge of a tranquil little lake, is a place of beauty and peace.

Back at home base, Grandma Trudy's house, Caleb found some time in the evenings to do a bit of guitar practice in the backyard. 

Day 4 took us to our biggest campus - and cheapest option (since we maintain our Indiana residency), Purdue University. 40,000 students. We were especially glad to have Caleb's good friend Matthew along for the day. Maybe they could be roommates together here??

At the end of the day we had a few minutes for some ice cream with my cousin Jennifer's son, David, a current Purdue sophomore. He gave us the inside scoop on student life and the engineering program and the wonder of internships.

Day 5 took us to our final stop, Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. Our schedule and the schedule of my best friend from college days, Mark Kline, just happened to miraculously align so that he joined us on this leg of our roadtrip. Mark lives in California but his daughter will be attending Taylor this coming fall.

One last tour ...

Another great chapel ...

And more college food ...

And suddenly our tour was over. We had covered 1,700 miles and seen 6 campuses. Each one had its legitimate bragging points and numerous students and admissions officers reassured Caleb that it was perfectly normal to not be decided on a major by the end of your junior year in high school. Honestly, I think he could be happy and find great friends and a great education at any of these schools. His decision may boil down to scholarship availability ... and we're ok with that because these are good schools.

I came away with so much excitement for Caleb's future. I think he's going to have an awesome experience and INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITIES of every shape and size. I have never felt that we have harmed our kids socially or academically or spiritually by moving our family to Haiti, but I have to admit that I feel a bit guilty at times over the limitations that life in a third world country has necessarily imposed on each of our kids. (This weekend Facebook has been inundated with prom pictures snapped by friends and family members in Indiana and I have VERY mixed emotions.)

Anyway, to get our minds off big life decisions and unknown futures (and the accompanying price tags), we  hit the theater for another Marvel film - the latest Avengers saga. Our friends and family members back in Haiti still have not gotten over their jealousy...

Our final Sunday morning in Indiana just happened to coincide with a special "homecoming" service at the Shelbyville UM Church I grew up in, so Mom and I decided to attend. I was so glad we did.

My little brother Russ and his son Jacob surprised us with their presence, too. There were plenty of old friends to catch up with and a real belt-breaker of a potluck lunch after worship. A great ending to our week!

Monday morning saw Grandma Trudy driving us to the airport in Indianapolis at 4:15 to catch our flight to Miami and then on to Cap Haitien.

Amos was waiting at the Cap Haitien airport with the "cattle truck"...

And at 1:15 p.m. - exactly 9 hours after stepping out Trudy's door - Caleb and I were at our own front door, happy and exhausted. 

Our family is blessed to have some incredible prayer support and as Caleb - 17 years old as of this weekend - stands at the threshold of some major life decisions, I would like to request some prayers specifically for him (and for Melissa and me as we spend one last year with our firstborn under our wings). Please pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance and for wisdom and peace and provision along the way.

Even as we celebrated Caleb's birthday yesterday, I could feel the ground shifting under our feet. Things are changing. But God is good and, I believe, the best is yet to be.