{"id":4223,"date":"2014-01-28T03:02:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T03:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=4223"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","slug":"its-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=4223","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;IT&#8217;S OFFICIAL!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This past weekend, those two words got our whole family very excited because they came from Caleb&#8217;s beloved 6th grade teacher and they indicated that she and her husband had booked their flights to Haiti.\u00a0Jill and Dan\u00a0will be coming for a week in March to help out around the school (and to do whatever work we can find for them) and we couldn&#8217;t be\u00a0happier to have them as our first\u00a0house guests\u00a0if\u00a0they were members of our own family.Jill and Dan were some of the last folks we got to spend time with in Indiana before we left last August.\u00a0 In the midst of the craziness of last minute packing, they offered a quiet, restful oasis of a pool party &#8211; and we were so grateful for it.\u00a0 (I don&#8217;t think we ever sent a proper thank you, so I will say it here: Thanks So Much!)Melissa and I enjoyed the chance to relax and chat &#8211; and to forget, briefly, all about boxes and driving to Florida\u00a0and flights &#8230;\u00a0and the kids totally enjoyed the pool.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20130806_181115-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20130806_200336-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jill confirmed their trip just\u00a0a few days ago and already the kids have asked us several times each, &#8220;So when exactly do they get here?&#8221;Honestly, we felt a bit left out over Christmas a month ago because it seemed every other missionary\u00a0here (who didn&#8217;t go\u00a0back to the States for\u00a0a week or two)\u00a0had a visit from family or friends from back home.So\u00a0we are already planning out\u00a0Jill and Dan&#8217;s week.\u00a0 We&#8217;re going to work them as hard as possible\u00a0and show them every sight we can &#8230;\u00a0and then send them\u00a0back to Indiana\u00a0tired.\u00a0 That&#8217;s the plan.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09\u00a0 Our greatest\u00a0excitement is that they\u00a0will get to\u00a0be a part, even temporarily,\u00a0of what Christ is doing in this amazing place. As a bonus, I am willing to personally guarantee that the weather here will be warmer than Indiana\u00a0EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of their time here.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve put it in writing here and they can hold me to it.Speaking of weather,\u00a0Melissa was pointing out tonight that with the wind chill factor expected to hit -40 degrees tomorrow in Indiana, it will feel a full 120 degrees warmer here.\u00a0 One Hundred and Twenty Degrees. At the least!\u00a0 If that doesn&#8217;t make YOU want to plan a trip to Haiti for yourself, I don&#8217;t know what will.\u00a0 Book a flight now for next Christmas.\u00a0 You won&#8217;t regret it.\u00a0 And if Christmas is too far off for you &#8211; and it truly is &#8211; then how about this April?\u00a0 We understand that our good friend Kate is leading a weeklong mission trip again from our home church, Community Church of Columbus, during the week of April 22 to the 30th.\u00a0 If you have interest in joining that team &#8211; or even just traveling\u00a0alongside them and staying in our house with us for the week &#8211; shoot me an email (<a href=\"mailto:sgross@onemissionsociety.org\">sgross@onemissionsociety.org<\/a>) or message me or Melissa on Facebook and we&#8217;ll help get you connected.\u00a0 Consider this: the\u00a0way this winter is going, there&#8217;s no guarantee that there won&#8217;t still be snow on the ground in April.\u00a0 But you have my word, you will find NO SNOW here.\u00a0 Pack your flip flops and sunscreen!And now, to seal the deal,\u00a0a few pics entitled &#8220;Wish You Were Here&#8221;.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20130901_101806-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20130907_173449-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/20130902_183333-3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past weekend, those two words got our whole family very excited because they came from Caleb&#8217;s beloved 6th grade teacher and they indicated that she and her husband had booked their flights to Haiti.\u00a0Jill and Dan\u00a0will be coming for a week in March to help out around the school (and to do whatever work [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4229,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4223\/revisions\/4229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}