{"id":6521,"date":"2013-07-31T03:20:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T03:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=6521"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:31","slug":"two-weeks-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=6521","title":{"rendered":"Two Weeks Out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two weeks from tonight, we&#8217;ll be settling down for our first night as new residents in Vaudreuil, Haiti!\u00a0 (Let&#8217;s not\u00a0forget the &#8220;God willing&#8221; part, of course.)It&#8217;s been a crazy couple of days since our commissioning at One Mission Society headquarters last Friday.\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t get any pictures of the actual service, but here&#8217;s a group shot of our fellow missionaries (and now dear friends) from our three weeks in Greenwood, Indiana:<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgrOh-iDbDAxFTsmDjQ5N0VqB1Pu9J2FCPNLeoZwDKNJXQ-TLXTDodvUK3Xm5YddlJ8A3vIKn10T_lLu8GioC1dVRnPpv6SKzMHzMVcM7z1v6O9FybT99t3NrGZqKMN2lKxYhuJekcqQQ8\/s640\/cross+training+group.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We were blessed to have my mother, Kris (one of Melissa&#8217;s former co-workers) and Kate and Storly (just back from a summer spent in Haiti) in attendance for our commissioning.\u00a0 It was a great and meaningful service, and if I had more energy, I would tell you more about it. There were plenty of hugs and goodbyes to go around after the service &#8211; and then everyone rushed off to the four corners of the globe!<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEiZHNSohR8mNHNwc15gqO6vElzbjwNIe_5XgQivbGhNkq-_2jfL_XjzXi4qDVzR6oWSC8a9q_fYE2w_fh5UpBx0lpchUkF89luMe9N5RYQHKJo64In7p2hcgaWLwv2vYN2BlGkIyjZ6mxc\/s400\/2013-07-26+13.25.41.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The kids had their own commissioning service &#8211; and their own share of goodbyes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhcYk8SagTA3i3Qf_xtNMLuJ8k8baVwMQuuIC9HlMtoO_UiEQ5O25bIvNaPTsdhU5YcTLCOJtLWnEd9FlV7pyBOI_b4N67aSRytuVNbbRDEr3bUkO3HkzFyIYKCMCXOfqQMuTkkSEwMxpI\/s400\/2013-07-26+15.03.13.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Melissa is going to miss her new Kiwi friend, Carolyn. I&#039;ve always wanted to visit New Zealand, and now I would gladly go there just to visit Carolyn and Chuni &#8211; assuming they were back from the mission field at\u00a0the time&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEggFydiR6IqoesdGmMOLw5Ds2GklZfUOOxKzPWbWIKA8RtF9jcanaOCZ5mlk9S4fusRprmD50MRPTY0q1x31R8-jZBNDlqYVkN1-bSO7BpSQt5uWguUVxuty4OQdBEFgqgxwAHko6n0RKA\/s400\/2013-07-26+15.28.00.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sarah and a couple of her new friends &#8211; who are now safely in Spain &#8211;\u00a0 Photobombed by Phil Heckman!\u00a0 Real mature, Phil. \ud83d\ude09\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhb-osmueIacJFWA_wc4GiSKXAHx9r1qYRebB_PO_EaNy_-BmEn8jacdFAl7QvOjZf4tc1YC3sY0TIWRoPkYpGEiYv1ryQ2Nhdk3eeQSvRabpE5UEvEGZZ_klo8EAg9PrdkMr4E0aQzsrU\/s400\/2013-07-27+13.31.23.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Upon returning home, Melissa got to work on having the kids write up lists of things they&#039;d like to do\/people they&#039;d like to see before we leave.\u00a0 Pizza from Mancino&#039;s was on the top of Samuel&#039;s list.\u00a0 Grandma Trudy joined us.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhvHKaLlZHSXE9BCwK0JKbAlrEtmwCue5tfyPpHEt4EL-VISrMURti_kXd-e_Obe65cAti4__iGg6gkEff0Ourh22oEFewNDa9grSK31GYYkgWwM0UOAgbDWzADAS8wGfbctQwGGe_fwxU\/s400\/2013-07-28+10.49.32.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sunday morning I had the chance to share at my home church, Shelbyville First United Methodist.\u00a0 My sermon went long, but that didn&#039;t stop the congregation from giving us a very warm, gracious and supportive welcome! Service was followed by a great lunch at my brother Russ&#039; house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEguAq4Tj_TRQOxSYq876I9g5MMeiQ0SMGnxwDMox4fCPwhRJXiveK81Lsdsq1WFYigaLkHOFsrLmZWW31K_lVoDPg2VN2P2viPIbfeybkvJX4IQwlLsta1JlKvReJkn59CyPU-apPKkMJI\/s400\/2013-07-28+19.31.45.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sunday evening was the second of Kate Michel&#039;s two birthday parties we got to enjoy. Storly got into the party spirit!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgn42DNehO0x2xhXkVj2Iz5q_phA49KO2Ozjkde8PdFujyclTGG-QLmH3gx0jVSLaSTFI45de8uwdLoJJ8fXN4CDKq5WG0S8ApA0ODPb4Z8RMhyGAxJxPzoEuCguWvpExosQEqC7NFqeuQ\/s400\/2013-07-28+19.32.42.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The kids couldn&#039;t wait for cake and ice cream!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEiRkgJkIukgQvfFC5G72lEZ9LGQaMLMTXH0uu-adG3yM5GUdrMAB9kBmNL7zq4QMlnOhcm54be-o5M2OdRR4Void5elWlqfHfXSXTwfhRFC8C-LLSjd7ys0tZFftv6szX0JrcKi3yPx7tQ\/s400\/2013-07-29+20.44.35.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">And then last night we were blessed to be a part of the opening of VBS at West Morris Street Free Methodist Church in Indy.\u00a0 They have decided to make our kids the focus of their VBS mission giving; they hope to raise enough money to buy bikes for our kids once we arrive in Haiti.\u00a0 So sweet!\u00a0 And so much fun to be a part of the evening&#039;s festivities.\u00a0 I don&#039;t think I have ever been a part of a church that loved its neighborhood more than WEMO does.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coming up: The packing continues and we continue to whittle away at the To Do list.\u00a0 I weighed what we have already packed and we are at 2,000 pounds!\u00a0 BUT 1,500 lbs of that total is school supplies.\u00a0 We have reserved 3,000 lbs on the flight from Fort Pierce, Florida.\u00a0 Our flight is Tuesday, August 13th, but part of what I am trying to work out this week is a plan to get our family down to Florida a few days early to enjoy a bit of stress-free transition time as a family.\u00a0 It should be quite a challenge, considering our extremely limited budget!\u00a0 But if we can swing it, we&#8217;d like to pull out of Indiana a week from tomorrow.\u00a0 Time is flying.Tomorrow the house\u00a0gets listed again in the local paper as a rental at a new, lower price &#8211; a bit lower than we can\u00a0technically afford, in fact!\u00a0 We hope to get some phone calls and\u00a0get this situation settled.\u00a0 We continue to pray for God&#8217;s guidance and provision and we thank all of you who have\u00a0been praying\u00a0about this on our behalf.\u00a0 We&#8217;ll keep you posted!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two weeks from tonight, we&#8217;ll be settling down for our first night as new residents in Vaudreuil, Haiti!\u00a0 (Let&#8217;s not\u00a0forget the &#8220;God willing&#8221; part, of course.)It&#8217;s been a crazy couple of days since our commissioning at One Mission Society headquarters last Friday.\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t get any pictures of the actual service, but here&#8217;s a group [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6521","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\/6521","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=6521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6531,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6521\/revisions\/6531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}