As the beginning of summer approaches, marked not so much by the June 21 date on the calendar as by this Memorial Day weekend, we have spent a little time at our house decorating. My daughter was helping me put out the red, white, and blue flowers, the stars and stripes table runners, and several other nick knacks I always bring out at this time, she said, "Mom, why do you do this?" It reminded me that patriotism is not automatic--we must teach it to our children and take every opportunity to remind them of our Christian heritage as well as the fact that while we are at the pool and enjoying a picnic this weekend, men and women, many only babes themselves, are across the ocean fighting for our freedom.
My dad served in WWII and rarely talked about the atrocities he witnessed, he made sure we knew to stand at attention and salute the flag whenever it passed and to hold our hand over our hearts when we were at a public gathering and the national anthem was played. Not too many people do that anymore and it is very sad. We must certainly teach the facts of history but we must also instill the pride and passion on which our nation was founded.
This week as I have talked to several parents about enrolling their children in our school, I had the opportunity to discuss parts of our curriculum, I was thankful to be able to tell them that in addition to all of the wonderful Montessori materials we have to teach Math, Language, Science, Geography, and History, we will also teach Bible and patriotism!
A little school update: yes we have talked with several parents and have enrolled some boys and girls this week. Some of the students will benefit from the SB10 scholarship fund and some have been home schooled and will need some divine intervention to help with tuition. We are telling everyone we know who lives in GA about the tax credit which is a win-win for the donor will certainly help our scholarship fund for all our students. It is our prayer that every student who want to enroll will be able to do so.
Please do continue to pray for God to send us the students He wants to be with us and for Him to fill our school with those 21 children by the end of June. God reminds me almost daily, that He is in control and that He is working things out in His time, but I am still impatient! Your prayers are greatly appreciated!
I also met with the contractor and discussed the additional bathroom and petition we need to have. Of course it will cost more than we had budgeted, but we are hoping to be under contract and have him
begin pulling the permits by the middle of June. We take possession of space July 1 and hope to have all the renovations completed by July 10 so we can set up the classroom! We finalized the order for the furniture and will lace the order in time for everything to arrive about July 10 also.
I hope you have a wonderful and safe weekend. I hope you have time with family and friends, and I hope you take some time to remember why this is Memorial Day.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
To God Be the Glory
This week has been so exciting as we have seen God at work in so many ways. To see our school name really on the list of approved schools for SB10 monies was so exciting, but there have been many other ways God is showing His faithfulness!
We continue to have Montessori teachers apply to work with us, and we are continuing to pray about hiring one of them or sending someone to training that starts in a few weeks. We need to have clarity on that soon.
Our one teacher began her distance Montessori training this week and she and I visited a very interesting Montessori preschool that works with special needs children. The school is about an hour away and is directed by an wonderful Christian lady with whom I felt an instant kinship. She spent a lot of time with us and we learned about HANDLE and are so excited to learn more. (see www.handle.org for more info). It is an amazing method, being used around the world to help children with brain function disorders. We think God has some plans for us to use this approach with our students in some way and to work with this delightful lady somehow.
We also launched our Facebook Friend page and have about 60 friends. We will add news there and hopefully some pictures soon.
We also answered all the questions regarding our 501 c 3 application, we hope, and will get that in the mail this week.
Edgar and I had an interesting conversation this week; he is the practical provider. It went something like this:
Edgar--"So you already signed the lease on the building right?"
Me--"Yes, we had to do that for our SB10 application April 1".
Edgar--"For one year or two?"
Me--"For two--that is the least they would accept."
Edgar--"And you have hired at least one teacher?"
Me--"Yep"
Edgar--"How are we going to pay for that if we don't have students?"
Me--"We are going to pay for it the way we have always planned--with tuition money."
Edgar--"How many students do we have now?"
Me--"We have one so far, Ryan, and his scholarship covers his entire tuition."
Edgar--"So how are we going to pay the bills?" (tone of voice becoming a little more intense)
Me--"We are going to pay for it the way we have always planned--with tuition money."
Edgar--"But you just said we only have one student, our son!"
Me--"This is true, but it is only the 2nd week of May, I have asked God for a full enrollment by the end of June, and a waiting list by mid July--(I'm going for the 12 baskets left over!!)"
Edgar, shaking his head--"Okay."
It may appear as if i have blind faith--maybe I do, I am not sure. I do know I have Faith. Today our pastor, Andy Stanley, preached part 5 of his series Guardrails and it was regarding money. It was not only a great message, but a wonderful confirmation that God is our Source for everything including the students we need to pay the bills for our school! I have consistently asked God that if He wants us to open this school He would do it in such a way that it would be completely obvious that only HE could accomplish it. I promised to be careful to give Him ALL the glory--Seems to me He is right on track! Praise God!!
We continue to have Montessori teachers apply to work with us, and we are continuing to pray about hiring one of them or sending someone to training that starts in a few weeks. We need to have clarity on that soon.
Our one teacher began her distance Montessori training this week and she and I visited a very interesting Montessori preschool that works with special needs children. The school is about an hour away and is directed by an wonderful Christian lady with whom I felt an instant kinship. She spent a lot of time with us and we learned about HANDLE and are so excited to learn more. (see www.handle.org for more info). It is an amazing method, being used around the world to help children with brain function disorders. We think God has some plans for us to use this approach with our students in some way and to work with this delightful lady somehow.
We also launched our Facebook Friend page and have about 60 friends. We will add news there and hopefully some pictures soon.
We also answered all the questions regarding our 501 c 3 application, we hope, and will get that in the mail this week.
Edgar and I had an interesting conversation this week; he is the practical provider. It went something like this:
Edgar--"So you already signed the lease on the building right?"
Me--"Yes, we had to do that for our SB10 application April 1".
Edgar--"For one year or two?"
Me--"For two--that is the least they would accept."
Edgar--"And you have hired at least one teacher?"
Me--"Yep"
Edgar--"How are we going to pay for that if we don't have students?"
Me--"We are going to pay for it the way we have always planned--with tuition money."
Edgar--"How many students do we have now?"
Me--"We have one so far, Ryan, and his scholarship covers his entire tuition."
Edgar--"So how are we going to pay the bills?" (tone of voice becoming a little more intense)
Me--"We are going to pay for it the way we have always planned--with tuition money."
Edgar--"But you just said we only have one student, our son!"
Me--"This is true, but it is only the 2nd week of May, I have asked God for a full enrollment by the end of June, and a waiting list by mid July--(I'm going for the 12 baskets left over!!)"
Edgar, shaking his head--"Okay."
It may appear as if i have blind faith--maybe I do, I am not sure. I do know I have Faith. Today our pastor, Andy Stanley, preached part 5 of his series Guardrails and it was regarding money. It was not only a great message, but a wonderful confirmation that God is our Source for everything including the students we need to pay the bills for our school! I have consistently asked God that if He wants us to open this school He would do it in such a way that it would be completely obvious that only HE could accomplish it. I promised to be careful to give Him ALL the glory--Seems to me He is right on track! Praise God!!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
GREAT NEWS
Today we submitted additional paper work to the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship committee and we were APPROVED!! This is such wonderful news and a miraculous answer to prayer. Now those students who are currently enrolled in a public school and have and IEP Individual Educational Plan can receive scholarship funds if they choose to enroll in our program!! This has been a long and tedious process, but so worth the effort. Thank you for praying for us and for continuing to ask God to lead the 21 children HE wants to be in our school to enroll.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Marching Around the Walls--Lap 5
The last couple of weeks have been such a blur and and mixture of great excitement mixed with tremendous anxiety. The new materials I ordered have come in, I spent two days visiting local up-scale childcare centers handing out our new brochures, we are driving around town with magnetic signs on our cars, and we assembled 25 enrollment packets. My dreams are filled with classroom set up and we even purchased a couple of zoo toobs to set up some history lessons and story starters. God has been so faithful in providing the place we wanted and the staff we need. We have interviewed with a couple of other teachers and are feeling really good about our staff. The third part of the puzzle; however, is not yet falling into place. We really need students!
We have interviewed with a half dozen prospective parents and our school is really just what they are looking for, but no applications have come in yet. I feel like Joshua marching around the walls of Jericho. I know is not day 7 yet, but I am not seeing any indication that the walls are going to fall. I keep looking for cracks, but all I get is an occasional pebble falling down. It is times like this when the enemy really wants me to doubt: did God really call us to do this at this time? Is He really going to provide the students? Are we really going to be able to make budget? Are we going to get the scholarship funds? Am I going to look extremely foolish to have tried to open a business in this economy?
I do believe know that God asked to to open this school in this place at this time and I am confident that He will provide exactly the 21 students who He wants to be here--I just wish He would give me an idea of who they might be!! I have always asked for three basic things: a place, a staff, and students. He has provided first two already! Our Big Idea in Upstreet last month was Trust and this month it is Patience--God does have a great since of humor! Now for some great news!
Taffy was here and we served at the Orange Conference--while she was here we also visited Buckhead School Uniforms and selected our school uniforms--we will have Navy and Khaki skorts, shorts, and slacks. The shirts will be Hunter green, light blue, and yellow! Also, we partnered with Apogee to accept GA Tax Credit funds for our students' scholarships. Please check out all the great information on that at our website--especially if you live in GA. Today I am hopefully finishing up all the paperwork needed to submit our 501 c 3 application, and most importantly, I am talking one more time to the lady who heads the Special Needs Scholarship Program.
This brings us back to our most urgent prayer request. We have 3 potential students who would love to enroll, but they must have the scholarship funds to do so. The GA Senate is over for this session, and we were not able to get any assistance from the Senator's office--I am not fully convinced that the young girl trying to help us really understood the problem. Right now our accountant is working on a projected profit/loss statement along with documentation from our coffee business to allow that business to sponsor the school--all in an effort to prove our financial viability to become a qualified school so the students who are eligible to receive the Special Needs scholarships can enroll with us.
I have consistently prayed that God would work such a miracle in allowing us to open this school that only He could receive the Glory. We are in the final few days now to get our school approved and we need that miracle NOW, so please pray that hearts would be softened and the committee would approve us--we have one week before the final vote.
We are marching, we are praying, and we are EXPECTING walls to fall!
We have interviewed with a half dozen prospective parents and our school is really just what they are looking for, but no applications have come in yet. I feel like Joshua marching around the walls of Jericho. I know is not day 7 yet, but I am not seeing any indication that the walls are going to fall. I keep looking for cracks, but all I get is an occasional pebble falling down. It is times like this when the enemy really wants me to doubt: did God really call us to do this at this time? Is He really going to provide the students? Are we really going to be able to make budget? Are we going to get the scholarship funds? Am I going to look extremely foolish to have tried to open a business in this economy?
I do believe know that God asked to to open this school in this place at this time and I am confident that He will provide exactly the 21 students who He wants to be here--I just wish He would give me an idea of who they might be!! I have always asked for three basic things: a place, a staff, and students. He has provided first two already! Our Big Idea in Upstreet last month was Trust and this month it is Patience--God does have a great since of humor! Now for some great news!
Taffy was here and we served at the Orange Conference--while she was here we also visited Buckhead School Uniforms and selected our school uniforms--we will have Navy and Khaki skorts, shorts, and slacks. The shirts will be Hunter green, light blue, and yellow! Also, we partnered with Apogee to accept GA Tax Credit funds for our students' scholarships. Please check out all the great information on that at our website--especially if you live in GA. Today I am hopefully finishing up all the paperwork needed to submit our 501 c 3 application, and most importantly, I am talking one more time to the lady who heads the Special Needs Scholarship Program.
This brings us back to our most urgent prayer request. We have 3 potential students who would love to enroll, but they must have the scholarship funds to do so. The GA Senate is over for this session, and we were not able to get any assistance from the Senator's office--I am not fully convinced that the young girl trying to help us really understood the problem. Right now our accountant is working on a projected profit/loss statement along with documentation from our coffee business to allow that business to sponsor the school--all in an effort to prove our financial viability to become a qualified school so the students who are eligible to receive the Special Needs scholarships can enroll with us.
I have consistently prayed that God would work such a miracle in allowing us to open this school that only He could receive the Glory. We are in the final few days now to get our school approved and we need that miracle NOW, so please pray that hearts would be softened and the committee would approve us--we have one week before the final vote.
We are marching, we are praying, and we are EXPECTING walls to fall!
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