An amazing week. It has only been two weeks since my last post, but so much has happened I hardly know where to begin. My most overriding emotion is gratitude--to many of you who have faithfully prayed, to our Board and good friends who have worked hard, and most importantly to God for His faithfulness. April 1 is the deadline to have our completed application in to the Georgia Dept. of Education to be a school eligible to accept SB10 scholarship recipients. One of the biggest challenges to this application was getting the location for our school--documented by a Certificate of Occupancy and a signed lease. The CO was quite challenging as it required several inspections, the installation of a fire alarm system, and the business license. The tricky thing is that a church is meeting in the same space for the next 3 months and they needed to be approved also. All this to say--it is done!!! We sent the completed application in yesterday, with 24 hours to spare!
From the beginning we asked God for a place, a staff, and students. Well, now it is time to start enrolling students, which is also a little challenging since we need to have at least 15, of the 21 total, enrolled by June 1 and we won't have a classroom to show anyone until about July 15th. So again, we ask your prayers for God to select the 21 children He wants to bring to our school--the ones we can truly help. The website should be live in about a week, which is about the time the business cards, the tri-fold brochure, the magnetic car signs, and the big wooden yard sign should be ready.
This next week we hope to finalize our 501 c 3 application, sign off on the insurance, and finalize the staff handbook. We are also finalizing the design for the build-out that needs to be done the first week of July--it is going to look so amazing! God has done so much in the last three months, and believe me, only He could have accomplished all of this!
But this is Holy Week, the time we stop to remember the incredible love of our Savior and the unthinkable sacrifice He made on our behalf. I am once again overwhelmed by what that means. I pray that you will find the time in your busy day to pause and remember and to give thanks--not just for the way He daily answers our prayers blesses us beyond measure, but for the fact that He chose to love and forgive us when we were all so unlovable and so unforgivable. Have a Blessed Easter--we are indeed blessed!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Timing is everything
This week in our Beth Moore Bible study on Esther we are to the point in the story where Queen Esther stands before the king and He extends his scepter allowing her to speak, and to live! We learned about the importance of her fasting for 3 days before entering the court, but also how odd it was that when she had the chance to reveal her enemy for his evil plot she chose to wait. There was a long discussion of why she waited, but we came away understanding the importance of timing. We were reminded that "those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength", but also that those who wait upon the event, or the relationship, or the thing--will lose their strength! That was profound for me, as I feel I have been waiting for so many things that are out of my control, and it was making me weary.
As I began to change my focus, and wait upon the Lord, trusting that He is in control and He is the God of the details as well as the God of the Dream, my anxiety lessened, and my strength was renewed. Many things have come together this week and I am more confident that we will achieve the goals and meet the impending deadlines.
Our teacher "A" has worked out the details to join us part time and has a peace about it--Praise God! We met with landlords and pretty much came to an agreement to lease the space we need. The required improvements should be completed on time. We opened a bank account, sent all of the necessary information to our account to complete the compilation report needed, secured our domain (www.mchnf..org), discussed business card design with the printer, assembled the binders to submit for accreditation and application to GA Dept of Ed for Special Needs Scholarship--only a few items to go to complete it. We have our first Board Meeting scheduled for this week, and will hopefully get an approval from the insurance underwriters.
It is exciting to see so many things come together, in just the right time. We see God's hand in providing two of the three main things we asked for from the beginning--the staff, the location, and now it is time to begin recruiting the students. Please continue to pray as we have more important decisions to make and important work to be completed before March 25. I will try to do better at updating this blog.
Blessings to all
As I began to change my focus, and wait upon the Lord, trusting that He is in control and He is the God of the details as well as the God of the Dream, my anxiety lessened, and my strength was renewed. Many things have come together this week and I am more confident that we will achieve the goals and meet the impending deadlines.
Our teacher "A" has worked out the details to join us part time and has a peace about it--Praise God! We met with landlords and pretty much came to an agreement to lease the space we need. The required improvements should be completed on time. We opened a bank account, sent all of the necessary information to our account to complete the compilation report needed, secured our domain (www.mchnf..org), discussed business card design with the printer, assembled the binders to submit for accreditation and application to GA Dept of Ed for Special Needs Scholarship--only a few items to go to complete it. We have our first Board Meeting scheduled for this week, and will hopefully get an approval from the insurance underwriters.
It is exciting to see so many things come together, in just the right time. We see God's hand in providing two of the three main things we asked for from the beginning--the staff, the location, and now it is time to begin recruiting the students. Please continue to pray as we have more important decisions to make and important work to be completed before March 25. I will try to do better at updating this blog.
Blessings to all
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Exceptional Christian Education for Exceptional Children
This has been a relatively peaceful week; I feel your prayers and thank you. Not alot has changed in the last few days, but I believe we are on course. We are still awaiting news that our "teacher a" will be able to work part time at her school and part time for us. We need to be ready to sign a lease on the building within the next few days. We are working on a packet to submit when we apply for accreditation. We cannot be fully accredited until we are operational, but we just need a letter from the consultant stating that we are in the process.
We filed the papers for incorporation, so we are official! Montessori Children's House of North Forsyth. We almost have all of our board members--so excited for the great team God has assembled, and soooo ready to have a few more people reviewing and editing my work. I got the rough draft of the 501(c)(3) application and thankful that the company who filed the incorporation papers will also assist in completing this 28 page form and file it! We need to tweak the rough draft of the by-laws, but that should be very doable, especially with the assistance of some talented Board members!
A friend is working on our logo. I took the old one I had in 1980 and she is going to modernize it a little. I found the jump drive containing all the documents I created at my last job (Thank you, Jesus!) including the Staff Handbook, the Parent Handbook, and quite a collection of forms. This is making my task sooo much easier. In about 2 hours I had the Parent Handbook ready for Board review. I will work on the Staff Handbook this weekend.
Today in Bible Study, (Beth Moore/Esther) Beth had us think about our greatest fears and how they can be so crippling if we let the enemy keep threatening us with the worst case scenario. She challenged us to say "If (worst case scnario) happens, then GOD will still be on His throne and still take care of us! I believe now, more than ever that we are called to open this school at this time and in this place for His Glory, IF this is not the case, He is still God and we will remain in His Grip.
Praying expectantly
We filed the papers for incorporation, so we are official! Montessori Children's House of North Forsyth. We almost have all of our board members--so excited for the great team God has assembled, and soooo ready to have a few more people reviewing and editing my work. I got the rough draft of the 501(c)(3) application and thankful that the company who filed the incorporation papers will also assist in completing this 28 page form and file it! We need to tweak the rough draft of the by-laws, but that should be very doable, especially with the assistance of some talented Board members!
A friend is working on our logo. I took the old one I had in 1980 and she is going to modernize it a little. I found the jump drive containing all the documents I created at my last job (Thank you, Jesus!) including the Staff Handbook, the Parent Handbook, and quite a collection of forms. This is making my task sooo much easier. In about 2 hours I had the Parent Handbook ready for Board review. I will work on the Staff Handbook this weekend.
Today in Bible Study, (Beth Moore/Esther) Beth had us think about our greatest fears and how they can be so crippling if we let the enemy keep threatening us with the worst case scenario. She challenged us to say "If (worst case scnario) happens, then GOD will still be on His throne and still take care of us! I believe now, more than ever that we are called to open this school at this time and in this place for His Glory, IF this is not the case, He is still God and we will remain in His Grip.
Praying expectantly
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Getting closer, but still a long way to go
It has been a few days and sooooo much has happened. First of all let me say I can tell you all are praying and I really appreciate it! Of course someone out there is praying for me to have patience, and when I find out who it is they are dead meat! :)
There have also been a few questions, and since I often get ahead of myself let me clarify the deadlines we are facing: Because we have a very specific target audience--children who have been in the public system and have a current IEP because they can get free scholarship money to attend "eligible" schools--we must be an eligible school to insure a full class. In order to be an eligible school we have to have our completed application in to the school board by April 1. The application has to include the Certificate of Occupancy of the space in which we will be meeting, the resume's of the teachers, the proof that we are in the process of accreditation, and proof of financial viability. There are many components to this process and they are all lined up like dominoes!
Now for this week's report: we still do not know if we can lease the space we want, but it is looking much more favorable in our direction. I spent some serious time with the landlords and the fire marshall this week, and I think as soon as I can go to the landlords with a real offer, they will accept it.
So disappointed that we might not get "teacher a", but trying to be open to whatever God wants, I put a small ad online to try and find a teacher. I got three replies--2 international and one local. I met with the one who is local and found her to be delightful! She does not have an elementary ed degree, but does have a BS in liberal arts with a minor in psychology. She has home schooled, worked in a couple of Christian elementary schools, and done extensive tutoring. She is not Montessori trained, but has always been intrigued by Montessori and is willing to take the online course. Her philosophy is very similar to mine and I think she would be a great fit! I still think we need "teacher a" because she does have an elementary ed degree with a specialty in special ed and almost nine years experience.
Now for the really exciting part--if I hired the lady who is local, "teacher b", full time and could get "teacher a" part time I think it would work. "Teacher a" and I talked about this option and she said if that were possible she would know with clarity that this is what God wants her to do. She has really struggled with this decision as she believes to strongly in what we are trying to do and wants to be a part of it, but she is one year away from her long time goal of being vested and does not feel God wants her to give that up. At any rate, she spoke with her principal to see if she would hire her part time next year. This would allow her to complete her required 10th year in the system to be vested, and also let her work with us. At first the principal said "no", but then said, "Let me work on it"!!! So needless to say we are so excited that this could be the win-win for everyone that we have been praying for.
The best part of all is that after several stressful days and nights, both "teacher a" and I have a peace that God is working things out and He has reminded us how trustworthy He is. We still can't totally trace His hand in every detail, but we do trust His heart. We are more confident than ever in the vision for helping children and offering exceptional Christian education for exceptional children at this time and in this place.
Thank you so much for your prayers--please continue to pray for God to guide each step and for us to clearly see what He wants us to do. And if you are the one praying for us to have patience, please--quit it!!! :)
There have also been a few questions, and since I often get ahead of myself let me clarify the deadlines we are facing: Because we have a very specific target audience--children who have been in the public system and have a current IEP because they can get free scholarship money to attend "eligible" schools--we must be an eligible school to insure a full class. In order to be an eligible school we have to have our completed application in to the school board by April 1. The application has to include the Certificate of Occupancy of the space in which we will be meeting, the resume's of the teachers, the proof that we are in the process of accreditation, and proof of financial viability. There are many components to this process and they are all lined up like dominoes!
Now for this week's report: we still do not know if we can lease the space we want, but it is looking much more favorable in our direction. I spent some serious time with the landlords and the fire marshall this week, and I think as soon as I can go to the landlords with a real offer, they will accept it.
So disappointed that we might not get "teacher a", but trying to be open to whatever God wants, I put a small ad online to try and find a teacher. I got three replies--2 international and one local. I met with the one who is local and found her to be delightful! She does not have an elementary ed degree, but does have a BS in liberal arts with a minor in psychology. She has home schooled, worked in a couple of Christian elementary schools, and done extensive tutoring. She is not Montessori trained, but has always been intrigued by Montessori and is willing to take the online course. Her philosophy is very similar to mine and I think she would be a great fit! I still think we need "teacher a" because she does have an elementary ed degree with a specialty in special ed and almost nine years experience.
Now for the really exciting part--if I hired the lady who is local, "teacher b", full time and could get "teacher a" part time I think it would work. "Teacher a" and I talked about this option and she said if that were possible she would know with clarity that this is what God wants her to do. She has really struggled with this decision as she believes to strongly in what we are trying to do and wants to be a part of it, but she is one year away from her long time goal of being vested and does not feel God wants her to give that up. At any rate, she spoke with her principal to see if she would hire her part time next year. This would allow her to complete her required 10th year in the system to be vested, and also let her work with us. At first the principal said "no", but then said, "Let me work on it"!!! So needless to say we are so excited that this could be the win-win for everyone that we have been praying for.
The best part of all is that after several stressful days and nights, both "teacher a" and I have a peace that God is working things out and He has reminded us how trustworthy He is. We still can't totally trace His hand in every detail, but we do trust His heart. We are more confident than ever in the vision for helping children and offering exceptional Christian education for exceptional children at this time and in this place.
Thank you so much for your prayers--please continue to pray for God to guide each step and for us to clearly see what He wants us to do. And if you are the one praying for us to have patience, please--quit it!!! :)
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Decisions, decisions
We had a great weekend in Charleston with family and I let my mind relax a little as I continued to ask God to clearly reveal the next steps, if any. We have had some very positive and encouraging things to happen.
Most excitedly (is that a word?), is the fact that Sunday afternoon I got a call from the owner of the place we originally wanted to lease. As it turns out, the church is meeting in the space, but no contracts have been signed, and the owners really feel our school would be a better fit, so they wanted to know if we were still interested!! This is the end unit of the building where hundreds of children with special needs come for therapy sessions each week. They offer physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, etc. One of the owners who is Ryan's therapist, told me this week she has at least six students who are very interested in enrolling! Even better news is that they will do the renovations necessary to meet the fire code and although I would need to sign the lease soon so that I could get the Certificate of Occupancy before April 1, there is a possibility the church would continue to meet there until I needed to move in, July 1st. This would give the church additional time to find another location and would help me as paying rent for 5 months before we have any income is a bummer.
I also have heard from six of the eight people we asked to be on the Board and five have agreed to do so! The team is looking great as there is a diverse mix of people with varied expertise.
A lady called me and asked if I would be interested in doing some infant/toddler Montessori teacher education for her. This would be an on going, part time job doing what I love! It would be a way to earn some serious money for the school and would be very doable as I have done it several times before and have what I need--God provides!
The only real obstacle, and it is huge, is that our original teacher still feels she cannot commit to this. I am very saddened as I know she would be perfect for the job. I have listed the job through a couple of Montessori job search websites and spent a couple of hours reading resume's. I emailed one girl who showed promise, but I do not have any peace about hiring someone I do not know. I have spent a pretty sleepless night praying and thinking.
It is critical that when we open, we are a huge success for several reasons: most importantly because this a venture of faith. I know that God is directing all of this and His name is all over it in every way. He must be glorified in all that is done. It is also critical for children as it is a big step for parents to remove them from a public system, even a broken one, and move them to our school. We must make a huge difference in their lives, and that responsibility lies directly on the shoulders of the lead teacher. I know that this has been a difficult decision for "teacher A" but I am confused that she is getting one message, to stay where she is, and I am getting an opposite message: she needs IS the teacher.
Our immediate prayer request is complete clarity. I will need to give an answer regarding the building this week and I cannot sign a lease without the right teacher in place. If I do not sign the lease, they will offer it to the church and that space is lost. I am also running out of time to meet the April 1 deadline, so PLEASE take a few minutes now and ask God to clearly shut this down or to make His will abundantly clear as to who is to teach for us if we are to open this fall. Thank you so much for your prayers!
Most excitedly (is that a word?), is the fact that Sunday afternoon I got a call from the owner of the place we originally wanted to lease. As it turns out, the church is meeting in the space, but no contracts have been signed, and the owners really feel our school would be a better fit, so they wanted to know if we were still interested!! This is the end unit of the building where hundreds of children with special needs come for therapy sessions each week. They offer physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, etc. One of the owners who is Ryan's therapist, told me this week she has at least six students who are very interested in enrolling! Even better news is that they will do the renovations necessary to meet the fire code and although I would need to sign the lease soon so that I could get the Certificate of Occupancy before April 1, there is a possibility the church would continue to meet there until I needed to move in, July 1st. This would give the church additional time to find another location and would help me as paying rent for 5 months before we have any income is a bummer.
I also have heard from six of the eight people we asked to be on the Board and five have agreed to do so! The team is looking great as there is a diverse mix of people with varied expertise.
A lady called me and asked if I would be interested in doing some infant/toddler Montessori teacher education for her. This would be an on going, part time job doing what I love! It would be a way to earn some serious money for the school and would be very doable as I have done it several times before and have what I need--God provides!
The only real obstacle, and it is huge, is that our original teacher still feels she cannot commit to this. I am very saddened as I know she would be perfect for the job. I have listed the job through a couple of Montessori job search websites and spent a couple of hours reading resume's. I emailed one girl who showed promise, but I do not have any peace about hiring someone I do not know. I have spent a pretty sleepless night praying and thinking.
It is critical that when we open, we are a huge success for several reasons: most importantly because this a venture of faith. I know that God is directing all of this and His name is all over it in every way. He must be glorified in all that is done. It is also critical for children as it is a big step for parents to remove them from a public system, even a broken one, and move them to our school. We must make a huge difference in their lives, and that responsibility lies directly on the shoulders of the lead teacher. I know that this has been a difficult decision for "teacher A" but I am confused that she is getting one message, to stay where she is, and I am getting an opposite message: she needs IS the teacher.
Our immediate prayer request is complete clarity. I will need to give an answer regarding the building this week and I cannot sign a lease without the right teacher in place. If I do not sign the lease, they will offer it to the church and that space is lost. I am also running out of time to meet the April 1 deadline, so PLEASE take a few minutes now and ask God to clearly shut this down or to make His will abundantly clear as to who is to teach for us if we are to open this fall. Thank you so much for your prayers!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Prayer
This was on Ragamuffin Soul's blog yesterday, but it so captures where my heart is today that I stole it. I hope you will have the courage to pray this over whatever situation you find yourself and I really hope you will pray it for me.
My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that my desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.
- Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that my desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.
- Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Today has been a difficult day. Several important things have changed and that could have a major impact on the ability to open the school this fall. I am trying to not be discouraged, as I must trust this is all part of His plan, but I am confused and not quite sure what to do next. Let me elaborate.
First of all, as I said at the beginning, I have been preparing for some time to be ready in case God leads us to open a school again, but I have not tried to manipulate anything. So, when Ryan's teacher said she had been giving great thought to leaving her job and helping me provide an environment for him and other kids in his situation, I felt this was perhaps a nudge from God. Then when so many other things feel into place so easily, it seemed apparent this was THE time. I (and many of you, thank you) have been faithfully praying for God's leading each step of the way, and I trust He is leading, even today.
Today, our teacher told me she has decided not to move ahead with us, and although she believes in what we want to do, she is unable to be our teacher. While I certainly do not ever want anyone to do something unless that is what they feel God wants them to do, I thought we were past this. I am saddened on many levels because if she is not the one, then the chances of some of the other student's at Ryan's school who we had hoped would join us, probably will not. This means that we will need to look harder for students and more importantly that Ryan will not have any of his friends move with him next year. I am struggling with understanding this since we are well into the process.
Secondly, we are facing an approaching deadline that could be very difficult. In order to have the school eligible to receive the scholarship funds we must have our completed application in no later than 5:00 pm on Thursday, April 1, 2010. There is one part of the application that seems impossible at this point: we must have a signed Certificate of Occupancy. This gives us less than 2 months for the architect and the site engineer to finish their drawings, the owner/builder to bid the renovations, the bank to approve our mortgage, and all of the work to be completed! The really frustrating thing is that the meeting to approve our application will not take place until May 13th, so the application will sit there for 6 weeks, but we cannot submit it unless it is totally complete on April 1--no exceptions.
So......we have already paid the architect a sizable deposit--do we have him just stop? We are not sure where to begin to recruit a teacher and have no one "in the wings". What does this mean? Is God putting the brakes on this all together or is this a test to see if we are willing to hang tough? I really don't know, and would really appreciate your prayers.
Did I mention that we sent letters to all potential Board members this weekend? We also completed most of the paper work to file for incorporation--do we go ahead and submit it, along with the $1500 fee? I am just not sure and would really appreciate clarity. Also, as a side note, I almost didn't share all this lest we appear as a failure before we even get off the ground, but that would seem to really be hypocritical; we have shared all of the good things, and so it seems we must also share the bad and the ugly. This is where we are--sure wish we had the Board of advisors now!!
First of all, as I said at the beginning, I have been preparing for some time to be ready in case God leads us to open a school again, but I have not tried to manipulate anything. So, when Ryan's teacher said she had been giving great thought to leaving her job and helping me provide an environment for him and other kids in his situation, I felt this was perhaps a nudge from God. Then when so many other things feel into place so easily, it seemed apparent this was THE time. I (and many of you, thank you) have been faithfully praying for God's leading each step of the way, and I trust He is leading, even today.
Today, our teacher told me she has decided not to move ahead with us, and although she believes in what we want to do, she is unable to be our teacher. While I certainly do not ever want anyone to do something unless that is what they feel God wants them to do, I thought we were past this. I am saddened on many levels because if she is not the one, then the chances of some of the other student's at Ryan's school who we had hoped would join us, probably will not. This means that we will need to look harder for students and more importantly that Ryan will not have any of his friends move with him next year. I am struggling with understanding this since we are well into the process.
Secondly, we are facing an approaching deadline that could be very difficult. In order to have the school eligible to receive the scholarship funds we must have our completed application in no later than 5:00 pm on Thursday, April 1, 2010. There is one part of the application that seems impossible at this point: we must have a signed Certificate of Occupancy. This gives us less than 2 months for the architect and the site engineer to finish their drawings, the owner/builder to bid the renovations, the bank to approve our mortgage, and all of the work to be completed! The really frustrating thing is that the meeting to approve our application will not take place until May 13th, so the application will sit there for 6 weeks, but we cannot submit it unless it is totally complete on April 1--no exceptions.
So......we have already paid the architect a sizable deposit--do we have him just stop? We are not sure where to begin to recruit a teacher and have no one "in the wings". What does this mean? Is God putting the brakes on this all together or is this a test to see if we are willing to hang tough? I really don't know, and would really appreciate your prayers.
Did I mention that we sent letters to all potential Board members this weekend? We also completed most of the paper work to file for incorporation--do we go ahead and submit it, along with the $1500 fee? I am just not sure and would really appreciate clarity. Also, as a side note, I almost didn't share all this lest we appear as a failure before we even get off the ground, but that would seem to really be hypocritical; we have shared all of the good things, and so it seems we must also share the bad and the ugly. This is where we are--sure wish we had the Board of advisors now!!
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