Road Trip- Vol 2- Atlanta-IKEA

After our great lunch and visit at the Eaves house, we traveled on to Atlanta to IKEA. We arrived about 4:00pm and stayed until the lights went out at 9:00pm. I have to say that Mike, my husband, was such a trooper to not only go to IKEA, but stay 4 hours.... and not even shopping for us! We got everything from pitchers to baskets, small bowls to buckets. IKEA is a great resource for any Montessori Classroom or school! We had a great time filling two and a half carts! I do have to say that I received LOTS of interesting looks pushing two carts! I think people were a bit concerned about how many items we were purchasing! I had to keep saying, "Oh, I am opening a school in the Fall" and then I would get, " I was wondering WHY you had three carts!!" Thanks to Mike for hanging in there with me... and helping me make a lot of little, but big decisions for the classroom!

Road Trip- Vol 1- Signal Mountain

This weekend, Mike and I packed the girls for an overnight with my Mom, Dad and Lollie and set out for a trip to Chattanooga and Atlanta. We left Nashville at about 9:00 on Saturday, and arrived at Signal Mt. around 12:30. The drive was beautiful despite the heat and the traffic was easy, which is rare! Why were we traveling to Signal Mt.? Well, Farrell Eaves, the woodworker and father of my friend, Meg Manning was ready for us to visit his place to see the shelving "in process". I know as I write on this blog, I discover many realities as a type... the reality of my dream coming true, the reality of the work behind me, the work ahead of me and the 27 smiling faces that will begin school on Aug, 17th. But, what I felt when I walked into Mr. Eaves's 4000 sq ft. woodworking shop was beyond words. All I can say is that I was truly brought to tears. My eyes welled up with tears, my heart sank and my mouth dropped open. You cannot imagine this beautiful wood shop nested in this amazing garden/woods on top of Signal Mt.

I felt as though I was entering a retreat center... it was beautiful. The wood shop in itself was amazing, and the work that Mr. Eaves and his dear friend, Mike are completing on these shelves is amazing. The shelving, as seen above, is beyond any drawing or picture I could provide. After we toured the wood shop, Fern, or Mrs. Eaves had prepared a great lunch of sandwiches and coleslaw. Thanks Fern for the yummy lunch! While we were at The Eaves house we heard more about the shelves and what has gone into the process.....

The work that these men have put into these shelves is unbelievable. It is hard to express to all that have helped my true appreciation for these "gifts". As much as I say Thank you to everyone involved in the HTM process, it feels as though I can never show or say how truly grateful I am. I get teary-eyed when I think about all those that are helping me daily and it is overwhelming. Why me is what goes through my head each day? How have I been given such a wonderful gift? I am and will always be grateful to Farrell and Mike, and all the others who have helped with the shelving. Many "little" hands will touch these shelves for years to come, what a gift you have given the children. Thank you always, your dear friend, Kate.

Sinks and Toilets !!

Check out the sinks and toilets!!!

I thought for all of those who were thinking how great can toilets and sinks be... you have to see these pictures! Have you ever seen a sink that small... It is great! You have to see it in person to truly appreciate what creating a "children's house" means.

Thank you to the wonderful gentlemen from the "construction team" who donated their time, energy and dedication to seeing this construction project to the very end! The appreciation that I feel cannot be expressed in words. The joy and independence that the children will experience will last a lifetime..... Thank you to all those who have given so much!! 

The Chairs are in!

Well, here are the pictures of the first large order that came in this last week. The chairs are here!! Thank you to wonderful family friends, Ken and Mary Jo Innis who donated the funds for the chairs. They are beautiful, wood child-size chairs for the Toddler and Primary classroom. My "team" of support have been helping me assemble the chairs this week.  My nieces, Alex and Anna, have become woodworking pros putting together chairs at record speed! (Girls, Grandaddy Seng would be proud!! I know he is in heaven looking down smiling his sweet smile watching all the woodworking projects! He was a woodworker all of his life! ) Watching these small, but wonderful steps develop in the classroom is so exciting. I am so excited and ready to have the wonderful families and children who are enrolled begin the school/program. I feel not only honored to have them, but truly blessed! August is to close... just around the corner!

Memorial Day Weekend....

Memorial Day was spent painting! We painted and painted and painted some more.... Luckily, Mike and I were joined by an amazing crew of support to help with what we all thought would be a small paint job! After the planned 3-4 cans of paint were gone, we soon realized that our small paint job would last long into the weekend. The walls soaked up much more paint then expected!! Our family members; Brett, Laura, Alex, Anna; our friends, Claudia, Jonathan, Meg, Matt and Dennis, a Holy Trinity Church member, made up the wonderful crew of support. Jonathan and Claudia, our dearest friends, "stopped" by to help us cut off the door in the bathroom and stayed ALL day to help paint! Thank you guys and Claud sorry about the paint on your nice pants!! Our neighbors and future HTM parents, Matt and Meg each dedicated a full day of work! Thanks you to each of you... Meg loves to paint the trim and Matt was quite the roller. And, yes to my dear family who have taken on this HTM idea with amazing support, I thank you again and again! And, to Dennis, thank you for all your help! Dennis spent all day helping which was such a gift. Thank you all.. the paint is done!!