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!! 

Remodeling Begins!!

So as you can see above.... Remodeling is under way. The picture with the yellow wall is the Toddler Classroom. The other three pictures are the Primary Classroom. The walls are out and the plumbing is in! The classrooms are filled with natural light and free open space. It is very exciting to see this progress.... I cannot wait for more to come! The painting of the classrooms will begin this weekend, with the Primary class being painted a natural, sand color. The Toddler room is being painted a soft, sage green color. The classrooms are beautiful and will only become more beautiful as the shelving and materials arrive. I look forward to sharing this beautiful space with each of you! I will attach more pictures later this week so everyone can see the progress. Thank you for all the support and excitement about the school, I feel the wonderful energy with each step! 

And the story continues...

So, the story continues.... I shared in my last two posts about the signs. The signs I could not ignore, but what about all the people that have come into my life since October. The people who I have met at Holy Trinity Lutheran would be the first to mention. The people of  HT Lutheran have been amazing and very supportive. In October, when I presented to the church council I was greeted with joy, excitement and enthusiasm. I could not believe as I sat presenting to this open minded group of people, not only did a number of the church members know about Montessori but their own children had attended Montessori schools as children. This is unheard of in Nashville, other parts of the country have large, strong pockets of Montessori Education, but Nashville is different. There are a growing number of schools, but not until recently when Belmont opened their teacher training program did Montessori grow and gain more community support. So, to have members of the church excited about the program was one step... but they were equally excited about Montessori. What dream was I in? or maybe What reality show was filming me? When would this fall apart? Could this be REAL? Could this be the place I had been waiting for all these years....?

 At this point in my journey, I was shocked!! We moved from council meetings to congregational presentations to more meetings to forming a Montessori planning team to more meetings to the final day, March 29th.  (And, yes for all that know, the day after my sister Laura's wedding. everyone knew but Laura and Brandon.. did not want the weekend to be about HT, but about Laura & Brandon!! ) So, on March 29th at 9:30 am ... my world changed. Mike and I arrived for the congregational presentation and vote. After the team presented and I answered questions, it was time to vote.  The council called for the vote, my heart sank and then it happened .... "All in favor, say (I)" ....all I heard were loud voices chiming in.  And then I knew it had to be next, " All opposed, ................... Nothing !!! SILENCE.... Did he say all opposed??? where were they? it was silent!! No opposition?? Could this be true. And it was .... a UNANIMOUS vote !!!!  Loud cheering and clapping began ,followed by many members of the congregation hugging each other and then many of them hugging and shaking hands with me. I was overwhelmed with joy!!!  I did not believe this day could happen. With so many other broken roads to here, I could not believe where I was standing and with the wonderful task before me! A dear friend of mine from years past, Marcus Hummon wrote an amazing song, many of you know, saying, " ...and God bless the broken road that led me straight to you. "  I believe we are all on a journey with many roads and paths, but this day, March 29th was a day that started a new path for me... and God has truly blessed this road.