Behind the Scenes ~ The New Homeschool Room

I know many have wondered about our new school room and where it is, or where it came from. Today I hope to share a bit of the behind the scenes info about it and how this amazing blessing has come into our lives! The story will be as condensed as possible ;-).

When we moved to the inner city to be missionaries over 6 years ago, we moved into a row home on a major street in our neighborhood. At the time the property next door was up for sale, which we didn’t think much about. Within a few months God began to work and long story VERY short-my parents ended up buying the property to “give” to the church for ministry purposes. My parents “rented” the property to the church free of charge and owned it themselves. {In case you are wondering-properties are very cheap around here because of the neighborhood we live in} At the time I was the children’s ministry leader and ran several programs out of the property which became known as the Hope House. 011 Since it was next door, it was very easy for me to balance work and family at the time {this was when I only had Pac Man}.

Fast forward a LOT…years later we realized that we did not have the correct insurance policy to be doing ministry in the Hope House, so research began. In the end we realized that to insure the property for ministry use was outrageous, our current company wouldn’t even do it! My parents had a decision to make-either sell the property or figure something else out.

They prayed and talked and came up with a solution. The upstairs was renovated {very nicely} to make a 2 bedroom apartment which is now rented out by our good friends and ministry partners, a young couple-married almost a year now.

The downstairs was gifted to us for personal use!

My parents truly just wanted to bless us and surprised us with the gift of the space. Since it is right next door to our house AND my husband is the renovation MASTER, it became a very clear reality of what we could do with the space. The plans were made and work began this past spring. We hit the major turning point in July when the houses were connected… The boys are standing in the current kitchen looking into what is now the new dining room, which today looks like this {well, not quite that clean still}…The dining room was completed last week and today the carpet is being put in the school room which is two steps down below the dining room to the right {when looking at the photo above}! The addition of the dining room is an additional blessing due to the space it provides for fellowship! We have people over here a lot and it is always a tight fit in our kitchen to eat meals and socialize. Now we have a large comfortable space and we are SO excited to share it with MANY!

So yes, the schoolroom was an addition onto our house, but in a most unusual way-totally God! We feel very spoiled and blessed, I have actually shed many tears of joy over this. You homeschoolers will understand that for sure-the gift of a large homeschooling space is something we all dream of. I NEVER thought it would happen for us, I was just thankful to have the 9×10 room we had. It is not something we needed, not even something we asked for-just a total surprise! We are so incredibly thankful!

Stay tuned for the pictures of the schoolroom in progress. The carpet is being put in right now and then the move in begins. I plan to share an update with you soon!

UPDATE 11:00 AM…Feet have hit the carpet!!!!!!!!