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HIS little Schoolhouse on the prayery - Melanie Champion · Armed Anchored Adorned

• Armed Anchored & Adorned: was this for you today? You're not alone. God whispered these things to my soul first. And then he whispered, there's more. When you hear that, who do you think of? Who stirs in your heart when you hear there's more? Pray about sharing this with them. Yep, them. Yep, you. Remember, we don't go to church. We are the church. Every one of us has a start and a finish line. Every day we get to choose how we will run that race. Will we choose ordinary or counterfeit or will we choose that abundant life that Jesus died to give us? Welcome to the Armed, Anchored and Adorned podcast. I'm so glad you're here. hello. Hi, my friend. ⁓ already been talking so much. It's so good to just have some time with you. It's usually a go go go go go go go switch drop them off, and roll kid, get out. ⁓ When can we have coffee? Please, when can we be together? Now we finally ⁓ I'm thrilled. This is my beautiful friend Melanie Champion. Hi. And I'm so grateful that I get to introduce her to you. the way that you walk your love for Jesus. Is not a performance. is incredibly genuine and see in so many different ways ⁓ and you here ⁓ that's all care about is I love that. how he gets to live in and through us. And we've already been sitting here talking about just the messiness of being girls. So true, so true. I'm sick of it. And wanting everything just so, so you're accepted, so you're loved. And you just gave me the nicest compliment because that's really all I want in life. I want to just be his instrument in all areas. Which means it's okay when things are messy. Things aren't going to be messy. Things aren't going to be right. But just embracing that and saying, Lord, here I am and all of this. use me. Well, it's just so weird. I think I see your idea of messy. And I feel like My level of messy is on a whole different level. So when you come into my messy, first you see my messy baby. Oh, I love that boy. Walks in covered in chocolate and I'm like, bring it. Bring me the love. I made chocolate covered or chocolate chip banana muffins and he had a couple. They were delish. They were illiterate. Chocolate covered. And I was like, give me some love. Give me some But he knew too, he goes. I hugged her so he didn't get chocked on her yet. I love him. But just having you in my space like I'm fully aware of my mess. Just giving you guys a real backstory here. I'm fully aware of my mess. But you know. It's gift. Sometimes it's like, this is a different level of messy today. I just, I'm feeling it. But ⁓ whatever. It is. where I'm at right now. I love it. But thanks for coming into my mess. Thank you for inviting me. Loving my mess. I do, I do, I do. So Mel and I have met years ago. What is it? Seven years ago now? Okay, so I was thinking about this ⁓ for a bit now. This is my first memory is your family coming in, all three of your babies, little Luke was tiny. I felt like Luke had blonde hair. you were dropping him off and Emma wanted to stay with him, which I thought was beautiful. I was like, Ooh, I love that. And so she stayed with Luke in one of the very small classrooms. But I mean what I loved about you and I remember about you is just your piece which is so welcoming to us women. That is a gift that you give us of just, it's okay. It's okay. And I remember just going, ooh, that's my jam right there. Like I'm coming in for the hug, baby. So that's my first memory and then I remember us just. Talking connecting and I remember Emma and Zachary just being sweet and precious and You starting the but having the Bible study there. so yeah, that was our first. ⁓ She was the children's director at the um at Northland at the church that we were kind of merging with because of our church building situation and they were so welcoming to us and then I love it the Lord through really cool circumstances just was nudging you know I was praying over that building for two years right yes I remember you telling me that story I So, of shortly after, because it was 2019, when the Lord was like, this is where I want you to start anchoring in with your family. And I was like, okay. And then you decided you were going back to full time teaching. Yep. Full time. And a position had opened up and I really felt called to that and I remember I had to step away from Grace City. Also, my husband, Eric, he had taken a position over at Summit Lake Mary. So we had been involved with Summit forever and ever and ever. And he took a position there and I knew I needed to be with family. This position of full-time teaching came up. It was just God. And boy did I go out screaming and kicking. ⁓ so difficult because I knew this job I needed to accept. I knew I needed to be with my family and support Eric with being a worship leader over at Lake Mary. But I loved my family. It was my family. was that. These are my people. And so. ⁓ Yeah, the day that I stepped away, Jeremy had me come up on stage to pray over me. And I will never forget how hard I cried. I mean, there was not slinging. ⁓ just was so sad because I knew that that was going to be a transition that I had to let go. And looking back, that's such a beautiful time in my life because Sometimes God will call you to do hard things that you don't want to do, but you know it's where God has placed you. And so I think that's such a good life lesson that not all transitions are beautiful or easy or what you want, but surrendering to his obedience of saying, no, no, no, no, no. This is a beautiful church. want to be with my husband. I want, I love Summit, but I also love Grey City. So being torn like that was difficult. Oh, and I just cried and cried and cried and cried. I didn't want to go. I love Jeremy and Stephanie, like brothers and sisters, they're like my little brother and sister. And I knew I needed to step away. I didn't want to. And then going into Summit was so beautiful and wonderful and so, you know, that was my, that is my family as well. but feeling that torn, like I'm gonna was just really difficult. And that's when, you know, Jeremy and I had met and he's like, well, do you have anybody in mind? And I was like, yes, I do. I know it should be Tara Kelly. And he's like, well, reach out to her, please. And I can see that now, that would be a good transition. And then I did reach out to you and you were, I don't like kids. What's your response? It was the weirdest conversation. Yeah, and I'm like, yeah, it's okay. But you're still called for this position. I was like, I don't think so. don't think I'm the right you were like, no. And I was like, well, for a season, I do believe that this is a stepping stone for you. And you were like, what, what, what? And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. It is my sister. you wrestled with that. ⁓ yes, I did. Yeah. I said. said, well, it was really cool. I had to step away from this position and I felt the Lord say your name. I was like, aren't you the children's director? Yeah. I knew she was a children's director. I'm like, I don't really like kids that much. You did. That's how God works, ⁓ He's not gonna show the whole picture right now. not going to. That's called trusting Him. That's called faith. And so being able to say, Lord, I will trust you. ⁓ I can't see the whole picture right now. So yeah, really did make a whole lot of sense to me and I... ⁓ I remember really wrestling with it because I knew I was called to connect with women. was something that I ⁓ knew ⁓ the Lord showed That was your comfort zone. And it was very comfortable and familiar to me. And children were not comfortable. They're familiar because I had three and I love my babies. ⁓ do love kids. I didn't know how to be you. And in my mind, you're it. I would choose this woman to be with every child in all the land, always. There's a few people that really shine and do it very beautifully and with a genuine love of the Lord and of the babies. Thank you. And you do that and I knew I did not have that. There was no like... And I remember saying to you, you know, a lot of it is working with your volunteers and loving these women and speaking life into them to do their calling. And I knew you could do that, right? You can do that very well, Tara. But what I wasn't good at was the delegating. So I took everything on and did it all. I didn't do the delegating. Mel can delegate. That's being bossy. I got better at it. People are like, ⁓ there's Melanie. She can delegate. It's a gift. You do this and you do that and go, go, go. I can delegate in my home. Can you? Absolutely. I can too. Ask Eric. Ask my girls. That's exactly right. Maybe I could do it a little bit. But anyway. was our connection. Our first introduction and then... God did a really, really wild thing and wild. The timeline of it is only Jesus. And I just think it's super cool. And I'm just meaning like our lives intersecting. Yeah. So, so crazy It was several years ago. ⁓ It was spring break. ⁓ Luke had asked me to... homeschool him. Okay. From the beginning of the school year and I was like, oh baby, I'm really not that mommy. Right. No. That is a special kind of mommy. So ⁓ I did, ⁓ they went to a school ⁓ over in Winter it's Community School, ⁓ Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. ⁓ so the teachers did ⁓ the work and they ⁓ send it and then my girls would it on Mondays and Wednesdays. ⁓ I just was kind of ⁓ there at home going, ⁓ what are you You know, I never picked ⁓ I never. ⁓ Wrote lesson plans for my daughters never ⁓ I'm I did for my own classroom that I taught But not necessarily for them which was a beautiful thing so moms that stay home Full-time write all the lesson plans pick all the curriculum man. That is a totally different beast and Kudos to them absolutely. yeah, woo. We yeah, so I was not called for that Again, my daughters would be, they would just be at the beach. Be pretty. Have a nice tan. Let's go get a blowout. Let's try that today. That would be the homeschool day, right? Let's go outside and just pick some flowers. And that would be it. I'm not equipped for that. Interesting. Yeah. So when moms come in and say, have, there are lesson plans and I've done the homeschool, I'm like, That's good stuff. Yeah. Yeah, not me. No, not me. And it's okay to know that. ⁓ for sure. Right. Yeah. But he asked me all year long and I was like, just why are you asking me this now? And I would ask him questions. He's curious why he wanted this. Yeah, yeah. Sweet boy. ⁓ And then it was around spring break. I heard the Lord say, are you going to listen to him? Ooh. I was like, Well, if you say so, then I will. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I pulled them out and we did Florida Virtual. We finished out that school year. We actually had a lot of fun. Sure. I'm not sure you learned anything, but I didn't really care. Sometimes other stuff. And I think that sometimes there are seasons where God does want those type of seasons to bond with your kid or there are things that they need that you just Get out of the rush. ⁓ our families ever. just don't. I don't think it's God's best. You can edit that. I'm not going to. I don't think it's good. It's not. I don't think we were built to go at that pace that culture drives us. That a system tells us. I agree with that. I was grateful for that season. Yes. And then through baseball, I was sitting there at practice one day. ⁓ this was really cool. I said, in my soul, I didn't even say it out loud. I just whispered to the Lord, I whispered I wish I want it for all my kids, but at this point it was just Luke that he could just be on like Little House on the Prairie. ⁓ that was the whisper of my soul. That is us. Isn't that crazy? That is CSA. Right. So I had no idea. Yep. No, I mean, this wasn't even a thing. Mm And how cool is that? Right. But then again, who doesn't want Little House on the Prairie? Of course. Come on. I sure do. What a great place. Some people would be too slow. And it's so funny because, you know, when they ask you those questions, who's somebody you want to be like or who's somebody that is a hero to you besides Jesus? Mine is always Caroline Ingalls. Is it really? Darn it. I cannot get her. She's so nice and quiet and she always stays up before Charles comes in from the plot to have dinner. And she's cooked it. And she's cut the chicken's neck or whatever. And I'm like, I want to be like that. do you? No. Eric gets home late and I'm asleep. And I'm like, be quiet. You're waking me up. And he's like, sorry. Not Caroline Ingalls. And when she sits with Laura and Mary, now girls, let's talk about this. And I'm going, what did you do? That's me. OK. That's me. Like Caroline Ingalls. Oh, I want to be like her. That's hilarious. You are like her. Oh, thank you. I wouldn't say that. She's amazing. She is. She gets that infection on her leg and she has to cut it out all by herself. No. You know this show. I have like faint memories. Oh, my kids. Have trauma over Little House on the Prairie. They're like mom I cannot believe you let us watch all those episodes Those were bad like anxiety attack or you know, they're not gonna have enough food on the table. Oh my gosh I have to go back and watch some of these. It's really good. That's so funny. Yes, CSA. Oh It's Little House on the Prairie. So again, what God has done here Through this beautiful woman. Oh is literally like Little House on the Prairie and she's wrong and she is a lot like more angles. Oh gosh. Eric doesn't have quite as much hair. As Charles. Oh yeah. I'm sure he's just like him. He's out there plowing right now. But so this really it just was so I'm trying to connect the dots in this story. The way the Lord just kind of illustrated this and he I know he put that in my heart. love that. This is what you want. you that vision, ⁓ that anticipation. And I love when God shows up and is like, be patient. It's hope, right? And I think sometimes we forget about hope. You know, we talk about faith a lot in the church, but hope. having hope for our future. That God is just trust me, give me time, be patient. I'm a right now kind of gal. And I wanna see it all, I wanna know it all, and that's not good. ⁓ So for me, through all of this, I was working at a position, just going through it. ⁓ Two of my tight, tight, tight friends that I really loved on the campus that I was working, they were actually leaving. One was being called to, and she had already resigned. She was being called to work with her husband with his company. And then the other was moving to Georgia. And so I'm like, wait, what is this gonna look like for me if I stay and linger ⁓ being all by myself on this campus? And so it was funny, cause a parent had come to me just in passing and she had said, why don't you just resign and teach my girls and just full-time teach my daughters? And I kept on walking by and I laughed and I thought nothing of it. Absolutely not even like stuck in my brain. Wasn't even a thought. Nope, not even a thought. That person said it to me and... This was long before? Way long. Okay. I was still in that position and Amber just said to me, Mel, you should teach my girls." And I just laughed and I'm like, ⁓ you're crazy. And so later my daughter Av and her husband were gone and she had asked me to go over and keep watering some of the plants, right? So I went to their house and I'm watering plants all by myself. Nobody's in this house. And all of a sudden it was, you need to open up the one room school house and you need to do it. And it was I literally stopped in my tracks as I'm watering this plant. And I've talked to Av about this, my daughter. I've talked to her like, is it because maybe her home had that openness of like, God, whatever you want, Logan and I are obedient, whatever you want, Lord. And I wonder if it was that spirit that Avalee had cultivated in her home that allowed the Holy Spirit to speak so loudly. and clear to my heart that I stopped to my tracks and I'm like, wait, what? How would that look? What would that be? And for a long period of time, I didn't tell anyone. Never, I was just like, that's cuckoo. That's crazy. No, would never do that. What? How would that look? On our property, we have a one room school house sitting on our property that was full of my girls. Barbies, Eric's tools, storage totes, holidays junk. When you moved it on there, was the point? What was your thought? So we personally didn't move it there. The previous owners. ⁓ wow. They have moved every single piece of building that's on there. Our house has been moved from Winter Park right off of Park Avenue. That's our home. The train station has been moved there. thought you guys did all that. We bought our home, our property, in foreclosure. That's a whole other crazy story. But the people that previously owned our property, they were like historians. And so when they would find out that beautiful, historical places were going to be demolished, they would go, no, no, no, no, no, no. They would purchase it. And they would move it onto their property. Wow. So this one room schoolhouse had been moved from Seminole State University over there in Sanford. It was going to be demolished and more of the university, the college, was going to be built. So they actually moved it there. So yeah, it was kind of a play room, play for our daughters who were now much older. And we just kind of had left it alone. Wow. I finally was brave enough. I talked to Eric a little bit and he's like, ⁓ you gotta pray on that, you know? And then I talked to my girls and they're like, mom, it's kind of a cool idea. You gotta pray about that. So eventually, ⁓ I shared with two of my coworkers that I was working with that were leaving. And previously they were kind of like, Mel, you should resign. Go enjoy the beach, you know, just do your thing. Go love on your kids and... Then when I shared that with my coworkers, they were like, are you kidding me? Mal, you need to learn with this. You need to go. They could see it. I could see in you what God was preparing. They could see it so much clearer for me than I ever could. So then they started to be this daily accountability of coming and going, are you doing it? Are you doing it? Mal, you need to do it. And I'm going no, I'm okay seatbelt on I'm good. No, thank you. I'm safe I'm secure. I don't need to and So then they helped me kind of break it down of like Melanie why don't you first baby steps? Just resign right just do those first few steps and so I had gone to Seattle to see Avon Logan and I was there visiting and I knew that it was time to just simply resign. Right? Just step out of that position. And again, I went a little bit kicking and screaming. I loved my boss. Loved her. She's really good. And I was safe. I had a new classroom. I knew that it was going to be. But I also was like, no, it's time. It's time. just had to do that. And so I did thinking almost like I was just gonna sit at the beach, be lazy, do my thing, love on my daughters. And ⁓ some other families through some of my friends who were encouraging me to step out in faith with this one room schoolhouse, they could see it and they were starting to reach out to me. They're like, well, wait, what would this look like? What would this look like? What would this look like? And I'm like, I don't know. You guys are asking me a lot of questions that I truly, I didn't know. And it was, I had been playing with it quite a bit. And then it wasn't until after I had resigned and I received a text, was Allison. It was so beautiful. And I wish I would have saved it. But I was in Seattle when I received it and I went to Avali and Logan and I read it to them. We were at like a little French bakery and Avali's like, mom, you need to do it. Yeah. And Logan, you know, they were just like, this is something you need. What, what, what, what if you just try it? Yeah. And so that is those crazy steps of leading to CSA opening up. and me having no clue what I was doing. There was nothing to duplicate. Right. There was nothing that I could come alongside of and go, how did you do this? What were the steps? It was truly just saying. Step by step. Yeah, I'm just going to try this and see what happens. you know, try, fail, try, fail, try, fail. God bring I don't fail. Isn't that funny? So. From a ⁓ teacher's perspective, before I even had that first few weeks of school, I had everything lined out. Exactly how it was going to look. Little bit of control there. Little bit of like, here are the plans, God. Come on, follow me. Will you bless what I have lined up for my life. Make it pretty Jesus because here's what I'm going to do. Right? And I remember sitting at my round table for math time and I seriously had spent a lot of time planning, you know, and I just knew that this was how it was going to be. And as I got into math, it was like, no, this will not work. This is not how it's going to be. And the Lord really nudging on my heart, are you really going to trust me? Can you just please let me show you now? And me going, Jesus, need you. I have no clue what I'm doing here. It's such a precious place to be. Yeah. And his ways were so much more beautiful and it just worked. in a way that I would have never come up with on my own. And so it was just those growing pains every single step of the way, every step of the way of just trusting him. That's so cool. Yeah. Really, really cool. And there were a lot of people that were like, wait, what? ⁓ for sure. You're doing what? I mean they asked me so I'd beautiful wonderful people that love Jesus so there's no hurt of course but I would run into them at Publix or here or there and they would just be like what are you doing yeah like what cuz I'm like no right yeah I feel just as stupid as you're thinking I am like I was like wait what But it was just, who are we? Which is so neat now that it's been, what, three years, whatever. I look at the families that God brought. I mean, we did no advertising, nothing on social media, nothing like, everybody. No, it was truly God who's like, hey, I want this family and I want this family. These people are going to believe in it. These children need this system. And now looking at those families that I know just are like, hi Mel, here's my babies. Run with it girl. How cool is that? And they truly believe in it. Like they 100 % can see the fruit. of what God has done in that program that God has done. ⁓ my goodness. Yeah. It's, it's such a... I remember the first year, every time I would drive onto the property, I would pray, Lord, please don't ever let this fall flat. ⁓ me too. Lord, please don't let this fall flat. I'm not going to lie. It's fallen flat a couple of days. Like not just just in the rat race of life. ⁓ my goodness. Yes. For sure. But I don't want to lose that. Look what you've done. that's such a good. We're such Israelites. I know where it's like, OK, you just did this huge amazing thing and then it's just like, OK, bye. I love you. And I I'll have those moments where so there's a pig. His name is Wilbur. He's fat chunky little thing. He's a monster. And he wags his tail. is the happiest little pig. Biggest pig. Yeah. And just like, just hanging out with the kids. Yeah, just walking. That pig draws me back to, don't miss it. Don't miss how amazing this is. And look what I've built. Look what I've. Fur. Fur. ⁓ Tara. It is so cool. And how cool is it? This is true. Our school had just finished the novel study of Charlotte's Web. And I have a dear, wonderful, beautiful friend who had found this piglet on the side of the road. And I connected with her. She connected. It was beautiful. She's like, I'm on my way with this pig. And I'm like, wait, OK, let's do this. And she comes. with all the equipment, all the stuff. The students are there. She comes on a day that they're there and they're bottle feeding Wilbur. He was so tiny. ⁓ and I told them, it was like he was the size of this cup right here. And I told the kids, guys, there's a percentage Wilbur might not make it, just like the book Charlotte's Web talks about. This is gonna be, we've gotta be ferns. They just embrace that pig. So now he is like a representation of the love that these children just poured into this pig. You know, every two, three hours, they can tell you, because we wrote out a schedule of how to feed them, how to hold them, how to love them, how to keep them warm. And Charisse did a whole thing on what to do with him. And the kids just picked it up. So now him on our property. It's funny because he has those whole 14 acres and where does he choose to be during the day? Right by the schoolhouse steps where he can hear their voices and be near to them because he trusts them and loves them and just thinks they're amazing. But what I love in that is that we have snacks. ⁓ yeah. Yummy good snacks. He's like, I will wag my tail. They keep working on him sitting and he's like sometimes, depends on what the snack is. But I love that he is that representation of the lot that's in the schoolhouse that is so fun and happy. It is a happy place. It really is. Yeah. There's horses, there's chickens, they do barn chores, they like doing barn chores. So those are incentives. It is like who wants to clean the chicken coop? Who has earned that privilege? Me, me, me. You're champion. I have worked so hard. I please go clean the chicken coop? And I'm like, hmm. I think you need to have a school for moms so that we can learn your ways. ⁓ my goodness. I'm like, who wants a red ticket for cleaning up? the poop. And they're like, I have worked really hard. Then it's like, yes you have them. It's beautiful. It is. And it's fun. And they run and they... They do. And they get stinky. And they love you. And they, can't imagine. ⁓ you cannot. Some days after our lunch break when they come inside I'm like, friends, it's time to talk to mom and dad about deodorant. They come up and they've got their arm around me. Miss, see, I got a math question here and I'm like, step aside, friend. Let's put that arm down. ⁓ We'll have a classroom deodorant ⁓ It's really such a beautiful little place and yes, Champion Schoolhouse Academy. ⁓ So when I think of this, I, this story ⁓ and and just I got to see it from afar. Yes, you did. You reached out to me from, we hadn't talked in forever. Yeah, years. Years. Yeah, years had gone by and all of a sudden I get this text from Tara Kelly. Whenever you're doing, I'm in. And I was like, wait a second, hold on. Cause you hadn't. Tara, I want to tell you about my program. Step number one. Step number, and you're like, yeah, I don't care. I am in. And I'm like, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. Need to tell you a little bit more before you commit. And you're like, no, I'm there. Hi, we're there. Vince and I are there. And I'm thinking, oh, little Luke. Vince was like, well, send her a check. You told me that. He's like, how do we make sure we have a spot? Oh my gosh. You guys walked in and you're like, hi, we're here. Here's Luke. I love that. most, I would say 99.9 % of my families were this way. They were like, hi, we're here, here's our kid. I mean, I had, once we even started, I had moms literally text me and say, hey Mel, we are on our way and we're dropping our kid off today. And I'm like, oh, time out. Is that how this works? Yeah, and it's so funny because we laugh about it now and the mom's like, ⁓ whatever you want. Like, I so believe in this way of doing school. Yeah. Yeah. So it's so cool. Yeah, the the model. So many have heard, you know, now that we've been there three years. Yeah. ⁓ And that it's beautiful and it works and it's thriving I can't express it enough. My literal prayer is that more, that the Lord rises up more of you. And you don't have to have a little house in the prairie. It's amazing though. But you don't have to have that. Just need a room. And faith. Well, you need Jesus first. Lots of lots of faith, right? Yeah. I think... You know, when people ask me, like, how do we duplicate this? ⁓ When you are desperately clinging to Jesus, you cannot do it on your own. You can't. And if it's forced, anything that God's called us to, if we force it, it will fall apart. If it becomes us, if it becomes us, it will fall apart. We must must have our hands wide open and say, Lord, I'm clueless. I don't know what I'm doing. Friends coming alongside of me, I don't know what I'm doing. Please help, please support, please pray. Please give grace. When you have that type of body, oh, sky's the limit. That's right. Sky's the limit. It's when we have that critical spirit on ourselves or others coming in going, you know, when I meet with new families that are interested in our program and they start asking all of these nitpicky questions, I automatically know, oops, I'm so sorry, this is probably not gonna be the right fit for you. Because if you're not loosey goosey, it's not going, we are messy, we are learning, we are changing. ⁓ It is not going to be perfect. And if you want that Pinterest pretty social media ready to post that is not going to be us. So I always present it with that. And if families come in saying Mel we are open to what the Lord has for our family and for our children. I'm like tell me more. Tell me a little bit more. Let's see what God can do with your family. I have seen through our community, it is so much more than academics. ⁓ my goodness. It's even so much more than the children. We are a community of believers, like you said earlier, the little house on the prairie, where families, somebody's sick. ⁓ hello, Victorious. Victoria Fox, she is on 12 course meal on the way ready to go. She is a Jennifer Gwynn She is going to be there all of us It is a different kind that you can't create on your own and you can't in big schools Nope You know, I've heard people even you know here recently where it's like well, that's too small and I'm like, thank you Jesus We like being small in numbers for different aspects of it. So if there's a new baby, if there is a death when my mama passed away, I have never felt or been a part of a community that held me up in a way. that's indescribable. It is only through God. ⁓ Which is so beautiful to watch. ⁓ And you can't force that. You can't advertise that. Only God can do that. So it's so much more if you're craving community, I highly recommend it. ⁓ People who want community and aren't gonna nitpick. it being perfect and pretty. Right. Those are things that really resonate in my heart. Well, that's the, that's the, I think the main gift of it is that it isn't this. mean, you even called it a program. I, I, I can't even call it that. Right. Because it's not, it's a living, breathing. It is. Beautiful. Mm-hmm. Lauren, I don't even have a word. And I think I'm not supposed to. Exactly. People have asked me to give it a label and I say, can't. Because it's not homeschool. I have so many families that have done the homeschool route and they're like, my child is lonely. Yeah. My child needs to have friendships. My child needs to know how to have friends. They need to know how to get along with others, right? I think we have a world that needs to know how to get along with others. So it's not a home school. It's not a co-op. It's not a private school. It is the body of Christ. So when people want me to talk about what is there with the students, I'm like, ⁓ it's so much more than my students. The moms will fight for one another with marriages, fight for one another when they are battling depression. You list it and we have had it. And so when the enemy tries to come in with dissension, we are quick to squelch it because we identify what it is. And we're like, ⁓ no, no, no, no, no, We aren't allowing that in our community. And so we're quick to just step on it. I'm quick to hold a meeting and say, hey, if this doesn't have Jesus in it, I want you to stop it. And all the moms are like, ooh, okay. Yeah, you're right Mel, let's do that. And so it becomes successful because people are willing to keep Jesus first. That's it. Yeah. That's all this is because there's so many different. Yeah. kinds of families. Oh, for sure. night and day. 100%. And only Jesus. because Jesus is business. For sure. We have done things. It's hilarious. The teachers that are there that God brought. We did a thing recently where we did a vote on when does school start for our school. Oh yeah, how'd that go? This is CSA. Guess what? It was. Was it half and half? 50-50. I mean perfect. No way. Yeah. that is what... Isn't it funny? you know, like people are like, can mine count double? And ⁓ that is who we are. it keeps our moms, well, I'm going to be flexible. I'm not going to be in control. Imagine that. Right. I don't get to be the boss. Imagine that. So now the teachers and I are we're meeting and we're like, all right, how about if we do it like this? We're never going to make everybody happy. But what's beautiful in that is my moms know that they don't have to be stroked. And I am right. I don't have that. We don't have that because they're like, OK. They have the mindset of like, it's OK if it's not my way, But here's my opinion. Sure. mean, yeah. And you're open to hear that and I love that. So. Yeah. So cool. It is. It has been really beautiful to watch and even even had a couple of conversations with you before you for sure were like, I'm doing this where I was girl. I was so. That was a gift to me to watch you wrestle. ⁓ did I? Yeah, I loved it. And it's so honest and. And it's funny, Tara, because there's other people who have even said, you know, ⁓ she was gonna do this a long time ago. And I'm like, wait, who were they talking to? I was not. I didn't know. I mean, we had the open house and even at that open house, I was very clear in saying, I hope this works. I don't know. People would say, well, what about this? And I'm like, ooh, good question. And I was really honest and they're like, I'm out. Don't worry about it. We'll figure it out. It'll happen. And I'm like, really? It will? It's so crazy how ⁓ it wasn't until probably the week before school started, then I'm like, okay, here we go. Wait, we have to buy desks. And I'm like texting moms going, hey, what kind of chairs do you think I should get? Cause we don't have chairs. Luke doesn't need a chair. And lot of the moms were like, oh, whatever you think. And I'm like, this is not helpful. them on the floor. Oh my goodness. So yeah, crazy stuff. So good. Yeah. Thank you for your obedience. Thank you for trusting. you for taking your seatbelt off and throwing your hands in the air. I try to buckle up all the time. I try to be like, Lord, I want my seatbelt. I want my car seat. You know? I want to have that five point harness where I'm like nice and secure and safe and God's like, na na na na na na. Right. That's later. Hands up. Here we go. Yeah. Well, your faith has been... beautiful testimony to his goodness and your thank you you're knowing that you serve a big God that longs to live through our yes Lord ⁓ and this I see as this schoolhouse is your now to us it isn't little but I say in the grand scheme of the Lord right it's your little offering yes Here Lord, every day I bring these babies to you. I do. Take me and yes work and live through me. But I could not do it alone. And I see so much in the body of Christ where God has called different individuals for beautiful and wonderful things. And unless you have your people, true, come alongside of you and go, Mel, honey, sister, you've got this. If I didn't have my two coworkers going, have you done it yet? You gotta do it. I see it in you. Gina and Katie were, Mel, what are you doing? Jill better. Mel, what are you doing? Come on. I mean, her and Michael are there with the pressure washer. Let's go, let's get this building ready. You, you know, I feel like, you know, my cousin in Michigan, Denise, she is like, not even here locally, but she's like, Mel, I see it. You need to do it. I hear so many times and I'm sure you do too. where women are like this strong, I'm independent. Well, I don't have friends. I've got my thing. Almost like a pride thing. God does not want us to do life alone. God doesn't want our children to be isolated. God's best is for us to have friendships and un- conditional love. Whether I chose to do the schoolhouse or not, Katie, Gina, Joe, Denise, Nicole, they loved me unconditionally. Whether it was a success for two minutes or two years or 200 years, they believed in what God was calling me to do. And I feel, I see so many times, in the body of Christ that women do not have their encouragers. They don't have their terrors. You were going, Mel, do it. And I'm like, I don't know what to do. And you're like, just do it. just do it. And I'm so helpful. ⁓ Right? But ⁓ is. I I know. But it's funny. So ⁓ I am first and foremost when I speak to women or I come alongside of women is who are your people? Who are you inviting to your table to say, all right, tell me the good, the bad, the ugly. What do you see in me? Yeah. What are you? believing in me that I might not believe in myself and giving them that freedom to speak it into you where you go, ⁓ boy, I need to do this. ⁓ that's gonna be hard. That's gonna be uncomfortable, right? Right. And then just doing it. Allowing them that freedom to have people nowadays I feel like there's those two aspects. One, they don't allow people in. They're very, like I said earlier, they're isolated, they're closed, the gate is closed. Or it's almost like we have become adapt to listening to the wrong voices. Voices that don't even know us. Influencers that we've never met. That don't know the good, the bad and the ugly about us because we haven't let them in. And so it's safe for them to influence us, but the people that God may have placed right around us to come on in and speak life over our situation, we won't let them in. So yeah, but having that open heart, right? Right. Yeah. I'm so glad you had yours. That's interesting. I'm sitting here listening to you and I'm like, Lord, I've been praying for just that. Yeah. I think Tara, so many women desire that. Culturally, it's we're in a very funky time. Amen. Where a lot of people are stuck in the scroll. Oh, for sure. Stuck in the the rat race. This takes effort. It took planning. It took rescheduling. It took you coming all the way to my house. It took effort. It took time. But boy is it so worth it. I mean, I know it's for this purpose, but it needs to be... I don't know. I don't know how often you do this, but I know how precious it is. It's an anchor. We talk about that here so that we don't drift away into, can't, I can't, I can't, or that's too scary, that's too big. You had your anchors. had speaking that life into you, reminding you of the crown that fits on your head of who God says you are. For sure. When God calls you to do something different that you know you need to surrender your heart to. You need people to come alongside of you when you get weary. And it's interesting that you said anchor because I always think of, you know, boats, ships, whatever. The more God calls you to, the stronger that anchor must be. Right. If you start with a little dinky little canoe, you don't need a strong anchor, right? You can just drop a milk jug with cement in it. But think about those cruise ships. They gotta be big. Oh boy. And you, as God calls you to bigger and more amazing things, your support system, your anchor, boy oh boy, it needs to be strong. But God will always provide. That's not a fear. comment that's not like, no, I won't have enough. No, God will always provide your needs and what he wants for you. He will always give it to you. Again, it's the open hand, right? Right. And Lord, open my eyes. ⁓ where are they? Soften my heart. Yeah. Lord, please show me. again, like you said with the scrolling, it's taking the time, being intentional to take time. be still. When I was wrestling with this one-room schoolhouse idea, God completely threw me in an alone situation. and Logan were gone and Av had asked me to watch their dog. So here I am in this apartment with Winnie, the French Bulldog, for I think it was like two weeks or a week and a half or something like that where she was going with Logan. And I had nothing to do but be still. So God will create those environments for you if you allow them. If you allow them. If you say yes. And then through that, I kept reaching out to my people that I knew, again, it's that unconditional love. And we as sisters, ⁓ let's give that. Yeah. Let's be intentional to give unconditional love. Tara, I hope I've always given you that. where you don't have to perform, pretend, have it pretty. I don't feel like good. I know that that's real. It doesn't mean I don't go crazy sometimes. If people come into your space where you are aware of like, they want it just so, that's okay for them, right? But just know, oh, I'm never going to be able to. I won't hit those expectations. So we might not ever check. And that's okay. Right? It's okay. Yeah, not everybody's our people. And when we have that idea of we're going to fix everybody, we're going to make everybody happy, I had to learn that even in the schoolhouse where it was like, ⁓ I am not called to make you happy in that area. That's okay. God can work with you. Right. Right. Well, God has done a really cool thing and I you for sharing it with my family. You have spoken so much life into us, over us, through our child and even through our bigs. ⁓ even through our bigs. Love my Zachary. I love my Emma. They really precious children. Yeah, they both love and respect you a whole lot. It's very mutual. Emma actually wants. which you've built for her life. I hope someday that that happens. Has that patan. ⁓ So I would love if we would jump right here into prayer. Would you pray over those that... are feeling a nudge to jump out in faith. Just make that next yes in faith of whatever that is. Whatever it is. He's, whenever he's calling you to whatever little step of taking that seatbelt off, taking that. Okay, Lord. Setting that phone down. Ooh. I know, I know we all could use that covering of prayer. Would you mind? I would love to. Thank you. Lord, we just love you. I just first, I thank you for my beautiful friend, Tara. Lord, I just love her so much. And I thank you for what you've put inside of her and her brave heart to run with the calling that you've placed on her. I thank you for her invents and how they just encourage others and lift others up and their precious children. I thank you Lord for our time that we get to spend together. And Lord I pray for the listeners that feel the calling to do something brave, crazy, thinking outside of the box, something that might not even make sense Lord, but you've called them to do something that is just so unique and different. Lord, I just first and foremost, I pray for their heart. that they would be open to bringing in other voices or that you can show them who are the people that need to be with them and to encourage them like they're boardroom people. The people that they know love them unconditionally and will speak life into their situation when they're weary and will believe in them in a way that... ⁓ is your voice speaking through them. So Lord, I thank you for that community mindset. Help us to stop being people that are isolated or independent or we want to do it all on our own or that is just a lie from the enemy and it is not what is your best plan for us. So thank you for community. Thank you for encouragement. Thank you for being brave enough, Lord, that we will listen to others and allow them that freedom to come in and speak over us. So I thank you for that, Lord, and for people, Lord, that really want to do something unique and different, that they have no clue how to even start. Lord, I praise you that they will find that isolated time with just you. for you to speak into their hearts what it is that you've called them to do. And then they'll be brave and they'll just run and say, Lord, I will hold this with an open hand, but I trust you to guide me, to direct me on this new adventure that you've placed in my life. So thank you, Lord, for doing that. Thank you, Lord. for people that choose to be obedient. Thank you for that Lord. We wanna be obedient to you. Jesus name. Yes Lord. Thank you. Receive that. Receive that. Okay, our last question. Last question. Last for dinner. And I hate that question. That's why I ask. Golly! So that is not a strength of mine. I would say it used to be. I would say when the girls were younger. Yeah. Not that it was a strength. I mean I've never been a chef boyardee. That's not me. But I've always... I'm picturing what's in that can. That's not something to worry about. Maybe I should say I am a chef-warety. I bet you are not. Can't open that can of ravioli. No, I've, you know, every year when you go back and you say, all right, what are some things that I want to do differently this year? And I'm like, I want to enjoy cooking. To me, it can be very tedious. You know, I look at others like we've mentioned before, Victoria. I love you Victoria and you are so stinking amazing. Isn't Miss Victoria amazing at cooking for others and doing for others? Luke is like, yes she is. Yeah, so we joke about how Daniel comes to school and we're like, Daniel, what do you have for lunch for all of us? Because Miss Victoria will pack his lunch like it's a 5th course meal and we're like, hey, can I have some of that please? What? Denver escaped. you get it back? Yeah. Oh, I love that. gosh. Missy was telling us about what's for dinner. Yeah. OK. So back to Sorry. No. Squirrel. ⁓ love ⁓ I love it. What's for dinner? Tonight, I really don't know. On Friday nights, sometimes Eric and I like to do date night, but we're really, we're spontaneous with it. We won't necessarily have a place picked out. I used to use the excuse, well, I've cooked all week, so on Friday night, I'm gonna go out. But I can't say that anymore. I mean, you could, it's just not true. It's not true. I'll say to Eric, I'll say, He'll say, what's for dinner? And I'll say, ⁓ grab some crackers and cheese and... Cheese and crackers. Cheese and crackers. I was going to say fruit, but you know, there might not be fruit in the fridge anymore. So what's for dinner? I really don't know. And that is a Drew's statement. We've been out of town, so our refrigerator is super bare. It has ⁓ coconut milk in there. Well, I mean, you got to have it ready for For my coffee. I think there's old whipping cream that needs to go in the garbage. There's lots of pickles. Almost better. Lots of pickles. Lots of olives. What did you have last night? Victoria Fox. Victoria Fox, thank you for dinner last night. Shout out to her. You lucky girl. I'm telling you. I it was amazing. What was it? So ⁓ it was this Ukrainian potato salad that was out of this world. I want the recipe. Not that you're gonna make it. No, she said you have to chop and then you have to chop and she said chop like two or three times and I'm like oops. No. It's just delivering part of your next order. I mean she had a whole spread and it was delicious. It was. Yes. The plummet has an absolute gift. ⁓ you know what? You need to tab this or bookmark this because Eventually we're gonna be those people that come alongside of Victoria facts for her to utilize the gift that God has given her of cooking and selling her meals to People that really would enjoy them. Absolutely. ⁓ like totally see ya Absolutely. Yeah, so it's amazing. So ⁓ I might go into Mount Dora with Eric mmm and get something yummy I like 1921 I you know if it's a special occasion occasion, I really love a Gable market love But that's fancy schmancy. So I do like Tijuana flats too. Luke, what's for dinner tonight? What's your, wait, if you were gonna guess, what would Mrs. C want for dinner? Steak. Yes, I knew you'd say that. I love a good steak. Colton. Colton can cook a, Colton, need a steak. ⁓ Logan can cook a really good steak too. Does he use a grill or does he use a skillet? Blackstone. It's a skillet. I do not know how to make one like that. I don't either. can try. But Avalie and Logan, they get really good meat from their butcher in Seattle. ⁓ So it's the quality of meat. It kind of goes. Not lab grown meat. No, thank you. So ⁓ yeah. Well. I'm loving the muffins. We're going up to, uh, what are you doing? Jacksonville tonight. That's why we don't know. We are. I have to drive all the way up there. Oh, we're going to go see Emma's game. That's perfect. You could actually do one math lesson on the drive up. Oh, wonderful. I'm so glad that I was here today to help guide and direct your day today, Mr. Luke. I love that. You're welcome anytime. If you need for me to come over on a regular basis on Friday to go, Hey Luke, that would be right there during your day. A really good time to do your math lesson. I think you'd really enjoy coming over more. He'd be like, I'm not answering the door. Purpose. I would love for you to over. Oh gosh. Well, thank you so much. Thanks for your time. Thank you for having coffee and. ⁓ it was delicious. All the ways you pour it into this. ⁓ I love my Luke. I do love my Luke. Such a such a fun time for sure. Well, thank you for being here. you. ⁓ We love you. we love you. ⁓