Giving Back

I just got notification that my student loans may be forgiven due to my disability(ies).  However, as I ponder my bachelor and master degrees, I have chosen to “give back” because I have benefitted so much with my education.  So I am on the board of my daughter’s preschool and a steering committee member for MOPS at my church.  These two ministries allow me to use my education in a way where I am happy to help out.  I also volunteer in both my daughters’ schools “behind the scenes”.  At my oldest daughter’s class, I make “Friday Folders”, and yesterday at my younger daughter’s school, I made signs for their fundraiser nights at a local restaurant.

Anyway, when we were at the preschool board meeting, we spent a lot of time talking about the “outdoor classroom”, a safe, fenced off area with plants, a make believe area, wood ‘cookies” for building, an extremely cool gadget board just right for little ones to practice their fine motor skills on, and a ton of other fun, age appropriate outside toys.  We had yet to come up with a name, but were looking for a name that would encompass all of our ideas for the outdoor classroom and also let the congregation (of which I am a part) know that they could enjoy it also.  We wanted the name to be somewhat biblical as well.

Driving home, an idea hit me like a lightbulb being turned on.  The motto of our preschool is that it is a growing place for preschoolers.  The name that hit me was to call the space God’s Room to Grow.  Just as the space would be growing and changing with the plants and flowers planted, as God’s children, we all need that time and space to grow and blossom in His love for us.  Just as the children in the preschool are growing and changing, we as adults need to be open to growth as well. 


(an afterthought -11/2010)  They have chosen a name and was not my suggestion, so I am saving the name to refer to our home's backyard when we buy a house next summer!