April 14,2018...
I can't believe we have blinked and it's been a year since I was waiting to hear if Home Austin had been picked up by the Cause. The two weeks in between submitting my application and hearing back I was in Africa worshipping the Lord for 4 hours everyday!! This time was an absolute dream and I wish I could spend the waiting period of every major decision that way. I genuinely pray that one day you have the opportunity to sit on a decision like that- surrounded by your people, worshipping the Lord, discovering new corners of yourself and breathing in fresh air (apart from your phone).
I cannot begin to explain how right the decision felt to start Home Austin.
However, I need to be honest this was not my plan.
I was supposed to join a giant organization overseas, where missionaries were already working at an orphanage. Said orphanage would be in Africa (until it later became Guatemala). I WASN'T supposed to do this. Except I was. I was asked to do this and to do it well. God has given me the tools I need to build His Kingdom here on earth. {That felt really strange to write}. I believe that He never really calls the equipped but He sure as heck equips the called.
I drive 30 minutes to work everyday. I love spending this time dreaming with Papa about what He wants Home Austin to look like. One day, He reminded me of this day-dream I used to have in Middle School- it's so vivid I feel like I'm back in 6th Grade math with Ms. Sanders in her yellow Goofy polo shirt. I used to have this vision of what I thought school should be. I always thought it should be more than grey desks with blue chairs lined up behind them. I pictured a warm welcoming environment with couches lining the walls. I chuckle now because I also remember thinking to myself, 'won't kids fall asleep on couches'. It blows my mind to think that even then the Lord knew exactly what would happen in the future. Little did I know how much bigger my day-dreams would become.
Home Austin's school might not be lined with couches. We can't have kids falling asleep can we? But I think there's still something incredibly beautiful about this picture.
My dream for our school is that we would be much more than just a school. I want us to be a place where you are loved, heard, sought after and cared for first. Only then can the learning come along with it. I want anyone, adult or child to walk in through our doors and to feel the difference. To see it in the way our teachers slow their speed to meet students where they are at. Where the staff is united as a family. Where the overall well-being of a person comes far beyond what they can give to us or the world. A self-less surrender of the way we think we should do things. My biggest prayer for Home Austin is that we would find the balance between meeting standards (which are 100% necessary if we want to be a legit school) and loving people where they're at.
There's this image that Ben gave us during our time in Africa. It was something along the lines of when we are put in the role of leading people we are asked to take them from point A to point B. Often we try to rush this process. In cases of Discipleship instead of helping the person build their own relationship with Christ. We allow them to become carbon copies of ourselves in order to see results. On the other hand though what we are called to do is to say, "see, my friend, you are right here. We see where you are going to end up. I am going to help you find each little stepping stone along the way. When you start to fall off the path one way or another I will gently call you back on to it. Unfortunately, at the end of the day this is about you and your journey. I cannot do it for you."
It's chaotic. It's messy. It takes much longer. BUT here we are loving you every step of the way in the crazy in between.