Future Ministry Space...Including a Speech First From Ethan!!!

For over a year now, our church has been adding a building to our existing building. We have completely run out of space in our main church. We have even been using our gymnasium as a ministry space in order to accommodate our needs.

I am personally excited about having additional space because there are about 25 kids in Ethan's preschool Sunday School class. This is a LOT of noise & commotion for Ethan to process, and it is very overwhelming for him....especially in a small space. Not only is the classroom size an issue, but the path to his classroom is super busy because there are so many people holed up in this one place. Sunday school teachers, parents, kids, and just other adults & teens walking to their own classrooms make this hallway VERY loud & overwhelming for Ethan.

Can we just skip ahead & quickly put him in his classroom? No, because every child needs to go through a check-in process for security reasons. I love that our church is so safety conscious even though there has never been an incident (at least that I am aware of anyway). So, we have to wait in this crazy busy hallway that is also right next to a pair of entry doors. It is madness. Before Ethan even gets into his classroom, he is already on edge.

We won't have these issues in the new building. We will have more room & a better layout for this type of procedure. Also, Mosaic Ministries Advisory Panel has been invited to walk through the new space before it officially opens in order for us to evaluate any special needs accommodations that need to be addressed. Needless to say, I am pretty excited about this new building.

So, for more than a year now, we have been hearing about & giving to this project. And this past Sunday, the entire church was cleared for a walk-through. YEAH! We were able to see a glimpse of what our future classroom space was going to look like! Woohoo!!!

They taped off & labeled each room according to the existing plans. Here is Ethan's new Sunday School room!!!

Ethan was running from sign to sign & reading all of them. He was having a great time in this big open space!

This will be my favorite place. :0)

Corey & Ethan taking it all in! (And wearing blue for Light It Up Blue 2012.)

Here is a wider shot of the inside....still can't get it all in one picture!

Another shot...this building it huge!!!

I am so excited to be a part of this church & this building project. I have been going to this church for 18 years. This is where I met my husband. This is where we got married. This is where Ethan was dedicated. I love the people of this church. And I love that we look ahead to the future. We are running out of space, so we decided to build extra room. But, we are taking it another step. Our new special needs ministry, Mosaic Ministries, will be a resource for the building committee to use. Mosaic will try to fore-see possible sensory issues, possible layout distractions, and ultimately, make this space a place were EVERYONE can come. I am so excited about what God is doing in our church, and this walk-through just added to my excitement!

PS....on a completely different note....Ethan had a first during our walk-through!!!! My sister's sister-in-law came up to us, and this is the conversation that she had with Ethan.....

Me - "Tell Aunt Lindsay hi!" (He calls her Aunt because he hears his cousins calling her that...plus our families are close....and she's pretty cool.)

Ethan - "Hi, Aunt Lindsay!"

Lindsay - "Hi, Ethan!" (***Typically this is the end of the conversation, but today we had a first! Ethan continued to initiate the conversation! THIS IS HUGE!!!!!!!***)

Ethan - "How you are?" (Not a typo. This is how he said it.)

Lindsay - "How am I? I'm good. How are you?"

Ethan - "I'm good."

He continued to talk but it was so soft I'm assuming he was talking to himself at that point. It was awesome! Aunt Lindsay & I gave each other a high-five due to this momentous occasion! IT WAS AWESOME!!!