This blog originally appeared on my humor-devotional Lessons Learned in the Little Red Schoolhouse.
The Good Days
Just as a baby grows and achieves developmental milestones, so does a school. And like proud parents, we like to show off “our kids.”
At our Legacy’s first Grandparents’ Day in November, each class performed or shared something which reflected an aspect of the curriculum. The choir sang in Latin, the band played, and each athletic team marched out on the stage in full uniform. It was a glorious day!
Pastor Chuck Swindoll, a grandfather of two students, whispered to me, “So, how old is this school?” When I answered back, “Ten weeks,” he was quite surprised to say the least.
The Colicky Days
We also had our colicky days. For example, one day all the septic tanks over-flowed. Asking each student to ‘hold it’ until after school seemed a bit much.
“Mind over bladder” didn’t seem like a proper discipline system to model. So, we had to dismiss school.
Then there were the “Mudslide Days.” Frisco Bible Church, where the school was located, was at the bottom of a hill. One day torrential rains sent the hill above us right down into our building.
Mud, sludge, and water filled many of our clean, beautifully set up classrooms. We had to remove everything, dry it, and bring in special (loud!) machines to pull the water out of the walls and carpet. Annoying humidifiers had to be on for weeks.
Those were the ‘not-so-fun’ days.
The Baby Continues to Grow!
But the baby continued to grow healthy and strong; in fact, it grew quite quickly. We got through our first year bursting at the seams.
Seemingly overnight we went from being a baby to a toddler, who needed more space to move and grow. I was constantly searching for more space. I checked out every church, warehouse, office building, and anything else that might remotely work.
Year two is somewhat of a blur. I was wearing multiple hats, including being the Spanish teacher. Lin, our principal, was also the Latin teacher. We were so bone-weary when we met, we felt like we were talking to each other in multiple languages; perhaps we were.
But we always had fun together. She is one of the funniest people I know. One of our ‘other’ jobs was pulling down tables from a rack and setting them up for lunch each day…until the day I cracked a rib wrestling with a stubborn table that didn’t want to come down.
I got fired from that job. I just remember feeling so burdened to find more space for our precious school.
Finally for year three, I found a church that would take in part of our school, and we began to operate a 2ndcampus. Pastor Sam Dennis and Parkway Hills Baptist in Plano graciously opened up their hearts and home to allow us to put some of our classrooms there.
Year Three
We had two locations and both were full. Just because things can’t be easy, Parkway Hills was also expanding at that time and there were construction workers all around.
Initially this made our parents concerned, very concerned. Thank goodness prayer, love, and cookies can fix pretty much everything. We brought the workers treats, and from then on we were ‘family.’ They looked out for our little ones, and we took care of them. Everyone relaxed.
Until…a beautiful Tuesday morning in September that held such promise…
That Fateful Day in September
It was my day to be on the Frisco campus, and I was doing morning carlines.
“Mrs. Capehart, I think some plane just hit a building in New York.”
“What? Really?”
Next car. “Mrs. Capehart, I think something awful is happening in New York.”
“I just heard. I will get more information after car-lines.”
Next car. “Mrs. Capehart, New York City just got bombed. Isn’t this the day your board president is ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange?”
I froze internally. Yes, it was. And now this national tragedy was deeply personal.
All I could think of is that I had three of his children and three of the children of his CFO who was with him, along with their wives. What do I do? I put the Frisco campus on a special code alert until I could get more facts.
After reaching the two couples and learning they were safe, I went to watch the news. It was not easy because we were so far out in the country that we didn’t have a good signal. (Remember, this was the ‘cows and corn’ school)
Then we began to receive strange news reports of potential dangers happening near our Plano campus, and we put it on lock-down. We put our parent communication systems into place, too.
Pastor Mark Mattay of Frisco Bible Church led a beautiful worship and prayer service for the older students. We talked with them about what was happening, let them talk, and spent the day in prayer for our country.
Just as it was a dark time for our nation, it was a very dark time for our school. Not only was our board leadership almost directly impacted, but then we learned that Pastor Sam Dennis was right there by the Twin Towers when it happened.
Frantically we tried to get updates on him, and we truly rejoiced when we finally received news that he had gotten to safety, after a harrowing journey.
But our hearts grieved for the thousands who did not receive a gift of good news, and our prayers continued for them.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:4).
Ground Blessing for Our New Campus
Just like the country, our school life eventually got back to a ‘new normal.’ It ended up being a wonderful school year with the two campuses, and now the Lord blessed us with a third.
We were able to purchase land to build our very own campus!
One of the many “God stories” was the fact that we could only get to our property with a truck because there were no roads. We asked the city what the name of the street would be when it would eventually be put in front of the school. They were as surprised as we were…it was to be Legacy Drive!
Our amazing God strategically placed us on a piece of land that would later be called by the same name as our school, Legacy.
Coincidence? No, it was God’s Sovereign hand. We were praising God and rejoicing because He had brought us to spacious place, He rescued us, and we felt His delight. (Psalm 18:19)
The day of the Ground Blessing came in May. Most were thanking God for His miraculous hand in blessing our school. But a few people looked around and saw pieces of steel and a slab of cement and thought, “Will there really be a school in three short months? How can this be? It’s impossible!” A few even began to search for other school options.
Just as Jesus looked at His disciples in Matthew 19:26 and said, “With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” we believed His words and our faith was strong.
Wait a Second…Am I Not Going into the Promised Land?
There was one issue that I wasn’t rejoicing in: all year I battled health issues. I blamed it on trying to balance two locations while trying to get the third one built out (even though Jay Allison and Roland Burns did most of this on a daily basis) and not having an office.
For example, I would do payroll in the car because it was the only private place I could find. And did I mention that we decided to start the accreditation process? Yes, in our third year. What were we thinking? Or, perhaps we weren’t. Smile…
As an administrator wearing multiple hats, it was a hard year and my body paid the price.
Even though I had just come through a number of surgeries and was diagnosed with pneumonia several times that year, I certainly didn’t except the phone call I received one Monday morning in July.
“You have lung cancer. You need to get into the hospital immediately, get it removed and begin chemo if you want to have any chance of a few years of life.”
Stunned, I sat in the car. Not only did I never smoke, I wouldn’t even eat in a restaurant that had a smoking section. I don’t hang out with people who smoke; in fact I am allergic to it.
How can this be? After all this, I won’t even get to see Legacy become “all grown up”? It is IMPOSSIBLE.
Impossible? Ahh, that is when God truly ‘shows off.’ And indeed, He did.
To be continued next week.
(Please note: the detailed version of this journey is coming out in a book later this year.)
