Monday @ Montpelier: June 10
Summer Greetings
from the Montpelier Atrium!
I was so grateful for & pleased by the work that was accomplished on our first Monday Material Making night last week. We made lots of unexpected headway on the figures for the Eucharistic Presence of the Good Shepherd (the 2-D wooden figures above), did base paint for more Incarnation diorama peg dolls, and took the Nativity diorama to the next stage.
This Monday, a group of us will gather to discuss the first month’s reading in our CGS Book Club. If you find yourself interested in joining this book club, please email me (use the link in the website footer). The hope is to build knowledge of the CGS philosophy & a common language as we work together to facilitate the atrium for the children in our community.
An added bonus is that those who desire to move on into formation for CGS Level 1 will have already read the books for the training!
Stepping Forward in Faith
Another big thing happening this summer is the transformation of our spaces. Our dining room (above) has been serving as the downstairs office & atrium staging area for the past year.
As I look into the next year & anticipate Montpelier students graduating out of Level II into Level III, my mind is hard at work ideating the possibilities for building a Level III (ages 9-12) atrium space for our community.
Most of this next stage is out of my control. It will require me to attend training, which means time & money that I don’t have. I am trying to have an imagination for how this might come to be.
I don’t know
if I can get the training done in time to keep up with our growing Montpelier students
if I will be able to afford training
how I can fit training into my teaching (homeschool & atrium) schedule
how we will be able to afford materials for a whole new atrium level
but what I do know is that
our desire is for the kids in our community (including our own children!) to have local access to this spiritual formation as they continue to grow
Level III kids cognitively and practically need things that aren’t available to them in Level II
we have room in our hearts & lives to serve Level III kids
we can make space in our home to build a Level III atrium
we can make space in our schedule for me to receive training
Next Steps
We are doing what we can to move forward in faith to expand the atrium. We will continue to do this one step at a time until there are no more doors open to us. What this looks like:
I completely rearranged and reorganized our dining room office, bringing in furniture that can be adapted to hold Level III works in the event that we are able to start building them; this included shortening the table in the center to make more room around the edges and make it a more viable work space for Level III kids
I am keeping tabs on Level III training opportunities local & in neighboring states so that if an opportunity arises, I’ll be ready to jump on it. The nearest/soonest one available would be in Pennsylvania in July, where I have connections for lodging.
I have started a Patreon page for the Montpelier Atrium. This will be used for a variety of funding needs for the atrium—one of which is raising funds to send myself and others to training in the next year. Training funds can be raised with one-time donations via our GoFundMe, or in small monthly increments at our Patreon, for your convenience. If you know you want to start funding the Atrium on a regular basis, please go to our Patreon now and subscribe!
In the meantime, there’s plenty other work to be done!
The Level I and II Atrium is a mess! Over the next month, it will be thoughtfully, carefully arranged to reflect the growing needs of the group of children we are serving. This includes more individual work space, broader passing avenues that are wheel-chair accessible, & deeper shelving to hold the width of the work trays we’ve collected. It will address some of the observed issues we’ve collected throughout the year with the spaces & materials we’ve had, seeking to remedy these hinderances as well as circumvent others.
We have materials in the works! Via our Monday Material-Making nights, we are laboring on the in-process materials we want to make available at the beginning of the next atrium year (starting in August).
One of our goals is to introduce the Eucharistic Presence of the Good Shepherd with a large work that expands the foundation laid in the Parable of the Good Shepherd (figures pictured at the top of this post!)
We are working to make our Incarnation dioramas (stories of Christ’s birth & first years on Earth told at Advent/Christmas) available for the 2024 Christmas Cycle!
We hope to make available more Parables of the Kingdom of God, including the Pearl of Great Price, The Hidden Treasure, & the Lost Coin.
I am prioritizing new processes for Child Safety & observation in the atrium. This means additional assistants as well as materials that will aid our information gathering, thus improving our care of & service towards the children we serve
Thank you for Reading!
It is a true privilege & joy to be on this journey with You who have chosen to come alongside. I look forward to check in again with you next week through Monday @ Montpelier!
