What if…

Those thirty minutes that find parents confined to children’s books and folding chairs actually became an anticipated moment in the week? If you were able to enjoy a freshly roasted cup of coffee and locally baked confection amidst a cafe like setting. Where as a parent you feel equally invested in as your child, because the space created for you is one that prompts stillness.

We did not intend to delve into The Sparrow until such a space could be crafted, but with the onset of Covid-19 conditions, we are finding value in offering The Sparrow even before this heartbeat can be brought to life. Though we are envisioning such a space no less, and so in the meantime, wanted to at least bring the café to you.

Here and there we will be sharing a favorite baked item, straight from our home kitchen to yours. Food so marvelously engages the senses that it absolutely can serve to lay a foundation of rest. That is, of course, if you are sure to pour yourself cup of coffee once it comes out of the oven.

Let’s begin with a recipe that will fill your house with the most heavenly of aromas: Granola. Best eaten only just cooled, and no milk required. At The Sparrow we would serve this in individual sized bags, allowing you to munch and muse while the woodland light pours in. Seems the best way to indulge in some homemade granola, don’t you think?

Homemade Granola

Ingredients

4 cups rolled oats
½ cp flax seed
1 cp sliced almonds
1 cp raw pumpkin seeds
½ cp unsweetened shredded coconut
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cp. dried fruit *we prefer strawberries
1/4 cp brown sugar
1/4 cp raw honey
1/4 cp maple syrup
2 Tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°
2. Mix together rolled outs, sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, shredded coconut, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.
3. Place a small pan over low heat and melt butter.  Once melted, quickly add brown sugar, raw honey, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and stir until all ingredients are well blended.  
4. Remove from heat and pour slowly over granola mixture, stirring as you go to maintain an even coating.
5. Spread evenly over cookie sheet and place in oven for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and mix with fork.  Place back in oven for another 15 minutes.
7. Remove from oven once more and mix with fork, adding in any dried fruit.  Place back in oven for a final 5 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool.
9. Seal in an airtight container.  Best kept for up to two weeks.

Fast-forward to a road trip in October of 2016.  One child at this point, but ideas seldom diminish with children in tow. They have simply become more complex to navigate.  Though there we found ourselves imagining a studio yet again.  Although this one with a focus on private instruction, a new venture for both of us since that gravel road walk, and a hope to pour more than the gift of music into young students but a place where we would instill value in each child, a space to shape rest and worth in each parent, and a warm embrace to the occasional artist that would grace our intimate performance space.  We threw around a few names, but once we landed on The Sparrow, that was it.  A place of value.  “For you are worth more than many sparrows.”

The idea of opening a physical studio space, however, seemed more of an “eventually” than a way to begin. A significant part of our story has been to avoid debt, and as artists and church leaders, we could have very easily fallen into this burden at various points. Although as we have seen all the more so in this time of financial instability in our nation, many of the businesses, and even households, built upon debt are feeling the ache of an all too common model. Mind you, we have not always spent our money in the wisest of ways. We just learned to not spend what we don’t have, and so The Sparrow has been relegated to an idea which sits on my heart often.

We needed an on ramp, but certainly did not imagine beginning online.  Yet here we are, a virus that has made the arts difficult to access, and thereby all the more uniquely essential to our children and to the parents who understand the value that music brings.  Our current frailty does not need to compromise a very real need.

Now granted, taking on our own private students, whether in our home or theirs, is not new to Jordan or myself, combined with our years of experience teaching in local music studios.  However, we have not yet combined our efforts.  That is, until now.  And so officially launching September 2020, The Sparrow [Online!]

To those that have been with us, we are grateful for your continued trust in our ability to both teach effectively and model intentionally.  Your children are of great value to us, and we hope to instill in them a deep sense of their intrinsic worth while also supporting you in this exhaustingly satisfying heritage of parenthood.

In this time of uncertainly, particularly in our educational system where access to both mentors and the arts have been compromised, we found it imperative that The Sparrow not wait for a physical space to launch.  

As a parent, you may be feeling immense pressure to ensure your child engages safely in social learning even though the school itself feels a risk to attend.  You most likely value each area of education, and yet are concerned that some curriculum might fall through the cracks as you consider your recent experience with e-learning.  All the while recognizing that your child has already dealt with, and will continue to do so all the more, circumstances that are shaping their ability to learn, to interact, to engage, and to experience the world around them.  You don’t want to succumb to discouragement, but have found yourself already at odds with the school year before it has even begun.

We want to help.

Though we find in person learning immensely imperative to a child’s development, we also recognize that our circumstances shouldn’t serve to dismiss the need for creative ways to implement the arts.

We want to help you be intentional with your child’s education this fall semester in particular, and find music to be powerfully effective in expanding one’s ability to learn.  Not only that, but we want to offer a platform of learning that allows for more personalized attention, even if through virtual means.

With that heartbeat in mind, we are offering online, private instruction lessons in voice, piano, and guitar specifically for the fall season (Sept.-Dec.).  This will allow for a shorter commitment that gives you, as a parent, the flexibility to reevaluate towards the end of the year based on Covid-19 conditions.  We are also offering a limited number of 6 week group classes in piano and guitar, based on grade level.

We are taking word-of-mouth inquiries throughout the month of August and will promptly add you to our waiting list for the official Sparrow launch in September.

No matter how The Sparrow might find its way into your home, the value we long to instill in each child and every parent we have the joy of knowing is this: “You are worth more than many sparrows.”