Esther's Place Homeschool Resource Center

Please make a point to join us if you can. Esther's Place will be there!

Join us for this important time to let our voices be heard! We will be joining Minnesotans for Health & Parental Rights!

You're doing a worthy thing.

It's easy to compare ourselves to what we think school should look like. But you might be surprised at how much has changed. If you're worried you'll mess up your kids, please hear me when I say that you are doing a far better job than you think.

If you are teaching your children to read, you're not messing them up.
If you are teaching them to do math, you're not messing them up.
If you protect them from sexual predators, you're not messing them up.
If your children are growing up in a safe, loving home, you're not messing them up.
If you're not leaving them in a public school that doesn't stop bullies, you're not messing them up.
If you're giving your kids books that are safe for children to read, you're not messing them up.
If you're pointing them to Jesus, you're not messing them up.

I know from years of experience that parents who are even the least bit concerned that they're "doing it right" are the parents who are on the right track.

Government schools? Their standards are lowered every few years, and their priorities are vastly different from yours. They are not your measuring stick.

Walk the alternative path and do it boldly. You left school. Don't wish it back.

We LOVE kids choir with Krista Joy Luedtke Olson! Class starts February 12, perfect timing to get through the rest of winter. 😁

****IMPORTANT UPDATE****
Tonight's event has been CANCELED due to low temperatures and low participation. Instead, cozy up with a warm beverage and your family this evening. We will see you in the New Year!
-The Esther's Place Team

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Durenda — wife to one, mom to eight, and nana to 12, went to be with Jesus, surrounded by her children and in the comfort of her own home, into whom and which she poured her heart and soul for 35 years.

Our loss is Heaven’s gain, but oh how deep is that loss.

In her final days, there were three things on her mind, of which she spoke the most often:

1. That God is still good; He is sovereign, and He does not waste our pain.
2. Meaningful, deep conversations with her children and grandchildren — enjoying them as much as possible.
3. Her ministry. She wanted to see the work carried on, and her final book completed. A task now being carried out and the final chapters being written by her children and their spouses.

Durenda was caring, productive, nurturing, funny, and above all, passionate about her love for her Savior and her family, and her mission to encourage other moms.
In one of our final conversations, I (Jenna) tried to thank her for everything she’d done for us as mother, and the whole time all she told me was “It has been an honor to raise you. But I was not special, I was just obedient to God’s calling.”

Respectfully, I have to disagree. She was extraordinary.
Extraordinarily obedient.
Extraordinarily intentional.
Extraordinarily prayerful.

And we have been extraordinarily blessed to be her family.

We move forward in grief but also in gratitude; comforted by the rich legacy she leaves behind, sustained by the love of Christ, and deeply thankful for the community (all of you!!) who have wrapped us up in prayer, encouragement, and kindness for the past year. Thank you for being so steadfast.
I have no doubt, the moment she entered Heaven’s embrace, she heard
“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter in to the joy of your Master.”

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV
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Service Details
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December 2nd, 2025
6:30pm-7:30pm
3830 Wayne Ave, Winston-Salem, NC 27104
Livestream on Durenda Wilson page

Durenda Wilson is a pillar in homeschooling. We highly recommend her books at Esther's Place because of her godly focus and compassionate heart and understanding for home educating mothers. Please join us in prayer for her family in these final days with her earth side. Come, Lord Jesus.

Here it is, the update I hoped to God I’d never have to write.

I apologize for the silence on our end — while it is not our intention to leave anyone in the dark concerning Durenda’s condition, it’s been difficult to find the words.

Over the past month, it quickly became clear that all options for treatment had been exhausted, and the only remaining course of action was to keep Durenda as comfortable as possible and surround her with family and close friends.

These weeks have been a difficult and incredibly heartbreaking time as we have watched the wife, mother, and friend we all cherish so deeply, fade away.

We want to thank you all for keeping her in your prayers and thoughts. Every one of you who has reached out, brought meals, donated, and loved on our family, THANK YOU. Your kindness has been more of a blessing to this family than you could ever know.

We have one final prayer request and it is that she would pass peacefully and painlessly into the arms of her Savior

Darryl & Family

Take a pause from the rush of the season and join Esther’s Place Thursday December 4 from 6pm-8pm at Cross of Glory Church in Hopkins for a quiet evening of tea and treats, uplifting conversation and a relaxing craft. Sign up here:
https://calendly.com/ephrc/a-christmas-tea
Bring a friend!

Join us Thursday 11/6 at 6pm at Cross of Glory in Hopkins.
Sign up https://calendly.com/ephrc/parents-equipped
We can't wait to see you!

Join us Thursday Nov 6 at 6pm at Cross of Glory Church in Hopkins for an overview of Dr. Kathy Koch's incredibly insightful book The 8 Great Smarts. Esther's Place director, Marnie Walden, will lead us through a discussion of the book as well as share additional resources to help you understand your child's- and even YOUR own- strengths and giftings.
Sign up here: https://calendly.com/ephrc/parents-equipped

Homeschoolers are not immune to culture. 😉 I love this take on a bizarre social phenomenon.

November at Esther's Place!
Sign up for any of our events at https://calendly.com/ephrc

-Thursday 11/6, 6pm at Cross of Glory Church; Parents Equipped: On Purpose with a Purpose, discussion on the 8 Great Smarts by Dr. Kathy Koch
-Saturday 11/15, 9am-Noon at Esther's Place: Curriculum Clear-Out
-Thursday 11/20, 6pm-8pm at Esther's Place: The Readers Club (This will be the last Readers Club for 2025)

Esther's Place is moving! Our location is TBD, but we need to have the shelves cleared out by December to make our move easier. So join us Saturday November 15 from 9:30am-Noon to grab resources for your homeschool. We will still be available this day just to chat and offer encouragement, over a cuppa joe. Sign up here: https://calendly.com/ephrc/coffee-and-curriculum

Join us Thursday Nov 6 at 6pm at Cross of Glory Church in Hopkins for an overview of Dr. Kathy Koch's incredibly insightful book The 8 Great Smarts. Esther's Place director, Marnie Walden, will lead us through a discussion of the book as well as share additional resources to help you understand your child's- and even YOUR own- strengths and giftings.
Sign up here: https://calendly.com/ephrc/parents-equipped