Our Family

Owners

John and Cat Abbas

Hello! We are John and Cat, and we have been the proud owners of The Gingerbread House since 2018. We have 3 wonderful daughters ages 12,10, and 4. We knew early on that we wanted to have a big family and our passion for teaching young children during their earliest development years was the motivation that we needed to open an early learning center. We truly believe that the first 5 years of learning, play, and growth set the foundation for all of the years ahead and so we are so honored to have that responsibility for the children in our care. We are proud to serve Smyrna families and John was born in Nashville so the roots in our amazing city go back almost 40 years.

We look forward to serving you for many years to come!

Meet Our Staff!

All of our staff is CPR Certified & First Aid & SIDS trained. The children is our staff’s #1 priority. As a staff our goal is to prepare the children for the next stage in their lives by building them up mentally, socially and emotionally.​

Director

Jacquelynn Joya​

 Jacque has worked at the Gingerbread House for 10 yrs. She has her TECTA and is working towards her CDA. She has a passion for childcare and learning new and innovative ways to improve both inside and outside the classroom. With a son of her own, she knows the importance of quality care.

Mrs.Lesly

Assistant Director

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Lesly has 3 beautiful children of her own. She started working at the Gingerbread House in 2019 as a toddler teacher and quickly grew into a leadership position. Since becoming assistant director she has gained tremendous knowledge and is devoted to making the Gingerbread House Childcare the best it can be.

Evelyn Cantrell

Center Cook

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Beloved Cook for over 15 years – loves cooking for the children and being the source of feeding/nourishing them day in and day out. Ms. Evelyn deeply enjoys working with our staff and has been a pillar of faith for our Gingerbread House family. She has a passion for gardening, watching football and is a huge fan of our hometown Tennessee Titans!!

Mary Sims

Peppermint Teacher

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Beloved Teacher For 12 years. She loves working at Gingerbread House because of the people, the children and she just likes to help others. Ms. Mary likes to help children learn and as a mom and grandmother she cares for all children like her own. “I love my job! I get to see the smiles on their face and watching them grow up, go to school its so fulfilling.” Ms. Mary also enjoys watching her grand kids play football, basket ball and enjoys watching the NFL.