A Fresh Start

I love this time of year. I love how the air changes to a something akin to a Honey Crisp apple - tart and sweet. I love the vibrant colors the trees take on, just before they surrender to the dull gray of winter. And, even though I haven't participated in years, I love "back to school" - the brand new box of pointy crayons in perfect rainbow order, the newly sharpened pencils with no sign of mistakes-made-right on the erasures, having to once again remember how to make a brown paper bag transform into the perfect-fit book cover. It is so exciting.

So much more so than the change into a new calendar, this is the time of year when I find myself setting goals, making changes, planning ahead. Making the cocoon ready for another year of transformation.

Here's a sampling of things I have been mulling over as we enter this season:

• Homeschooling - Bo would have gone to his first day of Kindergarten today. This has been quite the kick in the pants for me to start exploring my educational philosophies, approaches to learning and carefully observing my children to see how and what they learn.
• Church - This one still stumps me. What does it really look like to be the Body of Christ? I am pretty convinced we have it mostly wrong. But our family needs to experience Fellowship, so where does that leave us?
• Community - Oh how I still long to live in a Christian Co-Housing Community! Recently I have discovered this desire is really about longing for Heaven. So what do I do in the mean time to find and live in as close of an approximation to "on Earth as it is in Heaven" as I can?
  

This year, I hope to write more about this cocoon and the transformations that are taking place within. I look forward to keeping you posted.