back to school

Last Tuesday Team Winchell went back to school!

For the first time since their adoption, neither Orilus nor Jackson were excited to begin school this year. It's true that we are definitely a spoiled family in the summertimes--we are all home together, all summer, and we enjoy a togetherness and a level of bonding that many families don't get to experience in summertime. And, since this summer was so extraordinarily "over the top" (our Make-a-Wish trip, 2 trips to Kansas, time for camping in Vermont), I think we were ALL feeling sadness at seeing our first healthy summer come to a close.

Nevertheless, we all faced our first days of school. The boys experienced a half day on Tuesday, and full days Wednesday through Friday. They are third and fourth graders now, and with Jackson's tenth birthday at the end of this month, Jason and I are suddenly feeling like we have two much-older boys on our hands. Both boys enjoyed their teachers and friends, despite complaints that school is "a lot of work," and Orilus' comment after the first half day that he "needs a day off." Amusing. I think that both boys still struggle at times to understand why children in this country are required to spend so much time, and energy, on school. But they're adjusting. As Jackson told me last night in the car as we left his grandparents' house, he doesn't like the ending of things. And I think that goes especially for the ending of summer.

I explained to Jackson last night that endings bring beginnings, and much has begun in our lives in the last week. Jason is now taking three (!) graduate classes this semester in a rushed attempt to conform to our state's Department of Education, who decided that they were not, after all, happy with his MDiv degree. He's at class now Mondays, Tuesdays, and (most) Wednesdays. Orilus has decided to take hip hop dance classes, which begin this week. And Jackson is starting at a "real" gymnastics school this week, too, and is hoping to be doing back handsprings shortly (he's pretty close!). As for me, I've started me new job as a Curriculum Instruction Teacher (CIT) at the freshmen Academy of our high school (the freshmen were moved out to make room in our new building for the many repairs that are needed to keep it from sinking). It's been an interesting (read: rough, but by faith, I'm trying to anticipate many good things to come) adjustment to my new position, the new (actually, our old, building), and to my role as a co-teacher in 3 ESL content classrooms (math, science, and social studies). It's definitely a challenge, as many of my students are refugees from Burma, Thailand, Burundi, and Liberia, and our beginners this year are VERY beginning in English. But I love a challenge, and it's true that a part of my personality is to run quickly TOWARD challenge, to avoid boredom. I certainly won't be bored this year.

We have been trying hard to make more "room" in our lives for our increasingly busy schedule (Jason's classes, our boys lessons and schooling), and to that end, we have decided not to run Ripple Effect this year. We're taking a year-long "sabatical," partly, too, in an attempt to have time to pray, think, and talk about the many issues concerning us lately (how to create simplicity in our life, how to be mortgage-free, how to raise our kids more intentionaly, how to incorporate service in our family...). This year definitely marks a new season for us, then, in many ways.

This weekend we've spend trying to recuperate...to say that we were tired at the close of last week is an understatement. We've caught up on some sleep, spent some family time together, re-instated our date night "swaps" with another Lynn family, gone to church, and spent time with the extended Winchell family. I appreciate these slower-paced weekends when we connect with each other, with family, and with friends.

Tomorrow we're up again in the early morning hours for a new day of commuting (trying to figure out Jason's class schedule, and the boys' bus schedule, and lessons, with ONE car has been a challenge, but I think we've got it figured out), schooling, and homework-ing. Our first full week of school year 2007-2008 is upon us!