Tis the Season

Right now-- it's a brisk and chilly Saturday morning in Monterey and I'm at Starbucks sipping a tall Caffe Mocha...wondering about my journey for the upcoming year.
My first full year in California with my hubby and kids (remember, I lived here for 3 years with my parents when I was younger) will reach its full anniversary this upcoming February.  And now that we've overcome the initial culture shock, climate shock, sticker shock (house-hunting), and the kids are no longer out of sync with their surroundings and making new friends...I can finally say that we feel at home here.  For now.
And I can also say this: no matter where we  move and live, we will always learn to adapt and be "at home".  Although my husband is military (a navy reservist), we have never had to move in our full 10 years of marriage.  So this cross-country excursion gives me a true perspective of honor and respect for active duty military families who receive their post orders every 2-3 years or so.  And they're not just adapting to a new state even. Many are shifting their lives clear on the other side of the world- in Spain, Guam, Germany, England, Japan, and the likes.
I'm just sayin'...it makes me all the more grateful.
Moving to California I guess was not that big of a deal.  Yeah, things are definitely different around here out on the west coast, but after a bit of adjustment, you just begin to realize that people are people everywhere you go...and for the most part, basic issues are the same.
I am definitely learning a lot about the world, about people, about nature, about myself, about my family, about God.
Which leads me to the idea that I mentioned in another post, about finding my true niche in life.
This is the season.  I remind myself constantly that yet another has flown by and I haven't begun writing that book, or writing those songs, yada yada yada.  But it's not a guilty feeling I have.  Instead, it's more of a wistful wish-I-hadn't-procrastinated  feeling.  And now more than ever I feel the necessity of tapping into those interests I once enjoyed more often (yeah, before the kids).  But who says I can't keep loving my life just because I have kids?
So this year I am planning to redirect my focus a bit.  Not away from my kids, of course!  But maybe away from this blog.  The whole idea of "natural homeschooling" didn't quite take shape the way I'd envisioned.  Actually, the reason I started this blog was to chronicle my days as a homeschooling mom and my ideas about natural parenting.  Um...you tell me how many blog posts you can find here about the latter.
This blog is kind of a culmination of my homeschooling journey since 2007.
It's been fun.
And it has served as a creative outlet for me during the move to Cali.
But...tis the season for change.
What kind of change?
Hmmm...not really sure.  I have a few other blog ideas up my sleeve (as always!), and I hate to abandon this one.  Except, I'm just not sure if I want to journal so much about our homeschool (believe me, our thoughts about what homeschooling is and how it works for our family have changed dramatically since we've relocated).  Now, what our homeschool looks and feels like seems more of a personal family choice that I don't wish to blog so much about (with the exception of pics to our fun field trips).
There's really no easy way to explain that except that homeschooling for us has just become a really personal and natural extension of our family these past few months...and I'm becoming hesitant to share it all.  It feels so sacred, so "family-ish".  :-)  I know that's not a word.

Anyhoo.  Just thought I'd give you guys a heads-up.
I'll try to remember to post some pics of our first California Thanksgiving, and a community project the kids and I worked on.  Oh yeah, and some of our most recent fieldtrips out and about town.
I'm sure there'll be at least a few more posts before I shift my focus...so until next time!