Dear Casa Chiri Family,

All that it takes to bring any story to life is a little imagination. This was fully displayed this week while playing figurines with my 4-year-old nephew. In his little imaginative world, it made complete sense for a penguin, elephant and giant beetle to all be friends and dwell in the same story. Reality of habitat and scale of size for these creatures placed no limitation on their interaction. When he asked me to play, he had some ideas in mind and some characters whom he wanted to participate in the  adventure. I willingly followed his lead for it was his story and he invited me to take part in it.

Throughout this fall and the end of the year we will be inviting you to take part in some way, big or small, in the story that is developing in Chirilagua. We will be listening to our students, their families and the parent committee as they share with us their imaginings of the future for themselves, their families, Casa Chirilagua, and their community. You see, the story is already there. The setting, the characters and the dreams and visions of where the story will go have already been planted. Now we want to take time to sit and listen to the story and see if we might be invited to take part in and follow their lead for what is being imagined for the future. Our neighborhood is filled with hope, and if we first sit and listen, we might be invited to assist in bringing hope to life. We hope some of you will join us on this journey over the next several months.

In Him,