Annus Mirabilis

Annus mirabilis is Latin for "miraculous year." Nothing could be more fitting to describe the first year of Vita Nova's existence.

Those who have followed this blog and checked our ever-changing website have gotten a small glimpse of some of our miracles. By the grace of God we opened in August of 2007 at the Latvian Community Center. By the grace of God our teachers and students worked through a full year of rigorous academic curriculum. By the grace of God our students experienced numerous activities beyond our walls, including opportunities to serve others.

We had our challenges, too. There were the usual bouts of childhood illness. Melissa, our Head of School, was absent for several days while her father was in the hospital. Just recently one of our students faced a potentially serious medical issue, the miracle of which you can read about in the previous post.

What no one reading a blog or website can possibly know, however, is how much the lives of these children have been changed. A year spent anywhere would change the life of a child, but over 180 days spent in a Christ-centered, academically challenging, creatively stimulating environment have shaped these children in ways that will help them to live out the unique calling that God has for each of them.

As we leave for the summer, we thank God for His daily blessing and guidance of this enterprise. We are deeply grateful to all our prayer partners and to those who have supported us in any way, whether through a financial gift, the gift of time in serving, or the blessing of a kind word of encouragement. We pray for all our friends and families to have an enjoyable, rejuvenating summer even as we look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones in the fall. We invite you to read once again these foundational words for Vita Nova, words that come from the very heart of God.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:18-21, NIV)