For me especially, this was a "full circle" time in my life.  Thirty years ago right here on Koinonia's campus, the community bell (which is still in use today) rang at 11 p.m. announcing the birth of a ten and a half pound baby girl.  Millard Fuller, my father, founder of Koinonia's "baby," Habitat for Humanity, rang that bell, and that big catch was me!  I say "catch" since I was weighed on a fish scale by "Miss Gussie," one of the poor mid-wives in the area at that time.  My parents had desired a home birth since they knew I'd be their last child (No. Four), and they both wanted to be present.  (Back then, hospitals around here didn't allow fathers to assist births.)  At the sound of the bell, the entire Koinonia community arose from either their work or slumber to all join together underneath that two-story bedroom window and sing me "Happy Birthday."  Up until this day, when that bell rings, I can't help but be reminded of my birth here and of what this place means to me.

So here I am again -- no longer a baby, but a woman, wife and Mother.  As I see my own daughters, Sophie (4) and Jasmine (2) swinging on the same swings I swung on as a girl, yet another "full circle" comes to mind.  In this short period of time we'll be on the farm, a third generation in my family will have spent a significant part of their lives here.  Just as I had the opportunity to live in a close farming community and experience all the riches and lessons it has to offer, so are they profiting from it now.

In our isolated life in Switzerland, I thirsted and struggled to create the best kind of community life I could through our friends and our church.  Now that kind of life is all around us so easy to reach out to and touch.  The girl's many favorite activities are community parties, playing with the three other Thornburg children, visiting the cows and chickens, watching plants grow in the Organic Garden, chasing the farm cats around, finding Lady Bugs, eating fresh berries from the mulberry trees, munching on Koinonia chocolate and petting our new community dog, "Little Bear."

Of course, there is no ideal community life without its own struggles and dilemmas.  As a child, being oblivious to those kinds of things, this kind of life seemed perfectly harmonious and fun.  Now as an adult, I'm aware of the conflicts that arise when you bring two or more adults together in close quarters.  I cannot imagine a community ever being able to survive without constant and committed Christian efforts to keep the peace.  Forgiveness, patience, loving those who don't love you, all these commandments Christ gave us, have become tools I consciously carry around with me every day on these grounds.  The efforts are great, but the rewards are greater.

Yes, Koinonia has been through a lot of turmoil and grief over the past decade.  Just a few years ago, it was highly questionable if the farm would even survive.  Poor management, bad decisions, greed and theft nearly put this place under.  Time and time again it seems, Koinonia just keeps popping its head up again miraculously after being nearly chopped down to the core.  There is simply a power bigger than all of us keeping this place alive.  When I think about all Koinonia endured in the past with the bombings, shootings, boycotts and threats, I guess it shouldn't be surprising it survived again. 

Having had some experience behind me as a woman, wife and Mother, I cannot help but perceive Koinonia also as all of these three, seeing the joys and the sufferings that they entail.  When Clarence Jordan first laid eyes on this land, he said that it was as if she was "crying out to be healed."  The land was eroded and infertile like a poor, barren woman.  Could God have, in a sense, blessed her and healed her of her barrenness for His purposes?  As a husband chooses his wife, I see God having chosen Koinonia as his "wife" or partner within the purpose of building a "demonstration plot" for His Kingdom.  Then, as a husband conceives children with his wife, so did God sow His seed on her soil in order to produce good fruits for His Kingdom. 

Koinonia has produced not only fruits in the sense of farm produce but also in the form of actions and other organizations.  Her stand against violence and racism in segregation times produced a powerful testimony shining in that darkness.  As it is true for any woman to give birth to a child, so was it necessary for Koinonia to endure the "labor pains" of bringing about such a testimony.  Other "children" are Jubilee Partners and Habitat for Humanity.  Though there were really no "labor pains" involved in producing them, it was perhaps a bit tough for the farm to let them go, as it sometimes is for parents to let a child go.  In this same line of thought, Clarence himself said that leaving Koinonia would be like "leaving his own Mother." 

I find myself hoping that Koinonia will come full circle again, as a woman rediscovers her freedom after the kids leave the nest.  Sometimes when the leaves of the pecan trees are shimmering in the light and shaking in the wind, I wish it were symbolic of a time coming for her to finally break free of her struggles and move boldly forward into the future.  Certain positive changes in leadership over the past couple of years and during our stay have reinforced my hope and reconfirmed my intuition that this place is on an uphill run. 

Could it be that we were meant to come here exactly at this exciting re-birth in Koinonia's history?  Could it be more than just a coincidence that a "full circle" is occurring in my own life at this time?  Perhaps if we all believe in this strongly enough, a re-birth will really occur.  John Hall, our new Coordinator of Operations, has been getting volunteers busy fixing the Pecan Orchard irrigation system.  Could this be symbolic of getting Koinonia's life circulation going again - like getting her veins fixed - to get her heart pumping again for the Lord's work?  I'd like to think so.

For both me and this great woman I call "Koinonia," we'll see where God's Will takes us next.  Until then, I'll be singing in the Dining Hall and walking around barefoot and pregnant.  What?  Pregnant?  Oh boy (or Oh girl), another sign?...     

Georgia Luedi

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Webmaster note: since this article was written, Manfred, Georgia and their family (now numbering 6) moved to Texas. They keep in touch and come for visits and Koinonia has been greatly impacted by their time here.