a couple days in the woods.

: dad "hunting" - or so he calls it :

: thanksgiving dinner with family & friends :

: an evening around the fire :

: pie for breakfast :

: our cabin & lake michigan :



: a morning walk on the Manistee riverwalk :
: a beautiful walk on the Mainstee pier with friends & fishermen :

: pure delight :

Family Times

-baked beans w/ BBQ-










-our new nephew, Malachi-










-a beautiful autumn afternoon with family-
































-family (we missed you Mary!)-









-two of my favorite gals-










-for some reason i love this shot of jen & i-

-completely unrelated but very relevant, richard posted these pics of gracie & amelia + a walking house and a leashed bunny. both made me laugh uncontrollably and needed to be posted-

:a corner with a view:

:a few precious moments from our weekend:

:the best representation of our neighborhood:

off to prepare dinner to eat with our neighbors...

the last couple of weeks.

these past four+ weeks have really flown by! with great company by our side we have enjoyed early mornings, late nights, and weekends with both friends and family.

although i always forget to take pictures when they are around, i always have my camera as my companion when physically alone. enjoy.

a beautiful deeply colored mum for our home this fall.

filling our home with sweet autumn liquids as we prepare for an evening around the fire with good good friends.

after a 30 mile ride up lake shore drive we found a deliciously wonderful community cafe' where we feasted on a huge breakfast burrito & almond, walnut, cashew berry whole wheat pancakes + coffee. yummmm!

as Rebecca would say, "and then there was this..." what a beautiful marriage, friendship & ceremony to be a part of.

two handsome guys.

herman stretching high for the sun. he's going to have a long, long winter ahead of him.

oak park farmer's market finds.

today we're busy making squash, pumpkin, sewing gaiters, packaging packages due over a month ago, buying halloween costumes for the kids in my program and enjoying long walks in cool autumn weather.

off to see john & elaine - take care and we'll hope to touch base with you soon!

a trip to take in the recyclables:

a. package up recyclables on the back porch.
b. get shoes out and go down the front stairs, lock door.
c. walk down a block or so to get the car, hop in.
d. drive the car to the back of the lot, jump out.
e. open the back gate and pull car onto car parking pad, park car.
f. jump out of the car, go back and lock the back gate.
g. walk around the side of the house to enter in through the front door that must first be unlocked, and then locked once more after entering and closing the door.
h. go up the front stairs, through the apartment and into the back porch.
i. take three arms full of recyclables down the flight of back stairs, out the back door, which must be promptly shut so Irene's cats won't escape (note: this looks like this - take an arm full of goods down stairs, set on staircase, open the back door, pick up the goods from stair case and walk through door, set down goods on the outside concrete slab, shut the stubborn and often times stuck door, pick up goods and take them to the car trunk).
j. did i say do this three times?
k. go up the back porch stairs one last time, lock the back door, walk up into the apartment, lock the back door that leads into our kitchen.
l. walk through the apartment, down the front stairs, around the side of the house and back to the car.
m. unlock and open the back gate that leads onto the parking slab
n. get in car and back it up off of the parking slab
o. get out of the car and go and shut the back gate
p. get back in car, drive four miles and drop off recyclables.

Flula's been a buddy of mine for a few years. Check out his win at the Scion Hypeman contest here in Chicago.





Best of all, he entered the contest as a joke... and still won.

discussions.

today jake and i had a discussion. one of those discussions that you hate but find necessary to have. those kind of discussions that if halted leave one (when i say "one" know that i really mean me) often feeling anxious, hurt, wondering and a little too vulnerable.

it's one of those discussions that often starts out with a sense of innocent insecurity which when aggravated will (and does - trust me) grow, fester, bubble and turn hot - and not the kind of "hot" one wants in their relationship with their partner. am i alone here?

so jake sped ahead on his bike and i putzed in anger as we began our trek to the water (ahhhhh - never leave me fresh beautiful water). eventually catching up to him i greeted him with a "why are you acting like an asshole". note to self - that is not the best, most mature, or loving way to greet someone after a moment of anger. what can i say - i was really, really angry and hurt. i at least said it in a calm manner - does rationalizing and justifying take wrong words back?

from there we had a discussion, if you will.

one of those discussions that when you're committed to the process, is life giving, rewarding, encouraging, engaging and healing. i am assuming when not committed to the process (or the person) leaves you feeling all of those experiences mentioned above (anxious, hurt, wondering and a little too vulnerable).

three years in we are finding that we are having those discussions more often as we try to negotiate who we are as partners during this season in our relationship.

it's a difficult thing when you're running around trying to beat traffic (ahhhhh - please leave me chicago traffic), studying for the next exam, making dinner, preparing breakfast, visiting neighbors, trying to sleep and attempting to have life giving relationships with God and friends outside of marriage.

really - sometimes this marriage/partnership is simply annoying. discussions take time. showing another person love takes time (and energy and creativity that i often lack because i don't take the time). engaging in the process of love takes precious, sacred time.

this is the thing though - i have a committed partner. i have a partner who, through honesty will work (and stubbornly force me not to avoid) and wade through really "assholish" moments, feelings, and life seasons. i have a partner who is committed to the discussions and processes of learning how to be a better partner which brings me/us life, is rewarding, encouraging, engaging and healing.

so, although discussions do take time - i'm here today to say that they are worth every annoying moment of it, when working through it together as partners committed to the process.