dripping with passion

… c h r i s t m a s ! ! !     yes! yay! it is officially, officially christmastime - hurrah! last saturday ian, moses and i picked up and set up our (spectacular, might I say) christmas tree and it is shining brightly in our flat. and little mo and I have been scouring the city for festivity (which is actually very easily found) every day since thanksgiving. i am convinced that there is no place  on earth like london at christmastime. it is, truly, magical . (btw, i am going to put together a post in the next couple weeks with all my favourite christmassy spots around london. hopefully it is helpful for any one who visits the city during the holidays!)   ^^ at the christmas tree lot, and carrying the nine foot nordman fir to the tube station! ^^ ^^ you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. taking our huge tree on the tube was definitely a memorable adventure :) ^^   ^^ unveiling her in her perfect bay window home … and slowly decorating her over the course of a few days… ^^   ^^ christm

  i am in love with thanksgiving. and it’s kind of tricky to celebrate that glorious holiday living across the wide ocean from america, far away from family members and cultural traditions. but i make it happen … because taking some to express extra gratitude and gather with loved ones and eat turkey and stuffing is important! last thursday morning i woke up with a glowing heart and racing mind - it was thanksgiving day! moses and I made a little turkey hat and cut out the rest of the orange and yellow leaves for our family thankful tree before ian left for work. and then i spent a good chunk of the day in my tiny kitchen preparing a modified feast and thinking about alllll the things i have to be thankful for. ian was able to come home from work a bit early (even though this month is by far the busiest time of the year for his team) and we had a makeshift thanksgiving dinner - a layered mashed potato/gravy/turkey/stuffing/cranberry casserole, some sweet potatoes and some green beans

rejoice over everything.  exult. exhilarate.  be glad. be delighted, elated, and bowled over with joy! frolic freely, hop, hope, dance on the dare, cheer, champion the little ones, revel in the riotous light. invoke god without ceasing. pray with passion. whatever you do, do not quench the spirit. take care not to douse or dampen the bold blaze in your depths.  jump into life. hold fast to it. give thanks for everything.  for everything, even the most misshapen and misunderstood, is the disguise of the divine.  -susan virginia hull this morning i opened up my facebook app and it told me that i had posted the words above six years ago, on thanksgiving day 2011. and that little notification was a big tender mercy for me. i needed the reminder - the reminder of who i am, of what i believe, that i should to exult , that i should hope . real talk: i've been sad lately. i'm struggling with some things that are deep and difficult. i often feel

happy thanksgiving eve! while i have embraced pre-thanksgiving christmas festivity here in london, i am still making good efforts to preserve the hearty celebration of thanksgiving in our little family. sorry, ian, no christmas music can be played until you’ve written down five things you are thankful for on paper leaves and added them to the thankful tree :) six of my eight siblings are together in arizona enjoying turkey day together, which makes me happy and makes me sad. i wish, wish, wish we were there … but i’m extra grateful this year for facetime! today i wanted to share some thoughts and info about our pregnancy! thanks for all the kind congratulations here and on instagram. this thanksgiving, we are tremendously thankful for the tiny bebe in my belly - what a miracle and what a blessing. one. baby is due to arrive sometime around 21 april (i am just over eighteen weeks along). we are particularly excited about this due date because my brother eli and his wife are due

i’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude lately. of course this is because thanksgiving is coming right up, but also just because i have been searching for solutions for certain challenges in my life, and thankfulness seems to keep arising as the answer. and so, when i find myself starting to feel worried or comparing or blue, i am trying to thank god more, show more appreciation to ian, and just cultivate more gratitude in my heart … because wow!! i have so much to be thankful for.  today i was walking with moses down the broad avenue that cuts through kensington gardens, and the world around us was glowing with autumn gold. and i just had one of those moments where i felt so overwhelmingly grateful for the beautiful life that i lead. i wrote ian an email at work and thanked him for helping so many of my dreams come true, and for giving me a family and a home that i adore, and in my heart i poured out thanks to god for all the joys and challenges and wonders of my day-to-day life. d