dripping with passion

a couple of weeks ago, we took a really quick trip to this ^^ beautiful place to spend time with these awesome people: my brother, sister-in-law, and niece! (this selfie is pretty awesome in how awful it is, haha! ^^) it feels sooo good to have family somewhat close. yes, we live a two hour plane ride + two hour car ride away from each other, but that's pretty dang close when the rest of our family members are at least an entire ocean away! and in our book that's close enough for a thirty-ish hour trip over a weekend - just to be with family. tal and anita recently moved further from zurich and nearer to the mountain town where anita grew up, and we were so excited to see their new digs. we spent the majority of our weekend in switzerland just hanging out at their awesome place: ...and taking in their incredible view, which you get a glimpse of in this random photo: i can't believe i didn't get a good shot of it. it's astonishing - they have these huuuuuge sli

    one. i love that thanksgiving comes right before (slash in the midst of?) christmastime. cultivating gratitude in my heart just sets me up just right for approaching christmas with a spirit of giving and simplicity. you'd think we'd celebrate thanksgiving less  living away from america and having the fourth thursday in november be a regular old work day, but this year we celebrated a lot more than usual - with three separate thanksgiving feasts. somehow the only pictures i have of said celebrating are the four above showing off the leaves on our thankful tree, the leaves on our street, and moses in the turkey costume we made together ;) we are blessed to have feasted with friends and family over here across the pond. two. speaking of gratitude and christmas giving... it can be really overwhelming (at least for me!) to decide where and how to give donations when there are so many needs and so many organizations addressing those needs in our world. i feel thankful to

happy thanksgiving! i have so, so very much to be thankful for. among the blessings that i count is this spot on the internet that i've used to keep a family record and that has connected me to wonderful people with diverse perspectives. i'm thankful to be able to share and learn here. and at the tippy top of my thankful list is my three boys - ian, moses and gabriel. they are my fondest dreams come true and have brought me more joy than i could have ever anticipated or hoped for. in an effort to capture this chapter of life for our little family (and to get a good family photo to send out on christmas cards, one of my favourite traditions), i asked my photographer friend kami  and her camera to spend twenty minutes with us in our neighborhood a few weeks ago. it was a quick "mini session" that i'm so glad we made happen. and ppsssst: no ... we don't iron clothes in our house, ha! one thing i really miss about living in the usa is tumble driers ! we h