Flying High

Some things in life

just don't get old.

A good hug.

Chips & Salsa. 

Lake Michigan.

Chocolate chip cookies. 

Being thrown in the air by your daddy.

Again.

 And again.

And Again.

And maybe again again.

The View from Above

 Condo living takes some getting used to.  The greatest source of angst for my children is arguing over who gets to push the buttons in the elevator.  They have worked out a fair and equitable system- Eleanor gets the up/down buttons, Rynn gets any buttons with a number, and guests get to push all the buttons.  Fair enough.  But what about outdoor living?  The last few summer days have been gorgeous.  I'm still slightly pining for a yard and a garden.  But, for now, I'm setting my imagination on the potential our balcony holds.

Jason Climbs the Grand Teton

In celebration of turning forty (in November 2011)

 Jason climbed the Grand Teton in Jackson, WY last week with his old friend Ian.  

Ian and Jason were wilderness adventure guides together years ago.

 Both now are Presbyterian ministers.

 (is there something in that Colorado water???)

The Mountain

 The Man

The View

The Accommodations

The Evening Entertainment

(notice the shadow the mountains make as the sun sets behind them!)

The Final Climb

(don't worry Grammy...he's roped in)

The Summit with Ian

The View from the Top

Happy early 40th Jason!

I'm so proud of you :)!

The Mark Within Us

"What is the connection between the home we  knew and the home we dream? I believe that what we long for most in the home we knew is the peace and charity that we first came to experience there, and I believe that it is that same peace and charity we dream of finding once again in the home that the tide of time draws us toward.  The first home foreshadows the final home, and the final home hallows and fulfills what was most precious in the first."

- Frederick Buechner, The Longing for Home

"Joy is home, and I believe the tears in our eyes were more than anything else homesick tears.  God created us in joy and created us for joy, and in the long run not all the darkness there is in the world and in ourselves can separate us finally from that joy, because whatever else it means to say that God created us in his image, I think it means that even when we cannot believe in him, even when we feel most spiritually bankrupt and deserted by him, his mark is deep within us" (Buechner 128).

"We are moved by those precious moments when something holy seems to break through our lives both to heal us and to summon us to pilgrimage...as for what lies ahead, we can take great heart from St. Paul's words to the Corinthians that although now we see only through a glass darkly, there will come a day when we will see face to face and understand fully even as we are fully understood.  It is the nature of faith to look beyond itself- and beyond the doubts that must always exist in tension with it if it is a living faith- to a time on the far side of time when the holy dream is at last revealed to be reality and all that we take now for reality glimmers like a dream" (Buechner 170-1).

*These photos were taken on July 2 while sailing on Lake Michigan with some of our neighborhood friends.  The view of the city from the lake is so different from being in the middle of the intimidating skyscrapers.  The city appears almost quiet and majestic.  What an amazing experience!


** The quotes are from a book I read this summer by Frederick Buechner titled The Longing for Home. It is a helpful mediation on the idea that our longings and desires both for a nostalgic past and for a deep sense of home are really a longing for our eternal and final home.  Not all of the book is great nor would I completely agree with all his theology, but I like that he identifies and addresses our deep longings for joy, faith, hope, fellowship, and ultimately HOME.

Back in the Big City

Here's the thing about a great vacation-

sometimes the rest, the space, the adventure is so life giving

that coming home is kind of nice.

We've been back in the big city for a week.

The girls and I are hanging at the pool, seeing friends, and staying in our PJs until we are ready to not be in our PJs. 

For the first summer ever I have graduated to the formerly enviable group of moms who sit in lounge chairs and watch their young charges or, better yet, actually get to read a book.  

A book made it to my lap on Wednesday (I only read one page in three hours, but hey...who's counting?).

Daddy is back to work. The condo is organized, settled, and feeling like home.  We feel alive with the hope of new beginnings in a city that is no longer so new to us. I, for one, am immensely thankful our first year of transition is over, and we are returning to things that feel like they are becoming "ours."  I am excited for the year to come and hopeful for what it will hold.  

Living in this area of Chicago is truly amazing.  There is still so much to explore and discover. This fall I hope to explore some of the many Chicago neighborhoods and share them with you.

But, until then, I am sticking close to the home front.

Enjoying the lake.

Enjoying my children

my church

my community

And soaking in every last ray of warm summer sunshine my body can absorb.

Because God is good.

And as Ray Cannata, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New Orleans, said to us this morning, "The Kingdom of God is a feast.  Christ is Lord of the feast.  It is not that we long for too much.  We long for far too little.  Only God can fill you.  The hunger you feel deep inside...let it drive you to Christ and be ready to share the feast."

Home Again, Home Again

Home Again.

To Colorado- 

one of the most consistent threads of place

 in the fabric of our ten and a half years of marriage.

Days with Grammy and Pops in Ft. Collins...

exploring the surrounding hills

and stealing away for a weekend in Portland 

while the girls stayed in Ft. Collins with Grammy and Pops.

 (more on this trip to come...)

Four days of camping with

Grammy & Pops (Jason's parents)

Gretchen (Jason's sister), Kyle, Jack, & Molly

see more pictures of the car camping

HERE

Colorado Columbine

Tasting Indian Paintbrush in an alpine meadow

While the rest of the crew journeyed back to Ft. Collins for more fun, crafts, and play at Grammy & Pop's house, Jason, Gretchen, and I met up with our old Portland friend Anna for five days of backpacking.

 We spent five days and four nights backpacking the Maroon Bells loop- a 27 mile loop circling the Maroon Bells peaks near Aspen.  Four 12,000+ passes, four basins, alpine lakes, snow, best Colorado wildflowers we've seen in years,  and views galore. Pretty much....unbelievable.

More pictures HERE

Gretchen pumping water with me out of  Snowmass Lake- 11,000 ft

and

Home Again.

To Chicago's North Shore-

our latest stop in this pilgrimage of faith.

More thoughts to come in the coming days...

To all we saw in Portland and Colorado...

we love you.  

As Eleanor put it over a slice of pizza at the pool last night,

"Mommy, I think once you know a person you become attached to them, 

and that is something hard to ever go away."

Amen, baby girl.