week in the life {thursday}

notes from today:

paying attention to the light is changing how i take photos.
i wish i could work from my bed every morning
beginning and ending the day with mary oliver heals me
ellie jane's joyful way of living pushes me to let go 

*****

this week, i am joining in with ali edwards' week in the life project. i took quite a few photos yesterday but most of them were of ellie while she was walking, exploring, eating, and so on, which meant quite a few photos of the same scene and many blurry because she is so on.the.move. mostly i was distracted by work/life stuff yesterday and forgot to take photos. but the photos i did capture, especially me dancing with my shadow (more on that soon), really make me happy. there is a lesson here somewhere. always, always the lessons...

(all my week in the life photos, including additional notes, can be seen in this flickr set.) 

one more invitation to emerge...

On Monday, the Emerge ecourse with Jenna McGuiggan, Vivienne McMaster, and me begins! I am so excited about the course the three of us have created together. Collaborating with these two friends on the course material for Emerge has been, well, simply awesome. If you have been intrigued by my recent blog posts about having a daily practice and how these practices got me through "survival mode," I hope you will come along for this course because it will invite you to explore possible writing, photography, and accessible meditation practices to include in your own personal practice. The community aspect of an ecourse also gives you the environment to spend time connecting with like-minded souls as you embark on or continue your journey of seeing where you are on your path.

Jenna, Viv, and I have partnered with Live It to the Full to bring this course to you. Along with being delightful hosts with a vision the three of us believe in, Amy and Aleece have created a beautiful, user-friendly site for us to use on our adventure together. I hope you will join us as we share our personal stories of emerging from times of transition in our lives and provide you with creative tools to use as your face your own seasons of change. The course material will be available for an additional four weeks after the course ends, so you will have plenty of time to work through it even if you are taking a vacation or have other plans for parts of August.

If you have already signed up, please let me know! Can't wait to connect with you in my first ecourse teaching adventure!

week in the life {wednesday}

notes from today:

severely burning one's finger makes it much harder to seek joy in the everyday
somehow joy still appears in the form of her laughter and his silliness and collaboration and quiet truths
holding her when she falls asleep rarely happens anymore, but when it does, it feels like winning the lottery
she can cycle though happy to oh my goodness i am mad mad mad to giggling all in about one minute
i am going to be sad to see this summer end

*****

this week, i am joining in with ali edwards' week in the life project. today, after being deeply inspired by darrah's blog post, i played with the ISO a bit more. i have been shooting on AV for months now and have been adjusting the f-stop and light balance (ahhh...is that what it is called?). i even put the camera on manual for a bit. it.was.a.blast! usually i come up with excuses like "but i am working on a project, i can't play with the settings now!" but that didn't stop me today. it was refreshing. perhaps i knew i needed a distraction from my throbbing finger. burns are no fun at all. can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

(all my week in the life photos, including additional notes, can be seen in this flickr set.) 

week in the life {tuesday}

notes from today:

going outside centers me every time
(today was a day where centering + oreos helped)
after about 10 bites, ellie begins to share her food with millie
late night trips to target mean you buy more than just diapers
lavender lingers 
gratitude punctuated this day

*****

this week, i am joining in with ali edwards' week in the life project. at some point today i thought to myself, "are people really going to want to see all these photos of my family?" but then i remembered why i wanted to do this: to notice the rhythm of our days.
(all my week in the life photos can be seen in this flickr set.)

PS it looks like the mugs are all sold out, but here's a link to george takai's site. 

week in the life {monday}

notes from today:

working in bed while he plays with her down the hall
how her laughter fills the spaces between us
choosing to let things go and just be here
the discovery of splashing means she doesn't want to leave the tub
ending the day side by side remembering there is always love 

*****

this week, i am joining in with ali edwards' week in the life project. i love that ali encourages people to let this week be about whatever feels right for them. i kind of love it when there aren't any rules. my loose plan is to simply let each day unfold as it does and document what i find here. today, i felt moved to use my iphone to capture a few moments. i have to admit that i hope i take a lot more photos tomorrow (and plan to reread through ali's suggestions on her site).

the living part

a july evening picnic . point defiance park

Your weekend invitation:
Gather a few things that bring you joy.
Get outside.
And lean into living. 

Then notice the shift the really living part brings...to your mind, to your body, to your heart.

evening thoughts

these words seemed to need to tumble out of me this evening...

thank you for being out there in the world and coming here to this corner and sharing pieces of you (and seeing pieces of me)

in the video, i mention the emerge e-course that is coming up next month and the podcast i did with kimberly wilson.

this time...

these full of joy photos are such a contrast to this time last year...

this time last year we were waist deep in please let us get through this. please let her grow, thrive, live.

this time last year we were standing on the edge of knowing open-heart surgery was to come for a baby weighing less than 10 pounds.

this time last year my body was trying to heal in the midst of everything else.

this time last year i stood tall as a mother, as a woman, as a warrior, in ways i never imagined.

this time last year i couldn't remember a night filled with restful sleep.

this time last year i was afraid to admit that parts of my experience giving birth had been traumatic in every sense of that word.

this time last year i couldn't remember what my own laughter sounded like.

this time last year i had just finished the final edits of my book.

this time last year i began a practice of honoring what is real in my life, and i began to see the beauty in that real.ness.

this time last year i found myself blessed to realize i had loved ones and complete strangers around the world praying for our little family.

this time last year i was far far away from what "most people" experience when they bring home their child from the hospital.

this time last year i was shedding all expectations.

this time last year i was realizing what be present meant at its core.

this time last year i was longing for the sea and hoping she would heal me.

this time last year we wondered if her eyes would stay so blue.

this time last year i had never heard her laughter.

this time last year i held onto the poetry of mary oliver in the hopes that it would keep me tethered to truth.

this time last year i stepped out of a few roles i had been playing for far too long.

this time last year i began to think that a heart breaks and mends with each breath thoughout a lifetime.

this time last year i would close my eyes to rest but still see the green line and hear the beeping.

this time last year i could fall asleep in the middle of almost anything.

this time last year i had never been more aware of all that i did not know and all that i could not control.

in this moment, i sink into the beauty that is the loud with living laughter of a little girl taking her first unaided steps as she walks back and forth between her mama and daddy.

in this moment, i sink into the beauty that is a little girl who is so brave and strong and full of joy as she stands tall in simply being 13 months old. 

and in this moment, i begin to rest my tired eyes with a soft sigh because i know that even in the midst of all that pulls on my mind and heart, we are so blessed.