Christmas at the bungalow:

No heat, but warm coats and lots of Tolkein readings and playing Fable (zander!) our young tradition of collecting all the candles in our home, turning out all the lights and retelling the story of a very dark world until the Light came. strike a match.

A Walk Thanksgiving Weekend

Out one day
Walking one day
Out one day, with you hallelujah

our home. our street.

Sunset.



















Morning.



















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Thanksgiving.

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Tess

i knitted the lemony snicket babe a cap. the few wisps of down can't cut it even for a phoenician winter.

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i could not have accomplished this daring domestic feat if it were not for isabel {whose character, not surprisingly, could end up in a one of the most whimsical children's book ever written}

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i have other creations conspiring in my head. those will be secrets for Christmas.

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its a terribly beautiful day. zander is hitting the open road on his bike and heading up north. adventure is thick in the air.

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More from Aaron

Had to post more photos from a random moment, I believe, in all our lives. It was fun.

Seasons

*
his masculinity blows any superhero image out of the water.

its his raw and uncensored love for Jesus.

his humbleness and 'ruthless trust'

this is the kind of man i'll follow into battle.

i'll be his shield bearer.

Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.

O my soul, you have said to the LORD,“You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.” .....

O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You maintain my lot.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, Yes, I have a good inheritance.

I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;

My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.

I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will rest in hope.

For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore

Psalm 16

*Aaron's Photo

Kickin it with Zander

courtesy of arica

it never even occurred to me to "keep zander all to myself", i don't even know what that means. he is the most rich. soil that a farmer would kill for. any good and godly seed that is planted in his heart sprouts and grows. God has set caretakers over His son's plot: his family, friends, students, strangers are all used to help sanctify this boy. and what! i am the one that most takes advantage of it. for i have a better lover for it in the end. so thank - you!

Weeeeeezer! @ the fair!

good show, good show.

the only thing more cool than being weezer, is being zander.



and i did have a 'moment' with a character, larger than life, that night.
a specimen that outshined all the rock stars on stage.
my heart beat faster as its long neck rose above the crowd of squealing children and
concerned parents.
it swayed and to and fro, sniffing for concession stand food.
its knarly head banked toward my direction, hovered, then lowered, its profile only a camel hair away
and its inky black eye stared straight into my eyes, and 'blink, blink' it went, so i 'blink, blink' backed.
sigh. everything else was a blur.
and there was also a giraffe with lovely lashes.
a petting zoo at the phoenix fair grounds is definitely not what God intended for humans and animals coexistance. i anticpate Your return, Jesus!

On a Sunday

Our Best Days Are Sundays.




"In later navy days when my ship would be at sea for a fortnight, we found that it took about twenty-four hours for us to recover the reality of each other, even though we would have been thinking constantly of each other. What happened, we decided, was that, apart, we would slightly idealise each other, and to that extent lose the real preson. "



I think our two ships set sail Monday morning and dock at the harbor Saturday morning. We fill our separate vessels with the cargo and treasures of the sea and dump them at each other's feet expecting reciporcated awe. Sometimes it takes a day to readjust, even when we use morse code during the week.


The Sabboth was made for us.

perelandra

its one of my goals to be a little of this man. he had a 'green thumb' as the title goes and i'm hoping some of those green genes were passed down.

under the last wink of the sun, my shovel bit into the ground and spit out pesky bermuta grass, cleansing a 4x4 area for the fall garden.
~garlic
~kale
~broccoli
~carrot

{El Reno, Oklahoma: Grandfather Buckner}

mama and dad had a large vegetable garden on their 44 acre farm. the ground so fertile you could sneeze and "bless my soul! snot celery!" well...not really.

heaven is often on my mind or the new earth. our eyes will be fully open to Jesus's wild and passionate imagination and who knows what sorts of delicious and knarly things will grow! i cannot wait to get the new dirt under my nails and to feel the new sun on my back when i "toil" away in my garden on the new earth.

This Fall, Biltmore Fashion Park will kick-off "Movies in the Park", a new, six week event series starting Friday, October 3 through Friday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m. The movie series will feature classic American films on the Center Lawn and is free and open to the public. Catering to people of all ages, Movies in the Park will be a great way to spend a Friday evening under the stars. The movie schedule includes:

October 3- Casablanca

October 10- Goldfinger

October 17- Breakfast at Tiffany's

October 24- Sixteen Candles

October 31- Psycho

November 7- An Affair to Remember

boyce thompson arboretum

I forced my parents to go on an outing with me using timeless tactics Strategic moves involving whining, stamping feet, pleading, and a little manipulation thrown into the mix,(not at all a maturity digression). off we sped! to the boyce thompson arboretum. Oh, but once we were there, those kids had a great time.
Mama dappled into prickly pear:
sorbet,
cream cheese,
soup,
salsa,
smoothie &
jam
They had a class on how to harvest and pamper your palate. Just in time, dad's belly was starting to use my own timeless tactics against me. sheesh!



the living room of a family of 5 who cared for thompson's land.

An herb garden. cilantro. garlic. onion. peppermint.

The queen palo verde's emerald smooth limbs.

A palo blanco. ethereal. z is deeply enchanted by it. And there is a blue palo verde. And zander and i want them all to live with us.

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Summer Serenade

when the thunder stalks the sky
when tickle footed walks the fly
when shirt is wet and throat is dry
look, my darling, thats july.


though the grass be leather
and prickly temper tug the teather
shall we postpone our love for weather?
if we must melt, lets melt together.

~a physical and spiritual reflection of mine and his summer.

Croatia on the Sea

The last day of English camp clouds thickened and collagulated over Bakar 's skies. So I flew to the streets with my camera. At night in the Corzo of Rijeka.

Zander has taught me so much about myself and life. Like "dorks are cool" and "you can hear from the voice of God today" and "sleeping in the baptismal room during a sermon isn't neccessarily a sin".

At the Bridge down below from sarah and stevo's (2 of the most generous people).