we lift our voices louder still...

our God is near, our God is here. yes! this was the last song of my run/walk along the beach this morning, and it was a perfect way to end...it was good to be reminded that despite all of the craziness and sadness in this world (and in our own lives), we can still worship and give praise to a God who is here, in the mess, with US. so while the run hurt, and i am far from being in shape, i feel refreshed and joyful...and lucky for all of you, i had my camera with me. this is my favorite of the pictures, taken on carson beach, which runs along dorchester and southie (south boston):

so what else is going on in my life, you might ask?

steve and i are preparing for his transition to sojourn, and are super excited for the change...but are trying to be present with what is going on now, and on finishing well...this is taking a lot of patience! we're also learning a lot about what it means to rest, and are restructuring our schedules to be more intentional about taking a Sabbath. this week's message at reunion was particularly convicting!

i have a garden, which i'm pretty stoked about. steve was fantastic and not only bought soil, seeds, and seedlings for me, he also helped me set everything up. we're growing tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, jalapenos, yellow squash, and cilantro. the garden is looking good so far. here's us setting it up:

and the finished product (though i've added 2 smaller boxes since then):
i'm still tutoring a 10 year-old girl in the quincy street neighborhood. this has been somewhat challenging to my spirit...my love language is words of affirmation, and when you're working with kids, there's not a whole lot of that being passed around. so, i just have to hope that what i'm doing is good. i have a pretty neat project in mind for our time together...i'll let you know how it goes.

i'm done with 2 years of PT school, which feels weird...i'll be done with classes for good the second week of december. i'm already starting to get nostalgic, and while i certainly won't miss the practicals, group projects, and overall increase in stress levels, i will miss time spent with the friends i've made. here's us getting ready to cheer on patty in this year's boston marathon:and since i have my camera out, i'll share some pictures from yesterday. i went to the franklin park zoo with steve and his kiddos, and we had a great time...even though gorillas can be quite scary when they want to say "hi"!