creating space

view of Wicklow Mountains

 He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction. -job 36:16

view of Howth

jesus created space. i don't mean the great unknown of aliens, planets, & einstein stuff but rather the unseen atmosphere of room, opportunity, possibility...He created space for us to speak our mind, to ask questions, to be joyful, to laugh. a space where we are listened to, cared for, redeemed, healed & transformed. the space to be who we were truly created to be. space to breathe. space for what we need.

view from Howth

throughout the gospels, jesus meets people where they are. He gives water to the thirsty, He heals the paralyzed, He gives sight to the blind, He feeds with the hungry, He leads & teaches those longing to follow. in these spaces, jesus gives people the chance to declare their faith in Him or to ask the tough questions. in these spaces, belief is found. love is seen. joy is embraced. grace is bestowed. mercy is recognized.

Christ Church Cathedral

it is space in our life which allows Him to work. we love to plan, schedule, & know what's going to happen. recently He's been showing me how some of the best things occur in those times we don't plan. it's in this space where He can freely move, plan, & create for us, in us & through us.

Christ Church Cathedral

where do we need to create more space for Him? where do we need to let go? where do we need to schedule less meetings, appointments, or events? where do we already see Him at work? what are the spaces in our lives that are filled with Him?

Howth Head

quotes

• not knowing when the dawn will come, i open every door. -emily dickinson
• when a great moment knocks on the door of your life, it is often no louder than the beating of your heart, & it is very easy to miss it. -boris pasternak
• all the possibilities of your human destiny are sleep in your soul. you are here to realize & honor these possibilities. when love comes in to your life, unrecognized dimension of your destiny awaken & blossom & grow. possibility is the secret heart of time. -john o'donohue
• you do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. what you need is to recognize the possibilities & challenges offered by the present moment, & to embrace them with courage, faith, & hope. -thomas merton
• the creative process is a process of surrender, not control. -julia cameron
• control is never achieved when sought after directly; it is the surprising result of letting go. -james arthur ray
• the reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. we're still trying to give orders, & interfering with God's work within us. -a.w. tozer
• ...it is no trying that is every going to bring us home. all this trying leads up to the vital moment at which you turn to God & say, "You must do this. i can't." -c.s. lewis
• to abandon all is to take our hearts, place them before the One who created them, & dare to believe He can live life powerfully through our surrendered lives. -mary e. demuth

'D' is for discovery

may & june were busy months of travel & exploration. below are some of the photos which capture some of those moments. click the green words to find out more about the place!

my housemate, emma, & i visited newgrange & knowth in may. they were amazing!
these ceremonial mounds are older than the pyramids in egypt! find out more by clicking this link.

i walked up ticknock with amy & emma. there's a great view of dublin from the top.
check out more about it here.

i visited the ring of kerry with my brother, peter, & sister-in-law, jenny. this photo was taken on valentia island.

this is us by ross castle in killarney national park.

st. brendan's well on valentia island. dates back to the 5th or 6th century. story has it that he came to this place just in time to baptize 2 people before they died.

i headed to the States at the end of may to visit my mom during her chemo treatments. this is the group at the Indy 500!

my college friend, jen, & her step mom, dana, came to visit & we went out west to kerry.
this is the gap of dunloe.

we went to a ceili (dinner, music & irish dancing) at kate kearney's cottage near the gap of dunloe. in this photo the instruments are: the bodhran, uilleann pipes, & an irish accordion.

time in dublin with jen & dana. this is us at dublin castle.

seasons

they come & go. they sometimes stick around longer than we'd like. sometimes they can't come quickly enough. they are cyclical. they are temporary yet always there. they are wanted then forgotten until the next one comes around. they bring change. they bring newness. they make us want to clear out our closets & clean house. they make us sniffle & sneeze more. they reinforce the need good-byes & hellos. they remind us that as we leave this stage, there's another one ahead. 

it's these cycles, these changes, these well...seasons which bring new life & change into being.

glendalough

it could be a school year, an illness, a relationship, a sport, a tv series, a milestone, or a new baby which brings in a new season into our lives. seasons bring in fall colors, or blooming buds, or chirping birds, or feet of snow. actual seasons bring change. they bring a turn of the calendar page, they bring something new, something long forgotten, something that's needed. it's seasons in our lives which bring space to reflect, space to remember, space to wish for what was but also to hope for what will be. so whether you're finishing up school, starting a new job, moving, having a baby, battling an illness or turning an unknown page, you're in a season. 

i sit back & watch the seasons in dublin. i see the cold rainy days of winter coming to an end, ushering in sun, flowers, & joy. i see a long easter break. people come & people go. holidays are taken, plans are made for the coming summer, the school year is wrapping up, & the list goes on & on. i guess, i felt "settled" & thought things would stay as they are; i was unaware i was in a certain season which was coming to an end. i saw routines & schedules, now those things i thought i knew are thrown out the window. they're being replaced with new routines, new schedules...new seasons. the change was unknown & uncomfortable but now recognized & embraced. for it's ebb & flow of life which keeps us moving, growing, & learning. what season are you in? a bad one, a good one, a challenging one, a joyful one, a long never-ending one? are you in between seasons? do you like the season you're in? how can you learn from this season?

glendalough monastic city

psalm 1:3 he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields it fruits in its season, & its leaf does not wither. in all that he does, he prospers.
psalm 104:27-28 these all look to You, to give them their food in due season. when you give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are filled with good things.
ecclesiastes 3:1 for everything there is a season, & a time for every matter under heaven.
zechariah 10:1 ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, & He will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.
galatians 6:9 and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 

great songs about seasons:
"seasons" by nichole nordeman
"seasons of love" from rent

quotes about seasons

• "if we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." -anne bradstreet
• "her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise & the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leave & withered hedges, & from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn--that season of peculiar & inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste & tenderness--that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling." -jane austen persuasion



glendalough upper lake

• "is not this a true autumn day? just the still melancholy that i love- that makes life & nature harmonize. the birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay & begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth & air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. delicious autumn! my very soul is wedded to it & if i were a bird i would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." --george eliot
• "with so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that ti would never come & that you were losing a season out of your life. this was the only truly sad time in paris because it was unnatural. you expected to be sad in the fall. part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees & their branches were bare against the wind & the cold, wintry light. but you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. when the cold rains kept on & killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason. in those days, though, the spring always came finally but it was frightening that it had nearly failed." -ernest hemingway
• "always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground & step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity & excitement, a little nagging of dread. it is the ancient fear of the unknown, & it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into." -wendell berry

be near...but not too near

prayer room at the YMCA

i'm an introvert...there i said (errr written) it, it's out there! it's true, i'm an introvert. yet, i feel as though i'm an introvert trapped in an extrovert's body. an introvert stuck in a extrovert world. i get frustrated with myself when i feel as though i'm spending too much on my own & not enough with others. i feel guilty for saying no to invitations. i feel selfish if i just want to do something by myself. 

moving to another country, meeting new people literally everyday, & building community is very difficult & complicated as an introvert. i struggle with the balance of allowing myself to get away by myself to refuel & recharge with the need to converse & interact with others.

this struggle gets particularly challenging when i'm stressed or going through a tough situation. i need to push myself to interact with others yet i need to set aside time to be alone. it's a crazy balancing act that i haven't nor do i really believe i will ever master. it's this tug of wanting people to draw near but a push to keep them away. 

 get away in nature (view from phoenix park in dublin)

it's also a struggle having a calling/vocation/job (whatever you want to call it) which requires loads of human interaction.  i absolutely love people! i love talking with people, getting to know them, making them laugh, & even having tearfully deep conversations with them but it wears me out. it drains me & it doesn't hit me until it's over. i'm just not built to take it on without a massive amount of alone time to recharge. it's not that i'm doing nothing (though most of the time it feels that way), it's that i need that empty time to refuel in order to function. i need time to mull over things, to escape into my own thoughts, to get lost in my mental rambling, & to think things through. if i don't do this...life gets nasty, messy & frustrating. easier said than done, though! i need to remind myself that this extroverted world shouldn't bully me in to feeling guilty, anti-social, shy, a party pooper, or a debby downer! 

check out this TED Talk about "The Power of Introverts"! it has a great explanation of introversion & the struggle of living in an extrovert world. she (susan cain) speaks of many religious leaders who valued solitude, jesus being one of those. there are many times in the gospels when jesus goes away to be alone, to reflect, to pray, & just get away.

i got away on the adriatic sea in croatia

luke 5:15-16 "but now even more the report about Him went abroad, & great crowds gathered to hear Him & to be healed of their infirmities. but He would withdraw to desolate places & pray."
mark 1:35 "rising very early int he morning, while it was still dark, He departed & went out to a desolate place, & there He prayed."
mark 6:30 "He said to them (the disciples), "come away by yourselves to a desolate place & rest a while." (this was just before He fed the 5,000)

before jesus even started His ministry, He spent 40 days in the wilderness. so before He ever healed, preached, or ministered He spent 40 days BY HIMSELF, away from others! then when He actually began His ministry, He chose a small number of close friends/followers/disciples with whom He spent a majority of His time. yes, He spoke with crowds & traveled far & wide to meet loads of people but He did so with alone time intermixed. one of the last things He does before He was arrested & crucified was to pray in a secluded place (garden of gethsemane in matthew 26:36 & mount of olives in luke 22:39-41) with His close friends. i think sometimes we miss the importance of taking time in solitude, in prayer, & in our own minds.

quotes about introverts:

• introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills & enjoy parties & business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. they prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, & family. they listen more than they talk, think before they speak & often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. they tend to dislike conflict. many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions. -susan cain
• when introverts go to church, we crave sanctuary in every sense of the word, as we flee from the disorienting distractions of 21st century life. we desire to escape from superficial relationships, trivial communications & the contrast noise that pervade our world, & find rest in the probing depths of God's love. -adam s. mchugh
• in a gentle way, you can shake the world. -gandhi
• don't think of introversion as something that needs to be cured...spend your free time the way you life, not the way you think you're supposed to. -susan cain
• let's clear one thing up: introverts do not hate small talk because we dislike people. we hate small talk because we hate the barrier it creates between people. -laurie a. helgoe
• knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. -arisotle
• i have to be alone very often. i'd be perfectly happy if i spent saturday night until monday morning alone in my apartment. that's how i refuel. -audrey hepburn
• closed in a room, my imagination becomes the universe, & the rest of the world is missing out. -criss jami
• inside was there she lived, physically & mentally. she resided in the horn of plenty of her own prodigious mind, fertilized by inexhaustible curiosity. -tim lahaye
• leave an extrovert alone for 2 minutes & he will reach for his cell phone. in contrast, after an hour or 2 of being socially "on," we introverts need to turn off & recharge. my own formula is roughly 2 hours alone for every hour of socializing. this isn't antisocial. it isn't a sign of depression. it does not call for medication. for introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. our motto: "i'm okay, you're okay--in small doses." -jonathan rauch
• how intense can be the longing to escape from the emptiness & dullness of human verbosity, to take refuge in nature, apparently so inarticulate, or in the wordlessness of long, grinding labor, of sound sleep, of true music, or of a human understanding rendered speechless by emotion! -boris pasternak
• introverts paradoxically pull away from culture & create culture. -laurie a. helgoe
• his retreat into himself is not a final renunciation of the world, but a search for quietude, where alone it is possible for him to make his contribution to the life of the community. -c. g. jung

tears

we shed them at weddings, at graduations, at birthdays, at funerals, at happy endings, at milestones, at good jokes...when we're happy, when we feel true joy, when we rise, when we fall, when we're sad, when we feel deep sorrow...tears.

the word "tear" also means to pull apart. to be conflicted between two things. to be pulled in two directions. 

i've been feeling this word the past week. i received a "save the date" for a wedding (you know who you are!) & walked in the house with it in my hand only to burst into tears. the tears were tears of joy for the blessing of their marriage but also tears of sadness that i won't be there to witness it. thus i felt torn. i felt torn between two places, between two feelings, between two countries, between two communities, between two lives almost. 

pieces of my heart are across a giant ocean. pieces of my heart live here in dublin. pieces of my heart are carried by people around the world, some of whom don't even know they have these pieces. tears of sadness come when i think of these pieces. when i think of the distance between all of them. tears of joy come when i think of those who carry them & their impact on my life. there are tears in our lives. 

one of my favorite bible stories is the when the woman washes jesus' feet with her tears. the story is in luke 7:36-50 & i love the imagery of the story. it's a story of a woman expressing herself & her relationship with jesus through tears. you can just picture her bending down, so emotional she begins to cry. she's literally at jesus' feet weeping (for what it's not clear but i'd like to think it's a mixture of joy & sorrow). this story is a story of amazing grace, incredible mercy & an outrageous love. she brought all she had to the feet of the One who saves & her faith in Him saved her. despite her sinfulness, she brought all she had to the only One who could wash it all away. her sacrifice of all she had, including the weight & vulnerability of her tears, brought her to the savior's feet & set her free.

then in revelation 21:4 we are told that when christ returns, every tear will be wiped away. the magnitude of that truth is breathtaking & ironically tear jerking. it's an incredible thing. He will wipe away all the death, pain & mourning. all the separation from each other & from Him will be stitched back together. He will dry our eyes. He takes our tears.

quotes on tears

• but there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer. –viktor e. frankl
• perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see life with a  clearer view again. –alex tan
• i think you have to pay for love with bitter tears. –edith piaf
• there is a sadness in tears. they are not the mark of weakness, but of power. they speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. they are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, & of unspeakable love. –washington irving
• beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. -edgar allan poe
• tears are the silent language of grief. –voltaire
• there are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers. -saint teresa of avila
• men must live and create. live to the point of tears. -albert camus
• joy's smile is much closer to tears than laughter. -victor hugo
• heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. i was better after i had cried, than before—more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle. –charles dickens
• he wanted to cry quietly but not for himself: for the words, so beautiful & sad, like music. -james joyce
• my eyes were glued on life & they were full of tears. -jack kerouac
• he wept, & it felt as if the tears were cleansing him, as if his body needed to empty itself. -lois lowry
• but smiles & tears are so alike with me, they are neither of them confined to any particular feelings: i often cry when i am happy, & smile when i am sad. –anne bronte

heart for the city

chicago, illinois

the diversity
the towering skyscrapers
the crowds
the smells
the cars rushing by
the culture
the people with their noses in maps
the constant change
so much to do & see
halting for a tourist who suddenly stopped to take a picture
seeing people dragging luggage
observing groups protesting or promoting their cause
feeling so alone in the sea of faces (loads of people unlike you)
feeling so alive in the hustle & bustle (loads of people like you)

indianapolis, indiana

feeling overwhelmed by the amount of people touching you
feeling deep despair for those on the ground with a cup of clinging change
discovering markets where you can buy everything under the sun
tapping your foot to street musicians who litter the city & fill it with eclectic sounds

it's where history is made & preserved
it's where the new & old collide
it's where transportation ranges from bicycles & one's own feet to double deckers & taxis
it's where statues immortalized heroes, leaders, rebels, & artists
it's where governments meet, conferences are had, concerts, sporting events, parades, all commence

prague, czech republic

it's the contrast of cities which compels me to love them. the idea you can see a man in a tux hop out of a sports car onto a sidewalk where a man is sleeping on a cardboard bed. the idea you can walk by a beautifully laid out park only to be bombarded by run down housing complexes. the idea that you can hear more than 3 languages being yelled, whispered, or mumbled on one bus. the idea that you can see some of the most well known art in a glamorous gallery only to walk out the door to find a street artist creating sand art on the ground. the idea that you can walk down one street & smell freshly baked bread, newly roasted coffee, dog poo & vomit. the idea that you can imagine other worlds as you enter into the cinema or theatre only to be greeted with the often rude reality as you walk out the door. the fact that some days, i absolutely love living in a city with all the light & life it brings but others i hate the darkness & death that is present.

as i live in the city of dublin, (having grow up on 86 acres of mostly cornfields & ponds) it keeps taking pieces of my heart. it captures my thoughts, my imagination, & my soul. all its character, all its detail, all its history, all its complexities suck me in to this vortex of wonder.

new york city, new york

timothy keller has a lot to say about cities

• check out this video & check out this website 
• WATCH THIS ONE on god's global urban mission. 300 years ago, less than 3% of people lived in cities, now, more than half the world lives in a city.

here's a link to christianity today's website on urban ministry.
here's an article titled, "why cities feel glorious."

quotes about the city

washington, d.c.

• "i love new york, even though it isn't mine, the way something has to be, a tree or a street or a house, something, anyway, that belongs to me because i belong to it." -truman capote
• "what strange phenomena we find in a great city, all we need to do is stroll about with our eyes open. life swarms with innocent monsters." -charles baudelaire
• "for those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel like home." -simon van booy
• "walkers are 'practitioners of the city' for the city is made to be walked. a city is a language, a repository of possibilities, & walking is the act of speaking that language, of selecting from those possibilities. just as language limits what can be said, architecture limits where one can walk, but the walker invents other ways to go." -rebecca solnit

  

  london, england
  

• "with cities, it is as with dreams: everything imaginable can be dreamed, but even the most unexpected dream is a rebus that conceals a desire or, its reverse, a fear. cities, like dreams, are made of desires & fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, & everything conceals something else." -italo calvino
• "the city gives even to children a sophisticated look that baffles the casual psychologist." honore willsie morrow
• "the city blew the windows of my brain wide open. but being in a place so bright, fast & brillant made you vertiginous with possibility: it didn't necessarily help you grasp those possibilities. i still had no idea what i was going to do. i felt directionless & lost in the crowd. i couldn't yet see how the city worked, but i began to find out." -hanif kureishi

  

  san sebastian, spain

• "it was a cruel city, but it was a lovely one; a savage city, yet it had such tenderness; a bitter, harsh, & violent catacatacomb of stone & steel & tunneled rock, slashed savagely with light & roaring, fighting a constant ceaseless warfare of men & of machinery; & yet it was so sweetly & so delicately pulsed, as full of warmth, of passion & of love, as it was full of hate." -thomas wolfe
• "a city isn't so unlike a person. they both have the marks to show they have many stories to tell. they see many faces. they tear things down & make new again." -rasmenia massoud
• "this city is what it is because our citizens are what they are." -plato 

  

  edinburgh, scotland

• "a city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a questions, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to & familiar ones to listen to again." -margaret mead 
• "a great city tends to spread out & lay bare to the public view in a massive manner all the characters & traits which are oridinarily obscured & suppressed in small communities. the city, in short, shows the good & evil in human nature in excess. it is in fact, more than any other which justifies the view that would make of the city a laboratory or clinic in which human nature & social processes may be most conveniently & profitably studied." -robert e. park 
• "i'm in love with cities i've never been to & people i've never met." -john green 



dublin, ireland

• "the city, as one finds it in history, is the point of maximum concentration for the power and culture of a community. it is the place where the diffused rays of many separate beams of life fall into focus, with gains in both social effectiveness and significance. the city is the form and symbol of an integrated social relationship: it is the seat of the temple, the market, the hall of justice, the academy of learning. here in the city the goods of civilization are multiplied and manifolded; here is where human experience is transformed into viable signs, symbols, patterns of conduct, systems of order. here is where the issues of civilization are focused: here, too, ritual passes on occasion into the active drama of a fully differentiated and self-conscious society." -lewis mumford
• "in cities you have more image of god per square inch than anywhere else on earth." -timothy keller

detroit, michigan

madrid, spain

amsterdam, the netherlands

if only in my dreams

i'm dreaming tonight of a place i love

even more than i usually do

and although i know it's a long road back

i promise you 

i'll be home for christmas

you can count on me

please have snow and mistletoe

and presents under the tree

christmas eve will find me

where the love light beams

i'll be home for christmas if only in my dreams

christmas eve will find me

where the love light beams

i'll be home for christmas

if only in my dreams 

if only in my dreams

as the holidays roll around, the thoughts of home cross our minds more often. we think about taking a plane, a train, a bus or a car to the place we call "home." there are numerous songs, poems, books & movies about this word...home...what is it?

home is...

where the wifi connects automatically,

where you can drink straight from the carton,

where family lives,

where a bookshelf full of your imaginary worlds reside,

where a room stores all your possessions,

where you can laugh & cry without worry,

where you're deepest desires & burdens can be shared,

where you welcome others,

where you make sweet memories,

where you get into bed each night,

where you fee loved & open to be yourself,

where you decorate the walls & put furniture,

the list goes on & on...

can it be more than one place? how long does it take to call a place home? can you have more than one home? is it even a place? is it a feeling? 

home is where the heart is

where you are, i am home

"when i look at you, i'm home." (dory speaking to marlin)

for harry, it's at hogwarts
for the weasleys it's the burrow
dorothy spoke of it while tapping her red shoes together saying, "there's no place like home"
home sweet home
homesick
homeward bound
home for the holidays

one of my favorite movies is garden state & there's a great scene about home...

andrew: you know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? all of a sudden even though you have some place where you put your stuff, that idea of home is gone.

sam: i still feel at home in my house.

andrew: you'll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's gone. you feel like you can never get it back. it's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. maybe it's like this rite of passage, you know. you won't ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. i don't know, but i miss the idea of it, you know. maybe that's all family really is. a group of people that miss the same imaginary place.

"a group of people that miss the same imaginary place." for believers in Christ, there is a place we long to be. the place where He is & where He calls us to be. in john 14, Jesus says, "do not let your hearts be troubled. trust in God, trust also in Me. in my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. you know the way to the place where I am going." 2 corinthians 5:1-10 speaks of our heavenly dwelling. it speaks of an eternal home we have in heaven. one which is not built by men, one which we long for, one which He has waiting for us. it is this home i find most comforting. this home is wherever He is. wherever we are, we are home in Him. we can rest in Him & find comfort in Him. so as i spend my first christmas away from "home" i will take great delight in knowing He is home. i will cherish the precious memories of past christmases at "home" & i will look forward to those yet to be made.

links to some songs about home...

switchfoot's "home"

birdy's "home"

dave barnes' "home"

quotes about home...

• winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. -edith sitwell
• thank you. mr. rochester, for your great kindness. i am strangely glad to get back again to you: and wherever you is my home-my only home. -charlotte brontë in jane erye
• the ache for home lives in all of us. the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. -maya angelou
• i believe that one can never leave home. i believe that one carries the shadows, the dreams, the fears and the dragons of home under one's skin, at the extreme corners of one's eyes and possibly in the gristle of the earlobe. -maya angelou
• a true home is one of the most sacred of places. it is a sanctuary into which men flee from the world's perils and alarms. it is a resting-place to which at close of day the weary retire to gather new strength for the battle and toils of tomorrow. it is the place where love learns its lessons, where life is schooled into discipline and strength, where character is molded. - j.r. miller
• home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration. -charles dickens
• for he came to perceive that since people were his study, his teachers, the objects through which he could satisfy his persistent wonder about life itself, his own being among others, wherever he lived for the moment, there was his home. pearl s. buck

tree at Christ Church

tree in Smithfield

tree on O'Connell Street

we got a christmas tree

we made it through the Santa Dash