And sometimes you live moments you know you’ll be nostalgic for.

For the past few years I’ve enjoyed putting together a list of my favourite records & songs of the year… All of which changes by March as I discovered albums and bands that I missed throughout the year (I’m just one man!), but this is my final list from this past year. Lots of cool new bands and tunes this year. Enjoy… song & album list here.

And for those on spotify, here is my song playlist.

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Every year it seems I stumble into Thanksgiving exhausted and unprepared.

Does that sound funny? Being unprepared for Thanksgiving? My faith tradition over the last few years has been powerful in teaching me how to anticipate and prepare for days of significance (primarily through Advent and Lent), while Thanksgiving, the most important national holiday, has… the football season? My culture definitely tells me to anticipate things — gosh they even make movie trailers for movie trailers now — but I always feel significantly unaware of Thanksgiving’s imminence until it is upon me. I guess since today is the day before Thanksgiving I’m doing a little better than in year’s past, but regardless, I think the holiday suffers from a lack of reverence. At least my celebration of Thanksgiving always suffers from a lack of reverence. Not that preparation always precedes moments of reverence, but if I held the day to be more sacred, I might do more preparing than planning a Black Friday shopping list or baking a pie.

A few years back a friend of mine told me about how their family used to eat only rice and beans for the week preceding Thanksgiving. This is a white, middle-class, suburban family. With three children. Eating only rice and beans for every meal. For three days. No snacks. No cheating. I don’t know what my nutritionists friends would say about that kind of diet, but their idea to join in with those in the world who shared that diet every day of their lives in order to recognize how good they have it, now that is preparation. When they gorged themselves in American fashion over sweet potatoes, turkey and cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving they knew better how good they had it. They knew a deeper sense of thankfulness.

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Today I was digging back through a lot of old photographs.

It is hard for me to feel satisfied with many photographs I’ve taken over the years — most photographers I talk to seem to feel this way — but for some reason today I kept stumbling across all these old gems. I know that the first time I saw the images they didn’t hold any meaning to me. It’s why they were discarded in the first place. Yet, somehow, now when I see the faces, the crooked horizon lines, the out of focus laughter, they take on a new level of meaning.

Photographs are beautiful in this way: They always hold parts of your life and experience, as glorious, ugly or awkward as those moments may be.

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In order for me to prepare for Thanksgiving properly — I’m really just speculating here — I need to spend time considering where I’ve been. Really considering it. Only then can I see how wonderful today is. How thankful I need to be. Sure maybe eating a strict diet for a week might be one way to prepare me to be thankful, but ultimately my heart needs to be engaged. My heart needs to consider.

Photographs help me do this. They help me consider.

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I’m thankful for my old crappy pictures. And for my old gems. They show me where I’ve been.

And I’m thankful for the ability to share them with people once in a while. I don’t ever think I’ll make a grand career out of my photography, but at the very least my own life has been deeply enriched through my photographic journey.

I leave you with my world today, not the photos I have considered from the past — mostly cause many of those old photos have already been published digitally one place or another.

I think I see these photos a little clearer now. I’m thankful for these photos a little more now.

One of my hopes this Thanksgiving is to be thankful for photos that are of the middle. Of my life today. For though they aren’t of adventure like past photos of Rome or Scotland or Oregon, they are capturing my life today. A life that is full of blessings. And who knows what these photos will speak of when I look back on them in a couple years.

Peace be with you this Thanksgiving. May you be able to consider. And in considering may you be thankful.

I think Bryn’s life is going to be fairly well documented, but I had to do my part a bit while I was there. I’m no infant photographer, but it was still fun to try and capture some of the excitement surrounding this little babe.

Mimi and Bryn

Facetiming with her Grandmother & Grandfather

PS, I won’t be showing wedding photos. I sometimes take other pictures. As you can see here.

That equation is the recipe for AWESOME.

..

Two of my closest friends I have made in this short life I’ve had live in the far away city called Denver. It had been 3 years since I had seen one, the other it had been since his wedding day in August. Though there are no photos here to show the adventures with Matt, I am looking forward to getting my film back to share some of those moments. But for now, some moments with dear friends… a group knitted together via Evans Hall, Uganda, Wheaton College, Springfield MO, and The Head and The Heart. It was a beautiful reunion with these fellow travelers. And let me tell you, it was NON-STOP.

Miss you all already…

We had QUITE a weekend of dining. I tried to document a couple of the unique locals.

Thus, the flavors of Denver:

Walton Donuts

Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey

Rocket Fizz

Great Divide Brewery

Tee & Cakes

Larkburger

In addition to the Easter Vigil service on Saturday evening, Sunday was a huge celebration of the gift of family, as all of my immediate family–my half-bro’s fam included–gathered together (an occasion that happens once a year if we’re lucky). My brother in-law’s mother and husband were also able to join us. You don’t often get days with people who know each other so and at the same time love being together. I am eternally grateful I have been blessed with a family that finds joy in being together, and immediately begins counting the days to the next meeting.

Photos help me tell stories and remind me of stories I need to hear. So here is a bit of that from this weekend: