I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

This may be an excuse to skip more serious writing, but I have a new set of photos to share in what is, essentially, “Part 2” of this week’s Photo Friday.

The first image is a serious portrait, and I believe it captures my parents, and this particular moment in their life, as well as I ever have.

I think, also, this image speaks to the beauty that is old age. There is a patina that comes with aging; we wear our history, and who we are includes decades – in this case more than nine – of experience, and love, and people, and faithfulness, and of giving ourselves into and for this world.

South Florida and Bahrain:

At the other end of the spectrum, I love these two photographs of Naomi and Craig. The first is at their Trader Joe’s party and the other, of course, is with Geoffrey. You can tell it was a real promotion, Naomi says, because now Craig is a “captain” they get to go to more parties. Again, congratulations to him!

Over in the Middle East, our daughter-in-law Alicia managed to test positive for Covid, so Andrew and Mr. T. have had to take a five-day “Coronacation” without her.

It looks like a lovely location, and I am glad to be able to share a glimpse of our World Citizen grandson.

Max:

Finally, here is Max Retriever demonstrating the advantages of being tall! We were up on the deck this morning, drinking coffee, when Max saw something he needed to get a closer look at.

When he stretches out, that sure is a lot of dog!

Just a few photographs to make you smile. Life is good, we just have to pay attention, and look beyond all of the negatives the news media loves to focus on. Not to pretend there are no challenges, but to remind ourselves that – always – “God, the source of hope, will fill [us] completely with joy and peace because [we] trust in him. Then [we] will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

– DEREK