“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” – Jesus: John 14:27

There are snapshots… and then there are photographs. This is a photograph.

Not just a photograph but a story. Because it tells, or at least hints at, things bigger than just this moment.

Geoffrey – along with his siblings – has now been with us for 10 days. That’s a long time for a four-year-old to be away from home. So that means this has been a learning experience both for him and for us.

The heart of learning is in communication, and we have enjoyed his chatter, his laughter, his thoughts, his observations and his expressions so much. Here, sitting on the sofa with his grandmama, he is explaining something and Rebekah is listening.

For Geoffrey, knowing we are listening is huge. It is also really important to him to be sure that we understand – and there is no pretending with this one. He knows when we fudge comprehension with a patronizing “oh really…” or a transparently fake nod of the head, and then we have to go back to the beginning and start over.

After lunch yesterday, while I was cleaning up in the kitchen, Geoffrey stayed at the countertop and chattered away for a good forty-five minutes. He shared his feelings about a lot of things, from the lighthearted (such as his relationship to the two cats, Milo and Bristow) to the headscratchingly serious.

Life is a puzzle sometimes:

Then we got into a tricky 1,000-piece puzzle. We’re not sure if it will be done by the time they leave (Beks is confident that we will prevail), but it has become kind of a tradition to pour out a huge puzzle on the table on a rainy day. Sometimes it’s all of us, then just one or two; sometimes intense with concentration, at others a few casual moments; sometimes marching forward with confidence, more typically feeling our way in the dark….

It is a lot like life. Pouring it all out on the table then figuring things out – together. And also like life it is impossible to solve if the pieces have not first been turned over, so we know what we are working with, for all to see.

We have to be transparent if we are to succeed.

Stories. Puzzles. Putting the whole picture together. Healing. I believe. Peace and love – DEREK