Pieces

August 5

I look down and admire the pretty geraniums. It's Wednesday, the day after we landed in Abbotsford and we are staying at Jason's parents.

Today the sky is blue and the mountains in the backdrop stand tall and majestic. I find comfort in their stolid familiarity. 

Nearby, in the pool, Jayden and Justin shriek with laughter.  We're here, and it feels a little unreal, like a dream.. This place is so different from the one we left behind.

August 6
I'm driving down the road with the windows rolled down and the breeze blowing my hair. I've driven this stretch of road a thousand times as at teenager and young adult and very little has changed. I see the school and church I attended, the familiar stretch of road I biked to get to my after school job, and the memorable houses and landmarks. It feels like I'm traveling back in time and it strikes me then how the lives of my family and friends have continued on with only small changes, while we've lived a completely different, foreign life these last seven years.   

August 7

It's moving day. We've loaded most of our earthly possessions in our van and a small trailer and are moving into a place of our own. Before we go in, I line up the kids on the front steps and snap a photo. Finally a place to call home again!

Out in the back yard I admire the garden fall of vegetables,

and the vines laden with grapes. 

That night the boys are excited to sleep in their own bedroom, with their own beds and brand new puppy dog sheets. It's been a long time..

The days following are filled with trying to get together the basic necessitites to make our home functional, cleaning, unpacking, organizing, and doing some basic repairs/renovations to make everything more kid safe.

Besides family functions and getting togethers with friends, there are also meetings with MAF and Hungry for Life, seeing our church family again, and registering Jayden for school. 

As I watch the sunset in the evenings from our deck, I think about all the pieces of our new life. There are so many different shapes and sizes that it will take prayer, patience and time to fit them all together.

In church on Sunday, I find hope and peace in these words in the back of the Psalter:
Lord's Day 9
Question 26: What do you believe when you say: I believe in God the Father, almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?
Answer: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and all that is in them, and who still upholds and governs them by his eternal counsel and providence, is, for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my Father. In him I trust so completely as to have no doubt that he will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul, and will also turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this life of sorrow. He is able to do so as almighty God, and willing also as a faithful Father. (Heidelberg Catechism)