Parenting from the 7th Floor . . .

So, here I sit in my 7th floor apartment on a 100 degree day trying to figure out how in the world do I parent from the 7th floor!  I know that sounds strange to most people. . . you parent in the same way that  you do from the 17th floor I have been told.  But what I mean is that living in urban China high rise  apartments has been a huge challenge for me coming from rural Minnesota.  Summer has always been my favorite time of year and mainly because I LOVE being outside. I love playgrounds, and dandelions in the back yard and chasing bubbles and sprinklers and gardening and picnic tables used at least once a day in the summer.  I LOVE being at the lake or at the pool and I LOVE all of those things with my kids in tow.  Try translating that to my 7th floor apartment in busy urban China and you'll see that not much of it is transferable.  I'm  creative by nature so I find creative ways of bringing some of those things into our lives but not in a way that truly meets my needs and definitely does not meet my desires.   So, hence, here I sit in my 7th floor apartment trying to figure out how in the world do I "parent" from the 7th floor? And praying that I don't have to for much longer.  What I wouldn't give if God were to provide for us  a different housing situation.  There have been a few "possibilities" that have been sort of dangled in front of us in the last year that I thought  would solve maybe half of our needs but none that would solve all of them and for various reasons they did not work out so I am still praying and still trusting that a place will open up for us that will close the gap between what we have and what we need.  But until then also wanting to live in a place of contentment and joy.  I don't know what is harder parenting from the 7th floor or being content to parent from the 7th floor. :)  I guess both will require a huge dose of grace.

Looking for "light"

We have this extremely quirky lightbulb in our entrance. It's a sensor light, so if you clap, stomp, etc it goes on.  Except that it is SO dull that it barely gives enough light to see where you are going.  I've had a love/hate relationship with this lightbulb for the last (almost) 3 years we've lived in this place.  Because of the lack of "light" it drives me nuts - and is a little scary at night when there is just a creepy feeling to come in with such little light. . . but the nights it does NOT turn on at all for whatever reason. . . is when I really love/hate it.  You can stomp, clap, dance around and there is no light at all and then I remember how much I LOVE it when it is on and despise it's finicky nature.  Tonight it turned on and instead of being disgusted by the limited light it gave out, I stomped my foot to make it come on and said a short and simple prayer of thankfulness for this quirky lighting situation. :)