- Playing a lot of UNO, tag, monkey in the middle, and hide-n-seek
- Riding on bikes, scooters, and roller blades for hours of exercise and several injuries each day
- Running after the ice cream truck
- Feeding, bathing, brushing (with the sibling's hair brush - ugh!), and loving on their bunny
- Enjoying picnics and Bible studies (led by our 9-year-old, Bible-toting evangelist!) with their new friends and the community's most popular resident, our bunny.
2) Apartment living trades privacy for the presence of kids on your patio, knocking on your door, or in your dwelling whenever the kids are home.
3) I can outsource helping my daughter with her homework to the neighborhood kids because they will gladly call out spelling words just for the pleasure of spending time with her.
4) I can survive if the dishwasher, dryer, and toilets don't work.
5) I can swat 12.5 bugs a minute with my bare hands.
6) The tenant above us shares approximately one gallon of water with us every day through a leak in the ceiling.
7) The library downtown looks just like the one I frequented as a kid and makes me feel happily nostalgic.
8) Life without internet* would be tolerable if the rest of the world did not revolve around it.
*What should have been a simple, seamless transfer of internet service took TWC over three weeks with us spending hours on the phone (usually on hold for hours) each day begging for assistance, waiting on servicemen who never came, trouble shooting, driving to the stores and back, replacing modems, and after all that, TWC raised our monthly fees 35% for no apparent reason.
9) Apartment life builds community like they had in the good old days thanks to close proximity to one other, sharing similar sufferings, and hearing others' conversations and footsteps through the paper thin walls, floor, & ceiling.
I keep asking myself, "Have I relocated to a new community or have I traveled back in time?"
10) Living in an apartment gives perspective. Circumstances may seem less than what we may have had before at a much greater cost, but a house does not make a home. No matter how much is broken in the apartment or how few things fit inside it, there is always room for what matters most. What we have inside this apartment is infinitely valuable and very rare. We have a happy marriage rooted in covenantal faithfulness and unconditional love. We have relatively healthy, loving children, and all four of us share the strongest bond in the universe, the bond of faith in Christ. God's love reigns in our home, and He will never fail us. This world is not our home, but with His Spirit dwelling in us, our home here, even if it's a hut with a thatched roof, can be a taste of heaven on earth.
As a postscript to this post, I'd like to share some recent quotes from our resident theologian, age 6.
Occasionally, my husband has to work on Sundays, and lately he has had to work some seven-day weeks. We understand the value and necessity of the Sabbath, and if this type of demand at work happened often, he would be looking for work elsewhere. IT guys have to fix or improve systems when no one is using them, hence the Sunday work, but at least he hasn't ever had to miss church because of it. Even so, whenever he has to go into work after church, our son pronounces loudly as we walk down the church halls, "Daddy is breaking the Sabbath today!"
This past Sunday afternoon while my husband was at work, I was very impressed by my 6-year-old's understanding of eschatology when he said "I'll be so glad when the New Jerusalem is established."
When I asked him to tell me why, however, he answered, "Because then Daddy will not have to work so much."
My son doesn't realize how many children grow up without a father physically or emotionally present while other kids' fathers have to travel all the time for work. At least his father is home at night to tuck him in, read him books, lead him in Bible study, and pray with him. Our kids are blessed more than they realize!
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The kids have noticed that whenever we sit down to say the blessing at meal times, our bunny will start drinking water. So, when my son just happened to notice our bunny drinking water, he said with all seriousness, "Cody must want us to pray now."
If you are struggling in your prayer life, you are welcome to borrow our thirsty bunny who will regularly remind you to drink the water that will quench your thirst forever.
John 6:35
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
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