Relationships...

One of the best things about living where we do is the ease of spending time with others and building relationships. City living and high rise living has been a good fit for us.

One thing I didn't realize about not having a car for so long was that it would mean we would be doing a lot more things within walking distance. We end up at the McDonalds around the corner more than I thought we would. (I blame the heat and the $.20 ice cream cones.) We did the McDonald's camp, not just one, but two times. (I couldn't get them into the science camp around the corner. Oh well.)

It wasn't intentional, but I swear that we are now known as "that American family that loves McDonalds." I can't go in there, with or without the kids, without getting a lot of smiles and "Hi, Ma'am"s from most of the employees, from the counter staff to the guy who cleans the tables upstairs. Every time they see the kids, they greet them by name, rumple their hair, and give them hugs.

This is Seth's best friend in our building so far. He lives a few floors down, and his family arrived right around the time that ours did. I can send all the boys down there to play, and when Seth had a rough day recently, I was able to pick him up and take both of them to you guessed it, McDonalds, to play Uno and eat fries. I loved listening to them talk about Pokemon and talk trash to each other over draw 2's. 

Sometimes crazy things happen, like the time that we invited another new boy up to play, and his yaya and handicapped sister got locked out of their unit after bringing him here because the teenage sister inside was listening to headphones and didn't hear anyone knock. So then they all end up here, and we all play, and I text their mom to tell her what's going on as she's heading back home. And that gives me a chance to find out about the long day the mom has had, and I bring them some good leftovers for dinner.

Though David is traveling more than he did in the U.S., I know that if I need help, I can get it from my friends and neighbors, and I'm grateful for that. I hope I can be a blessing to them occasionally, too.