The country mice move to the city

Let me preface this post by saying that we are not complaining about where the Lord has placed us, but just stating some differences of various settings. There are some very positive aspects of living in town for which we are thankful.

Since moving into town from the Washer's "country home", we are all missing some aspects of the rural setting. Most noticeable is the quiet atmosphere. Our current home is located on a busy main road, near a bus stop, and just down from a large public university. All these produce noise, some more unpleasant than others.


We also miss some of the wildlife, though not the red ants. I had to sigh one day after we moved when Becky included in her breakfast prayer, "and please let the butterflies and birds come out soon." The butterflies were abundant in the Washer's yard as well as colorful small songbirds. In town, we mainly have crows, which are not so small, nor colorful, nor very musical.

Another aspect we are missing is our landlady/neighbor, otherwise known as Auntie Joy. I don't think a day went by that we were not graced with her presence in our home, or we walked down the sidewalk to visit her, or we visited in the yard. The children now appreciate her visits more that they are less frequent, but still at least one a week.


Before we moved, Becky was able to have supper with Auntie Joy (just the two of them) at her apartment. It happened on an evening without power, so they also had fun singing songs by candlelight while Auntie Joy played her guitar. I (mom) stayed long enough to take the picture and then left again.

The boys were able to play football (soccer) with the neighborhood boys in the field outside the Washer's gate a couple times. These "games" were always when mom and dad could keep watch over them. Joshua and Caleb had fun trying to keep up with the Zambian boys who are naturals at the game. The bigger boys were kind to slow down a few times and let our boys actually kick the ball a few times.

The kids also miss playing with the puppies. We do have our share of dogs here in town, since we brought our two, Zambie and Bell, and also have the Haflers' three dogs while they are away on furlough. However, adult dogs or even big puppies like Bell are not the same as cute little puppies. There were two litters of puppies at the Washers when we moved. They were the product of two german shepherd mix females and our Zambie. (We have since gotten Zambie fixed.) The puppies are cute and of course Becky loved them. Here she is with one when it was very young.