Friends and neighbors moving

I think that our across-the-hall neighbors of nearly 7 years completed their move across town today. While it's now that far distance wise as the crow flies, it is not a short trip because of car traffic or not having a direct subway line from here to their new place. It's unlikely that we'll see them regularly.

They are a family originally from Algeria in North Africa. The husband/father a business man who seems to do a lot of traveling and make a good income. The wife/mother is a homemaker and very maternal. She's generously prepared couscous and other dishes for us and even our visiting family members. There are 2 daughters university or post-university age. None of the 3 women were the veils of their faith. One of them said that she wanted to marry someone of her same faith. Their son was a boy 7 years ago, but definitely looks like a young man now.

We'll miss them as neighbors. While it occasionally got loud in their home with 3 teenagers, they have been very kind to us. They trusted us enough that one summer, they gave us their apartment keys so that we would water their plants. Our son, who was just 1 1/2 years old, used to enjoy wandering around their place.

We pray that whoever rents their apartment from them (fortunately, they still own it) will also be kind and civil. One great thing about our building is that there is much stability (not many people moving in or out).

Our neighbors on the 6th floor just had their first child Antonio (after having a couple of cats). They are still in the shock that comes with the invasion (albeit a good one) of one's firstborn. I've gotten to talk with both parents and empathize with all that comes with a new baby. The mother left a note in our box asking for my wife as an experienced mother to call her for advice about babies. We'll probably be passing some baby clothes on to them and maybe inviting them to the clothes give away at our church. (We've been so blessed by this ministry at our church).

Our 2nd floor neighbors just had their third child. As they know that we have 3 children, we can empathize with them. We see them fairly regularly in the neighborhood parks and are impressed with the time that they spend on weekends together.

One of our son's classmates will be moving to Switzerland after this school year. There aren't that many boys in the class, so this will reduce the number even more. He came to our son's last 2 birthday parties. My wife and kids see him and his family fairly often at the park. We would like to have them over sometime before they move.

I know that moving is part of life. I've moved a number of times. While we've done some visits to the U.S., we've been in the same apartment for nearly 7 years now. I appreciate the stability and rootedness that this has given me and our family.

At the same time, I philosophically believe that mobility is part of the task of my particular job and call of cross-cultural ministry. I guess that we do see a lot of people on both sides of the Atlantic due to our Home Ministry Assignment trips. The Internet, e-mail, and cheap or even free international calls through the Internet are all tools that have changed the concept of connectedness and who is my neighbor. But it can get complex sorting and organizing a web of relationships that has develop and continues to develop. I expect that someday, my address book will actually begin to shrink. But it has always continued to grow up to now. A good part of this is due to how God wired me to be a networker.

This morning I went with my son to downtown Paris. At l'Hôtel de Ville, they set up an ice skating rink and a sled hill with 8 lanes from mid-December through early March. We had a father-and-son time with him getting to go about an hour on the sled hill, 3 times on a merry-go-round, and lunch at McDonalds. It was fun hanging out with him. He tends not to say too much, but then will suddenly start talking about enjoying the luge ride and getting to see his buddy Luc. Luc is in the Tuesday swim class and came to our son's birthday party. We ran into Luc and his parents downtown. Luc and our son enjoyed running around the sled hill together. They are like brothers, which is cute to see. We had intended to have Luc and his family over for crêpes tonight, but my wife's sinus infection prevented that. We'll try again in a couple of weeks.

Finally, I installed my first kitchen cabinet in my lifetime tonight. As the wall is made of drywall without any apparent studs, I had to find and buy some special expandable plugs to support the cabinet. It even came out level. Having not grown up doing DIY projects, I feel good when something actually works out.