We Thought We Were in Control

Life in China is quite fascinating, as there are so many stresses that one would not imagine here. It begins with those that you would not even realize would be a big issue like trying to find cleaning agents that work, safe to have around children, and are for the purpose you want (the best is how on the foreign imports they put the Chinese label on top of the English directions, so you have to guess at what needs to be done) and then there are the massive stresses like our spouses jobs, their travel, fitting into not only a different culture, but melding an extremely international culture together.

Yet from these stresses and the crazy life we live here, flows such a beautiful blessing from God. Our growth in our faith and our understanding. We are clearly shown over and over here that we are not the ones in control. God is in control. Our job is to Trust him in all things. That when things do not go as planned (which is like a daily thing here--whether it is in our lives or our friends' lives) there is a plan and this change will be okay. It may not be what we want, but it will be okay.

What has brought this to the top of my mind today is that we are in the process of moving to a house in a neighboring community. It was actually cheaper to rent than our current apartment. We have paid three months rent, ordered some furniture to be built, and just got word last night that the landlord will be unable to secure the membership to the club where we currently live. This was part of the our contract with her, but it looks like it will be impossible to acquire.

So, where we were plugging along thinking everything was in control, now the insane part of life here pops out again. The club here is the place that I spend most of my time at, between the school activities, the parks and the pools (I still have not gotten to the gym here) and meeting friends here, it is also where Danny takes soccer lessons. The new management is trying to enforce a rule that they will not sell memberships to you if you live in the neighboring communities. They also are not allowing the lifetime memberships to be transferrable. This is quite crazy in that they literally are cutting off a huge part of the people that pay money on a daily basis at their club (Most people I know live in the neighboring communities). These people unlike us may have a membership for a little while longer, but when they go to renew it or transfer to the next expatriate in their company they will run into problems. It baffels Dustin and I why any company would want less money coming in. Dustin is going to sit down with them tomorrow and see if we can come up with some solution.

Yet, even if they do not, Dustin and Iare going to continue in our process to move (we could try and use the clause in the contract to get out of the lease and get the rent already paid back, but then we would have to see if our current place has been rented out yet and what new price she would be trying to charge us). We decided that in a house, we can get a jungle gym for the kids to play on and build a sand box just like we have in the US. Our new place does have a clubhouse and pool, it is just not as fancy or offer nearly as much to its members. I spoke with my friend Lindsay and she suggested we put the boys in soccer at the British school (also just down the road). So, in the end, while it is not what we necessarily wanted, it is something that we are going to accept and realize that it will be okay. We will figure out and adjust to the change. God is in control (thankgoodness) and this brings me such peace.