Who knew giant blobs of plastic could make a Momma's heart so happy?

Since moving to China, grieving over what the kids are missing out on in the States has been a constant struggle of mine. I know they are gaining so much. Believe me. I know. I try to focus on those daily. But some days I dwell on the things they're missing. The library (although this year, we've been so blessed with a local that opened one up that actually has English books!!), parks...REAL parks, not ones with just exercise equipment, and right now, since it's in my face, pumpkin patches.

They don't even know what so many things are. I'm pretty sure Malachi has never been to a real playground. One with slides, swings, something besides concrete on the ground, and things he can climb on and fall off of, knowing that daredevil.

But yesterday, my heart swelled with joy. A former tutor and friend with her own son about Josiah's age (I've mentioned him before--they're great buds!) took Josiah and I to a playground!! We squealed with joy when we saw it! It's literally the first one of this magnitude we've seen since being here. It was inside an apartment complex that houses lots of foreigners. Rich foreigners..go figure.

It was great to see Josiah running around with his buddy, playing games, and acting out characters from a Chinese cartoon. I even enjoyed sitting on the bench with my friend, chatting about life, just like mommas do in America. I told her this and she said, "Good, this is your little piece of America right now." 

It was so fun, I told some friends about it last night, and we made another trip this morning and 3 more little ones squealed with joy at a familiar sight. It was awesome!

My only regret is that we knew about this earlier. I mean, we were here all summer and this glorious playground was sitting across town, a mere $2 taxi ride from us.

Alas, we'll enjoy it until we can't play outside anymore, then watch the weather like a hawk come springtime for when we can return.