We have spent the past 4 days
camping at home in the middle of the summer heat, but with all the same
responsibilities of daily life. Ok, it has only felt like camping because we have been without water since Saturday morning. The boys didn't agree to my use of the word camping, as their definition included the use of a tent. Come to think of it, when I went camping as a child, my
family would usually stay at State Parks.
State Parks provided bathrooms and running water. We had to manage our own structure (in the
form of a tent, without any AC), lights (in the form of flashlights), and
cooking method (in the form of a gas camp stove). What we have been doing these past few days
is almost the reverse of that. We have a
structure: our house. We have full electricity, including AC in the bedrooms. We have gas for the oven range. What we have not had is any running water!
The hardest part of this has been
trying to carry on with all our daily responsibilities. Since we’ve recently been able
to find paper plates at a local mini-mart, we’ve being buying them to decrease
the dishes to be washed. We’ve eaten
either ramen or local take out to ease the issue of cooking without water. Thankfully we found a laundry place near our
home to manage our dirty clothes. On
Sunday we decided to buy drinking water to use for bathing and washing the few
dishes we soiled. It is funny how when you use pre-measured
water, you are able to see exactly how much water you use.
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| We averaged two water containers per day for bathing, once in the morning and again at night, and for washing a few dishes during the day! |
On Tuesday, after word got around
that we were buying ‘drinking water’ to use for household needs, a neighbor,
who has become my most helpful language helper, offered to carry water from a
well to our home. After an unsuccessful
attempt to dissuade her, she filled pails full of water and made at least 5
trips back and forth from the well to our house. Thankfully the closest well is right next door!
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The View from our Back Porch
Our water storage tank is the cemet box to the lower right. It goes another 4 feet below the surface.
The closest well is behind the bamboo fence to the upper left, behind our neighbor's hosue.
There are four wells within 100 yards of our house. The one above is a private well, as is at least one other. I am still learning how the shring and use of wells work here. As everything is quite community oriented, there is a great deal of sharing.
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Tuesday night the city water came
on. It remained on long enough, and at a
high enough pressure, to fill our tank to the brim!
We are so thankful for this! We have running water in the house! The challenge now, with water, for me has been to not live in fear. Without water I was challenged to not only trust
in the Father’s provision, but especially in his timing. Now I am finding I want to horde the water
and use it ever so sparingly for fear of running out before the city water
comes on again. I know this is my own
self desire to control and avoid any difficulty or discomfort. At the same time there wisdom to be exercised
in living according to lessons learned.
For now, we will use wisdom to do only one load of laundry a day, but
otherwise live with our normal water usage ways, all the while trusting His
provision, for he truly cares about our needs and the daily equipping of us to
do his will.
