I made a deliberate effort today not to think about tomorrow and to enjoy the great blessing of a day of rest. I’d say I succeeded pretty well.
We are over half a week without water now. Sometimes today we had a trickle, a lot of times we had nothing. Once we had regular flow, which was exciting for the whole two minutes it lasted!
I want to share some blessings with you that we’re enjoying.
Something we’re pretty thankful for is good health. Everyone is doing well. With six children, there is often one who has some complaint or other. But really, we’re all hale and hearty.
We’re enjoying working together. Steph told me while she was waiting for water to boil for dishes that she thinks we’ll look back on this season of our lives and not remember how difficult things were, but how much we loved being together. It was hard to believe her at first because tears were starting to leak down her cheeks, but she’s right. We all love each other.
Pauline and Bilbo are doing really well. They took to bottles a bit stubbornly, but now they’re eating great. The children adore them. Barbara is giving a nice amount of milk, but she has yet to learn how to act like a blessing during milking.
All the animals are healthy. The grass is turning brown pretty quickly without rain, but there’s still lots of forage. And we still have enough grain for what we need. The pigs have plenty to eat as long as we have table scraps. And the chickens are finally laying more.
We have lots of blankets. The nights are cold, and the mornings colder, but we’re cozy. We all greet the early sunshine like a bosom friend.
And coffee. Maybe this seems trivial to you, but coffee is a comfort. We have plenty of tea yet, as well, but coffee… There are hardly words. We still have some coffee beans in the freezer from you dear ones in the States. We mix it with the stock we got from Cusco, and the blend is rich and enjoyable.
And we have you! Thanks to each of you who have been calling or messaging with advice and comfort and stories of your own. It’s truly encouraging.
Tomorrow I have more digging to do. I’m praying God reveals the leak. I want to try to do the work with a song; though, I admit that plumbing, particularly leaking plumbing, is one of my least favorite things to work with. Please continue praying with us.
Blessings of rest and peace to you.
Juan David 