"Pioneer Days"

One of the children today said, "This is like it was back in Pioneer Days." I explained that some towns do celebrate Pioneer Days, but we are living them!

Yesterday was a very interesting day. The water from the street has been off since last Wednesday. The pump that pumps water into our community is broken and they are having a hard time getting it fixed.

Thankfully, on Friday water came in from another community and we were able to have water to do our laundry and pump water into the tanks onto the roof - which has sustained us up until today. But - I haven't done laundry since last Friday and with the heat and sweaty clothes, it is really piling up.

We have been conserving water only for necessary things in order to make the reserve water in the tanks stretch. We are flushing toilets with buckets of water that we have caught from rain in order to reserve the water on the roof for things like dishes, washing hands etc.

D. checked the tanks on the roof this morning. He estimated that we had 50 to 70 gallons of water - enough to wash dishes and hands today and get baths tonight. If the water does not come on by tomorrow, we will likely have to order a truck of water.

Also yesterday our electric was off from 8:30 a.m. till 9:00 p.m. In the afternoon, in order to make our battery power back up last - we refrained from using fans or any form of electric in order to keep the refrigerator running. It was a very HOT day, yet we did not turn on fans. By 5:30 I was dripping sweat on all sides. We took the kids to the park and a little breeze blew and - OH! - it felt so good!

By last night we were turning a light on in one room and staying in that room and using flashlights to get around the rest of the house. Thank the Lord our invertor did last and the electric came on around 9:00 and we were able to cool down last night!

So, today - I am sooooooo thankful for electric. Even though I can't do my huge-mongous pile of laundry and some of the kids are about out of clothes, I can sit in front of a fan!!

We went to the grocery store today and I was so excited that I could go to the bathroom, actually FLUSH the toilet, and then wash my hands without having to hurry. It was luxury at its finest. :-)

I am thankful for the blessings I have (which are way more than water and electric), but also very eagerly awaiting water so we can have clean clothes. :-)