Rain Dancing Cannucks.......

In Canada I had at times referred to myself as the Queen of Make Do (I'd rather of been a princess but for obvious reasons it just didn't work). Now I realise that I was only in training!

The new house loses water from 5 pm - 5 am. In theory. We have since discovered that this is simply the times you can count on....other than that, it's a gamble. You feel like you've won the lottery when you turn on the tap and water actually comes out! Today, we were desperate, we woke up to no water before the meeting, so we used the last of the water we had saved yesterday before 5 to flush what needed flushing and wash the bare minimum that needed washing. I'm not going into specifics! We had an awesome meeting and then went for lunch with the visiting speaker and the friends that had come with them. We walked about 5 km after lunch to the grocery store only to find it closed and then headed another km for the bus stop. By now I had blisters (I was in high heels as we hadn't planned to be walking) We got home literally plastered with our own sweat.....turned on the tap, NO WATER! I wouldn't have believed how demoralizing that can be if I hadn't experienced it. We knew at this point we wouldn't have water until 5 the next morning....and that's only if we won the lottery!

Our unwashed dishes were all the sink from the morning, our house was sweltering, our hands and bodies were in desperate need of washing and we were completely out of water! We wandered outside as it was a little cooler and started joking about rain dances, I mean by now we were really desperate. We decided to laugh rather than cry, we'd had such an encouraging lunch and meeting we didn't want to lose the joy. So we did silly rain dances (fortunatley we live in the country). Within an hour it was raining (I think it was the extra sound effects that Gary threw in his dance that did it). Nikki & I stripped down to our undies and did what I've always wanted to do, shower in the rain. Torrential rain! Cold & gloriously wet. We shared our shower with a giant toad, but who cared, we were actually cold & finally clean. It was a beautiful moment. We stuck some buckets outside and can now flush & brush before bed!! Life is good!

We experienced a wicked lightening storm this week. Nikki & I were home alone from the meeting (with horrible colds) when it hit. It was severe and power was on and off for most of the night. Then lightening hit a transformer in the field beside the house, we saw it happen right out our living room window. There was a sudden, earth shattering crack and a brilliant burst of light, then sparks, and then pitch blackness! The dogs we are baby sitting went nuts, the baby kittens started to panic and Nikki and I scrambled to calm everyone in the dark while searching for our flashlights and lighting candles. In the meantime, we forgot to shut the windows and by the time we remembered, the beds were soaked and the floors flooded! We have no dryer, so everything had to be hung up and strung over furniture with fans on them....when the power came back on! Not to mention matresses that needed to be dried and floors that needed mopping (by hand, we have yet to buy a mop, try bringing one home on the bus). What an adventure!

Our speaker, this week & his wife were a beautiful couple from the States (Arizona) who were very encouraging. He took early retirement and at 62 years of age, he and his lovely wife sold their home and all the goodies they had collected over their entire marriage and came to Nicaragua. He said at the time it was very scary but once they were done, felt incredible & free. They are now learning Spanish and planning to spend the rest of their life here if possible. They have been here for 9 months and loving it. In fact their daughter and son in law have since come here too!

We are learning to reassess what is normal, what you need to be happy and what things are really important to us. For example.....I haven't had a Tim Hortons coffee since we arrived, and I'm fine! Really....!Some days these changes and adjustments are painful and other days they are freeing. But even when we struggle the most, we can't see ourselves returning to "normal" life in Canada any time soon. There is too much good here, too many wonderful things we want to see and do, too much satisfaction in our ministry. The opportunity for growth is too great.

The vehicle search is in full swing and we are very excited to get one.....to be free to explore! To be able to drive into town for water........luxury!