Things That You Notice From A Hammock

While swinging gently in the hammock, it is fun to watch yet another incredible rain storm. The spray from the rain hits me and keeps me cooled off. The creek is getting bigger by the minute, and its roaring is getting louder. I can hear the creek that we used to live by too, and it sounds more like a raging river from here. Blankets hang on the line to dry in the rain. (Not real effective I must confess) The new mango tree is starting to perk up and look happy and fulfilled. (It started out looking like it would like to die) My roses are growing by leaps and bounds...but every time a flower appears, my little ones run out to pick it. At least the greenery looks nice against the rocks. The kids did a good job with their chores this morning, and everything looks neat and in it's place. It won't look clean until we get it done though! (There is still the outhouse to finish, and the kitchen area to finish, and the cement to pour around the new cistern)Hey, did I tell you about the new cistern? This is how it happened. We had a well that had been dug right next to the creek, but the water was so disgustingly dirty that we could not use it at all. We tried every method we could think of to clean it up, like mucking it out, graveling the bottom, bailing all the water out, adding bleach....we came to the conclusion that the water was coming straight through a mess and into the well and there was just no way to use it. So, then my guys decided to fix the problem. They put in more rock and old toilets, and broken bricks, then they poured a nice cement bottom onto it. Then they ran the hose from the cleaner part of the creek into this new cistern! It worked really good, but the problem was that if the girls were washing clothes and taking a bath, then the boys had to wait for their turn, and often they would not get a turn, which is forbidden in Karen culture. So, one day we decided to take the big culverts out of the creek that were supposed to be a bridge...a huge failure of a project long before our time...we got those huge rings out onto the lawn and they began to look just like a new cistern in our minds eye! So, we dug another hole, rolled the rings into it, and poured another bottom, and presto, we now have two cisterns and everyone can keep clean all the time! This new cistern is right next to the house, so it is very convenient. It didn't cost us much either since we already had all the stuff. That makes a missionary feel very accomplished!Our outhouse is not so pretty to look at since it is not finished. It is about 10 feet from the house, so I have to look at it a lot. We got the walls part way up before running out of resources. The problem with that was that we really needed this new outhouse. The old outhouse is clear on the other side of the property which is NOT convenient for little children who really need to go! So, Jason took a tarp and made a roof for it, then filled all the cracks around the side with old rice bags to block the view, hung a curtain over the door, and now we can use our new outhouse! It is rather unsightly, but we love it!Now, I probably would not have time to tell you about all this unimportant stuff, but I somehow got sick again. Not sick really, just a bad infection in my abdomen. There are many times when I really wish that I knew more about medicine! (This being one of them) I did not know what was really wrong, or what might have caused it, but I knew that I had a fever and was in a lot of pain. It had all the symptoms of appendicitis, but I could not afford to have that right now, so I didn't figure that God would let that happen. So, I read all my medical books, then took a wild guess at an antibiotic to try and prayed a lot! Guess what? It is actually working! I am feeling a lot better now, and the infection is almost gone, I think. I feel a lot stronger today and was even able to teach English this afternoon. (Of course, now I am back to my sedentary ways again) I am praising God for another day of life, and noticing all the little things around me that I had not taken time to really look at before.It has also given me the opportunity to once again see how completely dependent we must be on God. He is our only help, and source of wisdom...especially when you don't know which antibiotic to take, he gives us ideas of how to make things work, and tells us how to raise kids with an overabundance of emotional troubles. Life would not be possible without God. I wouldn't trade working for God for anything in the world!