Camping in

3:32 p.m. Today's project was to manage my personal care in the half hour before the caregiver arrived to take care of Steve. There was but one catch: I had turned off the water to the house at midnight--two sections of connectors had split from one another and water was shooting out! Nice work in the rain...

Last evening I'd washed the breakfast items by hand to keep from running the dishwasher, but had done a quick load of wash. Our friend the plumber's day-long efforts were hampered by the rain, because the glue apparently didn't dry properly, and the solder hadn't set, he told me when we met back up at the house about 8:30 p.m. Meanwhile, Steve and I had enjoyed a fun evening at my daughter's in-laws (the Loves') house, where I baked my meatloaf and they graciously added bread, cheese and fruit to keep us from starving as the meatloaf cooked. Good people and fun, too! Our kids live out of town and/or have ministry obligations on Wednesday, and our siblings on either side live quite far away. So Proverbs 27:10 applies:

Better is a neighbor who is nearby than a brother who is far away.

So this morning, my faucet was a gallon of distilled water. Nevertheless, I completed my facial routine (of course) and had a kind of "camping out" experience for the rest. I promised myself a hot shower after repairs were done! When the caregiver came, I did go outside and turn on the water, just to make sure Steve had a hot shower--he gets disoriented if his routine changes, and also gets very chilled, like some very elderly people do, even though I run the heater at 73 degrees in the morning.

Mercifully, Steve and I had a chance to be out of the waterless house. We returned from visiting with a friend this morning, and limited our activities to anything we could that didn't require running water. Our plumber friend came back over, I filled up a bucket with clean water and carried it inside to tide us over. He worked diligently to piece the pipe fittings together. Back in the house, hand sanitizer came in handy as I put together some red sauce with broken-up chunks of last night's meatloaf in the crock pot. I sprayed Shaklee organic germicide on my hands to get the traces of meat off my fingers, and poured some leftover water I'd found in a carafe down the disposal and ran that in a very short burst.

The camp kitchen was functioning fairly well!
All was good, the plumber left, and then about 20 minutes later, I turned the water on, to see some small drips. I went ahead and turned the pressure down, but I was going to have my shower! That would be appreciated by my Mary Kay sisters at our meeting this evening, I'm sure. Currently, I'm running the dishwasher and the house has been cleaned. I'll turn the water back off late tonight. "Camping in" isn't too groovy--wish we still had the RV to spend a night or two in, because we always kept its water tanks full!

On the repair front, I found out that today's weather didn't do us any favors either!! The fierce winds kept the soldering flame from heating up to its hottest point, an expert plumber advised our friend. He'll be coming along tomorrow to "seal the deal." Praise the Lord, who has not left us alone in our trials, but sends the help we need.

In John 16:7, Jesus comforted His disciples about His return to heaven:

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

Our helper, the Holy Spirit, is ever-present, guiding, teaching and leading us in our work, family lives, and in developing the skills we need to be fruitful Christians.

And how grateful I am that God chooses to fill the Body of Christ with those who have gleaned wisdom and help others to do the same!