Without Water

      It's funny how my early memories around our first home started with our challenge of not having a shower, and one of our first challenges in our new home is water-related as well.
      It's really all my fault if you think about it. I wanted to take the girls swimming after our closing, but I chose to get groceries.  By the time we got back, there wasn't much time left to swim before the afternoon nap. I told the girls we'd go after nap time. What I had forgotten was that there are swimming lessons at the pool on Monday afternoons, which we still would have been taking had I realized we would stay in the area. After getting suited up and slathered up, I realized we wouldn't be able to go swimming.  I then came up with the not so brilliant idea to put in a slip n' slide (which led to a sprinkler when the water pressure wasn't that great). Those of you who live in the country can probably already see where this is going. Maybe those of you in the city that read the title of my post can too. Well after this water frivolity, I was unable to use the sink for water while cooking. I thought it had to do with the fact that my hubby had to open up a different valve for the spigot to work. I thought he'd just shut off a valve, and open a different one. He came in from grilling the celebratory steaks rather concerned, but the water faucet was once again working. He realized that we were using too much water for our well to keep up with during this mid-western drought we are experiencing.  We continued with our night time routine after he checked the pump to verify that it was still pumping well although the pressure was low.
     When I went to bed, I washed off my dirty feet. The water ran out again during this, but I figured the pump was trying to keep up with our usage like before.  I thought after another half hour we'd have water again like earlier in the evening.
     I was wrong. When I was roused from my sleep from my daughter because I had forgotten to put a diaper on her before bed and she had had an accident, I checked the water only to find it still not working. I let my husband know at this point, but unfortunately the damage had already been done to the pump. I wish now I would have woken him up after washing my feet.
     This has led to being without water for the past 24 hours. The earliest we could schedule a repair is this morning. The good thing about this is that we will have a submersible pump that will improve our flow rate, and is built to resist burning out if it runs dry again. The bad thing is we are out a good chunk of change within a few days of living in our new home.
     This past Sunday the pastor preaching at our church spoke on Romans 8:28 which talks about all things working together for good. What I really liked that he pointed out was that our definition of good is not always the same as God's definition of good. He tied in the following verse to this which speaks of God conforming us to the image of Christ...which is God's definition of good. This is why God can allow "bad" things to happen to us. I know that I have a whole new appreciation for water (and I'm glad I bought all those little jars of hand sanitizer at the sale last year--it sure is handy to have them at every sink). Also, when given the perspective of all the people that are truely suffering thus feels like small potatoes. This isn't anything compared to a friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, a friend whose husband has been diagnosed with throat cancer, or another friend whose four year old is suffering from an inoperable brain tumor.
     I believe this water issue is meant to make me feel sour, and steel my joy. Too bad! It's not working. I'm still so grateful for this amazing house and the beauty of the countryside!