The miraculous in the mundane

Mornings are kind of like a chaotic machine in this house. Everyone already knows what has to happen between 6-6:45 but somehow they need the gentle reminders from mom to feed the animals, get their lunches, brush their teeth etc... Normally after everyone leaves I like to try to get an extra 30 minutes of sleep in before I start my day because I already feel like I ran a mini marathon just getting them out the door. ha. But, for the past week the water has been shut off every day around 8:30 am-7pm more or less. I think it has something to do with preparations for el Niño since that is the reason for everything lately but I knew this morning that if I wanted to take a shower and do more than one load of laundry I had to get up to the roof (where our washing machine is) and do some laundry. So I said goodbye to my kids kissed my husband and gathered all our dirty clothes on my way up. I picked the most important stuff (school uniforms or Jose's stuff it's always a gamble) and prayed as I started that the water would stay on at least through the end of the rinse cycle. A couple days ago I tried to wash our sheets and the water cut off about 20 minutes in the washing machine paused but it didn't automatically restart and when the water came back on 9 hours later it was brown...It's really dark upstairs and I didn't realize it when I restarted the washer. I didn't know until I got back inside and by then the damage was done. The sheets aren't really stained but they smell so weird, I don't know if it's from sitting wet.but.not.washed.for.9 hours or from being rinsed in brown.for.unknown.reasons.water or a mix of both. So that's also in my pile of things to wash again today to try to get the funk out of the sheets. (thank you God we have 2 sets of sheets)

I had a long list of things to accomplish using water so I wanted to try to get them all done before 8
Take a shower. check
wash dishes. check
do another load of laundry. check
By then it was actually 9 and Jose showed up he needed to shower then we had some errands to run. I  thought we would be out of water for the day but when we got home I had water to do everything else I needed to. More cleaning, more laundry, and every time I turned the water on I held my breath expecting the sputtering sound of air escaping from empty pipes. And every time the water came out I said a quick "thank you Jesus." It might sound silly and some I know are used to it. I'm almost there. It's kind of just a part of life now that we may or may not have water or electricity or either and we may or may not know in advance if they will be cut. But I never would have dreamed that would be a part of my life or a part of being a missionary. Sometimes we think that miracles are only things like walking on the water and forget that there are so many miracles that happen every day and we are just used to them so we don't recognize them. So for right now a day of running water so I can catch up on housework was the miracle for me. But sometimes getting through homework with Tim (or him doing it with minimal help and understanding what he's doing) is the miracle. Or having a conversation with someone who doesn't speak any english is my miracle.

We have some friends who hashtag everything life is an adventure and I love that because that's kind of perfect. You never know what will happen in life no matter where you live and every day you have a choice to see it as an adventure or travesty. Sure there are frustrations. Sometimes you might feel like the person on the other side of the counter is trying to make sure you have a bad day. (Sometimes I feel that way) But only you have the power to let them ruin your day.

This verse usually only gets pulled out at the end of November as everyone is preparing to eat Turkey and gather with family. But I feel like it should be posted on the desk where you pay bills. Maybe in the car where you might deal with other people cutting you off. Personally I think I'm going to hang it on my kids doors so I can see it before I walk in and see what their rooms look like ;)

The more we begin to thank God for everything. The more we will see the miraculous in the mundane and the more we will see God using the little things in our lives to shape us into the finished product.