I have been thinking lately about all the simple things in life we American's take for granted. I guess this has been fresh on my mind since I am currently living without a few of those modern conveniences.
It has now been 9 months since I have had ....*A dishwasher or a garbage disposal in my kitchen. I have had to wash dishes by hand at least once a day. Until you live without one you forget how inconvenient it is to have to wash and dry every single thing you use. Fortunately, since I am living in only 700 sq feet and I have a small kitchen, most of my things are in storage. I am sure that most of my friends are sick of hearing me say "Yes, I do have that, but it is in storage".
*An attached laundry room. You see, for most of my married life you could find me daily running to the laundry room in various stages of dressed-ness to get clothes. But now my laundry room is down a flight of outside stairs and in the garage. So now whenever I need to run to the laundry room I have to get dressed. Plus if it is raining - or snowing, like today - I get my clean laundry all wet. Someday I will be able to run to the laundry room in the buff again!
*A septic system that you can count on. For the last two months our septic system has been obsessed with backing up. It makes it pretty difficult to do laundry on a regular basis or count on a flushing toilet to not come back up. We have dumped many precious pennies into this system and now all we can do is laugh. It is something I will never take for granted again.
*More than one shower & bathroom for a family of 4. Trying to schedule the morning routines around one shower and toilet can be a bit of a challenge. However, we have gotten used to this and it goes pretty smooth now. Looking on the bright side, having the septic back up all the time, does limit down the shower and flushing allowed, so it is even easier on the schedule.
We have learned to appreciate some of the simple things in our American lives. I have to daily remind myself that it could be worse - especially when I am mopping up sewage! But God is good and we have so very much to be thankful for. As my son heads out on a inner-city mission trip tonight I hope we will appreciate even more simple things - like our beds, our ceiling, our heat and our family!
4 comments:
yes, you are so right. convicted. just having our children healthy, a warm room, clean clothes-scary that we could even have none of those but still have reasons to be thankful. God is good and this is all temporary!
the sewage thing sounds like a bummer : (
modern day conveinences are so easy to take for granted! we often think of all those things as necessities, when in reality all we NEED is our God and he provides the rest.
The sewage thing does sound tough, though!
Oh man. We lived in a barn converted to house for a while when we were "newlyweds" with no dishwasher, and it stinks. I can't imagine it with 2 kids and the mess of dishes they churn out everyday! And laundry to boot!
Whenever I want to make myself get over the "poor me's" I think about the pioneer ladies, and how they had to wash their families clothes in a river and use outhouses...that always makes me feel better :)
I hear ya! The only thing we have on your list is a dishwasher...and there aint no end in sight for us so we're learning to do that same; just be thankful for what we do have.
When some kids come over and the bathroom is in use they say with a puzzeled look 'where in the world is your other bathroom?'...one time a sweet little boy said 'where is the rest of your house?' gotta love kids! Hang in there, hopefully your house will be finished soon and you'll be done 'roughing it'. . . :)
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