Hot Water!

I stood there in our south facing room saying an akathist and morning prayers, while Kat tended the chickens and Jay laid back down to fight off his headache. The sun shone in beyond the parting of the curtains, so I decided to let a little more light in because it was cheerful. It had been a struggle of a morning to get going, especially without hot water, so we ate simply and went on with the day. As I stood there in prayer, I noticed the warmth of the sun, something that has been long since lost in the cold of snow and ice.

Afterward, I found some hidden source of determination that I would clean the house when we had hot water, so I had to do SOMETHING! I messed with a couple of things, like the pump in the creek and thawed a drain pipe, but eventually thought I had broken something, when even the cold water in the sink stopped! So I went in to get Jay, even if he was not up to par. Together we turned things on, watching and waiting. After some trial and error, we uncovered the pipe to the toilet plumbing and found it had been insulating to keep the ice inside, instead of letting it drain fully. Jay unwrapped it and I gave him some water from the kettle to pour over it in hopes of some defrosting.

We let it go for a few, as Jay went on to look for some piping to reroute things, if it was frozen under the house. I was heating more water to dump into the sink for dish washing and Kat went upstairs. Next thing I knew, I heard the toilet flushing, because Kat had pushed down the handle. I asked her how she did it, then had her go back up and do it again. It flushed!!! Small steps, huge triumphs! Kat and I ran outside to go tell Jay and we were SO happy and our hopes went sky high. I wondered whether it had any connection to the flushing because when the toilet stopped flushing, the hot water in the bathtub did too.

Jay went around the back to check on the water situation again and I heard him calling something back. I asked him to say it again and I heard 'hot water'! That's right, we had HOT WATER!!!

That is our miracle today! Next time you turn on your hot water, try to appreciate it just a little more than usual, because some places in the world still haven't got it, or running water, but it has not been all of human history that we have been so blessed with this luxury. First, running water and second, hot water!

Glory to God for all things!

PS-Jay is feeling better, but I need to be off to feed him :)