Water...by Lucy

Marthita uses scissors to trim the grass in the flower garden

A couple of the roses in our little garden by the house

We are currently in the rainy season here at Refuge Ranch. What exactly does that mean? Well, it rains, and rains, and rains some more! It is very different from what I am used to for this time of year back in Indiana, with the hot temperatures (in the 90's) and humidity. People seem to think because we live in Mexico that the temperature is hot and sunny all the time...maybe because we are south of the border, or closer to the equator, or because what most people experience of Mexico is Cancun or Acapulco with the ocean and beaches. That is certainly not so here at Refuge Ranch! Most days we wear jackets and I am usually still cold as I sit in school! The thermometer outside says it is 67 degrees, which would indicate some warmth, but even now, I'm sitting here with jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and jacket on, and feeling quite comfortable.

We do have the humidity, which I think may be worse with colder weather. Everything seems damp all the time. When we get dressed in the morning, our clothes feel wet. When we sit down, the seat feels damp. Here's something to show how humid it can be, that never happened when we lived in Indiana. When you buy salt in the states, it comes in a circular cardboard container with a little spout on top. That was part of the groceries I brought with me, don't ask me why, but it came! It was fine during the dry season when we first got here, but when the rainy season began, I noticed that it was damp on top, and the salt was wet. I just kept using it. But then, as the rainy season continued, the dampness moved over the whole container until it was just a soggy mess, and we had to transfer the wet salt to another plastic container (I know, most of you would have thrown it out then, but it is still perfectly good salt!), and throw away the old wet cardboard container. Now that is humid! One more example is washing laundry. We do not have a dryer here and the only way to dry laundry is to hang it up. Usually it is hung outside, but every time it rains, we are running out to remove the laundry (That is a lot of laundry from 23-24 people!). I thought I was being smart by putting up clotheslines in all our bedrooms so when it rains, it can hang inside and dry. Wrong! One day I did laundry on a day when it was pouring, and hung the laundry inside. Three days later the laundry was still wet and beginning to smell like it would need to be washed again! Not my favorite thing to do, but that is another story! I have learned that if I use the spinner to spin out as much water as possible before I hang the clothes, then set a fan directly on the clothes, some of them will dry in a day (the ones right in front of the fan!).

The rain causes some interesting problems for us. One is that we still have leaks that we really can't fix until the rain stops. We need the roof to be dry to work on it! Another is that Joanna likes to saddle the horse after her school work is finished and take the kids for rides, but oftentimes, that is when it is really looking like rain, and she is never sure whether to try to get Sona saddled or not before the rain hits. It takes some time to put the saddle on and take it back off, and it is frustrating when she just gets finished saddling her, and it begins to rain! Another problem is that now we are eating in a different building from where the dishes get washed and everything gets put away. Usually it is raining when we eat supper, and whoever has the job of cleaning up afterwards has to carry everything across the drive in the pouring rain. Martha had this job the other day when I was snapping pictures, and she was drenched! But she was a trooper, and even smiled while she worked!

I guess what I need to remember (when I'm feeling a little like Noah, wondering if the rain will ever stop) is that after the rain (and it feels like a flood is coming!), the sun will come back out to shine on us all again. The flowers bloom and are beautiful, and remind me of God's goodness to us, and the garden continues to grow and provide some tasty food for this growing family! God is good...all the time...even in the midst of rainy season!

On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened....But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded...And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come; I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." Genesis 7:11b; 8:1; 9:12-13

Martha coming for another load of dishes to carry back to the houseStill smiling!

The sun returns to Refuge Ranch!