Holiday??

We had 5 days to take a break.  Only 5 as we have Bible teaching on Tuesdays and this Monday we would have 4 afternoons filled with our online school. So 5 days only!

We happily packed the car and off we went!  Visibility low because of all the veld fires but Morale high.

We live in the middle of nowhere, with a road going nowhere and no-one really traveling on it.  The irony is when we go on “holiday” we also go to a place far from anything or anybody.  A cottage in the mountains with the only close shops 60km away, granted there is a hotel where you could eat something but it comes with quite the Price tag.

In any case, here we are!  We unpack and then the caretaker nonchalant informs us the fridge is not working.  ??  While I am contemplating if I should just cook all the meat we brought now, the power went off.  Okayyyy.  But not a problem, we all keep ourselves busy – one with a binoculars, I went off to sleep as I was still fighting a bad case of the flu, some on the iPhones, etc. Morale still high.

The power comes back on and my dear husband fixes the fridge!!  Hurrah!! We all settle down to enjoy ourselves. The sun sets over a nice view even though it is very hazy with all the smoke. We light a cosy fire and when it got too dark tried to put on the light.  Nothing. But not a problem, morale is still high and husband and boys fix the light!

The rest of the evening is quite uneventful until shower time. Shower head needs unplugging, shower outlet need unplugging. And to top it off a howling wind rages through the small bathroom.  After the first boy is through the showers and I see how bad he is shivering we stuff an old pillow in the “window” to make it less of a wind tunnel and more of a hot shower area. We have a good laugh. 

Phew, all in bed now!  Of course the mattresses are about 5mm thick!  But not a problem - we stuff old blankets in the worst of the hollows and try and sleep.

Next day the caretaker was supposed to wash the dishes but he doesn’t show, so dear husband washes them all.  When we were about to hit the showers again – no surprise there – this time no hot water!  A pipe had burst.  Not a problem, we all just get into bed.  But now dear husband is quite sick and gets no sleep….the plot thickens!

Next morning he fixes the pipe and voila! we have hot water again.  By now everyone is a bit on edge but we manage to sort through it and morale is still there somewhere above the ground. 

The day continues quite on track except that my dear husband has now taken two naps and it is only 3pm – not him at all and Very Worrying….but not a problem – I get out my medical kit and test him for malaria.  Positive – which, in this case, is very negative. Not a problem - I get out the malaria meds and start him right on it. 

As he tries to get himself more comfortable in the stuffed-with-blankets-bed and leans back on the so-called “head-rest” – the whole thing with attached bedside tables flip back as if it was a Lazy-boy (but without the comfort of course.)  Not a problem - he gets a few old books (probably that have not been read in about 50 years) and stuff them between the wall and the “head-rest”, all comfy now with very limited flipping.  Although by this time I feel like flipping a bit!

But morale is still hanging in there and I cook supper – but first I pray that the power will stay on!!  And then we all pile onto the bed and some chairs and watch a movie and eat our food – every now and then flipping the bed side tables and all on them a bit!  Hey, at least the bed is kind of level on the floor unlike the chair in the room with only 3 legs of same length, so that is something to be thankful for!

I guess the moral of the story is that God gives ideas and plans and helps us cope with laughter but also lets us cry and comforts us – we need to make the best of life in keeping our eyes on Him. We can choose to throw a tantrum, to demand service (but seriously, demanding anything in Africa??  A waste of time and energy!!) From our perspective this was a total disaster of a break, but if we have learned to keep our eyes on Him in all of this then it was worth it.  And in any case a bad holiday really feels like forever!!  Haha so our break felt like a 10 day one and not the 5 pathetic days that it was.

So one day left before we head back in our (un)airconditioned car.  We should do more of this holidaying – it builds character. 

Bella, ready to go home.