When it rains in a desert....

When it rains in a desert...

There are two things that make the Thaba family scramble and run like mad! When someone shouts "RAIN" or "TRASH".

Despite paying annual taxes that should cover weekly "rubbish collection" as the Africans say, sights of a garbage truck are RARE! Our trash can pile for weeks. In this heat, that translate to a stinking pile of cockroach and rodent bait!

We never know when they will come but we do know that when they come, they ring the bell once. If you come out immediately, you MAY find the truck still there. Otherwise, waste a few minutes gathering the trash and you will run outside to find the truck has already continued on down the block!

That is why when someone hears the rubbish truck coming and shouts "TRASH GUYS ARE COMING", we all scurry like mice around the house to quickly gather all trash cans and sprint as fast as our feet can carry us to get them to the curb before the truck passes and we miss our opportunity!

A sight way more rare and precious than the garbage men is RAIN. So, when someone shouts "RAIN", we run even faster to put any sort of container out to collect and save each valuable drop.

I won't be able to convey in still images the mad race to salvage every drop but I thought a few pictures may help you envision the Thaba house when rain graces us with its presence!

These pictures are taken from today's 20 minute blessing (rain). It didn't last very long, but we did our best to salvage and appreciate God's rare gift as much as possible!

First order of business when rain is spotted is to quickly gather all water catching containers and line them up where the roof water runs off.

Here is another spot where the roof water runs off. It filled twice during the 20 minute rain showers so I yelled to Percy to come dump it so that we could get twice as much water instead of it just overflowing onto the bricks.

There is a very little ditch like area in our driveway where the water collects when we have rain. This is me trying to transport some of that water to my thirsty plants.

The kids love collecting water from around the yard after a rain.

Our pool is useless except for when it rains. It has a leak and the pool pump is broken. Because it is such a small pool, it hardly seems worth the money it will take to fix it so I put a cover on it to avoid any accidents with the kids. We haven't used it in years. HOWEVER, when it rains, I harvest all the water gathered, which is usually a lot! :) 

After Anna Catherine and I scoop water from the pool cover, I get a nice bicep work out carrying buckets of water to my grateful garden.

The sun is back out.... We thank God for this quick 20 minute blessing and PRAY for a longer rain next time.