Frozen Pipes!

Over a week ago, I tried to post about our frozen pipes, but we’ve been experiencing Internet woes again, so I’ll share it now! Someone broke into the pump house (if that’s what you call it?) and deliberately turned off the valve that allows water to continually circulate through the pipes in the village, serving the very important function of keeping the water from freezing in the pipes. At 19 below, it didn’t take long for the whole system to freeze up. We were able to get water from only one tank and it was rapidly being used up. For 3 days, we were told to strictly conserve water…no showers, no washing, only flushing at very necessary times. The third evening, I received the call that the water level had dropped to 2 feet and they had no idea when they would be able to solve the problem. Uncle Sivoy joined us for dinner that night and as I was closing the prayer before we ate, he said, “The water!” I said, “Oh right…And God please help us to enjoy the last drops of water that come out of our faucet. Amen.” When I opened my eyes, Sivoy was nearly doubled over laughing. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized Sivoy was probably expecting me to pray for a miracle. I said, “Sivoy. The lines are frozen solid. God could very well do a miracle, but look at the grace He’s shown us already…we’re surrounded by snow! I don’t really expect water to come out of this faucet again until spring.” That night, we filled up every container we could find in the house with tap water before it ran out sometime in the night. Then, we cleaned the toilets, gave them one last flush, taped them closed, and prepared our honey buckets. We went to bed excited to take the sled out the next day to gather snow to melt for our washing needs. I was wrong! We awoke to water flowing out of our faucet. Miraculously, sometime in the night, the line was cleared! :)