Back to the grind(ing)

Day Twenty-four.

Wow, what a trip!  We learned so much in three shorts days at the ranch.  And, we came home with extra food--always a plus but even more so during this challenge.  My MIL was incredibly giving and sent us home with fourteen quarts of our freshly made applesauce, two quarts of spaghetti sauce, one quart of salsa, one pound of raspberry jam, two pounds of yeast (so I can keep practicing my bread making), and a roast!  Plus, she sent me home with an entire bag of coffee beans and the grinder needed to grind them!

Sorry, Katie, I wish we were neighbors and could share--I mean it has your name on it.  ;)
 

We all ate very well while we were there so I was expecting some rebelling when we got home and back to our quickly dwindling pantry; however, I was pleasantly surprised.  The middle one did have a hiccup after asking for a pomegranate and--after being told not during our grateful month--she came back with "Is this month EVER going to end."  haha  I couldn't help but smile.  The innocence of a five year old.  To her, she was upset she couldn't get a much loved, special fruit.  To me, all I could think was how blessed we are that we can afford to buy her such extravagant foods.

A pomegranate is extravagant??

Yes.  When I look more and more into what the underprivileged in other countries are eating spending $2-3 on a piece of fruit is extravagant.  Extremely so.  Does that mean I will never buy her one again?  No.  We are financially blessed--very blessed--and with those blessings comes some extras.  Pomegranates.  Cable TV.  High speed internet. Nice clothes. Cars.  Water. 

Water.

Clean, drinking, yummy tasting water. 

Why am I so focused on water?  You see just a few hours ago I read a blog about an orphanage in the Congo where 31 of the 52 orphans there died of dysentery.  Contaminated water.  Sixty percent of the orphans died from it!  And I have the nerve to complain about tap water "tasting" when I like my bottle water "tasteless." 

The shame I felt was great.  I have an endless supply of clean water available through seven faucets in my house. Seven!  

Perhaps our nine weeks of consciousness isn't only about making my family aware of the blessings we do have--perhaps it's mostly about opening our eyes to the basic needs those around us do not have.

http://abicongo.blogspot.com/2013/10/dysentery-31-orphans-died-from-unclean.html