"There shall be showers of blessings..."

In my last post I mentioned we had a productive, and blessing filled, break in Sta. Rosa this past week. While I was working on the loveseat, Ivan was able to get the lawn mowed -- even though it took two days because the grass was really high, so he had to go slowly and double back on quite a bit of it -- and he fixed the water heater. Little-by-little we're chipping away at a very EXTENSIVE list of things that have to be done out there.

On Saturday night we went to dinner with good friends, Jorge and Silvia. We've known them for years; they were some of the first people I met when we visited Argentina back in '96, and of course Ivan has known them even longer. I consider Silvia one of my dearest friends and it was such a blessing to just have time with them, relaxing and enjoying a good meal together. With my language limitations, I'm not able to really have in-depth conversations with too many people but Silvia knows some English so we manage to communicate pretty well. Between their busy schedule and ours when we're out there (always mindful of that long to-do list), we aren't always able to get together when we go. But I told Ivan we need to make it a priority because I think they need it, and I know we do!

Our favorite mechanic is in Sta. Rosa and Ivan was hoping he could take a look at the car, which had some issues on our long trip to Uruguay and back. Thankfully Cristian was able to get it in on Tuesday morning, and are we ever glad he did! It turned out the timing belt was so dried out and cracked that it was really, REALLY close to failing -- which would have led to major engine damage. God surely protected us! And the timing belt was only one of many things that needed attention. It ended up taking Cristian from 8:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. to do all the work.

A friend in Sta. Rosa told us about two places that sell used household items (everything from doors and windows, to furniture and appliances), and one of them was in Villa del Dique, about 20 minutes south of Sta. Rosa. Because it took all day Tuesday to get the car fixed, we stayed over an extra day, and decided to check out the place in Villa del Dique before heading home on Wednesday. We couldn't find the place so stopped at a gas station to ask. Apparently that store had closed, but another customer at the pumps approached Ivan and said that while he didn't have any doors or windows, he had a complete bathroom set he'd just removed from a house he's working on. So we followed him home and ended up buying the whole set, kit and kaboodle! It includes the toilet, bidet, the shower fixtures, and a 2 meter long slab of algarrobo wood with two sinks (excuse the messy green tarp hanging next to it) :

We loved the rustic charm of the wood (which needs some work) and these handles are perfection!

And the handles are on both sinks, the bidet and the shower!

Sadly, one of the sinks did not fare well in transit :(

The other sink already had a hairline crack (which Ivan hopes we can fix) but I don't think this one is salvageable. Ivan's been looking online and a replacement sink will cost more than half what we paid for the whole set :( But we have time to look and maybe we'll find another used sink that doesn't cost so much. We just think it's pretty cool how God provided the set! What are the chances you'll stop to ask directions at the very same time someone else is there who has something you need?! God is good!

After we arrived home Ivan checked at the bus terminal and found our printer had arrived. We've had trouble with our printers ever since we got back from the U.S. Ivan has spent countless hours trying to fix them, to no avail. We thought he had one fixed but it only worked a short time and then quit again. So we knew we had to break down and buy one. After looking at stores here and in Cordoba, Ivan got online and found a much better deal on MercadoLibre (South America's version of eBay) so he ordered it while we were still in Sta. Rosa. The mail system is too iffy, so the preferred method of sending a package is via the bus system (which is extensive), so that's why we picked it up at the bus terminal. It's going to be so nice having a printer again!

I've posted on the P365 blog and shared some photos of progress on the foundation. We're getting down to the wire on choosing a wall system (we're considering 3 options) AND we really need to get the doors and windows, pronto! We'd prefer to get good quality, used ones but so far have not been successful finding any. Hoping in the next few days we'll have time to drive to nearby towns and look.

And that's what's happening in my world: Showers of blessings!