This week our hot water tank went out.  I came home from picking up my preschooler and I saw a lot of water on the garage floor and I could see water flowing from the hot water tank, this was no little leak.  I called my husband at work to find out what I should do.  I did not even know where to shut off the water to our house.  Which I encourage you to find out ahead of time if you don’t know in case of emergencies like this.  Thankfully my father-in-law rushed over to help me turn off the water and he knew exactly what to do.  He hooked up a hose to empty our hot water tank and turned off the gas to our tank, which gave me great peace of mind to have the help of someone who knew what they were doing. 

Of course this happened in the middle of the afternoon so I knew it was very likely that it would not be repaired that day and I could bring myself to be okay with that.  I figured we could go without hot water for one day.  I love my showers but I could go one day without a shower, I thought.  We found a contractor who would come out on Tuesday, well, that fell through and he ended up not showing up.  I knew Wednesday I needed to take a shower and have my three little boys shower.  You know how smelly boys can be.  It was easy enough to heat up water on the stove to give the baby a bath in his little baby tub, but I was not up to heating up enough water to bathe my three older boys. 

Thankfully we have a lot of family nearby so I called my sister-in-law and went and showered at her house and then later in the evening my husband took the boys to shower at grandma’s house which the boys absolutely loved and thought was quite fun. 

While over at my sister-law’s house I was saying how things like this cause you to remember to be grateful for the little things like hot water.  My sister-in-law who grew up in Guam was telling me she grew up with no hot water, they would have to heat their water if they wanted hot water.  And in speaking with my dad, he was telling me for a number of years he and his family growing up lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere and there was no hot water and they had an outhouse for a bathroom. 

This situation stirred up gratitude in my heart.  I found myself thanking God for all the little conveniences we have.  I was grateful for hot water and my dishwasher that washed dishes.  During these days I was heating up water to wash the dishes by hand and towel dry them.  I haven’t done a lot of dishes by hand in a very long time.  I wash a pot and pan but all the dishes after dinner silverware and all, haven’t had to do that in a while. 

I found myself grateful for technology, internet and cell phones.  I was reminded that my mom delivered my baby brother without my father present because it was before cell phones and he worked out in the construction field and by the time they had the message delivered to him, he arrived to the hospital too late.  I was thinking about how far technology has come just in the last eight years.  The baby monitor I had with my first baby who is now eight had static, would pick up radio stations at random times and sometimes even the neighbor’s baby monitor.  The one I have today is crystal clear, super quiet and does not pick up any interference.  Think about speakers, we used to have big bulky speakers now we have these portable, hand held, wireless speakers that sound amazing.  Think about all the CD's or cassette tapes we would have that now with Pandora and ITunes are pretty much extinct.   I was thinking back to last week when I was annoyed because my internet wasn’t working fast enough and had me re-evaluate my attitude of gratitude. 

Once our hot water tank was repaired it felt so good to take a nice hot shower in my own home.  I am grateful to have family nearby, borrowing an egg from my neighbor is one thing but parading my four children over to borrow their shower would have me in a tizzy.  I know they would let me and friends also but loading up four kids, pajamas, towels and all would have me a little on edge. 
It is great to be thankful for the big things like family and our health, but it’s also important to be grateful for all the little things in our lives that make life much easier for us.  I encourage you to stop and look around you and be thankful for all the little things in your life. 

It was great to have the conversations I had with my sister-in-law and my dad about how they grew up, it was a good reminder to encourage my children to be grateful for all they have. 

Don’t take for granted all the conveniences we have and I know it can be annoying at times when technology does not work the best every time, or when it doesn’t seem fast enough for us, but when you start to have one of those aggravating moments with your computer, or cell phone, stop and think back to just ten years ago what life was like.  Realize that although things break down and don’t always function at peak performance we still have a lot to be grateful for. 

When you give your kids a nice warm bath tonight know that there are still places around the world that don’t have hot water, or even clean drinking water.  Take a moment as a family and discuss all you have to be grateful for. 

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