Load shedding and the first delay. . .

 Summer in South Africa is a new experience for us.  There are a number of things to share on this but will save them for another post.   The biggest challenge we are facing right now is "load shedding".  The simple description of this is that Eskom(the largest hydro manufacturer for South Africa) does not actually have the ability to produce the amount of hydro that the country needs at this time.  Therefore, to avoid a nation wide blackout and total collapse of the power grid they simply turn grids off in a rotating manner.  Since we have moved to this house we go between 4-8 hours without hydro each day.  

The times the power is "supposed" to go out is posted online but it completely inaccurate so no one even looks at it anymore.  

We can't recall the power being out at our last location at all.  The house manager here joked that there must have been a goverment official living on our street. LOL.  

Most major businesses and grocery stores have generators and they kick in within minutes of the power turning off. 

We have a charcoal braii(BBQ) and a small gas burner to get us through the long stretches.  We keep large tubs of ice in the freezer to move to the fridge to keep our groceries cool.  

We have flashlights ready and electronic devices fully charged at all times so there are no surprises.

The WIFI and the home security systems both run off a battery backup.  When the power goes out we still have 2.5 hours of wifi use. Priorities, priorities.   Not really sure how long the security system is good for?

At church on Sunday at exactly 10am the power went out.  No one even bats an eye.  The electric guitar and bass simple packed up.  The worship leader told people to do there best to sing along where they could and an acoustic guitar kept all in tune.  The pastor just spoke extra loud.  So simple, so beautifully uncomplicated.  

We have altered out lives to make things easier in dealing with these outages but the biggest irritation has been the delay in our 1st wait.  Our court documents SHOULD have been back by Thursday but as the issuing office had NO HYDRO for 2 days at the beginning of the week we are still waiting. . . Trusting the Lord's timing on this one and counting our blessings where we can!  

We have adjusted well to this new house.  The middle 2 spend hours on the trampoline and in the pool.  D bikes around the house numerous times a day.  S continues to blossom, adjust(has even let dad pick him up a time or 2!) and sleep well.  We enjoy daily challenging games of Quirkle Rummy and Labyrinth.  School books come out on days when we don't have outings planned.  God is good, all the time.

Large avacodo tree, loaded.  Monkey love them. . .

The monkeys! S asks about them as soon as we step outside.

Our large Braii