We are facing a serious drought in our neck of the woods. Friends of ours own a lake house; my first post on this blog was from Memorial Day 2006, which we spent there with them. Here is a photo from that post (my husband is the cutie driving the jet ski):

See the island in the background? Here is a photo I took last weekend. The trees in the background are the same trees from the above picture:

You can now walk to the “island.” Look at how low the docks are:

Our friends have had to repeatedly push their dock further out and down (approximately 60 feet so far) as the water has receded.

Our family has personally taken steps to reduce our water consumption. I keep a pitcher in the kitchen sink which catches water when we wash our hands or dishes. When I need to rinse a dish before putting it in the dishwasher, I use that water. We water plants with it, too, so I hope a little soap or food stuff won’t hurt them. “When it’s yellow, let it mellow…” and fewer baths and showers aren’t particularly pleasant, but neither is the thought of running out of water. A neighbor recently said her bathwater was murky one day.

It started raining yesterday and we got really excited. My eleven-year-old daughter said, “Mom, I know why there’s a drought. God is waiting for His people to turn to Him, and He’s closed up the heavens.”

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
~2 Chronicles 7:13-14