tide rolls on

The laundry never ends.
But the other day as I was opening a fresh bag of Tide detergent,
the picture on the back struck me for the first time.
(Yes, I'm a little slow.)

These are no ordinary laundry instructions.
This bag is for the average Filipino.
The one who scrubs laundry in a round tub at the back sink
or takes in a neighbor's laundry on the street side for a little extra cash.

Then Amy pointed out another unique aspect.
The instructions are written in a mix of Cebuano and English.

"Kusutin ang mga puti nang at least 20 minuto..."

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Filipinos use another laundry product also that is fabulous.
They use detergent bars -
produced specifically for people who do their laundry by hand.
Hard bars of laundry soap that take stains out miraculously.
Believe me.
I'm a soccer mom.
I buy the Tide bars that are the size of a normal bar of soap,
moisten the clothing, rub the stain with the bar,
scrub with a brush for a minute, and the stains are GONE.

Others use the foot-long size of detergent bar, (above)

One side of the bar is ridged,
something like the washboard my mother used when she was first married!


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Maybe you remember this post about how thankful we were for the rain last spring, after a very hot and dry season? Well, this year we've been blessed with lots of cooler, rainy weather. The bigger struggle has been to get our clothes to dry before they mold!

Never dried socks in my kitchen before.


As I do all this laundry,
I find myself so thankful for God's good gifts...

for the luxury of a washing machine...
for sunshine to dry these clothes...(most of the time!)
for these 4 precious people I get to serve by washing their clothes...
for all of these changes of clothing!...
for health and strength to be able to do this job myself...
for the smell of clean clothes...
for the reminders of His blood that cleanses me from all sin!