Monday, August 13, 2012

air conditioners, holes in the walls and dryers, O my!

Note before you read, I wish I could write or rather tell a story as a comedian. It's not my gift! But please know that I am giggling about all these events, and I am seeing in them all that God is teaching me to depend on Him through finances and homeownership! I pray that you will learn that too, through our experiences!

Roof:
I am officially 36 almost 37 weeks pregnant and I have officially flipped out! Aren't we supposed to do that as pregnant women? It wasn't until last week that I had my moment of brief insanity, but I have realized that in all things God does have a purpose and He will provide. Beginning in March of this year, we had an unbelievably warm March, for two weeks it was in the 80's or 90's. We were outside playing without winter coats, it was hard to believe for March in Ohio. We had planned on getting some of our roof done this year, so we put away some money for a partial roof replacement and hired a contractor to handle it. He did a great job! He's our neighbor and we are so thankful for his hard work! However, after he tore our roof off, he found rotted wood, more than he planned so the roof cost was a little higher than planned, but God provided. We are thankful to have a repair on our roof, and actually God provided before. Our neighbor could not believe that we hadn't had leakage in our home before this year, as it was a terrible mess under that roof.
Air Conditioning:
Since we are having number 3 in a few weeks, we had to make a decision on a roomier vehicle. We found an awesome buyer, my husband's cousin for my current car and sold it in May and then purchased a Mini-van! We were so excited to have this new-to-us vehicle!! The kids love it and so do I! I love all the room and how easy it is for them to step up in it and how the doors open for you! Wow! We are so thankful! At the end of June of this year, we had a terrible frightening storm, which made our power go out. Well, let me back up a bit...our power, amazingly did not go out! The power company came by and unclipped our power from being plugged in, so that when they start up other power lines again there won't be more and more blackouts/brownouts, so I had been told. I know we were not out as long as many others, but our power was out for 5 days. Again, let me reiterate, I am pregnant and in the 3rd trimester, so I am swelling and hot...I need air. Not only was I in need of a cool down, but my 5 year old girl had a temperature and needed to cool down as well. Well let me back up again, earlier that week, we had realized our air conditioner had gone out in our van. So I thought the best thing was to drive to my wonderful parents home, 2 hours away. I packed up the kids we drove to my parents, without air for 2 hours in the middle of the afternoon on one of the hottest days of the year! We made it and we cooled off!

We went home and our dealership where we bought our vehicle loaned us another van (God provided--we were so thankful to not have to worry about paying to rent a vehicle), and fixed our air conditioner for us (we had to pay for the parts-God amazingly provided again!)! We now had cool air in one capacity of life. And my awesome other set of parents, my sweet in-laws, provided a cool home for us to stay in while our home was still without power.

After the power came back on and our house was up and running again, after a few days or weeks (I am not sure everything is a complete blur) our air went out at home. We didn't realize that you should have those things serviced every other year or so. A big OOPS on our part! But again, God provided! Our technician came by and said it sounded like the whole unit would need to be replaced. However, as he walked up on it, he saw the problem right away, serviced the unit and fixed the problem. The price was minimal compared to a new unit! God provided! And we are now very cool in all areas of our lives and I especially am so thankful!!
Plumbing:
We have had a consistent dripping in both of our bathroom showers. Nothing too terrible at the beginning but as the summer has gone on we have realized how much water we were actually loosing. Upon receiving a letter from the water department, asking if we possibly had a leak, my husband's brother tried to help us fix it but it was beyond his expertise. So he passed along a name of a friend to help us! The guy came and he did excellent work! The only thing that was hard to watch was that he had to cut a huge hole in the upstairs linen closet to work on that shower and a huge hole in the hallway downstairs (for all the world to see) to reach the plumbing. It was hard to watch at that moment as he cut into the drywall right here from the living room, but then again, I realized that our plumbing was going to be fixed. A wall can be patched up and God provided the right person to fix it and help to keep our home running without consistent faucet leaking!
New Camera:
For over a year, I have been researching cameras. I have asked friends who take more professional photos, what is a good camera or company to buy from. I have a good camera, but I was consistently changing batteries (AA) and I wanted a better camera battery that would last. I also would try to steal a cute photo of my kids and the camera would say "processing." I am an amateur, and do not feel like a DSLR is for me, because grant it, I don't know what I am doing with all the lenses. However, I wanted something that was a step down from that. Still a point and shoot type camera, but has great quality, a better battery life and I can click onto the next photo rapidly. I found the perfect camera, the Nikon Coolpix P500. I saved my money all year. I am a stay-at-home Mama, but I was selling tiles that I created as coasters, trivets and decoration at a little shop in West Liberty. I sold a few from that and saved that money. I also made cake pops for some friends  and saved the money I made from those jobs for my camera fund. I asked for money for my birthday and Christmas and saved, saved, saved! After finding out that the 500 took AA batteries, I opted to go up to the 510 camera. I got my money together and went to Walmart and bought it! I love it! It's just what I had wanted. However, all of the sudden my computer has no longer recognized my camera when I plug it in, my USB cord does not work to download my photos onto my new program, but thankfully it does work to charge the camera! (God provided that at least). Today I tried to take it back to Walmart for an even exchange, only I came to find out that they do not allow returns or exchanges of electronics after 15 days! I have now called Nikon 4 times to get help and still I am without a properly working camera! I know I can take my SD card out and download my photos, so I am thankful so much for that. It has been suggested that I will have to send my camera back to the company, but again we are at T-minus 2 weeks and 3 days until this baby is coming (if not before) and I was hoping to have our awesome new camera for photo opportunities in the hospital. Despite all of that, God will provide.
Dryer:
Today I realized our dryer is not working. The heat is not turning on. So my whites have been rolling around for two days in the dryer without getting completely dry, they are still damp. Tomorrow, we are getting family photos done and my clothes are currently wet in the washer! And I haven't even picked out the kids or Kyle's clothes yet! So we are going to go at lunch time, when Kyle is off tomorrow to pick out a new dryer! Usually this gets me so excited to buy a new appliance, but right now, I just want something to work! Anything! Thankfully God has provided and we will be able to pay for our new dryer.

How do you even begin to plan for a summer like this? I know we did not have this money in our savings, but God provided each and every time for us to pay in full for each of these hiccups. We only thought we were getting a roof on...but as my Dad always says, "Welcome to homeownership!" And it's so very true! I am just learning that through these hard times, we have had to lean on our Lord for our strength and for our finances. He has provided and will continue to, I know it!