Well, it's been awhile since I've done a "Thankful Thursday" post, but right now seemed like a really good time to focus on all the reasons I have to be thankful. Ephesians 5:20 says we are to give thanks in ALL things. In the past eight months a lot of "things" have come our way that honestly I'm tempted to be ungrateful for. This post is my attempt to focus on the blessings in these different circumstances. So, here goes:
1. I'm thankful for a roof over our heads. Last August a really bad wind storm ripped a section of shingles off our roof. After further inspection it was found that we also had significant hail damage from a previous storm. While we did have to pay a sizable deductible, our insurance company paid for us to get a new roof. Between the ice storms in Jan/Feb and the wind and hail storms we've had in the past weeks, I'm so grateful for our house and the shelter it provides. We even had a roofing company come by the other day, doing free inspections looking for business after the storms. He checked out our roof and said it looked great and that whoever had done our roof had done a great job - praise God!
2. I'm thankful for air conditioning. Last November, after weeks of very moderate temperatures, we had a few pretty warm days. That's when we found out that our A/C was broken and needed to be replaced. We decided to put it off since cool weather was coming, but were advised by the repairman to get it replaced by April, as their prices would go up as the hot weather arrived. We did get it replaced in March and with the several days in the 90's that we've had recently, I'm so grateful to be able to come into the comfort of our air conditioned home.
3. I'm thankful for indoor plumbing and hot water. A few weeks ago, I came home in the evening to find a puddle on the carpet. My first thought was to blame the dog, but soon realized there was no way that amount of fluid came from my dog's bladder, so we assumed one of the kids had spilled something. We cleaned it up and went on to bed. The next morning, the puddle had returned and was much larger. We pulled back the carpet to reveal a crack in the foundation. Turns out, we had a hot water leak in the foundation, several feet away from the crack - so we were dealing with two separate issues. The crack was just the most convenient place for the water to come up, and was probably a blessing; if the crack wasn't there, the water could have done a lot more damage before we even knew there was a problem. The plumber was able to fix the hot water problem by re-routing the pipes through the walls, avoiding the costly and messy process of digging into the foundation. Yay! As far as the crack goes, our house has a ten year foundation warranty, which expires on the 24th of this month! We had an inspector out on Monday, and are waiting to see if the problem falls under the scope of the warranty. At this point I just have to remind myself that God is in control and one way or another it will all work out.
4. I'm thankful for our cars. Both of our cars have needed repairs in the past eight months, but I'm grateful that our cars are both paid for; even with the costly repairs, it's less than car payments.
5. I'm thankful for a house that's still standing and the safety of my family. In November, our dishwasher stopped working. Robert called a repair company and based only on the error message on the dishwasher, they informed us that we should probably just get a new dishwasher (and this one was only 3 years old!). Robert noticed some detergent build up on the seals and decided to clean that off - the dishwasher has worked fine ever since. At least until last Thursday. I set it to run before we went to bed and when we got up in the morning, it was reading the same error message as before, and the interior was still very warm. Upon closer inspection this is what Robert found:
Two arms of the sprayer were melted, bent, and brown, (as well as several plastic dishes) leaving us to conclude that there had been a fire in the dishwasher. While we were asleep. I think about how bad it could have been if our house had caught on fire. While we were asleep. Wow! Just makes buying a new dishwasher seem trivial. So, so, so grateful that my family is safe and we still have a house!
So, while all these "things" have cost us some money that we hadn't planned on spending, I'm still choosing to be thankful. (A choice I have to keep reminding myself of, as it's sooo not my natural tendency). After all, it's only money and that's not much when compared with the health, protection and safety of my family.
Cullen's gerbil, "Gerry", died about a month ago. Since then he has been saving his money to buy a new pet. By Saturday he had finally saved enough to get the hamster he wanted, so we headed to the pet store and came home with this adorable little guy.
We held just about every one of the hamsters at the store before deciding on this one. He seemed to have the best temperament. So far, he's adjusted well to being handled and hasn't bit anyone!
