The pipes in our 60 year old home gave out.

They split and cracked and spewed all manner of household waste everywhere! ( that statement may include a pinch of hyperbole )

To add to the artesian basin our living quarters had become, the chimney  was inviting rain in from above and no amount of the infamous Flex Seal  - or any other roof repair - could convince it to stop.

The pipes in the basement floor - designed to prevent lower level flooding - clogged so the torrential rains now seep through the basement wall instead of being directed into the sump pump.

After waiting three months for the plumber to come and redo our waterworks, we are finally starting to be able to put it all back together, BUT . . .

I'm learning that my expectations are a little excessive. Like, for some reason I thought that when the plumber was done, I'd be able to use my sinks and toilets and showers. Instead, I discovered connecting my sink to the new drain and faucet was my responsibility. I found that the cold water pipe for my shower was about half an inch too long, it dug into the stud so my shower surround wouldn't line up correctly. One of the toilets was left sitting next to the bathtub instead of on its drain.

The chimney is gone. Had to replace the gas water heater that vented through the chimney with an electric one. Took the chimney down and patched the hole in the roof. My brother helped with that and last night when a severe storm came through we stayed dry. No buckets!

In between the progress are more unexpected issues.

A burner has gone out on my stove.

My dryer has decided to take breaks at the most inconvenient times, sometimes running as I expect a two-year-old dryer to run and sometimes refusing to recognize it does indeed have electricity hooked up to it.

The refrigerator in the garage has started freezing everything on the lower shelf.

And the table saw motor burned out as we were trying to cut some more studding.

Yesterday my son was in the back yard and called to let me know he could smell gas. The gas company arrived promptly, verified that we had a small gas leak and replaced the meter. They were kind enough to check inside and reported there was no gas or carbon monoxide inside the house. Praise the Lord!

It has been suggested that by the time all the issues have been addressed, I'll have a new house. Right now I'd settle for a shower!

The one thing that has been constant has been the way God has lead. We were only trying to find and fill the places where mice were coming in when all this started. God has made our meager dollars stretch far beyond  what we could reasonably expect. He's protected us when we could easily have been seriously hurt.

Friends have kept us in prayer and sent encouraging messages.

Family has given assistance as they could given their distance and overflowing schedules.

I write to say THANK YOU!

I write to let you know I pray for you too. As I hammer and scrape and caulk and paint . . . and clean up mess after mess after mess . . . I talk to my Heavenly Friend about the amazing people He has surrounded me with.

May you be blessed exponentially for the love with which you lavish me.