When it Rains...

You could say that it's been raining at our house lately...and we're ready for the proverbial showers to cease!

The "rainy" events have been malfunctions or destruction of pieces of technical equipment. You know, those "little" things that add up to be big things when you have to replace them.

Two weeks ago, our phone line was hit by lightning during a storm. It was not a bad storm...we've had worse in terms of thunder and such, but this time all it took was one strike of lightning to the phone line to do some serious damage. We were sitting in the house and heard an explosion from the dining room. LeGrande and I went to investigate and found that the phone line had been hit, along with our phones, our DSL modem and wireless router. Add to that the alarm service, and that's everything that is tied to our phone line. The nice man from AT&T came out and was able to fix the phones and the DSL stuff to get our Internet running again, but I had to replace the surge protector and purchase a new wireless router since ours was black and smelled like burnt wires. Ching ching.

The alarm system sent their guy out a week later and he inspected the alarm panel to find that, according to him, I was one lucky woman. "Normally", he said, "I find that to repair the alarm panel after a direct hit with lightning that it costs people $300-$350. You are lucky because you have DSL for your Internet. That little filter in your panel box to keep the DSL separate from the alarm system on the phone line blew up and took the hit instead of the WHOLE box." He replaced the filter, which is a $45 piece of equipment, but the alarm company charges a steep hourly rate for this guy so the total bill was in the three digits, but thankfully not $350! Ching ching.

Little did we know that the lightning had not stopped there...it also fried our DVD/VCR combo (but how it bypassed the TV, we'll never know) so that will be another purchase sometime in the future, and since our TV is ancient and HD is coming, we figure that we'll just get them both in one pop. CHING CHING.

I took the CR-V to the shop for it's 30K checkup, if you will. Looks great, but it's going to need new tires before it can pass inspection later this year. I cannot believe that new tires will cost $500!! Yikes and CHING CHING!

We went away for the 4th of July and had a great weekend with my dad's side of the family. Alas, I dropped my digital camera and now the only photos it will take are a bunch of lines. I had it looked at and was told that it would be cheaper just to buy a new camera. "Well, look at it this way", said the smiling college student at Ritz Camera, "You are buying a better model of your same camera. You already have the memory card, the rechargeable batteries, and the camera case. Think of it as a 2 year upgrade." Ching ching.


I was telling my cousins about all of this while we were with them this weekend and joked that when we got home, we'd probably find that a major household applicance would stop working and we'd have to replace that. This morning I start a load of post-travel wash, only to discover a disconserting burning smell during the agitating cycle. There is no smoke, no sparks, but it does not seem normal. Will we have to buy a new washer too?

Now, before I say any more, I will say that we do have some savings and we do have our stimulus check on it's way...as well as some money that we are owed from the doctor's office. In times like these, I find out how much of a hoarder I really am...God has provided and IS providing all that we need and then some, but why do I get frustrated when the "then some" gets eaten up by the rainy days of life? I should be thankful that we have what we need in times like this. Isn't that normal...rainy days come and days where you have to spend money to fix and replace just happen? It IS normal, but I am someone who loves to be secure in herself...in the balance of the savings account...in the ability to sigh as I go to bed each night in thinking that my house is in order and everything is okay. This is just another one of those times where God graciously reminds me that my security does not lie in things (that work or in my ability to make them work) and I don't have to be in charge...of the kitchen appliances or where lightning strikes, or of the savings account. I can just sit back and be taken care of and trust that tomorrow, He'll provide again...and I don't have to hoard. He has provided so much, and realistically, the things that have broken are not the basics of life...we have food, clothing, a home, gas for our cars, and SO much more. These things that we are fixing are so far above and beyond our basic needs. I'll just sit here in the rain and be thankful for this reminder...and thankful that I have a great umbrella!