Tender Mercies

The month of February was full of tender mercies. I always tell my children to give credit where credit is due and God has been particularly good to us this month. The month started with Pennie sick and I feared we lose her. We didn't. And somehow we were able to pay for unplanned and expensive vet bills.

I found this picture of when she didn't have gray hair on her face.

Cody had to have his wisdom teeth out and because they were growing in weird, his surgery cost more than twice what Derek's had. And we only had to pay for that last year, too. Another financial unfortunate.

And finally, our water heater quit. Water heaters are pretty expensive, if you didn't know. When it was all said and done, it was over $1,000.

Back to tender mercies...somehow (and I have been diligent about keeping and recording our budget for a solid year now - yay me!) we have been able to pay for all of these things. I credit it as a blessing plain and simple. The morning our water heater went out, Mark had already had his shower and was getting ready to leave for work. When he went to brush his teeth, he noticed that no water would come out when the hot side of the faucet was turned on. I was in the middle of an online class meeting and couldn't really stop, but I asked him (Mr. Fix Everything), what do I do about it today? He was in a hurry to get to a meeting at work, and he looked worried as he said, "I don't know." I asked, "Do I call a plumber, should I call someone to help us?" Again he said, "I don't know." This wasn't like him because he usually just acted like we'd fix it, and he'd work on it later. But, I sensed he knew he couldn't do it alone and was afraid to try. And I sensed he was worried about the cost and was stressed with work and other responsibilities. I had to step up and figure this out.


It was absolutely no coincidence that I thought to call the Daines' 
family. Actually, it was early in the morning and I texted Loralee to ask her if her wonderfully talented husband was in town and could I call him. She told me to call right then, they were just snuggling with their babies in bed! What are the chances I would think to text her? The chances are even smaller that Tim would be home because he took the day off of work to work on his car with a friend who was in town. Tim told me to call around to check prices from plumbers and on costs of water heaters, so I did. I reported back to him and he told me he would meet me at Home Depot to help me get everything we'd need. Because of Tim's help and saving us the cost of installation, we were able to get a higher quality model. We were back home by 1:00, Mark came home from work, and Mark and Tim spent the afternoon putting in the new water heater. Tim had the most awesome tools! He even had a torch! I actually think Mark had so much fun! He enjoys a good project, especially with someone who knows what he is doing.


Back to my original thought. What are the chances that all of these things would work out for us this month? Each of them were a worry, and all together they were kind of defeating, but we were blessed. Tender mercies. They happen every day and I don't think we notice as much as we should. As I look back over the month, I see them clearly.