1) We have great neighbors. When one of them discovered water running out of our garage, down the driveway and into the cul-de-sac, she quickly rounded up the other neighbors to try to get in touch with us. When that failed, due to the fact that we were out of town, she called the fire department to take care of the problem.
2) The water gushing from our garage was discovered during the day, not after it had been flowing all night.
3) The fire department was able to get into the garage through a relatively small hole in the glass of the garage door.
4) Neither the gas-filled garage, nor the water spraying at the electrical box, started a fire.
5) They were able to turn off the water, gas, and electric in a timely manner and still left the electric to the rest of the house on (i.e. no rotten refrigerator when we returned).
6) There was no inside damage to the house, and nothing in the garage was ruined from the water.
7) The kind policeman who left a message on my cell phone had the police patrol our neighborhood until we returned home.
Later in the week, we left my mom's house early in the day to make it home in time to hopefully get things turned back on and working before dark. However, on our way home, we had another incident. Some more things for which to be thankful:
1) Our van stopped working precisely at the last toll on the turnpike, next to the bathroom and in the daytime.
2) Our vehicle emergency service responded promptly to our request, without any cost to us.
3) The kind man from the towing service didn't think twice about letting the girls and me ride in the van while it was on top of the tow truck. The girls had a grand adventure and journaled about it all the way to the service station.
4) The place were we were stopped in the mountains was lovely and completely snow-covered, but the roads were completely safe.
5) The kind folks in the service station offered us numerous food and drinks while we waited.
6) When the generous man who owned the service station could not locate the part we needed at any of the 7 or 8 places he tried, he warmed up his big truck, drove us to get dinner, and then took us to the hotel at the exit.
7) The girls thought staying in a hotel was fabulous fun. We had a lovely view and even saw some deer grazing outside our window the next morning.
8) The van was fixed promptly the next morning and we were on our way by late morning. The service station owner charged us a rock-bottom price for our repairs.
When we returned home...
1) We had heat and running water before bedtime. By the next afternoon, we had hot water and could do laundry and dishes.
2) We were home later that same afternoon when another pipe burst apart, so Chad was able to quickly turn off the water before the water overflowed our laundry room and invaded the carpeted area of the house.
3) Chad should be able to fix the hole in the wall.
4) Our neighbor, also a plumber, informed us that our apparent pressure problem was not hard to fix.
5) We've had no more problems since then.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Happy New Year!
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