I must be thinking about this the wrong way...

Since we purchased our fixer upper (code for severely ravaged crack house) we have fixed nearly everything under the roof. After we finished the basement portion of the remodel, the skies turned gray (literally) and we had our first rain storm of the season. We were surprised to find out that the foundation leak, thought to have been repaired by the previous owner, had not been repaired at all, and our newly carpeted baby's room was now damp with the season's storm.

We planned our solution to the problem and deducted that we would need a back hoe, shovels, a warm day and a good sealer. One trip to home depot supplied us with the necessary tools to seal the leak and yesterday, when the weather looked sunny and warm, we contacted a friend who had access to a small back hoe. While I was away at my photo shoot, the men labored to dig a large, deep hole.

After my shoot I rushed home to check the progress of the working men, only to find the project at a stand still. Moments after I had arrived home, Mark, wearied eyed with the days work and what he assumed my reaction to his news to be, announced half heartedly that they were just about finished digging the hole, unfortunately on their last dig, they had also cracked the Main Sewer Line. "What?!? You did what?" I gaped at him. Calmly he replied, "Don't worry." As simply as that, he turned, walked into the house and called the plumber. It was my turn to watch as his expression changed from calm to, "Are you kidding me? It is going to cost how much?!?" He in turn must have seen my reaction to his reaction and calmly said again, "Don't worry" as he turned to the phone again and dialed more numbers.

5 minutes later, 2 wonderful apprentice plumber friends showed up to take a look at the damage done. In that minimal, squinted eye, plumber way of communicating, the older shorter plumber friend looked at me and nodded, "No problem." The men crawled down into the hole and worked tirelessly on cutting the pipe and securely replacing it.

2 hours later, those wonderful friends of ours had the sewer line fixed, generously announcing that the total cost came to a mere $20.00 (the price of the parts) Of course, I agreed to give them free photography for years to come.

At the end of the day, I shrugged off the sewer line fiasco feeling grateful that the cost was a mere pittance compared to what it could have been. I walked into my home to find a letter from the state. Apparently they just now calculated that we owe $500 more dollars on our 2004 taxes than originally estimated!

A confusion of feelings washed over me. I felt like we narrowly escaped a major financial burden just to walk smack into another one. Considering our recent Jobless struggle (see previous posts) I am grateful that Mark has found a new job and will be starting tomorrow and we will have the money to pay for these unexpected taxings, but COME ON?!? Do the bills already have to start racking up?

So, the point of this long and drawn out drama is: Years ago I had a poignant conversation with a very spiritual and uplifting man. I expressed to him that I felt like as soon as we saved up enough money to cushion our savings, or to do anything out of our normal budgeting expenses, some major catastrophe would happen and we would have to use all that we saved to fix the problem. A particular instance happened just prior to that conversation. Mark had a bonus of $1000.00, and the next day both front axles on our van went out and the cost to fix them was about $1000.00 dollars! I aired my frustrations to this man, and he replied that I must be thinking about our situation the wrong way...and in fact, God was simply holding our van together until we had the funds to pay for it.

So although we escaped the major cost of the sewer pipe repair, we must have enough extra money coming our way to pay for the added tax expense imposed by the state...and God must have been holding back the state until Mark had found a job...and the good fortune bestowed to us by plumber friends is God's little sock in the arm saying, See, I'm watching out for you Kid!