Tuesday, June 9, 2009

So, this past month...

You may have noticed that I've been missing in action. Or...maybe not. LOL. Either way, I have been. It's been a very trying month at our house. It's a story you might not even believe.

About a month ago (I'd have to check my documentation...and yes, I've been keeping records), we had a water softener installed. It was wonderful! But as soon as it went in, things started happening at our house with our electricity. The lights would get really dim, bulbs blew all over the house, some of the lights would get really bright while in another room, stuff would just simply turn off.

At first we were told that it wasn't a big deal. Our local electric company was called and they came out to check things out. We were told that the old fuse box we had in the house was out of date and needed updating. They said there was corosion behind it, but that we really didn't have anything to worry about. The house certainly wouldn't burn down or anything. We relayed this info to the landlord who said that sounded good and then they continued to ignore the problem.

That week, we came home from a softball game and we were sitting in our kitchen (by candlelight) when we heard a loud popping noise and saw bright light coming from the room where I computer was. I hurried out to check it out and the computer was sparking. Craig hurried and got it all unplugged and everything but it was too late. The back of our tower was smoking and we knew it was ruined. We also knew that if we hadn't been home when that happened, our house would have burned down. Without a doubt.

The landlord came over that night after I called about the computer (he was supposed to have come over that day and the day before but he never did) and checked things out. Of course, it wasn't HIS fault that our computer got fried. It must have been a faulty surge protector. He proceeded to do a walk thru of the house and commented on lots of different things like, the condition of the carpet, some water damage on the ceiling that we hadn't noticed, and some other things. He was only in the basement checking out the electricity for a very short period of time. He also pulled the filter out of our furnace and said that we needed a new one. The furnace was still running. Incidentally, it doesn't work anymore and that's somehow our fault.

He came over several times in the week that followed. Sometimes he would come late at night. Always wanting to tinker with the electricity and never fixing the problem. In fact, everytime he was here, the problem seemed to get worse. Our TV started turning off by itself. We bought a Wii and that broke. And then our tv quit working all together. Now, let me remind you, this didn't happen all at once. This happened over a period of four weeks when our landlord just continued to ignore the problem.

So, I finally called Code Enforcement to get them to light a fire under their butts. They got an electrician over here to inspect things and ended up replacing the fuse box with a breaker box. When that was done, the electrician was still getting voltage fluctuations throughout the house. So, he called the electric company back and found out that it was ACTUALLY their problem from the beginning. I kind of felt a little bad that they went and replaced the system but at the same time, if it had been taken care of the right way from the beginning, that might not have happened.

So, now our house is up for sale. The landlords don't want to mess with it anymore and they want out from under it. So, we've got to find an aparment or another house to go to. We don't have the BEST relationship with them because of all of this stuff. But, we know that God's favor is with us and that He'll put us in just the right place.

The other thing that happened this week was that our car broke down. So, we're also shopping for a new one. My father in law is helping with that some and hopefully in the next day or two we'll have a new car. Well, new to us anyway.

But you know what? To God be the glory! I know that we are going through this stuff so that God can come out victorious. We are tithers and seeders in our church. God will take care of us. His Word says so! God never promised us that we wouldn't have trials. But He did say that when we had trials, He would be there with us in the midst of them. And I'm counting on Him for that! He always does what He says He will do!