Y'all, I am cold. And I have been cold. Yes, I'm sitting inside my own house, but I am trying to warm up my partially frozen fingers to write. A couple weeks ago, when it got really bitter cold in the area (at least by our standards anyways), I was sitting on the couch and felt a chill run across me. That's when I realized it felt like the air conditioning was on...never a good sign.
After confirming our suspicions by the scientific method of holding our hands in front of the vent and realizing the heat was blowing in cold air, we knew there was a problem. We scheduled a specialist to come right away, but unfortunately our appointment was on the one day it snowed 8 inches here. Needless to say, he didn't come.
A week later, and he told us news we so did not want to hear: we have a leak and need to replace major parts of our heat pump. Don't ask me any technical questions on this, because I don't know much, but I do know that nothing he said was good. We really didn't expect this to happen so soon - our house was built 3 years ago - so it took us off guard.
A few phone calls later, and we found out that fixing the whole deal is going to cost over $1000. Yep, one thousand dollars. Still kind of kicks me in the stomach when I think about it. So I sit in one room of our house that has a heater on, while the rest of the rooms are at 64 degrees. Again, you did read that right.
Honestly, if this had happened last winter, I would have been furious. Mad at the people who built our home, mad at the company who installed our heat pump, and just mad that the weather decided to be really cold right when everything broke. And yet, I sit here realizing how much God has taught me over the last few months about difficult circumstances.
I'm not going to pretend like this is a major crisis. Not at all. We are blessed to be able to afford a new coil, or whatever is broken. But right now, it feels like a bigger deal than it will in a few months. But I see good things all throughout this, and I'm so excited to see areas where I'm growing! A couple weeks ago I wrote about my horrible lack of patience, which was hard to write. Now, I am able to talk about how far I've come in this one area, and that's exciting!
We were able to find an awesome contractor who happens to be a Christian who really knows his stuff and is actually fixing everything for less than half of what the first company would have charged. January was a three paycheck month (woohoo!) so we have money in the bank to fix everything. It is just insane to think about how provided for we are. Yes, our house is at 64 degrees but WE HAVE A HOUSE. I have blankets and sweatshirts and coats and everything I could possibly want to stay warm!
I think the only way I've been able to look at this in a great light is because I had a major attitude check this fall. And I'm so thankful for that. I really wouldn't have it any other way. So this is almost a part two to my last post, because even though there are areas in my life that remind me of how imperfect I am, there are other areas that remind me how far I've come, and that the difficult things in life often only bring us to somewhere SO MUCH BETTER than we could have imagined. And I will hold onto that until I'm the most patient, understanding person I can become!
Happy Sunday everyone!
