Tragedy Averted!

Well, if we didn't believe God was in his heaven watching over every step we take before today, we certainly do today!

Here's the story.

We woke this cold Saturday morning about 7:30 a.m. or so. I picked up the novel I've been reading and continued with the next chapter. Mark got up about 8 to make coffee and feed our "starving" dogs. Being Saturday, my day for fresh sheets on the bed, I got up, and began stripping the sheets off. As I am lazy this way, I usually just wash and dry the same sheet set and put it back on the bed. I hate folding sheets. I went to put the sheets in the washing machine and then looked for additional things to fill out the load. As I turned on the water and added the detergent, I noticed the water pressure was not nearly up to snuff. I mentioned this to Mark and asked if we could have a water pipe burst. He laughed.

Digress to this previous week. Here in Houston it is very rare for temperatures to go below 32. Heaven forbid that it go into the 20's----3 or 4 nights in a row. Note these are night-time temperatures, not day-time when it remained in the 50's and 60's. People here were freaking out! Each day Home Depot and Lowes ran out of insulating materials for pipes. Mark and I just laughed knowing it would take several days of temperatures below freezing to actually break the pipes. What we didn't know was that the water comes into the house by a single exposed pipe.

Now back to the story. I was walking across the front of the house and noticed water pouring down the street. Now I really said something to Mark (actually I yelled, "Go check our water!") He immediately looked out the bathroom window where the pipe is and started running. Did I mention we had just gotten up? He had to throw on some clothes, run outside in the 20 degree weather, find the valve, and turn off the water.

Now what? Mark is very handy, so he thought he could easily fix it. Thank goodness that it was an external break and not in the house ruining dry wall, floors, etc. He came in with good news/bad news. The good news was he thought it would be a fairly simple fix. The bad news was that it would require a part. A vacuum valve to be exact. The valve had popped off the pipe.

Mark went to his favorite place, The Home Depot, to look for the part. As he rounded the plumbing aisle with about 300 of his fellow Katy, Texas residents, he ran into a man carrying one of the valves he needed. He asked this fellow if he had gotten that valve at Home Depot. The man said, "No, they don't have any. You have to go to a specialty plumbing store." Mark asked him if he could tell him where to get one or if he would be able to install one. The man, Luis, answered, yes to both questions! When Mark asked how much he would charge to install it, he said, "$50.00." Mark then gave Luis our address and phone and Luis said that he would be in touch within the hour.

Luis and another man who spoke better English showed up with the valve and had it fixed within about 15 minutes! As they were leaving, Mark told them that he knew God had a hand in their meeting. The men answered, "Yes, Jesus is so good to all of us!!"

Now the rest of the story is that Mark went back to Home Depot for some air filters and pipe insulation. (No pipe insulation can be found in Houston right now!) However, while there for the second time, Home Depot was taking names of people who needed the vacuum valve. The shipment is not due in until TUESDAY!

The Lord had Mark get to Home Depot to meet Luis at just the perfect time. We are so thankful that even our water problems matter to our Lord and Savior!

Luis and his friend do lots of handyman things. We will certainly be calling them in the spring to help us get our yard in shape! Thank you Luis! Thank you, Jesus!