This evening Robert said the prayer for dinner. He ended the prayer with, "please help our appliances to not break any more." I thought it was funny and so applicable. Edwin said it wasn't really a thing to pray for, but today, I think praying that no more appliances break is much needed.
October- Oven broke. The local appliance repair man came and we have a working cook top and the mini oven works, but not the full size oven. We may have it fixed by mid-January.
November- Drier stopped working. I spent the month taking our laundry to the laundry mat and met various people there who have incredibly interesting lives.
November- Mom's foot. I know this isn't an appliance, but since it's my driving foot that means I'm not driving which means no more laundry mat, grocery shopping, and driving kids around to their activities. Camille Whiting did our laundry for several weeks and that was so helpful. Meals were brought, treats shared, Bridger drove kids to their activities, and many friends helped with the carpooling. The kids have had to do more chores, and Edwin has certainly picked up extra work at home since I am laid up.
December- The dishwasher. It stopped draining which meant the kids washed dishes while Edwin was away in Rawlins for work that night. Thankfully Edwin was willing and able to fix the dishwasher so we were only without for two days.
December- HVAC. I went downstairs to get meat for dinner from the freezer. Since I still was unable to walk I wasn't really eager to go down to the basement, but dinner needed cooking and I was going to figure out how to get the meat upstairs with one foot. Thankfully I was ambitious and determined because I found the water in the basement and we the repair man was here in a few hours to fix the broken pipes.
December- Edwin's eye. Edwin has a sty again. It's been sore for weeks, and has drained a bit, but not fully yet. It's still puffy most days and bright red. He seems terribly uncomfortable and and has commented on how difficult it has been to see out of it.
December- Hot water heater. Edwin went downstairs to help Robert ride his bike in the basement, and found water all over the floor. The hot water tank was leaking and there was water spreading through the rooms. We mopped up the water as best we could, turned off the water valve, and set up a fan to dry out the space. Tomorrow we will call the repair man, and hopefully they will have a hot water tank on hand that we can get installed right away. I am missing hot water in the kitchen, and a bath tonight would have been lovely!
This afternoon while I was slowly hopping up the stairs one at a time, I recalled a conversation we had a few months back with the kids. We were discussing wealth and prosperity. We talked about the financial blessings we have in our lives. Robert said he wished we were rich. Edwin said we are rich Robert, and little Robert responded with, "What? We're rich? Then why don't we buy cool stuff?" We laughed and talked about some of the "cool stuff we own, and the kids made a list of things they wished we had." Tonight I feel very rich. We have a lovely home with plenty of space. We have hot water. We have a stove indoors to cook our dinner on each day. We have nice beds and comfortable furniture. We have a piano, a television and multiple computers. We have so many worldly things, and we have the finances to fix what breaks, replace what is lost, and acquire new things as needed and even as desired. We have plenty of things we enjoy. But more than that, we have each other. We have two parents who respect one another. We have kids who want to do well in their lives and are trying to be their very best selves. We have scriptures and doctrines that allow us to have the spirit dwell in our home and allow us to be a forever family.
Indeed, we are truly blessed and our lives are very rich. A few broken appliances have helped us to see more of our heavenly blessings. Tonight instead of stressing about how we are going to pay all the bills and worried about how things will work out, Edwin made cotton candy and we enjoyed watching Star Wars together. All things will be okay for us, and that peace of mind is a great blessing.
