The incident

Lots has happened since I was last here. We had a girls' trip to Dallas, we had an ice storm and our house could have burned down. 

Here's the story...

We started the work week on Monday as usual, but in the anticipation of freezing rain and sleet coming on Tuesday, schools closed for the day. When we woke up on Tuesday, we had no rain, sleet or snow, which leads me to the solid conclusion that weathermen are still just guessing. But sometime on Tuesday afternoon sleet finally started falling and by nighttime we had a sheet of ice on everything, which closed schools on Wednesday as well. When I got up Wednesday morning, Owen was already in the kitchen and announced the refrigerator was warm. That's not good. So I checked to see if anything inside was melted, it wasn't, and I declared him goofy. We looked outside, saw a cold, gray, cloudy day ahead, built a fire and settled in for a good case of cabin fever. Not long after, Caitlin went to the refrigerator and declared it warm. That's not good. By then John was up so he looked and said it wasn't running. That's even worse. So as I'm adding up the dollar signs in my head, Caitlin tried to make coffee and discovered the coffee maker wouldn't come on. Then Olivia tried to turn the light on over the sink and it wouldn't come on either. WHEW, big sigh of relief that the frig wasn't dead. Sidebar: for over a year our appliances have slowly been going out and having to be replaced starting with the hot water heater, then the dishwasher, and then the microwave. It's only a matter of time before we need a new refrigerator. But not yet! Anyway, John zeroed in on the breaker box and discovered a breaker was thrown and turned it back on, but still nothing came on. He then decided to go buy a new breaker and replace it, thinking it was bad. So he and Owen braved the quarter inch of ice and headed to Home Depot.

While he was gone, us girls enjoyed Texas shaped and sized waffles....yum. This feat was accomplished by using an extension cord plugged into a den outlet....in case you were wondering. When the boys got back, John changed the breaker switch, but still nothing worked. The problem was quickly becoming outside of John's electrical knowledge and I was thinking where in the heck are we gonna find an electrician on the icy, cold day. But just before all was lost, he looked at an outlet beside the refrigerator and discovered the problem.  

It had burned and melted completely through! Once he found the problem, he was able to fix it, but only after another trip to Home Depot. But I can't thank God enough for our house not burning down. I have no idea when it happened or how, I'm just very grateful for it not causing us any harm. Really, really, really grateful.

Just another crisis averted in our household. 

I've got lots to write about regarding the girls weekend trip to Dallas, but it's 1:58 and I'm actually tired so I'm off to the soft spot in my bed. 

I know it's there. 

Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.