Celebrate the Small Things

This weekend I finally decided to tackle the two dripping shower faucets in our house. The one in the master bath has been dripping for almost two years, I only learned of the other drip a month or so ago. But after putting it off for far too long, I grabbed my wife and started taking apart the master bath shower faucet. I showed my lovely bride what I had learned a couple of months ago when I attempted to stop the leak in an effort to surprise my bride.

Several months ago, during a lull in work, I was sitting at home feeling my wife was disappointed in the lack of income, and felt maybe finally fixing the faucet would be a great surprise for her. However, after taking the faucet apart, I found there was no position on the knob that would completely shut off the drip. I theorized at the time we needed a completely new faucet. Knowing it was not in the budget at the time, I simply put everything back together and didn't discuss the findings with my wife.

This weekend, I attempted to show her the same issues I'd found during that previous attempt and, in the process, managed to almost flood the house. After successfully getting the water shut off at the street, I then pulled the entire faucet apart and located several O-rings that could be the source of the leak. We made a quick run to Home Depot, taking the faucet cartridge with us, and made an effort to identify the correct replacement O-rings from their selection.

Upon returning home, I replaced the O-rings on our shower faucet and turned the water back on at the street. There was still a leak, but it appeared to be less than before. We turned the water back off and proceeded to replace the same O-rings in the other bathroom. While tightening the faucet in the hall bath I thought maybe I could tighten the master bath faucet a little more, removing that leak. I went to the master bath with my channel locks and put some force into tightening the faucet. I felt it move; move too much, and had that "feeling," you know the one I'm talking about.

I told my wife I think I just broke this, so stand here as I turn on the water. I grabbed our youngest and had him call his mom on the phone while standing next to me as I went to the street to turn on our water again. I had just started opening the valve, when his mother had him tell me to turn the water off.

I went inside and sure enough, I had broken the solder connection inside the wall. Water would have been flowing inside our walls, causing a big mess had I not immediately turned off the main at the street.

So now an "under $5 repair" required a call to a plumber. I was not able to immediately connect with a plumber I've used in the past on the Hope Springs Church project, so I called a friend who may have connections with local plumbers for a name. He provided me with a friend he uses, and when I connected with the friend, I was told he could come out the next morning for $200. Ouch! Two hundred was more than I had anticipated, but we had just enough money in our account to purchase the new faucet, pay the plumber and put gas in the car for the week. God was providing for our needs!

Sunday morning my bride and I went to Home Depot and picked up the replacement faucet. On the way out of the store, I had the impression I should call my plumber friend one more time. Again, I received his voice message. However, before we left the parking lot, my plumber (Eric) called me back. I explained the problem and he said he could come by today and help for about $80. Awesome!

Eric came over around 1:30 on Sunday, replaced the master bath faucet, and then helped fix the mess I'd also made of the hall bath (I had put it back together incorrectly, causing it not to shut off). The final bill was $85!

So, not only had God made sure we had enough money on hand to pay for the parts and the initial plumber's price, He provided a better solution, allowing us to keep an additional $115 in our bank account!

Sometimes life is in the small things, and we need to celebrate them! Thank you God for providing and thank you Eric for helping us save money!