Yea...We're Back Up and Running

This past week has been a week of ups and downs, but thank the Lord, it has ended "up". Here's the short version: Seven years ago we moved into a house the church got with some land we purchased. The church was kind enough to let us move into the new parsonage which was a HUGE improvement from the apartments we had been living in. The house is 40 years old and has some "oddities" about it, but we call it home and we love it. One of the things about the house is the fact that it is build on a pier-and-beam foundation. From time to time, this has led to interesting "aromas" in our house. Last year, we were concerned it might be natural gas, so we called a plumber out to look at it. He said it was not natural gas, but that it was our sewer vent pipes that weren't covered. He did some "stuff" to them and fixed most of the problem smells that were coming into the house. About a month ago, people coming to our Life Group told us they smelled natural gas when they came into the house (biggest smell was outside). We wrote it off as the "smells of the house" until they kept saying it week after week. A week ago Wednesday I called the gas company to come check it out. That's when the roller coaster ride began:

• Oops, you have a BAD gas leak. We are going to turn off all gas to your house.
• Yea, you haven't blown yourselves up, which was entirely possible with a gas leak this bad.
• Oops, it's gonna be expensive to get this fixed.
• Yea, we live in a parsonage so the church will probably help with this expense.
• Oops, the gas company said "expensive" to fix the problem. The plumbers said "very expensive" to lay all new gas lines inside and outside the house.
• Yea, we found a bid that was a little less expensive than the first one and the church approved having the work done.
• Oops, we will start and finish the work on Friday but the city will not come inspect it until Monday.
• Yea, we live in Texas and it's not cold outside at this time in October.
  
• Oops, the house is old. Hope the inspector doesn't find anything else he thinks is unsafe in the house.
• Yea, we passed inspection with flying colors and the inspector was real nice.
• Oops, the inspector forgot to call the gas company and tell them they could turn the gas back on.
• Yea, Rob called before the city office closed for the day.
• Oops, the guy Rob talked to on the phone was NOT very nice, helpful or interested in getting our gas turned back on that day.
• Yea, we were able to get the city to call the gas company on Monday after the not-very-friendly guy did finally help us out.
• Oops, gas company did not come out until 8:30pm.
• Yea, the gas company works after 5pm so we could at least have hot showers for the night.
• Oops, the gas furnace pilot light will not light.
• Yea, the plumbers gave us a warranty on their work and came to check it out.
• Oops, nothing wrong with the new plumbing...and YIKES! look at the prices for new parts for this older furnace. "Dear God, no more expense, please!"
• Yea, thank you Lord. Furnace man discovered the furnace was self lighting. The gas valve was not original to our unit. Although it said "Hold down here to light pilot" that wasn't for our unit which has a self-ignition system.
• Oops, we had to pay somebody to tell us this.
• Yea, all we paid for was a service call and not $700-$800 more work! We're back up and running!! (Thank you Lord and thank you church).

- Rob