Being Resourceful / One of a Mom's Best Qualities / Asking for Help and Wisdom

I just have to post this "resourceful" item today. Earlier this week my husband was leaving for work around 7 a.m.  I was up and in the kitchen when he came back in the house to tell me that there was a stream of water coming from our laundry room, through the wall and the floor and running into our garage.  He had to leave right then for work so I hastily ran out there to find the source of the water and see if it was backing up into either our family room or guest room which are separated from the laundry room by a wall.  At first I thought it might be the drain pan from the A/C but I regularly put Clorox in once a month to prevent that which had not occurred in many years.  What else could it be?

Our laundry room is a separate room on the far side of our garage.  It is air conditioned and has an upright freezer plus a shelving unit on which I store extra items that won't fit into my pantry after a stocking-up shopping trip.   I keep also shipping boxes in there for my Ebay store.  After checking that these things were not wet I moved everything out and found the leak at the bottom of a small copper pipe that connects to our water heater.  It was only about 3 inches from the floor. Ugh!  Finding something to fit under the pipe to catch the water was the problem.

In case you're wondering what all these pipes are--they connect the air conditioning unit to the water heater and save energy by heating the water when the A/C is on.  A plumber friend of ours rigged this up for us several years ago. Unfortunately, because it is an addition to the original water heater the piping is not covered under our home warranty which we would normally use for a plumbing issue.

I put one towel down after another (up to about 8) and they were saturated within an hour.  I put the only plastic container that would fit under the pipe but it didn't hold very much and filled within 10 minutes. 

Then I tried a small Ziplock bag, then a 5-gallon Big Bag Ziplock.  That held the water for awhile but I got to worrying about what would happen when we went to bed that night.  [I had already called our handyman who could not come until the next morning.  He and my husband had told me to wrap it with duct tape which did not stop the leaking.]

I started rummaging around the house looking for something to drain the water out of the laundry room and into our garage which has a concrete floor.  It is inclined slightly so the water would run out of the garage if I could just get it INTO the garage.  Voila!!  I gathered heavy-duty aluminum foil, a 2-foot section of garden hose (which I did not know we even had) and a small kitchen funnel and fitted them together precariously  making a drain for the water.  It held all through the night with minimal leaking onto the laundry room floor and the water draining onto the concrete garage floor instead.   I was SO excited that I Girl-Scouted this dilemma that I took these photos and couldn't wait to show my son and husband what I had done.

Our handyman came the next morning and repaired the leak which was actually several inches above where it looked like the leak originated.  He was impressed with my jury-rigged drain line.  :)    Thank you, Lord, that this did  not occur over a weekend and that it was less than $100 to repair AND that You gave me the wisdom to figure out how to prevent any water damage inside our home and helped me see which resources I had available to use to fix the problem before help could arrive.

There are often other circumstances which occur in any given day that put us moms into a tizzy.  Don't panic, slow down, pray and think.  The resources you already have n hand may also help in that situation, too.  We may need to call upon someone to help but don't forget to call upon the One Who is always available no matter the time of day.

James 1:5

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, 

Who gives to all generously and without reproach, 

and it will be given to him.