See that mailbox? That my friends, was an affirmation of faith last weekend. One I sorely needed.
Recently, we were going through a cycle of brokenness. Our small car needed new brakes. My grandmother died. As I was trying to make arrangements to carpool using my van, the check engine light came on. Right after I planted our spring bulbs my mailbox filled up with snow. My husband reminded my our grill was about to rust through. Our bed broke. That doesn't even touch the craziness with the kids schedules and wardrobes, getting our garden planned for this year, PTA changeover and VBS planning, or that my husband has returned to the office on a semi-regular basis after being home for over a year. I was ready to shut down.
Then last weekend, the first round of yard sales came around. I made my list.
1) Queen sized bed frame, with box spring if necessary
2) a couple of chairs so we could all sit at the dining room table together
3) Cheap to free old dresser to convert into a new raised bed.
Notice mailbox wasn't anywhere on there. Never, did I dream I'd find a mailbox at a yard sale. Since I didn't have an abundance of time, I only mapped out sales that advertised having a bed. That was our highest priority. Sure the memory foam mattress on the floor would work over the summer, but Mr. Man & I aren't getting any younger. We even use an airbed when tent camping these days.
At our first stop I didn't see the bed advertised. I almost didn't pull over...but we were there and I saw an abundance of books so I pulled over. Mr. Man just sighed and shook his head. I poked on over and found an illustrated edition of Pinnochio and a fabulous grilling cookbook. As I headed over to the table to pay, I saw a mailbox sitting there on the corner with a post it stuck to it. It read $20.
"Are you really selling this mailbox for $20?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, I bought it a while back and never bothered to put it in." the lady replied.
"I'd like to take it, but it would need a post."
"Oh, I have the post in the basement. I'll get it for you in a minute."
She came back, with the post still in the original packaging.
She showed me the bed frame she had. $250 is way, way, out of my league for a yard sale. (Especially when I can get headboards for $30 or so at a a furniture consignment shop.) I paid for my purchases, handed my son Pinocchio and we drive on.
Later that morning, we acquired this desk for Si for $10 at Goodwill.
Day one in thrift land was good indeed.
Day two, after church...I thought why not give the other Goodwills a try. Stop 1, the good one down South. There I scored two stacking chairs. The next Goodwill had a huge, solid wood entertainment center for 6.99 Tomato/pepper/herb bed complete....but no bed and no more time/money to look for one.
I came home, satisfied with what I had found. It looked like we'd be sleeping on the floor for a while. That's okay. It was early in the season.
I sat down at my computer, checked my email and then I looked on FaceBook. A friend had posted on my wall. "I saw your bed broke. We have a king sized your can have if you want it."
I looked up the value of my $20 mailbox. It and the post combined were worth $400.
God provides us with our needs, and provides them abundantly. We had looked at NFM in case we needed to buy a new bed this fall, and there were three we liked. THREE, out of the kajillion there.
These were our "requirements."
1) The headboard had to be mostly wood...a little metal trim was okay.
2)It had to have low posts, and not be "sleigh" style.
3) It had to be a "medium" wood tone.
4) It had to be rounded, to have some softness to it.
This is what we received.
This is what we received.
Isn't Gods provision amazing?
