God Provides

Just when I was thinking that Ali was getting low on dresses for the spring and summer and I might have to buy some cute fabric and get to sewing, God provided! A friend gave me some hand-me-downs in beautiful condition, including some dance leotards that Ali and the neighbor girls wear constantly! I had to showcase this photo to tell you all that even though this world will tell you that kids are an enormous burden and terribly expensive, God is the one who gives them to us and He provides! My kids have wonderful clothes and have always had scads of adorable and name-brand stuff and yet I don't think we have ever truly needed to buy them more than a few clothing items in the last few years of being parents. People have given us so many hand-me-downs at church, many with the tags still on them, that we have had opportunity to bless about 10 other families with young children whom are our good friends by passing them along.

I'm not talking about getting one garbage bag a year. We get an average of 10 huge garbage bags a year of kids clothes (mostly girls' clothes of course!) One of the only pieces of baby equipment we have purchased is our double stroller, which we got at a yard sale for $5 and have put MANY, MANY miles on it! The only other thing I can think of that we bought was one of our 3 carseats! Parents and relatives and friends have given us strollers, toys, 2 bouncy chairs, 2 swings, high chairs, an exersaucer, a crib, a Pack N' Play, outdoor toys, a sandbox, rocking chairs for little ones, rocking horses, ride-on toys, new carseats, boppy pillows, maternity clothing, baby backpacks, a Burly kid bike cart, kids table and chairs, a kid bike, etc. Everyone who even remotely knew us gave us a baby gift with our first baby, including my husband's second-grade teacher he hadn't seen in years, my cousins I see once a year, an uncle's girlfriend, people I babysat for 10 years ago, my Grandma's pastor's wife, a friend's mother and a neighbor's daughter! We had just one small family shower for Ali with a few relatives. Yet so many packages came in the mail and from friends around us that we got over 70 baby gifts for her! One aunt alone picked up 59 baby outfits and onesies for us at yard sales in the Twin Cities as well as giving me about 20 maternity outfits as her gift! My family likes to give and so does my husband's! God sure did provide back when we were living on half of what we have now and He continues to provide as our needs change.

Of course I often find steals at the thrift store or yard sales for 25 cents and these have added to our collection. But compared to the thousands of dollars that the popular baby magazines predict one will have to spend on a child, we have spent hardly spent anything!