God Always Provides

Naomi, "doing school"

I am about to finish a season of earning some extra money for our household. It wasn't a necessary thing, just a temporary thing, to earn money for projects and help out some friends. In two weeks I will no longer be watching the 2 sweet little boys that we have shared our home with for the last 5 months. It has gone by so fast.
As far as my plans for the extra income, of course, I didn't do half of what I hoped we would do; new carpet, shelving in the garage, patio furniture...you get the idea. The reality of it hit me the other night when I was trying to fall asleep, I am not going to have 'free' money anymore! My list of wants began to play itself over in my head and I actually felt a sense of panic. Maybe I shouldn't stop daycare after all. I know that the kids' parents would love for me to keep watching the boys through the summer! What am I going to do about that trip I wanted to take to see my mom,or the front yard project that's not quite done? Not to mention school supplies for next year and curriculum. How will I ever do anything again?
Somehow I was able to fall asleep and when I woke up the next morning and thought about my job ending with a fresh mind I just knew in my spirit that it was the right thing to do. This season of daycare is over for our family and if I don't have extra money, so be it. I've done it in the past and I can do it now. I will just buckle down and be frugal.
That Friday my friend came by for a visit and she told me how she had been going through her craft closet, would I be interested in looking at the things she was weeding out. When she brought in her box of 'stuff' it was like a treasure trove of items I had just been thinking I wanted to get for Naomi to start doing her own projects. There was paper, pens, glue, glitter, pipe cleaners, foam and lots more. How wonderful that something she no longer needed was such a blessing to our home!
That very same night I went to pick up Tyler from youth group and his youth leader, Lori, had been going through her collections and had two bags and a little suitcase full of movies and audio tapes with stories of the bible and little lessons for toddlers. That was actually something that had been on my mental list of things to buy; age appropriate videos and things for Naomi to learn about the characters in the bible.
The next day my brother Ishmael was coming through town and he brought 7 boxes(!!) of homeschool curriculum that my mom was sending our way. She is done homeschooling and has kept all of the books that she used to teach myself and 9 brothers and sisters. Wow! That was an awesome blessing! I have math for the boys until they graduate from high school. Plus tons of other goodies for years to come.
So, in summary, what can I say? God always provides. Whether we are rich or poor he gives us the things we need and even many of the things we want. And somehow he always manages to do it when we are no longer relying on our own abilities. Imagine that?