Day 157 - Shoes

Since December, God has continued to provide us with our basic needs with perfect timing. My favorite example of this is through kids' shoes. Let's face it, we may not think about it, but shoes are a very basic necessity. They wear out fast, especially on kids feet, and my kids definitely play hard. For Christmas my sweet friend gifted each of my kids with a brand new pair of shoes. Sure, Mark had been unemployed for 22 days, but we didn't quite see at the time how important shoes would become. God knew though, and those shoes were a blessing that would get us through the first part of our journey.

Right when my youngest started to outgrow the first shoes, another dear friend just happened to buy him a new pair, just because her grandsons had them and she wanted us to try that brand. Perfect timing. Well, his feet kept growing and after a few more months, we found ourselves stuffing his feet into any shoe we could find in our house. Right then another lovely friend tells me that she has pair of brand new shoes that were too big for her son and they would be out of season by the time her son grew into them, and so they were delivered to us in perfect timing once again and with room to grow. Amazing!

Before Mark was laid off a friend had given us all of her son's hand-me-down shoes for my oldest son and they were all in perfect condition. My son started to wear some of the casual shoes, but we left the big bag with the rest in the garage. When baseball season rolled around and we realized we didn't have cleats, we went to the bag, and there they were, the perfect sized cleats waiting for us. Perfect timing again. And, the most recent shoe blessing? I happened to randomly be in touch with an old friend a few weeks back and she let us borrow a dress for my daughter for a wedding rehearsal. When I went to pick it up she gave me a little bag with some hand me downs. It was mostly clothes, but there was a pair of pink and white Nike shoes. When I opened the bag I didn't really know what I would use them for so I put them aside. Fast-forward to last week when I got an email from the soccer league my daughter is in. The email stated that the kids would not be wearing cleats, but would instead need athletic shoes. Can you imagine my smile when I realized that we had athletic shoes and in her size? Perfect timing once more.

It is my dear friends that provide us so generously with these shoes, and it's also God's timing that makes them a blessing. A month or two in the wrong direction and all of these shoes would have been either too big or too small. I am so thankful that God cares enough for my family to make sure that even our feet are taken care of. That he cares enough to give us what we need before we even need it. It may not seem like much, but these shoes are true blessings in our lives right now. Today, I am thankful to be loved by God and by all of our friends who continue to keep us in their hearts and prayers.

P.S. Thank you G & T, B, B, C & P for the shoes. You blessed us tremendously!