God Wrote a Mattress Story

Well, I'm here to tell you a story.  I didn't write it, God did.  I'm just writing it down to share with you one of the many ways God has provided for our family over the years!

About two months ago now, Natalie started to realize that she could climb out of her crib.  At this point, I realized that our two-year-old finally needed to transition to a bed.  The problem was, we didn't have a bed for her!  Zachary was sleeping in our only toddler bed, and we didn't have a twin bed for him.  So one morning while I was feeding Davey, I spent some time talking to God about needing a bed for Zachary.  And I remember saying something along the lines of "Oh, and, God? Bunk beds would be really cool, too."

Within the next 24 hours, a friend mentioned to me a set of bunk beds that they did not need!  (Doesn't God work in amazing ways?  Just like Him to wait for me to ask, and then immediately provide.)  However, these bunk beds did not come with any mattresses.  I figured we should just get the beds, and the kids could use their toddler/crib mattresses on them for now.  So that's what we did.

We looked online and talked about shopping for mattresses, but I felt very strongly that God was going to provide the mattresses we needed, and we just needed to wait for Him to bring them to us.

I posted a 'want' message on Freecycle, and a couple of days later, a lady responded, and we drove about 35 minutes to her house to pick up a twin mattress, complete with mattress pad and sheet!  While I was there, I was able to share with her that God had used her to provide for our family!

So now Natalie had a mattress in her bunk, but Zachary did not.  He was VERY good about being the one to wait for the second mattress, but I felt bad for him.  I asked my Sunday School ladies to pray for God to provide Zachary's mattress, and I said, "I know He could just provide the money for us to go buy a new mattress, I know He works that way sometimes, but I really just want Zachary to know that this mattress is from God.  I really want Him to provide it in a cool way that shows so clearly that it's straight from Him!"

Well, we waited...and waited...a couple of weeks went by, and I continued to remind God of our mattress need, and trust that He would provide in His timing...

As we were driving to a bounce house MOPS playdate last week, we were re-routed due to bridge construction and had to drive through the heart of a nearby town.  It 'just happened' to be their yearly "put out your junk day" when everyone can put out big trash for the garbage men to come and take care of.  As we drove through town, I noticed twin size mattresses everywhere - several nice looking ones on people's lawns.  But I dismissed it, thinking they were probably wet and nasty, and went on to our playdate.

On the way home, all the mattresses were still there, and as we were getting to the edge of town, I noticed a really nice-looking mattress sitting in someone's yard.  And I just felt that I was supposed to stop.  So I turned around and brought it home!  The bottom was wet, and I felt like a complete weirdo loading it into my van, but within a day or so, it dried up very nicely, and it is actually in really good shape!

So, tonight, both the kids have their new mattresses, on their bunk beds, straight from God!  And I'm so excited to be able to share the bunk bed story God wrote just for us! :)

Kidlet Hilarity #6

Z said to me one morning at breakfast: "Mom, you're 30.  Jesus could do miracles when he was 30.  Can you do miracles?"  Good opportunity to talk about what a miracle is...

One morning Z asked for oatmeal for breakfast (my kids are so weird, they love oatmeal!).  I said something about not wanting to clean up the mess (I think it is one of the worst things to clean up and they are SO messy with it!), and Z responded, "But that's your job! That's what God has asked you to do!"  Nothing like hearing your own words coming back at you from your child's mouth...

Zachary has these little phrases that are just so funny and serious, like - "When I saw that, I thought, Wow, that's unusual!" and "I didn't know that toy could do that, I was so amazed!"

One morning I heard Z & Nat yelling out on the porch so I ran out and asked what was going on.  Nat hung her head and responded, "I fightin'."

Zachary can buckle himself into his own car seat now, but he really hates when he thinks I'm going to start driving before he's buckled!  One day, when my sister was here, we were trying to pull out of a little parking area in someone's yard and I was getting the car situated to pull out, but he wasn't buckled in yet - after he got buckled in, he said to me, so seriously, "You should stay more under control next time."  We laughed so hard!

I told Nat she needed to finish her macaroni before she could have a rice krispy treat.  She stuffed a handful of noodles in her mouth and shouted, "Ta-DA! Me dessert now!"  Ta-da is one of her favorite words, she loves to say it whenever she does anything. :)

Natalie came zooming down the slide at the park really quickly, and fell onto the ground -twice in a row! The third time, she slowed herself down with her shoes, and after she got down, she threw her hands up in the air and said, "I not fall down!"  I just can't describe how cute her little excited sentences are - she only says about 2 words in a row, so it sounds like, "I not. Fall down!" and she throws her hands up and sometimes jumps up and down... :)

One morning I was putting a bandaid on a cut, and Z said, "Mom, are you tough?  Because tough guys don't need bandaids.  Daddy taught me that."

One day Natalie had green paint on her thumb, but I wasn't sure where it had come from.  "Paint!", she showed me.  "What did you paint, Natalie?" I asked.  "My thumb" was her response. :)

Our screen door came off of its tracks, and was sitting on the porch.  I mentioned that if it was fixed, we could leave the door 'open' all the time.  She shoved it back against the glass doors where it belonged and proclaimed, "I fix it!" :)  It is so fun now because Zachary sometimes realizes that what Nat says is funny, so then we both just crack up with her together.  This was one of those times. :)

Davey is growing like a weed!  The other day I mentioned to a friend that he hadn't tried to pull up on anything yet.  Then I turned around and set him in a chair with arms (we were at a bounce house place) to feed him baby food, and while I was finding the jar of food in the diaper bag, he proceeded to pull up on the arm of the chair and stand up!!  Way to prove me wrong, Davey! :)  He is eating all kinds of 'real' food now, little pieces of chicken nuggets, salmon, strawberries, waffles, tuna, toast, banana, [potato, noodles, alllll kinds of stuff.  He loves it all!  His favorites are bananas and goldfish crackers. :)  He has four teeth now, and should have six before TOO long, I hope!!  He crawled up onto the bottom shelf of an end table today, which I have pictures of Nat doing not that long ago!!  I can't wait for him to be able to run around with his brother and sister, I know they will all have SO much fun! :)  At this point, he hates to sit (will NOT stay sitting up) but loves to crawl, and hates to walk (whenever I try to help him he fusses at me) but loves to be held standing up! :)

Another of Nat's favorite phrases lately is "I AM!", when you ask her to do something and she's working on it (or thinks she is)- not one of my favorites, but funny coming from a 2-year-old. :)

One morning Z ran over Nat's toes with a trike on the porch, after I had asked him to be more careful, so he was sitting in time out.  I asked him what he was thinking about, and he responded, "That I ran over my sister's toes with the bike. Is that what I should be thinkin' about?"  He is four and a HALF now, and as I was editing pictures this week, I realized just how BIG he's getting.  And five sounds really old!!

We ate salmon at camp tonight, and when I told Zachary it was a kind of fish (which we don't eat a lot of at home), he asked, "Does it still have the slime on it?"  (He recently took up fishing with his daddy and caught his first fish this week and must have experienced the sliminess of it? That's my guess!) :)

When Davey cries, Nat is such a sweet little mama to him, she always says, "S'okay, Davey. I here. I here." :)

On the walk home from camp last night, we had one of the sweetest moments - it made this mama's heart swell up and almost explode. :)  I was pushing Davey in the stroller with Z and Nat walking in front of us, and Z took Natalie's hand (and she let him, which is unusual!), and said, "Know what? I love you."  Nat smiled at him and said, "Luvoo too."  Zachary smiled back at her and said, "You're a sweet sister."  Then they stopped and gave each other a hug!  I was seriously tearing up! :)

So thankful for my little sweethearts! :)