One baby item down...

Sometimes life happens in such a way that you know that you couldn't have coordinated to make it happen the way it did, and you know that God is there working through all of us to make something beautiful happen. Even small things that happen sometimes make me step back and say, "Thanks, God. I know you are looking out for me, even in the little things."

I have given some thought to what kind of furniture I would like to have for the baby. The crib is a challenge that I'm still thinking about. We'll need some modifications made to a crib, but we're not sure what style will be best for us and safest for the baby. I think I'd like a co-sleeper to place next to our bed for the baby to sleep in initially and hopefully for several months. For a changing table, I thought that a desk would be ideal. I would be able to reach the baby easily and have drawers to keep clothes and other baby items. If I had a desk, it could double as a dresser and I wouldn't need an additional piece of furniture.

I mentioned to a few people that I was thinking a desk would be ideal, since it was the only thing I had decided on at this point. I started casually looking online at desks with drawers. I wanted to find a desk that was sturdy, something with drawers on both sides, and with a large enough space for my chair to fit under easily. What I found from my searches online was that desks meeting these criteria were hard to find in the ordinary stores around, not to mention were on the expensive end as far as desks go. But with more than six months to find something, I wasn't too worried. Nevertheless, I started looking on Craigslist and skimming through garage sale listings. The longer I look, the better the odds of finding what I want, right?

Last Friday I got an email at about 9:30 p.m. from my cousin's wife, P. As part of her bargain-loving nature, P. regularly visits online buying/selling/trading websites. She happened to see that there was a large executive desk that someone was giving away for free, which had been posted at 8:55 p.m. that night. She thought of me and passed it along. So I check my email a little after 10:00 that night and send an email to the seller (he wasn't really selling it, but it is easier to refer to him that way) asking for the dimensions to find out if my chair would fit under it. The seller must have have been sitting at his computer when I sent my email because he had responded by the time looked back at my computer after I told Josh that I had sent the email. The seller and I exchanged several nice little emails in the next few minutes. I thought the desk would work: measurements indicated that my chair would fit, it had drawers on both sides, it sure seemed sturdy enough (the seller assured me that 3 or 4 people would be needed to move it), and the price was right!

So I found a desk that would be great! Wonderful! Now I just needed a truck, and 3 or 4 guys to haul it. And soon. I was competing with about 15 other people for this desk, so it was going to turn into who could pick it up first. Since we don't have a truck or 4 guys sitting around to do my bidding, I highly doubted it was going to work out. There will be other desks, something will work out even if this doesn't, I said to myself. I responded to P., thanking her for letting me know about the desk, telling her that I thought it would work out great if I had means to get it. She responded with, "You might try calling my husband. All the brothers are helping J. move this weekend." So I called.

My family, and God, working through them all, loves me. It just so happened that my four cousins were all together that night and were going to help do the last of the big moving for J. to his new house. They were going to be taking a truckload of scrap metal late Saturday morning. They were able to switch scrap metal yards they went to and pick up the desk for me. They brought it back to our house and managed to make it fit through all the doorways and got it into the extra room. All by 2:30 Saturday afternoon.

While it is only a desk, not something really truly fabulous or anything, I feel like it was meant to be, to use the cliche. Everything happened very quickly and seemed to click into place, as if it was already planned and we just didn't realize it. So now I have a place to change my baby's diaper and put its little clothes. I almost tear up when I think about it.