When I was a little girl, there was something I dreamt of and prayed about….it was a blue swing-set. I only wanted that. My sweet parents, wanting to fulfill this dream of mine went to the store only to find that all the blue swing-sets were sold out and only brown swing-sets were available. They must have told me they were coming home with one so they just prayed that I would understand, bought the brown one and came home. Upon opening the brown swing-set box however, much to my delight and their surprise, we pulled out pieces for a BLUE swing-set! It was a little thing, but to that 3 year old, I understood that God had answered my prayer.

Years later, around Christmas when my Mom was hospitalized with Leukemia, I was doing some shopping and noticed this gorgeous blue plaid coat. I wanted to make an impulse buy but thankfully my parents taught me well that sometimes you need to leave it be and if you still want it when you come back after some time then (and only if you have the means to do so) you can make the purchase. I left the store with no new coat but told my parents about it and I’m sure I was gushing over every little detail. Christmas came and my Mom was still hospitalized, unable to come home. She had told us to open presents without her and to stay home with each other (and without her). After all the presents were opened, me being 25 at the time, naturally threw a childish tantrum about how stupid everything was, how I didn’t get anything good, how all I wanted was the blue coat and how it was the worst Christmas EVER. I’m sure that’s word for word of what I said and much more. My sweet Papa just looked me in the face and said, “Do you want to go see Mom?” Big sigh. “Yes.” So we all loaded in the ‘burb and drove to the hospital to surprise my Mom. She was so happy to see us and we were just happy to be near her. Then she motioned towards the window and said there were a few gifts she hadn’t gotten wrapped on time. I opened the first one and from the tears in the paper it was unmistakable. The blue plaid coat. There was nothing so special about the blue coat, but that at that particular moment, it was like God telling me that He saw me and He knew. He was watching over me.

Time passed again and as you know I’ve been wanting to go to Romania to work with orphans for quite some time! After much prayer, a few failed attempts and many closed doors, one opened. When I found out about the house and the kids, it was just like, Yes! Do this! Then I saw the pictures. A blue house. Again, God was answering a deep and long sought after prayer with this beautiful blue house to be filled with kids.

That brings us to today! In preparing to come to Romania, I knew that my living conditions would be good but pretty isolated from anything around. There isn’t really public transportation in our village, and relying on the staff here for rides is occasional but not always the best. This also meant that I would be very limited to going anywhere with the kids……translation: in 9 months that I’ve been here I’ve been out in the town ONCE with one of my three kids. So before I got here I was praying for a car and the funds to purchase one! Within the last two months, I got word that a friend’s colleague was selling his 2007 Dacia with less than 40k miles! What’s more, is that within a week of hearing that, I was given a donation specifically to buy a car, which added to my car savings to that point, was exactly the amount I needed to purchase the car outright! And guess what color this beauty is!? Blue. I didn’t even really have to tell you, but really. God is cool, yes??

So once again I’m praising Him for his provision, for His faithfulness, for the fact that I know (and it’s obvious) that He hears me and knows me and provides just what I need. It’s not about the “stuff”….the swing-set, the coat, house or car. It’s about Him. He cares for us and loves us so much. He is the Creator and yet He cares even about the small things. So that’s the story of my blessings in blue. How is God speaking to you today?