Pennies from Heaven

Coming into this pregnancy we really had no idea how we were going to pay for everything. It was so overwhelming to think about all the stuff we had to get for our baby. We are both still in school and working part time. We were doing ok financially, but we really didn't have any extra money, just what we needed to get by. The thought of adding the expense of a baby was a little scary. We felt like from the very beginning that having this baby was the Lord's will and this gave us confidence that everything would work out ok. The first blessing we received was a free crib set. I had a habit of checking craigslist every morning when I got up for any good baby deals. This habit had been pretty unsuccessful so far, but I was determined to find a good deal so I continued checking. One morning I found an ad for a crib, cradle and changing table. There was no price listed but I figured it was worth a look. When I opened the ad I found that the lady was giving away the crib set for free because it had a stripped screw. Whoever would come pick it up could have it for free! I emailed her right away and she got back to me to tell me I was the first to respond the the ad! We where super excited. The only thing we were worried about is the crib fitting in our car. We have a 1990 Toyota Camry and since its so old the back seat has trouble folding down for some reason, something is broken with the mechanism I guess. To fix the problem we took the entire back seat out of the car...It was a bit of a mess but my husband is pretty handy so we got it all back together later and we got the crib set home.

Here's the set we got :)

 Most of our other "pennies from heaven" came from Derek's awesome Aunt Judy. She is really into couponing so she got us a ton of wipes and diapers. A friend of hers also gave her a car-seat and bathtub to give to us because she had no use for them. She also gave us an awesome old rocking chair and made us some great receiving blankets. She and a few other members of Derek's family are also pitching in to pay for a nice breast pump for me. I don't know what I would do without all of her help. Thanks Judy!

 Our last blessing came in the form of a stroller. I was on our ward/apartment facebook page and someone had mentioned something about some strollers that needed to be taken away because they had been left in a stairwell for a long time. I walked over to the stairwell to take a look and sure enough there where two strollers, one big one and one of those umbrella strollers. Some neighbors where outside so I asked them if they thought it was ok for me to take the strollers and of course they didn't object. They where super dirty because I found out they had been left there for about two years, but they cleaned up just fine. Here is the bigger one.

I am also getting a baby shower this Saturday which I am super excited about. I didn't think I was going to get one because I don't have too many close friends around here and no family except for a few members of Derek's family around to throw me one. Luckily a friend of mine from the ward and the relief society president asked if they could have one for me. Yay :)

 I almost forgot,we also recently got approved for medicaid which will pay for the rest of our dr. bills and for the birth. This pretty much covers every expense that we where stressing out about. I feel so blessed. I know that Heavenly father is watching out for us and that he really does love to see us happy. He really does answer our prayers. All of these blessings really have been "pennies from heaven."