Windfall!

Being an Ant means that you have to completely change your way of thinking. This will take some getting used to for me. My dear daughters have taken me out 3 times this week, and they paid each time! How wonderful! It is hard not to reach for my wallet when the check comes, but I am trying.
Now, let me tell you of an experience I had when getting my food storage together. Shortly after Martin was told that he could be terminated due to his illness, we went to see Aaron a his family for the blessing of little Sam. Fortuneatly I had purchased the Airline tickets much earlier, and so we were able to make the trip. The whole weekend was so wonderful, but overshadowed by the worry of Martin's job. Try as I might, I think that my craven attitude may have sneaked out for a moment or two, and my very wise son gave me good advice. He said, "Mama, don't worry". Very good, but when it's your head on the block, worry is your constant companion. Funny thing though, when I went into one of the bathrooms at his house, I saw a little wooden plaque that said, "Be ye strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be though dismayed, for the Lord they God is with thee." It touched me so much, that I actually asked if I could have it. I needed to read that often! When we got home, I laid down to settle in to worry all I wanted. It seems that Heavenly Father has a sense of humor, because just as I had gotten comfortable and turned on the water works, the doorbell rang. Martin and I looked at each other and said at the same time, "you get it". I knew I had lost that contest when he rolled over and ignored me and the doorbell. So, I dried my eyes, blew my nose, put on my jeans again and shuffled to the door. To my immense surprise, there stood a family of some dear friends, smiling like cheshire cats. Those grins alone cheered me right up! They said they had been worried about us, and so decided to bring a little something to cheer us up. A little something? It was a plastic tub full of everything for Valentines day! Candy, glasses, beads, and other lovely things, especially a little cookie jar. I mentioned that Valentines Day was somewhat distant as that day was only January 18th, but was firmly told that I had a w hole month to enjoy myself. Amongst hugs and kisses of gratitude, my f riend whispered that there was a lttle something in the bottom of the tub especially for Martin and me. I quickly peeked and found a 100.00 bill! I began to protest but was told it was so that Martin and I could go to Valentines dinner and have a special evening. I could not express my thanks and sent the family off with gushing gratitude. I felt bad that I even gave the impression that we may have need of such cheering up, but as I looked at all the goodies, I realized that perhaps I did.
A couple of weeks went by and I spent my time trying to figure out how to help Martin with his situation. (that is another whole posting, but will come in the future). Then one day, I got the Kroger sale paper in the mail. They were having a huge sale on canned goods. I mean, really huge, as the top brand of canned goods were only .32 cents instead of .82 cent each. I thought of how that would help my food storage, and realized that there was no money to go and get them. I, being an Ant, had to save for the unknown future. The limit was 20 cans per purchase, and my super deal antennaes were buzzing. As I sat there thinking about perhaps just getting a few cans, my eyes strayed to the Valentine bucket. I walked over to get a Hershey Kiss to comfort myself and saw the gleaming green of the 100.00 bill. Did I dare? Hadn't I promised to use that money for Valentines day? Calculating quickly, I realized that 100.00 divided by .32 cents would get me 312 cans of food! Did I need so many? Of course I did! Remember, food storage. I made up my mind. Shopping I would go, and I didn't have to tell my friend about the decision, and to make it more honest, I would open up some of them for Valentines dinner at the house!
But wait- I could only get 20 cans at a time. That would mean 15 trips to the store. I decided to enlist Martin. We could make a day of shopping and only have to go 8 different times to the store. Of course, we would go to different Krogers so we wouldn't look so greedy. When I told Martin of my plan, he grinned at me. "Just like you to figure something out when it comes to food" he said. So, the next day, off we went. What fun we had. I felt like I had won a trip on Supermarket Spree or whatever that show was called. Then, we realized upon getting to the store that lots of stuff was hugely discounted. Tuna, chili, noodles, ketchup, vegetables, cake mixes, flour, soup and other stuff. Great food storage stuff. I was trying to calculate in my limited brain how to spread out my windfall, when Martin (knowing my every nuance since the day we met) reached in his wallet and pulled out another 100.00's. He told me he had been saving it for a rainy day. Oh my goodness, I couldn't believe it. SHOPPING! Well, to make a long story short, (is that possible?) over the next 3 days, we went from one Kroger to another tossing food into a basket and having just a wonderful time. See, this wouldn't have been possible if I had not decided to become an Ant, and if Heavenly Father did not let me friend know that the need was there. What a true blessing, and now we have about 8 months of food stored for the next several rocky months that may come our way. Tomorrow, I will tell you how we actually stored all this food. That is a blog in itself! Oh, and I did tearfully confess to my friend how her gracious gift had been spent, and she just laughted and told me she was delighted! Love, Nanasee