Remember when I posted last summer about my thrifting miracle in finding the board game Moods? Well, I have two thrifting miracles from this most recent spring/summer!

My firstborn, a son, got married last May. He announced that his bride-to-be had chosen dusty blue and rosy pink as the wedding colors.

So, I spent a good part of April and May looking at clothes for my younger daughter and me. You wouldn’t think it would be that hard but ugh, it turned out to be so. My daughter tends to be picky about clothes. What seems like a job that would take a few hours just to find something at a big box store can extend into a months-long process finding something that will work. It has to be very comfortable, not too girly, inexpensive, small, and the right color. To find that perfect combination is almost as hard as finding a chartreuse polka dotted unicorn. She doesn’t’ like dresses, preferring to wear a top and skirt.

We won’t go into the saga of finding the right dress for me. I don’t even have those same requirements, but the process was agonizingly long full of twists and turns with unfulfilled promises from online sellers. That’s another story for another day. Anyway, with my daughter, I thought I was doing so well when I found a shirt on Amazon that fit the bill, four weeks before the wedding, and a skirt. The shirt looked perfect on the screen, but it turned out looking and fitting horrible! It had shoddy workmanship. Loose threads hung down from the seams, and it fit too tightly in the arms. Ugh! Then with the skirt, she took one look at it after it arrived and announced she would not wear it. She didn’t even try it on, all it took was one look to tell her that she didn’t like the texture, without even feeling it.

On top of that, the sandals I ordered from Amazon were too loosey-goosey, with straps gaping away from her ankles. They would never do. Triple ugh. So, despite my efforts at juggling wedding shopping on top of all my other duties, here I was TWO DAYS before our departure to the wedding in Texas, looking at having her wear the same outfit she wore at her other brother’s winter wedding the previous year. Which she was totally fine with, but I just wanted something new and spring-y for her. We decided she would wear the same skirt, a neutral gray, instead of the khaki skirt I bought, but I hoped I could find still find some sandals and a new top for her.

So, we went on a last-ditch shopping effort to Target and Walmart, the day before packing day. In between the two stores, I felt a whisper of the Holy Ghost suggesting we go to Savers, which is pretty close to Target. Because it was so close, and I am a sucker for thrifting, I decided to go. I sent my daughter to look at tops after we looked at the sandals, while I went to look at the board games. (Because, if I am at a thrift store, I have to look at board games.) She came and found me and said she couldn’t find anything. I felt another stirring from the Holy Ghost telling me to look harder, and to go down a particular row. After looking at four or five tops, there it was. The perfect top for her! It fit all the requirements! It was truly a miracle! See the blue top in the photo above. It fit so much better than the one from Amazon. It fits her small frame perfectly and is feminine as it tapers into the waist without being too girly. Plus, it’s high quality, with the brand name L.L. Bean. Its crowing virtue? It was only $2.99! This was definitely a blessing straight from God! It was if I heard Him saying to my heart, “Dearest daughter of mine, I know how overworked and underpaid you are, juggling all these demands and projects as you strive to serve me by serving your husband, children, church, and community, all the while you are wanting to stay healthy and sane with a modicum of beauty and fashion. Let me just bless you with this item. I am happy to do this for you! Here you go!” Thank you, Heavenly Father!

So that was in May, then in July I had another miracle. We had a family reunion coming up for my husband’s siblings and their descendants. These Shumway reunions are more than just a few hours in the park having a potluck picnic. They are multi-day affairs with a super fun agenda involving more than one picnic. They involve tubing down the river, a water park visit for one of the days, more than one museum visit, storytelling, and smores around a campfire, AND more. Anyway, the day before the reunion I remembered that my same daughter needed a new swimsuit, having outgrown last year’s. So, we went looking. Again, the requirements are high. It can’t be too girly, has to fight her small frame just right, can’t be too expensive, and I never know what color will appeal to her in swimsuits. Everything is either too bright or too neutral. We didn’t find anything at Target or Walmart. On Friday she met up with cousins on my side, who had come all the way from Maine for a reunion on their dad’s side. I decided to let her go have a sleepover with them instead of coming shopping with me for another effort to find a suit. We decided she would just wear last year’s swim top that was too small with a shirt over it. It was just the top that needed replacing. The next day, the first full day of the reunion, we ended up having some down time after the museum trip, before the picnic up the canyon. So, in between reunion events, again, I felt prompted to stop at Savers. Guess what? She found a swimsuit top to go with the swim shorts from last year that still fit. It was only $1.99! She surprised me by picking a color I thought she would never pick, as it seems too bright for her liking, unlike anything she has ever worn before, a fluorescent pinkish-orange, but I wasn’t about to argue.

So those are my two Thrifting Miracles for the Spring and Summer of 2023. God truly is in the details of my life! I know He is in the details of your life too. Spend some time pondering the scriptures, praying, and writing and I know you will see Him too.