Unexpected Blessings in Disguise

This past Sunday, our fridge quit functioning. The culprit: a compressor gone kaput. Translation: $600 fix... or get a new fridge. Since our bank accounts are all at critical levels, (due to some other unexpected blessings in disguise) the obvious answer of purchasing a new refrigerator seems unattainable, which means we will have to make do for now. Since we are semi-experienced campers, we came up with a plan using our coolers and our deep-freeze. We could survive for months--or years really--using this method. We merely rotate our bottles of ice each day from the the freezer to the cooler, and the melted bottles back to the freezer. Through this process, we are discovering what temperatures certain foods store best at. One lesson we have learned was that lettuce doesn't do so well in extreme cold. The outer leaves, when frozen, wilted. However, we could still use the inner leaves. Also, some of our milk froze and that made the taste just a bit different, but we are surviving. And that is the important thing, after all.

I have actually been grateful for this experience because we are learning so much from it; especially my children. For instance, yesterday, Lisa remarked that "it is harder to live without a fridge than it is to live without a microwave." Her comment reminded me that last winter our microwave bit the dust and we survived without that for a few weeks. I can't help but love that my children are experiencing what it feels like to NOT have the convenience of a fridge or a microwave, or any other modern convenience. I think that this experience will be important for them to possess understanding and compassion towards others who may be in similar conditions. (Not that I could compare our circumstances to anyone living a sustenance life-style without electricity in some third-world country.) Still, the inconvenience of living with a cooler for a fridge is a big step for us and I think it will prove to bring understanding and connections for our family in the future.

Another process we are going through is learning how to make do with what we have until we can afford what we need. We watched a funny skit on You Tube from Saturday Night Live the other day with the message, "Don't buy anything if you don't have the money." Steve Martin and others sarcastically referred to that statement as a huge breakthrough in finance, a newly discovered truth. It was so funny. We laughed, but the next day, as David called me from Home Depot to ask my opinion about whether or not to buy a new fridge, I remarked, "Do you have the money?" He replied, "No." And we both responded, "Don't buy anything if you don't have the money." So our decision was to save up and buy the fridge when we have the money in hand to do so. When we changed our thinking from "emergency" to "we can get by with what we have," we felt more at peace with our decision. After all, who doesn't like camping? And we still have the freezer, cupboards, kitchen sink, and all the rest. We are actually feeling pretty blessed right now.

So the best part of this whole story is when Lisa brought me a pickle jar with some loose change in it with a label on it that says, "Money for the new fridge." I can see that our example is catching. Our kids want a new fridge--so they are motivated to help us save. Think of the unity our family will experience through this process!

I am just so grateful for unexpected blessings in disguise. :-)