Before we moved from our old house last January, the one we lived in for nearly 15 years, we got a bit, well, overly-ruthless.

We sold our table and chairs with the house. We sold the matching sideboard cabinet.
We left behind nearly all our gardening tools.
We left behind our wheelbarrow.
We gave away our futon guest bed. We gave away our twin guest bed.
We gave away a nifty window fan and left another behind.
We gave away our bathroom scales. We left behind our bird feeders.
We free-cycled an antique bookcase which held a ton of books behind glass doors.

And that's just a partial list.

Truthfully? The only items I regret losing were our gardening tools and wheelbarrow (what were we thinking?). After all, we were moving to a farm! But of course, we didn't know that then. As for the other things, I enjoyed giving them away. It's good for me to not grasp my possessions, but instead, to hold them with an opened hand.

So anyway, all during escrow and beyond, Tom and I have driven to yard sales believing God would provide all the myriad of things we need for our all-new farming life. The cost to fix-up this house is so great that we must save money by buying household stuff for nearly nothing.

And guess what? Through yard sales and estate sales we have cheaply bought a bookcase ($2), an even niftier window fan ($3) and rakes, shovels, hoes (mostly all just $1) and enough bird feeders ($1 each, too) for an entire aviary. Guest beds, a wheelbarrow, a cool vintage green bathroom scale. All for cheap, cheap, cheap.

And when we needed a short bookcase in the kitchen for my cookbooks, coffeemaker and mail basket, we found one on the curb down the street. Free.

We've been using a smallish round patio table in the dining room, the kind where--if four people sit around it--they are sitting almost with noses touching. And then today, inside an old red barn, we found this antique drop-leaf table for $35:


Perfect! I stroke the top, the wood worn smooth from generations of use, and wonder about all the folks who ate meals at this table--our table now--and grow excited about meals and new Table Stories to come. And I like its legs:

Of course, there are more items still not crossed off our list. But we are learning to be patient and to always go expecting to find something else on the list.

I guess I'm sharing these finds with you to give you hope. Many people say, "Everything has gone up!" But I say, "Not everything." Bargains are still out there. They are. Honest! You just may need to search for them in a different place.

Or you might simply need to shop always with faith and expectation rather than dread, for dread is a form of fear--and fear brings torment. After all, God can provide in a myriad of miraculous ways. Even in 2008. Even during a recession.

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In the top photo you can see our our new windows. Through the center picture window we watch the birds. They make us laugh.

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"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life..."