A Great Deal

Well, I must admit that I am feeling quite proud of myself today (and excited about what God has provided). Since Isaiah’s infection we haven’t taken him out much, which meant that most of the shopping was done by Thomas since he can understand and speak Russian better. This arrangement however was beginning to give me a case of cabin fever. Today Thomas stayed home with Isaiah while I went and did some shopping at one of the stores he told you about in a previous post, Okea (pronounced OK). My list wasn’t long, so after I had found the items that I needed I decided to look around a little bit and see what was available. The store was pretty crowded since school starts here very soon. There were tons of children there with one parent or the other looking for school supplies and school uniforms; I had the unexplainable urge to buy pencils or something.

Anyway. Okea sells some children’s clothing, so I headed in that direction since Isaiah needs a winter coat. I maneuvered my way through the mamichkas with their children who were also on the hunt for a good jacket or coat. Most of the coats were too big for Isaiah and cost beyond what I wanted to spend. Then a shorter sleeve caught my eye, and I pulled down the hanger to take a closer look. To my great surprise it had a tag inside that told the European size, the French size and the American size! “This coat should fit Isaiah!” I excitedly thought to myself. To my even greater surprise, the coat was on sale for only 399 rubles (about $16)! I could not believe that price. I checked all the zippers and pockets and snaps to be sure that nothing was wrong. Then I tried to find any other coats to make sure that I was really getting a good deal. Every other coat was at least 1200 rubles (about $48), and most of them cost more than 1200 rubles. Being careful not to smile too big or show too much excitement with so many people around, I called Thomas to double check the deal that I thought I had found. Upon hearing the price, before I could even describe the great features of the coat, he said, “Buy it!”


This might seem like a small thing, but I was concerned about getting the right coat for Isaiah. I thought we would have to spend a great deal more money than we actually spent. I forgot to mention that this was the only coat that was on sale. This wasn’t just the only STYLE of coat that was on sale, this was the ONLY coat that was on sale. There were no other coats of this style on the rack.

I love how God uses experiences like this one to remind us that He will take care of us. He wants our family in St. Petersburg, and He is going to provide everything that we need to do His work here. Isaiah will be warm all winter!