The Car Seat Blessing

I have mentioned in earlier posts that God has really been blessing me with fantastic deals on items for Alesha. The car seat was no different. I began my car seat search by asking for advice. It has been years since I have had a little one in our home and wanted to find out what car seats were preferred and safe. The overwhelming response was Britax. So I searched online and found that Britax is a small fortune :-) Money is tight with travel on the horizon so I looked into other options. I had finally decided on the car seat I would purchase.....so I thought.

The first blessing came when my mom told me that she was going to purchase the car seat as her gift to Alesha. How wonderful is that?! I had found a lovely car seat that we were set to purchase that evening when I was prompted to check Craig's list just to see what they had. Remember this is where I found the amazing bedding for Alesha's bedroom. So I check and sure enough there is a Britax car seat! Now I had checked a few days before for car seats and all I found were very old and very BOY looking car seats. I really had my heart set on a pretty car seat that when you looked at it you knew it was for a little girl :-) So the Britax seat pops up and the date of the post was two days prior...how did I miss this the first time? I click on the item and a picture of this adorable brown with pink flower car seat appears. I didn't want to get too excited until I got more information. I email the seller and told her we were adopting a little girl from India and I was really interested in her car seat. I then asked if they still have the car seat and has it been in any accidents, etc.? She emails back and says congratulations on your adoption, that she still has the car seat, and it hasn't been in an accident. She said that the car seat is less than a year old (gave manufacturer date) and that she ran a daycare and it was the extra seat she purchased for the business. She said that they were going through a financial hardship and needed to sell items. I set up a time to look at the seat and called my mom to bring her along since she was buying it. Who wouldn't want to see first hand what you were about to purchase, right?

So we show up at the seller's house and notice they have a for sale sign with SOLD written across it. We were greeted by a very sweet lady who directed us to the car seat. This car seat, I kid you not, looked like she just took it out of the box! It was super clean, manual still attached, etc. I was in love. She asked about the adoption so I showed her a photo of Alesha so she could see who would be riding in this seat. She was thrilled for us. As we chatted she began to cry. Long story short, her husband had recently had triple bypass surgery and her youngest son has special needs. She has had to sell their home, one of their vehicles, and many other items. They will have no home by the end of June and do not know where they will be living at that point. Me and my mom began to cry with this lady as she opened up to us and shared her painful story. My mom was able to pray with her before we left and we have had some email contact since. She said she was thankful for our listening ears and was happy that she felt like she could share her story and not feel judged. She was thankful that we had reminded her that God was in control of the situation.

It is amazing to me how God can use a simple search for a car seat to result in being used by Him to encourage and pray for someone in need. We received a huge blessing of purchasing a top of the line car seat for half-price and instead of paying a big retail store we were able in a small way help this sweet lady in need. When I look at Alesha's car seat, it will constantly remind me to pray for this sweet lady and her family. I feel this car seat search was ordained by God and I am thankful for the experience.