Unexpected Blessing

Have you ever had a week where you have a hard time fitting your food from a grocery shopping trip in your refrigerator and freezer? That is an every week occurrence at my house, even with a chest freezer to help with overflow. Face it, fresh fruits and veggies, milk, dairy, and meat for 231 meals (11 people eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 1 week - that doesn't take into account any snacks) takes a lot of space. Often we have to split our grocery shopping into two trips each week when space is freed up in the fridge.

Our fridge has seen a lot of use. The produce drawers are held together by duct tape. One shelf in the door has had the rail completely replaced by duct tape.

We've just made do because there are always other places to spend money instead of replacing the fridge. Having enough money to purchase a second refrigerator so we can fit a week of food has been even less of a possibility. We also are at a premium on space in our small 3 bedroom house, which meant fitting a second fridge was unlikely. We had one space with very specific dimensions.

I've prayed for solutions. I've let God know that I'm willing to just keep duct taping our current refrigerator but at the same time I would love to have more fridge space. I've been praying about this for several years, especially on Saturdays when I do my main grocery trip.

Last Saturday we picked up a new-to-us fridge. A family at church was giving away this like new appliance. We were pretty sure our old fridge was going to be moving out. The space we have for a second fridge is too narrow for most refrigerators, my husband assured me. Then we found that the new fridge was too tall for the alcove where our current refrigerator sits in our small kitchen. I asked him to just try pushing the chest freezer over and trying to put the new fridge beside it in our 'second fridge' space.

It fit. Perfectly. God is amazing.

I'm still figuring out what to keep in each fridge. I'm getting used to the idea that I can purchase everything fresh or perishable we need for food for a week - or even close to two weeks - instead of making a second grocery trip each week. It makes me nearly cry each time I pull something out of the second fridge - a fridge we had no way to buy but that God dropped in our lap when another family no longer needed it.