The week of Larry’s funeral ended up getting away from us more than I ever thought it would. We spent a lot of time at Lisa’s helping with last minute task trying to keep her mind off the funeral. Between all that life didn’t slow down.
David and I both had to work. The boys had to work as well. My house fell by the wayside again. The dogs thought we abended them. š We Spent Money We Didnāt Haveā¦ and the Lord Provided in ways we didn’t think would happen.
I thought I would share a real week in our home so you can get to know my family a little bit more and what happens on a daily basis. I don’t know about your home, but some weeks donāt look like a blog post.
Some weeks donāt look like a plan and most of the time those weeks donāt look like a budget. They look like real life ā messy, emotional, unexpected, and held together by faith and duct tape. The week of Larry’s funeral was one of those weeks in more ways than one.
Lisa asked for everyone to wear bright colors because Larry wouldn’t want a sea of BLACK at his funeral and she didn’t either. Even though I had shirts I use for work none of them felt right for the service and I couldn’t find the shirt I thought I might be okay wearing.
This meant we had to purchase šClothes We Didnāt Plan to Buy and this started with Charlie who painted in the only decent pair of jeans he had. Charlie said he would wear his tan pants, but I knew they would need to be ironed which would be another job I didn’t have time for.
The funny part of being a mom is I remembered at midnight to ask Charlie about his jeans. So, we made plans to go to Walmart. The LORD had other plans for us as David, and I went to Walmart on Rufe Snow for jeans.
I couldn’t find the size Charlie would need but I found a pink shirt I liked that had flowers on it. The neck was round a little lower than I like but I went ahead and got it because we were running out of time. David found 2 shorts that were a throwback to the 70’s Larry couldn’t remember which was perfect.
David works so hard for us I told him to go ahead and get both shirts because he liked them a lot and I knew he could wear them when we go out. We walked by the T-shirt’s and David found one he liked. I told David to go ahead and get it because it looked like Larry. I also got a pair of pants.
This would give David three shirts for the day of the funeral which was fine as we had the Church Service the Memorial and then we would be going to Lisa’s to hang out that evening with her friends and family and the T-Shirt would be perfect.
We stop by Tommy’s to pick up the boys and they are not done working. Charlie ask me to go ahead and go to Walmart to pick up his jeans for him. The Lord was looking our for us as they had the jeans Charlie wanted and they were on clearance for $13. David saw this and decided to pick up a pair of jenas for himself which was fine because it save me from having to find time to go to the Laundry Mat.
Before you say it must be nice to buy new clothes we didnāt have a clothing budget this week for clothes. We didnāt have extra money tucked away. We didnāt have a ājust in caseā envelope. But we had a funeral. Larryās funeral.
And when someone you love passes, you donāt get to say, āSorry, itās not in the budget.ā You place your worries in the Lords hands, and you show up. You honor them. You do what needs to be done and you thank the LORD for allowing you to make the purchases.
So we bought clothes ā not because we wanted to, not because it was fun, but because it was necessary. David needed something appropriate. I needed something appropriate. And we spent money that was meant for something else. Not because we were careless. Because we were grieving.
Because the LORD knows our needs before we do the next morning I received a tiny job on the blog which paid for half-the clothes and David picked up a honey-do job which put the rest of the money we spent back and we looked like a million dollars at the funeral instead of feeling like we was out of place.
If you’re looking for clothes on a budget check out your local Walmart’s and always start at the clearance section which my whole family does. Remember you don’t always need name-brand clothing as the guys got Walmart brand jeans and they fit just as good or better than Wranglers.
The T-Shirts might not have come from Hot Topic or the Mall but the designs are so cute and fit my family perfectly and we didn’t have to take out a loan for clothes for my family and we was able to get extra clothes for David and Charlie and stay under a $100 for 2 pair of jeans and 2 T-Shirts, 2 dress-shirts for David and a dress shirt for me and a pair of pants. You couldn’t beat that could you?
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
