Frump to Fabulous

I love getting new clothes. Not as much as my teenage daughter, but at least as much as most women. I especially love getting new clothes when I am pregnant. However, there's something about shopping in the maternity sections that just goes against my grain. Thirty bucks for a shirt I'll only fit for a couple of months--at those prices I can afford exactly two changes of clothing! So, by the end of the second week of alternating outfits every other day, they are stained and gross, and beginning to lose their shape from constant washing.

This is where second-hand stores, garage sales, and--my favorite--recently pregnant friends, come in extra handy. If I watch the resale shops close enough, I can occasionally get five items of clothing for five dollars. Now, that is something even my budget can deal with. Even better is when a friend who has just had a baby (or has decided to never have another one) cleans her closet. After delivery, the last thing on earth you want to wear is one of those outfits you've worn the yarn off during the past few months. However, when you're in the middle of the ordeal, one gal's trash is another's treasure.

For instance, I am currently cozily cuddled in a smoky grey creation that actually stretches farther than my stomach. It's a hand-me-down blessing from my girlfriend who recently delivered her little boy. It is also an even better gift than the chicken pot pie I took out to her house. I haven't been warm this entire pregnancy (except for the burned hands, of course) and the sweaters she sent home with me made me just giddy with anticipation. I have to work tomorrow, and for the first time in quite a while, I'm not dreading getting dressed in the morning. It'd be a hilarious statement, if it wasn't so true!

Now, if you must know, I'm off to have my own private little fashion show. I'm sure it wouldn't impress Nigel Barker or Tyra Banks (from America's Next Top Model), but with all my new little treasures I 'm going to upgrade my bump from frump to fabulous.

"And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow:

they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass of the field,

which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace,

will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith?"

--Matt 6:28-30