Nathan and Luke had orthodontic appointments this afternoon, so we all went there, and then we all headed over to Walmart to get some last-minute needed items for AO/Camp Caleb, since Nathan, Luke, and Caleb all leave for their week of camp at WSS this weekend. We were in line at a "20 items or less" checkout behind an older woman who kept looking back at us. One time she even looked intently at our cart, and I thought she was counting to make sure we were under 20 items! But as she was checking out, she turned back to me, handed me a $20 bill and told me to go buy the kids a treat at McDonalds (there's one right past the checkout in our Walmart), since they were all so well-behaved! That was an unexpected surprise!
I was tempted to just go on home, LOL, since I really didn't want to deal with waiting in line at McDonalds, but I decided to stop anyway. Hey--a special memory! We never do stuff like that! So I stopped the cart right outside, told everyone to wait there, and I stood in line for awhile. I got 7 ice cream cones, a dollar fry thing for milk-allergic Micah, and a chocolate milkshake for me (and the baby, of course, LOL). This took forever, but everyone was patient. When I finally got the last ice cream cone out to the last person, a grandma who was there with her daughter and 2 granddaughters (twins!) came up to tell me how well-behaved the kids were! She said they all listened so well, and that no one started eating their cones until all the kids had gotten theirs. That was not actually my instruction, as I am not a fan of ice cream dripping all over, LOL, but hey, that is polite. Then the daughter started talking, and she said she had 5 kids (the twins were the youngest), and she always had so many stares, etc. when she had everyone with her at stores. I told her that the only reason we were even at McDonalds was because of a kind lady who had given us money for a treat, and she was astounded! I think it encouraged her--I know it encouraged me! I have to remember all these little things, so I can do them when I am a grandma, out shopping all by myself, and I see moms with big families!
2 comments:
What an awesome story, Claire!
That's awesome, Claire! I had a not-so-kind comment from a stranger when we were in Mountain Home that I had a really hard time letting go of. But then, as we were traveling through SD, I had a very wonderful conversation with a lady who was so complementary of the children AND us as parents...so God really used that to encourage me after feeling so down about the rudeness of a man who as much as said that I was a terrible parent. :-( I, too, want to be sure to look out for opportunities to ENCOURAGE and bless other parents, not judge them!!
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