Rose among thorns

This week has been awful, just awful! Corbett was diagnosed with the flu last week. On Sunday actually I had to take him to Urgent Care, because his fever kept going from not there at all to 103 in less than an hour. Then another hour later it would be gone again, and the cycle would start all over. I hadn't slept all weekend fearing he would seize from the flux in temperature. Fortunately, I didn't have to deal with that. He has been miserable to say the least. I was praying and praying that none of the other children would come down with the flu or any other illness, and I am happy to report that they are all healthy today...including Corbett! He has been fever free for 4 days and just sports a slightly runny nose at this point. Needless to say, we went NOWHERE all week. Well, that's a lie. I did load my kids to go pick Clayton up from school each day, and on Tuesday I took them for a donut after school. Why I didn't have him just ride the bus is a mystery, but nonetheless, we all survived.

Yesterday, as I was at my breaking point of cabin fever; I loaded the children and headed to the mall play area to let them run around. Here for the last 2 days it has been pouring rain, to the point that running to the car and back would have you looking like a drown rat! So the mall it was. No one to meet up with lent me to my cup of coffee and listening to the squeals of the children playing. I ended up running into a few people that I know and had some adult interaction. It was SO nice to get out of the house! But this was not the highlight of my day even as good as it was.

After the mall, we headed to pick Clayton up from school. He likes to go directly home after school. He has his own routine I have learned to accept. However, some days his routine gets mashed up much like mine does. He doesn't usually handle it well. I will leave it at that. (Its all part of this OCD thing he has going on ever since he was very small...sometimes drives me crazy and other times it comes in SO handy!) So today was a day that routines would be askew. We headed to the grocery store after school. I had to pick up 1/2 of the months worth of WIC items and a few other odds and ends to tie down dinner plans for the week. The girls were each pushing one of those little buggies, and I had Corbett in the big one with me. Clayton went to look at the Redbox movies while I combed through the produce. When I was finished, I called for him to come and we proceeded through the store. Everyone stayed right with me. In each of the girls buggies, I had different orders and in mine yet 2 more. (The joys of paying with government checks! Soon this will be past us, part of it I will dearly miss and most not so much!) So we are headed down the very last isle after about an hour in the store. I am ready to GO! The kids are being kids but behaving very well. There were 2 women having a conversation in the middle of the isle. There was another woman gazing through the freezer doors at minute meals; and yet, another gentleman who couldn't decide if he wanted to walk quickly or slowly or which side of the isle was his. So I stopped all the kids and told them which way to go and said, "When you get to the end of the isle i want you to stop and wait for me. Got it?" Three "yes ma'ams" loud and clear. I wondered how this was all going to transpire, weaving through the people with 2 little people who aren't master steerers and 1 "know it all" 7 year old. :) Well, to my surprise everything went VERY smoothly. And then I walked passed the 2 ladies having the conversation in the middle of the isle. One woman stopped me. In that split second you have to think, my mind immediately accused my children of doing something that somehow slipped passed me that needed correcting. Shame on me!
The woman's comment was this: THANK YOU FOR TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN SUCH GOOD MANNERS FOR THE GROCERY STORE. I CAN ONLY CREDIT  MOM AND DAD FOR THAT KIND OF BEHAVIOR FROM CHILDREN. THANK YOU!
I was dumbfounded. Normally when people compliment my kids like saying they are behaving well, I say thank you, or for the moment with a wink.... or kinda giggle to myself thinking thanks for jinxing it now! But you know what. I gotta give my kids a little credit here. I mean we are doing the best we can and by no means are perfect parents. Good Grief, If only I additional thing right every day how much better would my kids be! But I need to learn to accept the compliments and also not be assuming my kids are gonna screw up a good thing.
OK, so we check out, and we are getting ready to walk to the car. And as always I gather my children around the shopping cart and give them instructions on where I want them holding the buggy or whose hand their should be in. So I am standing there doing all this and this older gent comes over and says "OK, you ready? you are headed to your car right?" I said yes. he said "the only thing a mother should have to look after is her kids" and he took the buggy from me and said "lead the way". It wasn't creepy the way he did it, so I went with it. Clayton helped him load the groceries in the trunk, and Clayton made sure he knew the rules about not cracking the eggs or squishing the bread! ;) Slam, bam, Groceries and kids loaded-we were out! SO HELPFUL!!

This day ended up being a rose among a thorny week! Praise God for those "little" blessings! Sometimes those "little things" to us are HUGE things to someone else!