Sweet Lady

Our little trip to Wal-Mart today was such a blessing. WHAT?! Yeah, it really was. It had nothing to do with Wal-Mart, but had everything to do with the sweet lady God sent to encourage me.

I rarely go grocery shopping with the kids. #1 - I don't have room in the cart for all our groceries and a baby. #2 - It's harder to focus on deals (and staying on budget) when I'm counting heads. #3 - Standing in long lines is difficult, and with four antsy little one's is close to impossible.

My regular shopping trips are done before the kiddos wake up, but this week I didn't have much to purchase so I thought I'd include my little crew. We had a great time! We even got to sample some crackers and dip!

The girls were so cute -- like three little ducklings following in a row, holding their cups of crackers. We're such the site when in public, and we heard comments up and down every aisle.

People said (what I wanted to reply):

These are all yours?! (No, they just keep following me around.)
Wow! How do you get them to behave like that?! They're great! (Thank you for noticing. It's real hard work.)
Oh my! You've got your hands full. At least they mind well. (Yeah. It just comes natural. They were born with this crazy desire to obey my every command. Isn't it great?!)

But the real joy came from a lady's comment as we were walking out. At first she just noticed me and my pregnant self pushing A in the buggy. She started cooing with A and commenting on my pregnancy. Then she noticed me glance back to make sure the girls were following. She said, "Oh my! What beautiful girls! You are so blessed! Don't stop, hon!"

She went on to explain that she was #9 of ten children. Her mother had the first eight, each a year apart, and thought she was done until nine and ten followed four years later. She said her childhood was wonderful and wouldn't change it for anything. She walked with us to the door, then found us again as we were loading up in the truck, all the while throwing encouraging words our way.

It doesn't happen often, so maybe that's why the encouragement feels so good when it does come. And I thank God for sending such a sweet lady my way.