I used to love clothes shopping with my mom. We’d skip everything at the front of the store and head directly for the clearance racks. We’d find great bargains, which made the shopping so much more fun!
My four boys aren’t so much into shopping with me. When they were little, they hid in all the racks or tried to stand up in the cart, making my shopping experience more than a little bit stressful. As they got bigger, they just stood by the racks, bored out of their minds. “Do you like this shirt?” I’d ask. They’d answer with a blank stare. I gave up, deciding I’d just need to wait until they got married, then perhaps my daughters-in-law could go shopping with me.
But over the weekend, I actually experienced about twenty minutes of enjoyable Mother/Son shopping. (Yes, twenty minutes. Total. I know better than to push a good thing.) We were in a city, and our oldest needed new indoor soccer shoes, so we briefly hit the mall.
We entered the athletic store, and saw that they had a total of two varieties of indoor soccer shoes. One pair was $55, the other $65. Not terrible for high quality shoes, it’s just that we have a lot of kids and they have a lot of feet and they play hard and it just all adds up. We told the salesman what we were looking for, and asked if these two varieties was all they had. He replied with a yes. And then as an afterthought he said, “Oh, except for whatever we have in the back on clearance. But those are for really big feet.” Um, hello? Have you seen my son’s feet? Big. Show us the shoes!
Would you believe this? They had one pair of men’s indoor soccer shoes on clearance. One. And guess what size it was? Asa’s size. And guess how much it cost? Ten dollars. Seriously. Who has name brand, high quality shoes for a big footed boy for just 10 bucks? What a blessing. They fit perfectly. We were so excited.
That all happened within the first seven minutes. The rest of our time was spent at the clothing clearance racks I had found by the shoes. Everything was half off of the clearance price, which, if you can even believe it, got my two older boys excited about shopping with me. Long story short (20 minutes, remember?), we walked out of the store with a pair of shoes, two very nice hoodies, and a pair of high quality athletic shorts for less than the cost of the $55 shoes we had originally found when we walked in.
In conclusion: I shopped with two of my sons, and we all had fun. It may be a miracle. Let us all take a deep sigh and hold these memories in our hearts as they may never happen again.
Now your turn. Share what you’re thankful for! Leave a comment on this post letting us know how God is working in your life. If you’ve written a blog post about what you’re thankful for, leave the link in the comments so we can visit your blog to read about it. We love sharing and reading about God’s blessings!
Dottie says
I can relate to the blank stares during shopping. J hates it, showing interest only when food is involved, lol! How wonderful that you got to share a good shopping experience with your boys. As for me, I’m finally finding time to write about the Lord blessing us with a new home. http://dottieslifeathome.blogspot.com/2014/03/gratituesday-so-thankful-to-be-home.html
Tehila says
So grateful that there are folks who are willing to put time and effort into building amazing resources for parents to be able to protect their children from a dark online world!
I am giving away One Year Subscription to iParent.tv, which does just that…
http://www.womenabiding.com/know-what-your-children-are-doing-online-iparent-tv-one-year-subscription-giveaway/
Sandra @ Sandra's Ark says
I am thankful for the husband and children God has given me.
http://www.sandrasark.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/whos-bestest-boy-in-world-dose-of.html#.UxW_Vvl_uwV
Jill Roper says
I am very thankful for thankfulness itself. An attitude of gratitude, no matter our circumstances. I feel for you on the shoes. Michael wears size 16!
http://gratituesday.blogspot.com
Karen says
I’m thankful that God’s got it all. I just finished reading a passage from Scripture that, honestly, has me stumped. It was hard and left me considering if I have a correct perception of God’s character. But, I am grateful that He is all-wise and will teach me by His Spirit, and I can rest in Him and trust.
Lana says
This may be hard to read or understand but I am thankful for an accidental prescription drug addiction that God allowed in my life. I did not know at the time but He had a plan for me to work with women in a prison release half way house. This is probably one of the hardest jobs I have ever had in my life but I believe God is using me and my tough love personality for good.
Tracey says
I have a 13-year-old daughter who detests shopping, so on the rare occasion that she finds items to try on and buy, I’m ecstatic!! However, my 11-year-old daughter makes up for any lack – she loves shopping!!
ms.p says
I am thankful for this coming weekend. My daughter gets to go on youth retreat with our church andI get a weekend with just my hubby to myself. I can’t wait and i have enough leftovers in the freezer that we don’t have to eat out.
Birdie says
Yes, we too have feet that have outgrown almost every boot and shoe in town!!! yipes!!! Sure wish we had a shoe machine so I could made them, hee hee!
Gail Golden says
I’m thankful for the Jewish tradition of blessing our children during the weekly Sabbath service. Yeshua (Jesus) said, “Let them come to me.” Visit my blog post this week to learn more about it:
http://gailgolden.blogspot.com/2014/03/wisdom-wednesday-15-blessing-our.html
Meredith P. says
I am thankful for the opportunities that God provides for us to experience spiritual growth, especially during this time of year. I’m also thankful for the ability to learn and try new things. http://slightlyscatteredsupermom.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/unless-youve-got-a-better-plan-why-im-observing-lent-this-year/