A Dilemma

I decided to pack up the boys last week and meet my mother-in-law at her beach condo for a few days. My plan was to go to Billy's appointment at Duke with him and then the boys and I would continue on to the beach. This seemed like an ideal plan because Duke is about an hour and a half away so that would give us a good "rest" point and then the drive from Duke to the beach is only two and a half hours. This would make it possible to do our bathroom breaks and feed the baby at Duke and then not have to stop again until we got to the beach. This plan was working well until I took an exit to run through a drive thru to grab lunch for Little Man and me. It was then that I realized that I did not have any hand sanitizer. (Now, those of you who know me know that that is a dilemma in and of itself!) So I decided my plan to keep the kids strapped in would have to go by the wayside and we would have to go into a store to get some handsanitizer. I took a quick peek in my mirror to make sure the baby was still awake as he had been the entire trip only to see that he had finally fallen asleep. There was no way I was going to wake him up! This is where the real dilemma arose. Did I leave both kids in the car with the A/C running and the doors locked and risk jail time or do I send my 8 year old into Food Lion BY HIMSELF?? (Those of you who know my little man, know what a dilemma this was for him!) I had no real choice. A few moments later, armed with a $5 bill and strict intructions to go straight to the cashier and ask where to find the handsanitizer, my 8 year old cautiously walked into Food Lion BY HIMSELF! Thankfully, the entire front of the store was windows so I could see him and he could see me. I watched him stand in line to speak to the cashier and then he made his way to the aisle to which she had directed. I was thanking God that this aisle was in my view! He slowly made his way down the aisle looking carefully for the ever so important handsanitizer. Then it happened. He went beyond my range of vision. This may seem trivial to some of you, but I immediately started praying in earnest, "Lord, please don't let anyone snatch my baby. And please help him find the handsanitizer by himslef so he'll feel good about himself." After what seemed like forever but was really only a matter of minutes, my little boy reappered. Bounding back up that aisle looking in my direction with a look of sheer joy on his face, he waved the bottle of handsanitizer in the air from side to side. I came out of my skin with joy for him! He was so proud of himself and it shined from every pore! He has a new sense of confidence and I could not be happier for my little man! As you can see, we celebrate every victory!