a blessing....

Yesterday, the boys and I went to Krogers...this was the last stop on a list of many...they were quite tired after being out and Josiah had fallen asleep in the car. One of Tobin and Josiah's favorite things about Kroger's, is the race car shopping cart. They both love to sit in and pretend to drive around the store while I shop. It's nice because the seats are located at the top part of the cart so it is really easy to keep an eye on them. Anyway, Josiah wouldn't wake up for anything, so I carried his sleeping, limp body over the whole store while pushing Tobin in the enormous race cart. (I'm sure it was a sight to see! haha)
I finished my few purchases and headed to the check out...Josiah finally decides that it is time to wake up and immediately notices the cart and can't wait to get behind his own steering wheel! Thankful for the break, I buckle him in and he goes to town...haha. Since this was at the very end our trip, the next step was to put the cart back, in which Josiah screams and throws a fit at being removed from his beloved cart. So, I'm carrying a tantrum throwing 14 month old, three bags of groceries and holding Tobin's hand. Praise God there was a parking space right at the door...or I don't know what I would have done. There is a point to this story...just hang in there.
Once at the van, I set the bags down on the curb and tell Tobin to wait for me right beside the van, so I could buckle the still fit throwing Josiah into his seat. As I'm struggling to get J into his seat, Tobin is busying himself removing his little rock collection from the floor of the van and straightening a box of cereal that had fallen out of the bag, back into it. He then proceeds to load the groceries into the van. All of this without one word from me. When I turned around to see what he was in the midst of doing...it blessed me beyond measure! It may seem rather insignificant or small to some of you, but to a parent, it's monumental! It is truly a treasure to see your children putting into practice things that you have tried to instill in their little hearts. The hard times of training and discipline do pay off, even with a 2 year old. It is a glimmer of hope for me that the difficult days will end and my little boy will be a man of integrity.