Growing Pains

This past weekend, my sister Brooke and I had a long list of things to do before her wedding. My parents were gone out of town, so the kids had to to come along for the ride. It was a terribly long day, and so we tried to make it as fun for the kids as possible.

We started out by going to the mall to see Santa. Nathan and Julia were so excited, but Joel didn't want to go and see Santa. He decided he'd rather go shoe shopping with Aunt Brooke. It didn't so much surprise me that he didn't believe in Santa anymore. Joel's never really believed that strongly ... but it did shock me when he just didn't have any desire to go see Santa and have his picture taken. Joel didn't act indecisive or unsure about it. He just sort of shrugged his shoulders, and asked if he could go with Aunt Brooke. Of course, I let him, while at the same realizing that I wasn't expecting this to be the Christmas when he was too big to sit on Santa's lap. It felt sort of weird and a bit lonely to stand in the Santa line with only 2 kids instead of 3 bouncing children.

After lunch, we had to do a bit more shoe shopping. This time we were buying dress shoes for the kids to wear in the wedding. Nathan's been having a big growth spurt. He has grown 3 shoe sizes in the past year! I was concerned about getting the right size shoe for his foot, so I asked the sales lady to measure his feet. When she said Nathan needed a 3 1/2, I asked her to go ahead and measure Joel's foot as I thought he was wearing a size 3. Joel hadn't been complaining of his shoes fitting too tightly, but if Nathan's foot had surpassed Joel's than that would be a bit weird!

The kind woman measured Joel's foot and then said, "Ma'am ... you are in the wrong dept for this young man. He's outgrown children's shoes and will need to go over to the men's dept." I must have looked stunned for she quickly added, "Children's shoes stop at size 4, and he needs a 5 1/2."

Still shocked, I thanked her, and then tried to get my bearings. Men's shoes? Joel needed men's shoes? For the past 8 1/2 years, I've shopped in children's departments for my kid's clothing needs. Now I'm being sent away! I'm not ready to leave the children's department!

I know that Joel is far, far from being grown up ... but on Saturday I felt the growing pains so strongly. Lord, the days are long but the years are short. Please give me a heart of love, wisdom and courage to raise these 3 kids for you in the short but tender time you give their charge to me.