Only one week until the next step

My friend Lisa thoughtfully reminded me today that it's only one more week until the consultation with the surgeon. Then Angy told me that his office called to reschedule the appointment. As my heart began to sink, she said they only asked if she would switch appointment times on the same day with another family to accommodate a dad who was flying in for his child's consultation.

Praise God again that Texas Children's Hospital is in our city. And when we're stuck in rush-hour traffic after the appointment now scheduled for late afternoon, I hope I remember to be thankful that we didn't have to fly to get there.

Yesterday, I went with Angy and the kids to visit Mom and Rex. Before we left, Angy told Jackson that we were going to Target on the way home. Excited about the news, Jackson kept repeating "Target" in his own inimitable way and smiling his broad, beautiful smile.

We were in the store less than 30 minutes, walking at a slow, casual pace. It was mostly for Jackson's sake, but the giant shopping cart we were pushing forced us to go slow regardless. Sara and her carseat were in the basket part, a barefoot Christian was in the contraption attached to the rear of the cart (when asked where his shoes were, he said, "No idea"), and boxes of diapers were stuffed underneath. Jackson wanted to ride on the cart too, but the posted age limit was 6 years old, it was already crowded, and it would have been virtually impossible to push with his added weight.

When we got in the checkout line, Angy and I looked behind us to see Jackson sitting on the end of a closed checkout counter, slouching and looking utterly exhausted. At least he didn't have far to walk to the car. Praise God for freeing up the perfect parking space right before we arrived (coincidences do not exist).

I kept waking up last night and seeing the mental picture of my tired grandchild sitting on that counter. How I wish now that I had gotten another one of those giant carts and pushed him in it. Maybe it wouldn't have cracked under his weight. Maybe people wouldn't have looked at us like we were crazy. Either way, though, it would have been okay.