The Good Samaritan

So...we are going camping tomorrow. I seriously underestimated the amount of work it would take to get the five of us ready for the trip. I was planning on doing my grocery shopping last night when Matt got home, but things got busy and I didn't do it. Owing to my shopping experiences chronicled in previous posts, I rarely take the kids grocery shopping but I braved Walmart with all three (which is never a good thing and quite often ends in catastrophe and tears...the boys and mine). Of course I had to get a ton of stuff and I was really racing around, trying to finish before the boys got too cranky. However, Austin had a complete freakout and and started screaming (that kid never cries...except when scary Uncle Chad makes faces at him) and Derek started started grabbing things off the shelves and biting into them (lets just say we came home with a ton random things today). Finally I only had about 10 things left on the list, but Austin had a total breakdown, so I said forget it and headed for checkout which was a 20MINUTE WAIT. Insane. (I forgot to mention that of course I saw tons of friends and neighbors with my unruly tantrum throwing children.) As we were walking out the door, Derek's ultimate meltdown came when he saw one of the ride on toys evil managers place in the entrances to stores. He wanted to ride it, I said no, he was on the floor freaking out. The cart was overflowing, I was actually carrying the box of diapers so set them precariously on Austin and stuffed Der under my arm and marched on to the car. We made it home in one piece and I planned on going to a less chaotic grocery store after naptime. However....one of the women I know who I had seen at Walmart called me up and said, "Could I please have your kids over to play while you stuff done today?" I said thank you but no, I had it all under control. She sounded doubtful but told me to call her if I changed my mind. I thought oh, that was really nice of her, but I don't need help from anyone. Ahem. At first I thought, oh, I wouldn't want to put her out. And then I thought about all the times I have offered to help people only to be politely brushed off because they don't like to admit they need help once in a while. So I called her back and asked if the older boys could play at her house while I finished grocery shopping....because really, the amount of stuff I need to do before now and tomorrow morning is mind-boggling (and yet here I am blogging!) But I am really grateful that she was so sweet and willing to help, (I was having a really hard time at the store, but was too proud to admit it.). I will be able to finish shopping so much faster. Thank you sweet neighbor!!!

**Little side note. This awesome lifesaver isn't even someone I know that well, we have chatted but we live several blocks away and don't see eachother except for at church. She has a 2 year old little girl, is pregnant and has two sons who are both autistic. She has her hands full, yet still offered to help me out. Needless to say, I learned some lessons today. ***