Shoe Shopping

Shoe shopping is right up there with teeth pulling in my book. Now shopping for shoes for me is fun and enjoyable. Shopping for kid's shoes, now that's a different story. Both my kids needed new tennis shoes and new sandals. Both kids were getting blisters on their toes and putting on the tennis shoes was requiring more elbow grease than before, so I could not delay the inevitable.

Even when I bring reinforcements, i.e. daddy, shoe shopping is still nothing short of a crazy, gut wrenching experience. Now, on this particular occasion, I had both of the kid's strapped into their double stroller. This stroller has definitely seen better days. Besides the coffee stains, juice stains, cookie crumbs, goldfish remnants, rips, dirt, suntan lotion and overall wear, this thing is in great shape. Well, really it looks like I just picked it up from the local garage sale, but it still serves its purpose in that I can buckle my kids in. This is such a great thing when your kids are able to buckle themselves in but unable to unbuckle! Anyway, I entered the carpeted shoe isle and began the search for the measuring device.

Now, some places have those metal contraptions that measure your kid's feet with relative accuracy. But most places have these old red carpets with foot prints on them. These thing are disgusting in that they are usually so dirty one must get their face within inches in order to make out the sizes. My kids usually think these mats are a great place to sit or lay down much to their mother's demise. But if I can get my child to actually stand and place their foot on the footprint without wiggling or looking around or slouching it is miraculous. I managed to measure my son's foot and then I measured my daughter's. Of course I made the mistake of not strapping my son in again while I worked with my daughter. He was off taking shoes out of boxes, laying on the floor to look under the racks and racing from one end of the aisle to the other as if it were a track. After I had a vague idea of sizes, I instructed my daughter to get in her seat while I chased my son down. You can guess how much my son wanted to be strapped back into his stroller after he had just tasted freedom. After much kicking and screaming I managed to bribe him back into calm serenity (yeah right) for at least the 30 seconds it would take to begin the search for shoes. It is great when daddy is there to give the look when needed. So daddy gave the look and the tantrum stopped momentarily.

As I began to look my daughter shouts, "How about those shoes. I want those. Those are so cute!" She would be referring to the ugliest shoes on the rack of course. Some pink numbers with blue dogs and multicolored ties. "No, mommy wants to find some different ones honey." Then come the tears, "But they are my shoes!" I respond, "Yes, but mommy is paying for them, so she gets to pick." I realize this excuse will only work for a few more years! After finding an acceptable pair the Cinderella scenario begins. This is where I desperately try to fit the shoe on my daughter's foot. Of course the size carpet was no help in determining the proper size for my daughter. It usually happens that one size is too small and one too big and the size that we need the store doesn't carry. My dilemma is always, "Do we buy a shoe that could stretch or one that the foot could grow into?" Most of the time my daughter will not stand for anything less than the perfect fit. Good for her, bad for mommy.

"Let's try to find some shoes for your brother," is my response to the stress of not being able to find a shoe for my daughter. My husband pushes the stroller to the next aisle and I begin the search for cute boy's shoes. I find a great pair and then cringe as I must remove my son from his strapped in state. Of course he cries as I remove his current pair of shoes like he will never see them again. With both my husband and I reassuring my son that trying on shoes will only last a minute, he calms down. I barely get the shoes onto my son when he is running his 50 yard dash again with shoes on his feet that are tied together. Why do they do that? I realize my son is a good reason to tie shoes together in a store because I have seen how quickly he can remove shoes from boxes and place them somewhere else! Before I can warn my son that his shoes are tied together he has done a face plant into the carpet. Tears and screaming commence once again. "I want my old shoes," he cries. Of course, in his mind, the new shoes will always make him trip. He doesn't understand that mommy will cut that dumb piece of elastic off when we get home. Now trying to convince my son to stand up straight so that mommy can feel his toes in his shoes while he is screaming is no easy task. But if I were to wait until the screaming stopped my son would have the shoes off of his feet. I try to get my son to wiggle his toes but I have found that preschoolers don't really grasp this concept. The shoes don't seem to be too big or too small but as any mother knows it isn't until the shoes have been worn 3 times and walked through a mud puddle that we realize the shoes are clearly not the proper size. Ugh. I get my son back into his stroller, correction, I give into my son's tantrum about walking, so that we could end this whole ugly process. I decide that the shoes would do and that we would have to shop elsewhere for my daughter. For what reason, I do not know because it would be much easier to drag out a horrible incident once with daddy as reinforcements instead of repeating it without daddy several times over several days. But, mommy has had enough. So I push the stroller with my daughter and my husband heards my son towards the checkout. Mission sort of accomplished. One pair down, three to go. One child calm, one to go. One parent sane, one to go.

I don't know why shoe shopping is so stressful. I just wish sometimes that feet grew consistently with age and there was only one size for each age. I could pick the cute shoe in my child's size and toss them in the stroller without this whole ordeal of in and out of the stroller, standing up straight so mommy can feel your toe stuff. I never really know what I am feeling for anyway! My life is so full of guessing. As a mom, it seems like I have to guess a lot. A lot of mothering is simply listening to your gut which I would say is listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Proverbs 3:6 says, "Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take." I just attended a class at our church on Wednesday night on hearing from God. The teacher made the comment that if you have prayed about something and you are not hearing clearly from God, do what you think is best and God will correct you if you are not headed in the right direction. As long as I am seeking God and heading in the direction that I feel is the correct one, God is going to get me to the right place. If my children trust me, I can help them find shoes that fits them properly. If we don't truly seek God, however, we end up wandering around with our feet tied together and all scrunched up in shoes that are too small. One of my biggest life challenges is to seek God in everything and then listen when I feel that nudge that I am not where I am suppose to be. Have you ever sensed that, "Nope. Not over there. Come over here." The tough bit is when we think in our limited perspective that the over there is better than the over here. A lot of times we just can't see how the over here will work, until we by faith take steps into what God has prepared for us. Just like my son can't fathom how shoes that are tied together and make him fall will work, we can't seem to see to the other side of what God is bringing us to. God wants us in wide open spaces or in my translation, God has designed us for shoes that fit. He doesn't want us to settle for shoes that are too small or shoes that are all worn out. He has specific plans tailor made for us. So what is it that you feel God is speaking to you? If you aren't sure with all certainty simply begin to make your way towards what you feel is the right direction and God will take it from there! I am thankful for a God who loves us enough to let us make choices. Don't just stand still and do nothing. Take some steps as you seek the Lord and He truly will direct your steps.