The Lesson of the Pink Boots

Today Lauren chose to wear "the boots" -- the hot pink cowgirl boots worn by Ella nearly every day for two years and now handed down (quite happily, I was surprised to discover) to Lauren. The only trouble with the boots is that they often do not stay on when worn by legs dangling from a shopping cart seat. So, after picking them up from the floor of Target several times I put them in the bottom of our cart and made a mental note not to forget them there. Well, you know what happened. I had just pulled into our driveway, after a fifteen-minute drive home from Target, and unloaded Lauren and Audrey when I remembered.

Back to Target, just hoping that the cart was still in the parking lot corral where I'd left it. No such luck. Still in the car, I called customer service. As I explained our situation, I heard Lauren in the back seat: "Um, tell them they look like my pink boots. And also, they are my pink boots." Still no luck.

"Well, Lauren," I sighed. "Should we go in and see if we can see them?"
"Yes." So, I put the girls in the cart and pushed them toward the entrance, envisioning a circuitous route through Target staring underneath shopping carts pushed by people staring back at me, and saying a silent prayer. Please, Heavenly Father. It would really be nice if we could just find these boots and go home.

We hadn't even crossed the threshold when I saw them, peeking out from underneath one of many shopping carts pushed into rows at the store entrance. "Lauren! Look." She squealed. We happily plucked our boots from their place and headed for the car. As we made our way across the parking lot I asked Lauren, "Do you know why we found the boots?" She cocked her head to the side.
"Because they were lost?"
"Because I prayed to Heavenly Father and asked Him to help us find them."

Tonight when Kim came home we recounted the story and Lauren added her own conclusion. "We prayed and Heavenly Father helped us!"

And that's worth an extra trip to Target.