Confirming The Mission Of Magnolia Son

Well, the first trip with the kids shopping for shoes was a great success but also very humbling.

I definitely know this was the right “mission” to have in honoring Christian. I took each of the kids separately and told them about Christian and how Magnolia Son came to be formed and what we were trying to do.

I have worked with DHS custody kids for over 15 years and have taken hundreds of kids shopping over the years, but I never realized that we always just gave them options and never said “OK you can get whatever you want.” Typically you are trying to make the money spread as thin as possible so you tell them “You can get this shirt and this type of shoe or you can get this one but you have to choose between those two.”

When I took the boy in and told him he could get any pair he liked, he simply could not decide. He tried on 6 or 7 pairs of shoes and finally looked at me and said “You tell me what to get.” I told him “No, these are your shoes and I want you to get something that you always wanted but haven’t been able to get for yourself.” He then looked at me and said “What is your favorite color?”

Bless his heart.

After an hour we left with not the most expensive pair of shoes which is what I had assumed would happen but with a moderately priced pair of shoes that he loved and shoes that actually fit. He walked in to the store wearing a pair of size 9 shoes and walked out of the store with a size 11.

We really do not know how much we take for granted.