Drama. Drama. Drama!

Took the girls out to run errands yesterday.

Like the one on the right

We ended up at the mall. I found a shirt and some pants for #7 on clearance at Old Navy for $2 and $3. We used one of those carts that has a seat for a child on the front and then a mesh bag on the back. It also has a pouch for a purse, so I put my purse in the pouch, but I knew upon doing so that I would forget my purse (ooh...sense the subtle foreshadowing here). I put it in there anyway. We shopped and bought a few things. I put my cash back into the cash carrier, handed #1 the change (kind of as a joke), and we left.

So, we left there and went to our favorite store in the mall--$20 Below. Sad thing was, as we approached the store, we saw that there was a "going out of business" sign just outside. Yes, our favorite store is done for. SAD!

We walked around. The girls chose a number of things to try on in the dressing room. As they did so, #7 took off her shoes and went running around the store. It was at about this time that I realized I wasn't lugging my purse around. I asked #1 and #3 if they happened to have it. Neither did.

#1 changed quickly back into her clothes, handed me the things she wanted, and went back up to Old Navy to see if she could find the purse. She came back empty-handed after a little while.

We all left $20 Below and headed to Old Navy. I sent #1 and #7 to the car. #3 and I walked into Old Navy and found a cart similar to ours but no purse. The girl working there said they only had about three carts like that in the store. We searched but found no others. We headed back down to $20 Below.

Before we'd left the first time, I'd handed the girl that worked there the clothes we were interested in and shared what had happened. I told her that hopefully I'd be able to pay with them soon.

Let me tell you, I was praying in my heart so hard at this point.

The women at $20 Below offered to call mall security for me to see if something had been turned in. They did and within a few minutes, the phone rang, but at the same time #3 came back into the store carrying my purse, but the first words from her mouth as she handed it to me were, "Didn't you have your wallet too?"

Sure enough, the wallet was missing. Good thing was that my debit card and cash were all in the cash holder, which looks nothing like a wallet, so the only things I was missing that I felt bad about were my temple recommend and my driver's license.

I sent #3 back up to Old Navy to look further for the wallet. Oh, by the way, the purse was found in the cart near the back of the store. One of the Old Navy workers brought it to the front.

The phone rang at $20 Below, and I jokingly said, "Oh maybe security found my wallet." I was sure this was impossible, but sure enough, they had. I went to the office, and the woman at the front desk handed it to me. Nothing was missing. PHEW!

The way I write this makes it sound like it all happened so quickly, but the whole ordeal probably took more than an hour.

As we walked out to the car #3 shared with me the fact that she'd been praying hard the whole time. I told her that I had too.

This could have been a very disastrous experience. I'm so grateful for good people who don't take advantage of others' stupidity. Thank you to whoever returned my wallet!