Lesson Learned.

Easter is approaching. Like always, I leave everything to the last minute. I remembered today that I still hadn't gotten the kids some easter egg baskets I had promised them for the egg hunt we are planning. Simple task right? Nope, not when you live in Emerald! I couldn't find a single basket anywhere today, they were all sold out!  So I went to plan B, just get them a beach bucket that they can later use for sandcastles... nope, that must of been everyone else's plan B too. There were no buckets to be found, or any type of container with a handle.
So I rang my trusty store, ' Target country'. I thought I'd ring them first because they have relocated further out of town due to the floods earlier this year, and I didn't want to drive all the way out there only to be disappointed.  As always, Target Country pulled through for me. The lady on the phone gave me the good news that there were a few baskets left and gave me the price.
So I set out with the exact amount of cash I needed so I wouldn't buy anything else (that store gets me every time!).
I found the cute baskets, grabbed two and everything was going to plan. For once I was going to just walk in and out of this store until... I got distracted. I stopped to look at something for what I thought was a second, until I heard Elly saying "mum, look at Noah! He's opening an egg!" Sure enough, Noah had reached out from the trolly and had helped himself to a nice big easter egg and had taken most of the foil off! Nooooooo! I couldn't afford to buy this egg! I had the exact amount of cash I needed for my two cute baskets, that I had searched all day long for! I inspected the egg. Still looked good and I'm pretty sure, though not certain, that he didn't touch the chocolate. I had two options...

 1. Put the foil back on the egg the best I could and pretend nothing happened or
 2. show and teach my children the value of honesty and sacrifice one of my baskets and buy the easter egg.

I buckled under the pressure, and opted for option 1. Did I mention I searched for baskets all day?

So I quickly put the foil back on the best I could, and put it towards the back of the other nicer looking eggs. Just as I thought to myself "no one will ever know," one of the workers started cleaning around the section, and the next thing I hear is my lovely Elena saying to this nice and un aware worker "excuse me, my little brother got one of your easter eggs and opened it."
Noooooooo! I looked at the worker, the worker stared at me with this look that kinda said "is this true?" Well, to be honest, I had no idea what her look was saying but again, I had two options...

1. Confess, put back one of my cute baskets, get the hideous looking egg, and go pay for it. Or...
2. Look at the lady with a "I have no idea what she's talking about" look, smile, grab my children with baskets in tow, pay and leave as quickly as possible.

Again, I buckled under pressure and went with option 2.

Now, I have both of my cute baskets but I also have this feeling of disappointment and regret. I always look for little teachable moments for my children, wether they're educational or spiritual, this could have been a good moment but instead I feel like I let them, my heavenly father and my self  down.
So lesson learned. Doing the right thing can be hard sometimes and inconvenient but you can't do wrong and feel right. I rather feel right and teach my children right, and what better time to teach them about repentance than at easter! So I've been blessed with a second chance at a teachable moment.
I'm going back tomorrow. I'm going to go buy that easter egg (i'm sure i'll have no trouble finding it) and tell my children that mummy is sorry and that it's what I should have done in the first place and feel right. I'm sure eating the egg afterwards will help. :)