I like to joke that my husband has a sauce for EVERYTHING!  When we first got married I was not very good at making sure he had the right sauce in the refrigerator to go along with the meal I cooked.  Neither my Mom or my Dad are big sauce eaters so my Hubby opened a whole new world to me when it came to sauces.

I guess some would be considered condiments, but I promise Hubby must have at least one with each meal – even breakfast: Ketchup, mustard,  honey mustard, spicy mustard, mayo, chow chow, relish, soy sauce, horseradish sauce, thousand island, tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, salsa, hot sauce, picante sauce, hollandaise sauce, BBQ sauce, ranch, Italian and on and on the list goes.  If they make a sauce most likely you will find it in my kitchen.

Surprisingly, none of my kids are big sauce eaters.  Two of them don’t even like spaghetti sauce.  Sissy is starting to eat mayo some, but Bubba will not touch a sauce of any kind. The one exception to all this is Paddy and his love for ketchup.  He has loved ketchup as far back as I can remember.

As a toddler Paddy would dip his fries in ketchup, lick the ketchup off and dip the same fry again and again.  I have tried to curb his ketchup eating because of the amount of sugar added, but like his father, it is the only way he will eat certain foods.  In fact, it is the only way he will eat a lot of foods.  Paddy must have his ketchup – lots and lots of it!

Today was a hard Monday morning.  The kids had spent all weekend at their grandparent’s house and were worn out this morning from all the weekend fun.  They were hard to wake up and hard to get going. They were slow moving and I constantly had to check on them to make sure they were really getting ready for school and not sitting somewhere dazing into space. 

As we drove to school I tried to make them laugh and pep them up for the day.  They complained that they disliked Mondays.  I told them to hang in there and before they knew it, it would be Friday!

Bubba said, “I wish everyday was Saturday!” 

I tried to explain that Saturdays would not be so special if every day was a Saturday.  They were grumpy and not buying my spill. 

I said, “Think of it like this, if you got to eat chocolate cake everyday then you would get tried of it.  In fact, it probably would start to not taste very good, if you ate it EVERY single day.” 

But Paddy defied my logic, “But Mom, “ he insisted, “Ketchup IS good EVERY single day!”

Sometimes God’s plans are not the same as our plans.  Two years ago I was so happy and relieved to finally be a stay at home Wife and Mother.  I believed firmly that was God’s plan for our family.  Hubby and I had worked hard for years trying to make it happen and then we watched astonished as God cleared the path and opened the door more amazingly than we could have ever imagined.  We turned to God in prayer yielding ourselves to His way and our faith grew as we watched God work.

Almost exactly two years later I am working again.  I didn’t think I would be and I certainly didn’t want to, but I believe this to be God’s plan.   A few weeks ago my Hubby and I were at lunch discussing several pending contracts in his business and the situation with our renter as well.  We were hashing out best and worst case scenarios in our financial situation - planning ahead. 

We talked about the worst possible should all go down hill at the same time.  I said with reluctance, “Well…should I start looking for a job…just in case?” The areas I am trained in and have past experience in are all very stressful, demanding jobs with hours that are not always family oriented and I really did not want to pursue my past careers. At that very moment my cell phone rang.  Since my Hubby and I were in the middle of such an important conversation I let the call go to my voicemail and we continued talking. 

The call turned out to be from my Pastor who wanted me to pray about stepping into our church secretary’s position which was soon to be vacant. Our secretary of 24 years was retiring.  She had given ample notice but time had gone by quickly and she would be leaving in three days.  When I first heard of her resignation I had so many other things on my mind that I didn’t think much about it except in terms of how she would be missed.

But over the weeks since she gave her notice two different people had dropped a comment that I would be a good person for the job. God had already been working on my heart, but I knew Hubby would be against it.  After the Pastor’s phone message, we agreed to pray over it and at least consider it.

I knew it was what God wanted already, but after leaving Hubby at his job sight I prayed all the way home that God would make it clear to Hubby if this was really indeed God’s plan for us.  I also prayed that God would pave the way in the church members’ hearts to be flexible with my family’s schedule.  By the time Hubby arrived home that night he was clear that taking this job was what I was supposed to do.  I was astonished that God had moved his heart so quickly, but evidently he had already been talking to God before our Pastor’s phone call and the call only confirmed what he was slow to face as well.

I called my pastor back that night and met with the personnel committee Wednesday night. Nothing, was set in stone.  My days of work, hours of work and pay rate were not decided.  I started on Thursday morning anyway in order to have at least one day with the outgoing secretary.  One day in order for her to impart 24 years of experience! I worked on Friday and then had the long Labor Day weekend off.

I was in an ill mood.  I did not want to go back to work.  I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was God’s plan.  I resigned from another commitment I had even though I was not officially hired yet because I knew that this was God’s will.  It was God’s plan for my church and for my family, but I was not liking it.  God and I had several long talks over the long weekend and by Tuesday I had a better attitude.

Now I am embracing God’s plan and enjoying my job.  I am having so much fun.  I’m loving the challenges and loving the interaction with the church members.  I am able to drop my kids off at school in the morning and then pick them up again in the afternoon. 

While I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around all these changes God keeps bringing to mind the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19:1-11).  I guess he never imagined that day he climbed the tree just trying to get a glimpse of Jesus that Jesus would end up at his house that day.  I reckon that never in a million years Zacchaeus thought that he and Jesus would be eating together that day.

Even more important than the change in plans was Zacchaeus’ change of heart.  Zacchaeus repented and was a changed man after that day. I pray that my heart will never be hardened to God’s plans for me no matter what my ideas may be.

One of my pet peeves when I was pregnant was having strangers rub or touch my belly.  I remember once  we were at a fast food restaurant placing our order and the girl behind the counter just reached over and started rubbing my pregnant belly.  I jumped back a bit alarmed.  I was always happy to let Hubby sit for hours on end rubbing my belly, talking to it, or just waiting for some sort of movement.  I can remember letting several different family members or close friends engage in this same belly activity, but not strangers.

I recently observed a pregnant friend struggle with this awkward moment as well. We were in conversation at a get together when another woman we both knew walked up and put both her hands on the pregnant woman’s belly and then proceeded to move her hands all around for several minutes.  I could tell my newly pregnant friend (only just starting to show) was taken back.  She moved backward slightly, but was unsure how to handle the situation. She knew the woman, but you could tell she was still uncomfortable with the sudden familiar contact.

There must be something about expectant mothers that make people want to touch them.  People are fascinated. Perhaps it is the cuteness of the bulging belly, perhaps for women its a bonding process of a shared circumstance or maybe it is something deeper.  Maybe the draw is the fact that she carries a whole other life inside her – a new life. There is just something exciting about feeling the baby kick, feeling the new life move and come alive.  Some people are just drawn to it.

I know you are really going to question my thought process here, but remembering how awkward it was for me to have strangers touching or trying to touch my belly made me think of Jesus. (I know your wondering how my mind got from point A to point B, but hang with me). 

While here on earth Jesus was constantly being thronged.  Large crowds gathered around him, pressing in just trying to see Him, hear Him, and touch Him.  Sick, dying, diseased people trying to touch Him in a culture where the unclean shouted in the streets so you could avoid contact with them.  In some cases, they just wanted to touch His clothes (Matt 9:20, Matt 14:36).

Strangers wanting to touch Him. Why? What was the draw? They wanted healing, new beginnings and new life. He embodied new life. Abundant life!

John 10:9-10 (NKJV)

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Some friends of ours were camping about 45 minutes outside of Nashville so we joined them for a little bit of old fashioned family fun.  We explored the park and did a little creek stomping. I’m not really sure if the adults or the children had more fun.

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This summer the kids have loved playing in the rain.  If there is no thunder or lightening, I let them.  They ran in excitedly one day in August because you could clearly see a full rainbow in the sky after a summer shower! I wish I was a better photographer because I failed to capture the beauty of it.  I guess I am a lot like the kids because rainbows never cease to amaze me.

Genesis 9:15-17 (N I V)

I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

The first day of school has come and gone.  It does not seem to matter how old they are; I still cry.  They all three still want me to walk them in on the first day and I happily do.  This year is an even year – grades 2, 4 and 6.  Even though I pulled out of the school parking lot with tears in my eyes, I cheered up quickly during a breakfast out with just me and Hubby… all alone. That, of course, was nice.

We always take an annual first day of school photograph.