It’s getting down to crunch time here.  We are spending as much time as we can together.  For the most part, since we’ve been battling fevers and snot, we’re staying at home.  The kids have been asking literally for months to go to Cracker Barrel.  I’m not really sure why they like that place. It’s probably the gift shop, or maybe all the cool stuff hanging on the walls and from the ceiling, most likely it’s the fact that they can order pancakes anytime of the day. Chris and I on the other hand, groaned to each other as we pulled into the parking lot at 6 pm and saw that everyone else had a hankerin’ for pancakes.  I told Chris we could just go somewhere else, the kids would get over it (I know I’m cold-hearted like that).  Seeing how he’s a wonderful daddy and only has this short time left, he said we needed to stay (no matter how gruesome it was for us).

The wait wasn’t that long to get a table, maybe 10 minutes and they called us right before one of the kids almost broke something.  They obviously had the heat cranked up because of the cold outside and it was HOT in there.  Chris had come straight from the airbase and was wearing his uniform so he was twice as uncomfortable. As they got us to our table, we were assigning seats and strapping Jonah into a high chair and giving each other our exasperated parent glares that read “who’s grand idea was this after all?”  All of a sudden this man is patting Chris on the back and saying “thank you for your service” and reaching out to shake his hand and hands Chris FIFTY dollars and says “here use it for your family.” 

Wow.  Now we were giving each other the “wow, God is awesome” look.  Then we had the “God always knows where we are and what we need” discussion.  Don’t you feel like a fool when you’ve been acting like a brat and then {BAM!} God’s goodness smacks you in the face?

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29: 11-13