The BBQ Miracle...

Been a while again. Obviously my days are getting away before I have the time to enter even a few lines about them. Can't time slow down for a bit so that I can get caught up?

About a week ago, Ed was assigned to cook for his company BBQ. He carefully selected the items for the menu and gathered everything up. He planned on smoking a variety of meats in a pit that we have in our yard over night.

The evening before, Ed and the boys stayed up extra late preparing the turkeys, pork and beef slab with the appropriate spices and then bagged them up and put them in the ground to slowly cook over night. We didn't have enough room in our pit for all of the meat, and so we borrowed a neighbors for the evening.


Unfortunately by morning when he went to check on the meat, ALL of the beef and pork that Ed had put into the ground the night before, only warmed...It was many, many hours away from being completely cooked. Fortunately the turkeys cooked perfectly!

Ed was devastated! He wasn't quite sure what to do. He was literally down to just a few hours before the food was supposed to be delivered to the 80 plus guests that were waiting for their BBQ feast!

All that I could think to say was..."Better say a pray honey!" It was for sure going to take a real miracle to get that meat cooked and prepared in time! I think he might have thought that I was mocking him because he turned around and walked out of the house.
When he returned though, he had decided to cut some of the pork and beef into thin slices and grill them. I suggested using the two pressure cookers that we had to cook the meat that was left (which was about 30lbs of meat.) Ugh! The only problem was...neither of us had ever used the pressure cookers to cook meat, and so we weren't sure how much time it would take to cook it.

There were a number of miracles that happened that morning all about the same time...
1. ALL of the kids cooperated and helped without fighting and being asked a million times to help out! (huge miracle!)
2. My sister-in-law answered her phone the first time I called! (She has the same pressure cooker and knows how to cook with it!)
3. Shar's (the place where we purchased the cookers was open...keep in mind it's just barely 9am & I needed them to help answer questions that my sister-in-law couldn't answer. Like whether or not we could completely fill the cookers with meat or if we should leave a head space.
4. We actually had charcoal for the grill on hand.
5. Ed was able to slice and grill a large portion of the pork and beef and it turned out great!
6. Ed was also able to get the other side dishes prepared in the middle of all of the craziness!
AND
7. The pork and beef...All but about 3lbs...cooked and tasted absolutely wonderful! We were able to shred it, load all the food and get Ed on the road in time for the BBQ.

Before these miracles became apparent though the kids and I gathered around the table and said a little prayer asking Heavenly Father to "please help daddy cook the meat and that it would cook fast"! I am told by a few of my children that they said a few silent prayers on their own besides our little family prayer. I was praying as well! At one point, Ed came in so worried...He finally stopped long enough to ask for help too.

What a testimony that miracles of all sizes happen! I know that it wasn't much in comparison to moving mountains or healing the sick, but this was a big deal to us, and especially Ed. It was a great lesson for all of us...That when we "Ask...it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you:" (Matt 7:7) I hope that my kids will remember this experience throughout their lives. I want them to remember that they have a loving Father in Heaven that listens to all of our prayers and that they can always pray when they need help... Because... 'When the going gets tough...the tough PRAY'!