"Do you need more whipping cream?"

Faith and I were getting ready for our small group to come over last night. We had both forgotten until the afternoon that it was happening, so when I came home at 4:30 PM and supper hadn't really been started, we knew we were in trouble. Small group starts at 6:30 PM. I washed dishes and swept floors while Faith masterfully made taco shells, browned beef, sauteed onions, and chopped vegetables for supper. When the rest of the family sat up, she went to work on a snack. She whipped up a jelly roll like nobodies business. I asked her if she needed me to pick up more whipping cream, to which she responded no, even though we barely had any in the container. I went back to washing dishes, and Faith began to fill the jelly roll. When she went to mix the whipping cream together with the left-over whipping cream in the fridge, it was gone!

I ate it a couple of nights ago. I didn't realize she was counting on it for anything. I had some cake around midnight when I was reloading my .mp3 player from scratch. The cake needed whipping cream because there was no icing on it. I didn't want the whipping cream to just sit in the fridge and go bad, so I ate it. I think I can come up with a number of other thoughts that raced through my brain as my wife went into tears, but none of them would make the whipping cream come back. It was one of those moments where you didn't mean to do anything wrong and then all of a sudden you let somebody down who was counting on you. It was like forgetting to go to a meeting that you're in charge of and had planned, or coming up with a brilliant youth group event and later realizing it wasn't that smart or safe when you are in a vehicle with a water balloon that has left a crater in the windshield and glass all over you, or when you think you have everything planned for Sunday morning worship and the music has vanished and Faith is the only one who can get it for us while we practice but she has two kids under 3 years old in Staples chasing each other around and... you get the picture. I finished washing dishes while Faith composed herself.

The jelly roll tasted really good. The whipping cream we did have lightly covered the whole exterior. It was still a good evening. And it's amazing what you can accomplish in two hours with three kids and a husband around. Thanks Faith.