Why do things never go as planned?

Have you ever had a time when nothing goes as you planned in your head? This weekend we headed to Fort Caswell Beach with the middle school students from our church. I was so looking forward to the beautiful scenery at the beach and hanging out with the students. (BTW- they are awesome).

Ok, just to warn you the following story is not something you want to read if you are eating or have a weak stomach. My amazing husband probably would not want me to tell this, but since our pastor announced it on Sunday in front of the whole congregation, I figured it was ok.

Justin came home Friday afternoon about 3 hours before they were supposed to leave and he was not feeling well. Have you ever seen someone who was so sick, white as a ghost and clammy? This was Justin. Although he was fighting it, I could tell he did not feel good. He just kept telling me he was fine.

Well, he headed to the church and off to the beach retreat. He was feeling so sick. We were talking on the phone and I asked him if he had a bag ready (just in case he did get sick). He said no and that he would pull over or ask one of the students for one of the fall youth shirts to get sick into. (I knew that was a bad idea - why did he think a cotton shirt could hold throw up?)

A few minutes later, he called. He said that he got so sick and it just came up, he could not pull over. He got sick (threw up) all over himself and the driver's seat of the van. Outback's blooming onion does not look good when it comes back up! Needless to say, the cotton shirt didn't do much good.

Just to give you a picture, he was driving a van of about 14 middle school guys. He had one of them sitting in the passenger's seat. That poor kid curled up into a ball with his head in his knees after witnessing his youth pastor getting sick all over himself. This was only about 45 minutes into the trip. I am sorry, the whole scene still makes me laugh a little (and gag a little). I definitely do not have the gift of mercy.

Justin pulled over at a gas station and came up to me. I couldn't even look at him and I started gagging. It was so gross. He cleaned himself off, changed his clothes and one of our other youth leaders cleaned the van (he is such a trooper). I offered to clean it, but I had to stay with my baby. (I was also afraid that I would throw up cleaning it.) Justin changed his clothes and threw away the dirty clothes (I am so thankful he did that, I was going to try to clean them). He got back in the car and drove those kids to their retreat. (Of course, no one would sit shot gun the rest of the trip - I really think he traumatized those kids.) He was not feeling good all weekend, but thankfully he got through it. Two of our kids accepted Christ and the rest had an amazing time!

To update you from my previous post... Kate's first time on the beach did not go as planned either. It was 50 degrees out and freezing. Here are some pictures below. Enjoy!