Anything that can go wrong...

I've known it all along - good old Murphy even enjoys showing up for church dinners...

Today was the funeral for a dear saint of God, a long time church member and mother of our youth pastor, Cyndi. Of course, as a love gesture toward the family, we wanted to have a meal for the family following the commital service.

Those who normally plan and work in the kitchen at such meals were unable to do it this time - one had a spouse in the hospital, another had a medical appointment and couldn't be there. Of course, this being County Fair week, several church families had commitments to work in booths or exhibits at the fairgrounds. Others were working at their regular jobs which left me to make the phone calls asking for menu items.

Not that I mind, you understand, but I'm not real good at delegating and exactly how much ham DO you buy to feed 50 people?

I decided to fix scalloped potatoes, baked beans and coleslaw. I had most of the ingredients for those recipes. That's when old Murphy showed up with his book of outrageous laws. #467 clearly states that when you have packed all of your baking dishes in preparation for a family move next Tuesday, you will need them and you won't remember which box you put them in!

Okay - back to WalMart for some of those nice aluminum baking pans so I could do the potatoes. So far, so good. My coleslaw turned out fine, but that's because Murphy was busy sticking his fingers in the beans. I soaked them and found a wonderful recipe online (since my recipe books were packed too - law #468) But for some reason, they just wouldn't cook right and were still hard Friday morning.

Murphy laughingly pointed out law # 573 - unless I bought the canned baked beans and doctored them up, my beans were doomed to failure. This time I sent my husband to WalMart.

In the meantime, my daughter-in-law burned the sauce for her 2 large pans of mac and cheese (because my Teflon coated pan was packed - laws #466 and #351) and my potatoes didn't finish cooking until the dinner was halfway over (law #111). We planned for 50 people, but some of the family members didn't stay so there were only about 25 - I bought WAY TOO MUCH ham (law # 492)

Well, by that time, I'd had my fill of old Murphy but he didn't stick around at the church very long. Goodbye Murphy - Hello Jesus! The Lord sent him packing with his book of silly rules as He blessed the food and fellowship around the tables - His comfort was offered and love shared.