My wife, sister and mother have started a part-time business selling tutus. Yes, tutus, but that's the subject of another post altogether. The real point is that God is good.

Upon the founding of Tutus by Grace, the first order of business was a booth at the World's Largest Rattlesnake Roundup's flea market. Okay, it's not 5th Avenue, but it is a rather large annual event for Sweetwater, Texas, and it draws people from all over the world. We're not 100% positive it is the tutu crowd, but the ladies have made a variety of camouflage and animal print tutus to accommodate.

Following the first business meeting of the minds, the gals ordered an event tent, a large, white 10'x20' outdoor tent in which to set up shop. The tent was necessary this early in the business because all of the indoor booths at the flea market were taken and the only available spots were outside (which is otherwise fine, except Rattlesnake Roundup weekend is notorious for bad weather).

Well, the tent arrived and we set it up. It was quite impressive. And very formal or official looking. Our plan was to tear the tent down the next morning because it was dark by the time we finished dinner. However, we weren't so fortunate. A wind storm blew in considerably earlier than expected and destroyed the tent. It seems my mother and her husband were outside on the roof at 3:00 a.m. trying to get the tent down. It was quite the disaster.

Their hopes were dashed, a bit, but the tutu makers plugged onward, albeit without a Plan B for the Roundup.

Then, in an act of divine justice, on the eve of the Roundup, my wife received a call from the organizers of the flea market who said that one space was available indoors. The caller was somewhat surprised as Tutus by Grace was number 52 (approximately) on the waiting list, but 51 other vendors were unable to be contacted or neglected to return phone calls. It was quite the tutu coup.

Along with the tent troubles, there was some question as to whether the tax I.D. information would arrive on time, and it was necessary for a vendor to register and sell. The taxing authority said it could take as many as three weeks for the information to arrive which would have been too late. Yet again, however, on the morning of the registration, what was in the mail but the tax I.D. info.

Yes, it's 30-something degrees outside. Yes, it's drizzling rain. And, yes, the tutu girls are competing against turkey legs, funnel cakes, and rattlesnake skin souvenirs for the hard-earned dollars of the flea market patrons, but God had already given His stamp of approval on this business venture in a prayer session a few weeks ago, so I'm confident the ladies will do quite well - just look at what has happened so far.