A Union Sent from Heaven: Dry Toast Meets Savory Grecian Flavoring

By Susanne Kessaris

About the Book
If you have followed this series, you know by now that story-telling is what Susanne does best. She has entwined entertaining anecdotes throughout her books regaling funny stories about herself and her family. Hashtag Greek life, high school sweethearts, and opposites really do attract are just a few of the themes in this new collection. In A Union Sent From Heaven, Susanne shares that her desire was to honor God first and foremost before she sought out and started developing a dating relationship.
Finding a Christian date dedicated to their faith and willing to commit to a long-term relationship in our modern age has become quite a challenge amongst the younger generation. Dating styles of yesterday should not be forgotten in this fast-paced age of online dating and texting communications where manners and transparency are mostly lacking. Romance takes energy and dedication. Susanne hopes you will be inspired by this story of an enduring and rare kind of love.

About the Author
Susanne Kessaris is the author of Bagpipes, Planes and Strings: A Woman’s Journey In Letting Go and The Checkerboard Quilt: A Memory Collage Of My 1960s Childhood. She completes the series in this autobiographical collection of stories about meeting her husband, becoming a young bride, and setting up housekeeping during her early years of marriage. Aside from writing and blogging, Susanne enjoys gardening and decorating projects at her home in South Carolina. You can visit her at susannesfavoritestories.com.

• Language: English
• Publisher: RoseDog Books
• Release date: May 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886047165

Book preview

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The contents of this work including, but not limited to, the accuracy of events, people, and places depicted; opinions expressed; permission to use previously published materials included; and any advice given or actions advocated are solely the responsibility of the author, who assumes all liability for said work and indemnifies the publisher against any claims stemming from publication of the work.

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2023 by Susanne Kessaris

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, downloaded, distributed, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Dedication

To my wonderful husband, Ken, who works hard to make all my dreams come true, encouraging me to keep the faith, knowing God will turn whatever is wrong around in the end. You are my prince who has made life like a fairytale. Life to you is the cup half full to my half empty perspective. You are the eternal optimist, the one God knew I needed to share my life with greater joy and lightheartedness.

I remember our vows and the scripture verses that are engraved in our wedding bands. Your promise to me was to love me as Christ loved the Church as is in Ephesians 5:25-31.I promised to stand with you through the tests and trials of life knowing God would sustain us as is in Jeremiah 29:11.  

I think we have stayed true to our pledges to one another. Praise be to our ever-loving, compassionate and gracious God! Our devotion to Him is the key to our success!

Dry Toast Meets Savory Grecian Flavoring

You all are probably familiar with the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, in which the story is told from the standpoint of Tula, the Greek girl who helps run her family’s Greek restaurant. She meets a non-Greek, falls in love and gets married, despite her family’s disappointment. The story highlights the huge comparison and difference between her family and the family of her non-Greek husband. To the Greek papa in this story, anyone non-Greek is dry toast. I want to tell the story of someone married to a Greek from the non-Greek or dry toast point of view.

My husband and I met when we were just seventeen and still in high school. We were both new Christians and were quite zealous about our newly found faith in Christ. I attended a Lutheran Church at my mother’s invitation.

I prayed the sinner’s prayer while working at a waterslide park the previous summer. I monitored the time clocks and gave out the rubber mats as groups came through the park. During one session, a nice young man came through with a group of teenagers. I surmised that he must be a youth minister with his church youth group. He began to strike up a conversation with me while his group took turns going down the slide. I tried to keep my mind focused on my work and only gave the appearance that I was listening to him. When it finally occurred to me that he was repeatedly asking me a question, I realized what he had said. He had asked, Do you know Jesus Christ as your savior? Before shaking my head yes to dismiss him, I realized that the true answer was no. He asked me if I would like to talk more with him after work. I suddenly realized that I needed to hear everything he had to say.

As I was leaving to go home, he met me in the parking lot. He said a prayer with me then took me to meet his church group. I shared with them that I had just accepted Christ. They congratulated me and invited me to attend their church or a church of my choice. That was when I agreed to visit church with my mother. She had been attending her church for a while and had been praying for me to receive Christ as well.

I remember driving home that night knowing that my life had been changed. The air never seemed clearer or the sunlight brighter than on that day. It was a day of new birth, and I knew everything about my life would be different from then on. My hunger for God and His Word grew strong in me and I wanted to find out everything about what it meant to be a follower of Christ. This included attending church and bible studies regularly. I attended my mother’s church for a while. One Friday night, I was praying before bed and realized I missed hanging out with my old friends. I had no desire to do things I had once done but missed fellowship and being with friends of my own age. I prayed to God that He would send me someone, a fellow, who could be a friend and mentor to me on my Christian walk. That Sunday, I decided to visit a Sunday school class for the first time. I sat across from a handsome, dark-haired, and dark-eyed young man. He had a beautiful smile. Every time I looked up from the text in the bible we were reading, he was smiling at me. I shyly would look away then would glance up again to see him gazing at me. Something was happening. I had a strange feeling inside. God reminded me of my prayers on that Friday night.

Following the class, the young man came up to me and introduced himself. His name was Ken Kessaris. He asked if I had ever come to church on a Sunday night. I had not. I left after telling him I would try to make it. I did not want to appear too anxious after all.

When I got home from church, my heart was aflutter. I told my parents about meeting the young man. Of course, I was planning to go back that night. When I got there that evening, I arrived a little late. I did not see him in the church vestibule. I wondered if he decided not to come. Had I blown it? Did I show too little interest?

I looked inside the church. Most everyone had already found their seats. I considered going home but wait! I saw him sitting in a seat near the middle of the back section. There appeared to be an empty seat beside him. Should I dare be so brave? What did I have to lose? These are questions I asked myself. I realized that one only has an opportunity like this once or twice, if you are lucky, in life. Somehow, I found the courage to walk into the church, up the aisle, and down the row, stepping over seated people to the empty seat.

His reaction, you might ask. He smiled, or rather, beamed!!!

He’s Deep

My first date with Ken followed the church service that Sunday evening. I agreed to drive in his car with him. He took me to a Substation restaurant. We ordered meatball subs. The conversation was light as we made our first introductions and found out a little about each