First of all, for those of you who are not on facebook and may still be wondering about the results of last week's difficult milestone, we did hear on the afternoon of the 3rd that "our birthparent interview at the U.S. Embassy was successful". We didn't (and likely won't) hear any more detailed information about that but we are so relieved that it's done. We continue to pray for the deep pain that our girls and their birth father surely experienced that day and in the days since that meeting.
Since we don't have other news to share of forward progress in our journey today, I thought I'd share something that we learned about God while we were on our trip to Haiti in May. Did you know that God is in the travel business? I mean, I know He can and does do all kinds of amazing and powerful things, but I just never pictured him in the business of rearranging flights, booking hotels, and organizing the timing of hotel shuttles! He really pays attention to the details and He doesn't even charge extra!! Allow me tell you a story about how God changed our travel itinerary on our way home from Port au Prince. Bear with me through the details...I have to paint the picture of our experiences that day to really allow God's amazing plans to shine through.
As I've mentioned, we had the joy of experiencing our time in Haiti with 2 other families who were also meeting their kids at GLA for the first time. It was wonderful to experience all of the ups and downs of the trip together with these other parents that shared our love, passion, and excitement over this step in all of our respective journeys. It also helped to cry with them as we piled in the van and left our kids at GLA to head down to the airport in Port au Prince. We waited in line together, got through 2 security checks together and sat down to wait for our flights. They are both from Colorado and were booked on a flight from Port au Prince to Miami, while we were booked on a different flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Their flight was supposed to leave around 3:30 pm and ours was supposed to leave just after 4 pm.
As we were waiting, we heard word that their flight had been delayed by an hour, then an hour and a half, and ultimately 2 1/2 hours later...set to leave at around 6 pm. We were bummed for them, as that meant they would miss their connecting flights and would delay their trip home by several hours. Our flight was still on time so we said our goodbyes to them and got on our plane, desperately sad to leave Chelley and Naika but ready to hug Maria, Annika, and Livie! We were traveling to Ft. Lauderdale and then on to Chicago, where we had booked a hotel for the night and then would fly home to Rochester the next morning. Our flight went through the normal preliminary checks and pulled away from the gate to prepare for takeoff. Then, instead of aiming for the runway, we pulled back to the gate. Soon, the pilot got on to announce that the back-up electrical system was not working properly and they would try to get it fixed. We sat on the plane for an hour and a half before they announced that this plane was not going anywhere and we'd need to deplane. They had one other plane that had landed that was heading back to Miami so they would now be transferring as many people as possible to that Miami flight. Our friends' plane was still there but they had now boarded and had no idea we were still there. They thought we were well on our way to the U.S. by that time. While we were in line waiting to see if we could get on that other flight, our friends' plane took off for Miami.
As you can imagine, the atmosphere in the airport was stressful as we all tried to figure out how we would get to our destinations. At this point, I was not praising God for His change in our plans. In fact, I was a little like a toddler on a road trip...impatient and cranky! Amazingly, they did eventually get us all on the other flight, although the entire process took another 2 hours. So, it's 7:30 pm as we finally take off and it's a 2-hour flight to Miami. The flight they booked us on to Chicago was scheduled to leave Miami at 10 pm. We both realized that we'd have to REALLY push it to make it through customs and on to our connecting flight. Sure enough, we landed in Miami at 9:30 pm, literally ran as fast as we could to baggage claim, waited a few minutes for our suitcases and exited customs at exactly 10 pm. As you can imagine, the boarding had been finalized for our Chicago flight and we were not allowed on the flight.
So, on to Plan C...we headed to the ticket desk to get another flight to Chicago in the morning and to find a hotel in Miami. There were several of us from our flight in this same position and they were "randomly" assigning us to various hotels so that we didn't all descend on one hotel so late at night. After another 30 minutes of working through those details, we walked out of the Miami airport to wait for our hotel shuttle. Just as we walked outside, our hotel shuttle was pulling away from the curb. I grabbed the carry-ons and told Matt to run for it to try to catch it before it left. He gave it his best shot but it was just too fast. At this point, I'm thinking, "Seriously, Lord?!? Hasn't this day been hard enough? Our hearts are broken, we're hungry and exhausted, couldn't you just have given us one more minute to get on that shuttle?" I was enjoying my pity party on that curb in Miami. And then we proceeded to wait for another 40 minutes for our shuttle to return. Several other hotel shuttles came by 2 or 3 times during that time but ours was taking "forever"! Ironically, our friends from the trip, who had also missed their connecting flight, were assigned to a different hotel in Miami and drove right by us while we waited on the curb. We didn't see them, but they saw us and wondered what on earth had happened?!? Last they knew, we were well on our way to Ft. Lauderdale and then on to Chicago...how did we end up on the curb in Miami?!?
Finally, our hotel shuttle arrived and we gratefully got on. I sat down, in my exhausted stupor, not in a mood to make small talk with anyone. However, I married a man who can talk to anyone about anything at anytime and could sell a whole truckload of ice to an eskimo. He recognized one of the other passengers, a Haitian man, from our flight out of Port au Prince and he struck up a conversation with him. They talked about what had brought us to Haiti and what our experiences and observations were. Towards the end of the 10 minute ride to the hotel, this gentleman let us know that he had actually been a good friend of Haiti's President Martelly for 25 years. And, oh, by the way, he might be running for the senate next year, but then he'd have to leave his current position as GOVERNER OF THE WESTERN HALF OF HAITI, in authority over 4 million people!! As it turns out, this man is the highest boss (besides the President) of the judges that we had gone there to see. He is practically 2nd in command of the country of Haiti!!! The region that he has authority over includes the area where our orphanage is, as well as the city of Port au Prince. Turns out, his travel plans hadn't gone as intended either. He was supposed to fly directly from Port au Prince to New York earlier that day, only to be bumped to our Ft. Lauderdale flight and then ultimately on to our Miami flight. So, there we were, in a city that none of us were supposed to be in, on a "randomly assigned" hotel shuttle that we wouldn't have been on if I'd had my way, and Matt just "happens" to strike up a conversation with the Governer of the western half of Haiti. I'm pretty sure God was having a good laugh at that point!
After we got to the hotel, Matt asked if they could continue to talk for a few minutes and they spent 15 minutes talking about some of the problems with the Haitian adoption process. This man was willing to give Matt his phone number and email, he also said that he would be willing to have a meeting with our orphanage director to try to become more informed and see what he could do to possibly address some of these issues. This meeting has not taken place yet, but we've passed on the info to our orphanage director and we hope and pray that God will use this divine appointment and connection in mighty and surprising ways in the weeks, months, and years ahead.
Will you please pray with us that this man, Mr. Louis Day, would be used by God and moved to action on behalf of the orphans, biological families, orphanages, (and adoptive families) of Haiti? We know that God can use anyone He chooses to accomplish His purposes and we pray earnestly that He will use this "chance" meeting to truly make a difference for His precious "fatherless" children in Haiti.
And if you are planning any trips soon, be sure to be on the look out for any last minute changes that God may decide to make in your itinerary!!
"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." ~ Proverbs 19:21
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