The Plane

Wednesday/ July 4th
The Plane Ride

The Lord was so faithful! Of course! In my anticipation for the long journey ahead, I kept praying and placing my trust in him that he would just help us make it through. Finally the Holy Spirit prompted me with the question- “What is it that you are praying for? Are you praying that you or the boy’s won’t be exhausted, that they will be perfect? That they won’t get fussy and cry? Are you asking that you would not loose it or get stressed out?” As I started to think about the line of prayers that I had been praying for, the Holy Spirit revealed his heart to me. “Life is not just about having things easy although sometimes they are. Life many times is very hard.

My line of praying in a way set me up. If the ride was not stress free would that mean that God did not answer my prayer? Then what? I would probably have been frustrated. He reminded me that He has not promised me “easy circumstances” He has promised me Himself! “If you go to the depths, I am there. If you make your bed on the far side of the sea, I am there. And there my hand will surely guide thee. A slight change in perspective is everything. “April, if the boys start to get cranky…I am there. If you start to loose your patience…I will be your strength. If you start to struggle because of cramped space and exhaustion I will uphold you. I will be your strength for this journey.”

We left California Baptist at 8:30 p.m. and loaded a bus for LAX Airport. Mind you this is 10:30 p.m. Opelika time. We arrived at the airport with about 100 other people who would also be flying out with our big group. With our stroller, 4 big suitcases, 7 carry on bags, and boys (Caleb being asleep) we made it with our team (14 of us) through check in. (praise the Lord they did not weigh any of our bags!) Following check-in and a small bite to eat at Burger King we made our way through security. So you can picture this mirical accurately, let me remind you of our 7 carry on bags, stroller (that had to be folded down and placed through the xray machine) 2 laptop computers that had to come out of their bags, 2 ziplock bags full of liquids that had to be placed in the bends, and last but not least taking off of everyone’s shoes- only to get it through the
x-ray machine to then put it all back together again to make it to our gate. Not a problem!

We waited at our gate about an hour and a half playing and reading books. We had one small melt down which we were quickly able to recover from. We loaded the plane at 2 in the morning only to find out the four of us were all in separate seats. What in the world? Needless to say we worked it out and all sat together in the middle isle of the plane. About 45 minutes into the trip the boys fell asleep. Thank you Jesus! Our Dr. Had given us some sleeping pills to help us with the plane ride and jet lag. So Matt suggested that we both take one. I told him that I wasn’t going to take one, because somebody had to be able to wake up if the boys needed something. He assured me that it took a good hour for it to set in and that they didn’t keep you asleep, they just helped you fall asleep. So, I believed him and we both took one. Caleb was laying in my lap and I was dinking a cup of water. About fifteen minutes later I was talking to Matt and without knowing anything I dumped my cup of water on Caleb and fell right to sleep. Matt said that I was clueless. Thankfully it did not wake Caleb up and we all slept about 7 hours! Unbelievable!

The following six hours of our trip had it’s ups and downs but all in all we were so grateful to the Lord and to get off the plane! We had about a 2 hour wait in the airport and a 45 minute bus ride to the college. At this point I was so worn out and needing the journey to be over!

So we get to the college and I am thinking this is great we will be able to go straight to our rooms and crash. Not the case. Let’s go on ahead and tack on 2 more hours for our teams to go through debriefing while the boys and I sat waiting in a cafeteria. Let me just tell you that this is the moment when I started to loose perspective. Of course the boys did just fine, but I had, had all that I could handle. We get to the room and our keys don’t work. So back down we go. Our dorm rooms are great and will serve us just fine while we are here. But on this day of our arrival they were not as clean as you would have hoped for- especially when your two year old runs to the potty and grabs it with both hands. “Oh dear Jesus, I am so desperate!” At this point it is 11:00 am here in Hong Kong and 10:00 pm Opelika time. You would think they would be exhausted- I know I was! So we unpacked a little and went downstairs to the cafeteria to eat lunch. This has been great for me- because I don’t have to leave the University to go eat if I don’t want to. All the cafeteria workers and security guards just love Josh and Caleb. They are all just mesmerized by Caleb’s blonde hair and blue eyes. So we eat lunch and I am thinking surely they will go right down for a nap. Not the case. They had caught their second wind and were bouncing of the walls. Matt was at a leaders meeting getting all the logistics worked out- while logistically speaking I was coming undone! “What’s wrong Mommy?” Josh would ask as he and Caleb were jumping on our beds and throwing our pillows on the not so clean floor. “I am just having a hard time” I said. “Oh mommy it will be ok” he replied.

Finally they went to bed at 4:00 pm HK time and 5 am Opelika time. “Bless their little hearts, they have been real troopers. Thank you Jesus that they are finally sleeping soundly.” They did pretty good through the night. They woke up at 2 am HK time. We watched a Veggie Tale- “Gideon”. The Lord used it to speak to my heart through the old familiar song they sing “His Eye is on the Sparrow”. Thank you Lord for speaking truth to my heart at 2 am through Larry the Cucumber! Back to sleep we went, resting in the care of the Lord.