And the adventure begins.......

So after several extremely emotional days we finally took off early Wed morning. In the still of the early morning as many were just waking up we said a few last tearful goodbyes and as we were driving out of town we watched the sunrise on our new adventure. Little did we know just how that adventure would unfold......
After a pretty uneventful flight from Vancouver, B.C. to Dallas, TX we met my mom at our gate. Since she flew in from Little Rock, AR she was able to meet us as we departed the plane. It was a great gift for Carmen to get to experience the joy of seeing a loved one's smiles as she came off the plane. I remember this being one of the best parts for me when I traveled as a kid. Most of our kids will never experience this joy because of the security issues we face. So, I was grateful that God allowed this small moment for Carmen and my Mom.
We spent the night in Dallas getting to spend time with Mom before we left the US. The next day we arrived at the airport and headed to drop Mom off at her gate. At this point the weather took a turn for the worse...Mom's flight was cancelled. The Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma areas were hit by horrible storms and tornados. We proceeded to all go to our gate as Mom headed off to wait on Standby to get out that night. Joel, Carmen and I settled in for the wait to board. Finally four hours later our flight was cancelled. Now here is where we truly see God's love and mercy in our whole situation......
Before the flight was cancelled Mom ended up being grounded in Dallas until Friday morning so she headed back to us to wait things out. As she was watching Carmen, Joel and I walked to the ticket counter to ask about how we could rearrange our tickets because the delay was going to cause us to miss our connecting flight from Lima to Iquitos. We were the 3rd person in line just wanting to ask a quick question. While waiting the airline cancelled our flight. You can imagine the pandemonium that ensued after the announcement was made! But, God knew this and already had us established in line! We were one of the first people to get flights booked out on the exact same flight just for the next evening as many other had to be re-routed through several airports or fly standby. This normally would have caused us to be quite stressed but we felt a peace in the situation that was only God. I immediately started to call hotels but everyone was booked because all the flights that night were cancelled. Again, God stepped in.... As the ticket agent was getting us booked another lady approached the counter and was being very hostile. the agent helping her ended up having to call security to talk the customer down. While trying to help the customer; the agent found a hotel room but the customer refused the room because she expected the airline to pay. (which they don't do for weather issues) The agent helping us was very nice and since we were being very understandable and accommodating (because it wasn't their fault!!) so he immediately asked us if we wanted that room! Again, God took care of us!! It even had a shuttle which was also a blessing because many people were having to pay cab fare to their hotels. Although we weren't expecting to have to pay for a hotel we took the blessing offered and knew God would take care of us. We were able then to spend a little more time with Mom and get a good nights rest! God is good, All the time.....And All the time, God is good!! As our adventure begins with blessings we are excited to see where God is going to take us and the blessings to come....