Pray for a Miracle - Get a Miracle! Part 2
I know what you're thinking: 5 months of silence, now we can't get her to shut up! Okay, I promise this will be the last post for a while! I just have so many crazy stories to tell!! :)
Part 1, of this miracle series, you'll remember, entailed a great deal of logistical impossibilities which were all wondrously accomplished by the hand of my Gracious Heavenly Father. Well, this story is perhaps even more unbelievable! First of all ...well, let me start at the beginning!
At the end of a wonderful tour in DC with many adventures of its own, I flew to Philadelphia to spend the weekend with dear old friends and make a few more along the way. I enjoyed myself immensely! (Alas, this post isn't about the weekend, or I'd tell you more.) But Monday rolled around and it was back to the grind. I had to fly out in the AM, but I had a few errands on the way: I had to print off my itinerary at the school where my friend's mum works and stop at Wawa for coffee. :) My friend's dear father found himself as my chauffeur and companion for the early and long trip from Lansdale to the Philadelphia Airport. We eventually arrived with plenty of time to spare. After checking in and finding my way to my gate (in the smelliest terminal known to man), I settled into the Word while I waited. It wasn't long before the announcement was made that my flight was delayed indefinitely - at least 2 hours. Yikes. I had to meet my group at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in 2 hours! I alerted the ACTS office of the potential issue. The crisis level was only a 5 at that point: my group was scheduled to eat lunch at the airport, so that would kill some time; and my flight would be short, so we'd be able to leave on time together - IF that plane arrived and left in 2 hours.
Well, it didn't. Ninety minutes later, the announcement was made that the flight had been canceled. All other flights to BWI were full. Ground transport was being arranged. The foreshadowed words of my friend's dad that morning were heard in my head, "you could have ridden back to DC with Amy last night." What irony! Before I could even call the office, I received a text from the organizer of the school group, "we're here!" Nice. If only *I were!
While I waited for more details concerning the promised ground transportation, the ACTS office was exploring other possibilities for my arrival in Baltimore. Eventually, the airline declared that the bus to BWI would be *departing in 3 hours for the 2 hour ride! Yea, that wasn't helpful. Just then my phone alerted me of an email from the office: my rental car confirmation number. I stopped to laugh at the crazy adventure this was turning into before I inquired quickly about retrieving my luggage which I'd checked earlier - it would be at baggage claim E, I was told. So I hustled off to terminal E. A long walk and a short shuttle ride later, I was at the baggage claim info office where they told me the ridiculous news that though I had failed to get on a flight to BWI my suitcase had not! It would be in Maryland in an hour. One less thing to lug around. :)
I dashed outside to catch the shuttle to the car rental lots; sometime later I was standing in the ever growing and extremely slow line at Avis. I think I was the only person smiling in the whole room -I just can't help but love crazy. When my phone went off and the unmistakable theme of Doctor Who filled the room, an old guy (clearly a fan from the beginning days in the 60's) in line struck up a conversation having recognized the theme as the 10th Doctor's! :). And how sweet when the Avis lady, aware of my plight and noticing my American Christian Tours logo on my shirt, said a quick prayer for me and my group! It's things like that that make life's detours worth traveling!
Anyways, I eventually hopped into my complimentary upgraded vehicle, plugged my phone into my new $10 car adapter, punched in BWI to Waze, cranked up the tunes, and I was off! I just love road trips! Seriously, at that moment I really didn't care that I'd be hours behind schedule. God had a plan, and it was a beautiful day!
You may be wondering what in heaven's name my group was doing while I was gadding about the East Coast. Well, the ACTS office - always a wonder - had contacted them and my bus driver and had sent them to Fort McHenry (you'll remember, its flag was the inspiration for our National Anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner") for the afternoon. Ironically, I ended up waiting on *them! The drive went off without incident, my baggage had arrived as promised, and my group was experiencing the honor of assisting with the flag lowering at the Fort!
How strange it felt boarding my own bus after my group had already been on it for hours! Thankfully they weren't complete strangers: I'd had the teacher on a trip last year. But a tricky evening lay before us. That afternoon we were supposed to have seen the WWII Memorial, Washington Monument, & the White House. As it was, we made it into DC just in time for dinner at the Reagan Building. But I wasn't worried. I had Jesus and a plan. There were a few things in our favor that night: a) God b) traffic was relatively light c) there were only 12 people in the group, and d) they weren't from California (aka they could walk fast! :).
Dinner was a cinch: nobody was at the Reagan food court, and 6th graders don't take long to eat. We left 15 minutes early and made the short walk to the White House. Our bus driver, Neil, had miraculously found a parking spot nearby, so we had an easy go of getting to our next stop: the WWII Memorial which also included the Washington Memorial photo op. After which, we opted for the nontraditional route of walking to the Korean and Lincoln Memorials - both of which had been scheduled for that evening - to save us travel time. At that point, however, we were met with the ever unpredictable DC weather: it began to rain! I was a little worried they'd want to bail since none of them were prepared (because I hadn't boarded the bus with them at the airport, they didn't receive the friendly reminder to get their rain gear out from their luggage). But what troopers! They insisted we press on.
At the end of the day, we were checked into our hotel only 15 minutes past our scheduled time! We had eaten dinner, seen everything we'd been scheduled to see, plus the added bonus of Fort McHenry!! Only 15 minutes late! What a day! I can't help but exclaim, like the aluminum capstone atop the Washington Monument, "Laus Deo" - "Praise be to God"!
Part 1, of this miracle series, you'll remember, entailed a great deal of logistical impossibilities which were all wondrously accomplished by the hand of my Gracious Heavenly Father. Well, this story is perhaps even more unbelievable! First of all ...well, let me start at the beginning!
At the end of a wonderful tour in DC with many adventures of its own, I flew to Philadelphia to spend the weekend with dear old friends and make a few more along the way. I enjoyed myself immensely! (Alas, this post isn't about the weekend, or I'd tell you more.) But Monday rolled around and it was back to the grind. I had to fly out in the AM, but I had a few errands on the way: I had to print off my itinerary at the school where my friend's mum works and stop at Wawa for coffee. :) My friend's dear father found himself as my chauffeur and companion for the early and long trip from Lansdale to the Philadelphia Airport. We eventually arrived with plenty of time to spare. After checking in and finding my way to my gate (in the smelliest terminal known to man), I settled into the Word while I waited. It wasn't long before the announcement was made that my flight was delayed indefinitely - at least 2 hours. Yikes. I had to meet my group at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in 2 hours! I alerted the ACTS office of the potential issue. The crisis level was only a 5 at that point: my group was scheduled to eat lunch at the airport, so that would kill some time; and my flight would be short, so we'd be able to leave on time together - IF that plane arrived and left in 2 hours.
Well, it didn't. Ninety minutes later, the announcement was made that the flight had been canceled. All other flights to BWI were full. Ground transport was being arranged. The foreshadowed words of my friend's dad that morning were heard in my head, "you could have ridden back to DC with Amy last night." What irony! Before I could even call the office, I received a text from the organizer of the school group, "we're here!" Nice. If only *I were!
While I waited for more details concerning the promised ground transportation, the ACTS office was exploring other possibilities for my arrival in Baltimore. Eventually, the airline declared that the bus to BWI would be *departing in 3 hours for the 2 hour ride! Yea, that wasn't helpful. Just then my phone alerted me of an email from the office: my rental car confirmation number. I stopped to laugh at the crazy adventure this was turning into before I inquired quickly about retrieving my luggage which I'd checked earlier - it would be at baggage claim E, I was told. So I hustled off to terminal E. A long walk and a short shuttle ride later, I was at the baggage claim info office where they told me the ridiculous news that though I had failed to get on a flight to BWI my suitcase had not! It would be in Maryland in an hour. One less thing to lug around. :)
I dashed outside to catch the shuttle to the car rental lots; sometime later I was standing in the ever growing and extremely slow line at Avis. I think I was the only person smiling in the whole room -I just can't help but love crazy. When my phone went off and the unmistakable theme of Doctor Who filled the room, an old guy (clearly a fan from the beginning days in the 60's) in line struck up a conversation having recognized the theme as the 10th Doctor's! :). And how sweet when the Avis lady, aware of my plight and noticing my American Christian Tours logo on my shirt, said a quick prayer for me and my group! It's things like that that make life's detours worth traveling!
 |
| I-95 (thanks, Google) |
You may be wondering what in heaven's name my group was doing while I was gadding about the East Coast. Well, the ACTS office - always a wonder - had contacted them and my bus driver and had sent them to Fort McHenry (you'll remember, its flag was the inspiration for our National Anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner") for the afternoon. Ironically, I ended up waiting on *them! The drive went off without incident, my baggage had arrived as promised, and my group was experiencing the honor of assisting with the flag lowering at the Fort!
How strange it felt boarding my own bus after my group had already been on it for hours! Thankfully they weren't complete strangers: I'd had the teacher on a trip last year. But a tricky evening lay before us. That afternoon we were supposed to have seen the WWII Memorial, Washington Monument, & the White House. As it was, we made it into DC just in time for dinner at the Reagan Building. But I wasn't worried. I had Jesus and a plan. There were a few things in our favor that night: a) God b) traffic was relatively light c) there were only 12 people in the group, and d) they weren't from California (aka they could walk fast! :).
 |
| the White House |
Dinner was a cinch: nobody was at the Reagan food court, and 6th graders don't take long to eat. We left 15 minutes early and made the short walk to the White House. Our bus driver, Neil, had miraculously found a parking spot nearby, so we had an easy go of getting to our next stop: the WWII Memorial which also included the Washington Memorial photo op. After which, we opted for the nontraditional route of walking to the Korean and Lincoln Memorials - both of which had been scheduled for that evening - to save us travel time. At that point, however, we were met with the ever unpredictable DC weather: it began to rain! I was a little worried they'd want to bail since none of them were prepared (because I hadn't boarded the bus with them at the airport, they didn't receive the friendly reminder to get their rain gear out from their luggage). But what troopers! They insisted we press on.
 |
| WWII Memorial & Washington Monument |
At the end of the day, we were checked into our hotel only 15 minutes past our scheduled time! We had eaten dinner, seen everything we'd been scheduled to see, plus the added bonus of Fort McHenry!! Only 15 minutes late! What a day! I can't help but exclaim, like the aluminum capstone atop the Washington Monument, "Laus Deo" - "Praise be to God"!
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