One of my favorite kid stories is "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". In the end the little boy, Alexander, wishes he lived in Australia.
Well, today was one of those days for me. We leave for a mission trip to Haiti in a little less than three weeks. This is a mountain hiking trip to run medical clinics in the mountain villages - going places where no doctor normally goes. We sent medicines and all of our other hiking needs to Miami in barrels. From Miami they were to go to Port-de-Paix where the mission we are working with could pick them up. A couple of weeks ago we learned that the barrels would not make it before us. So, we drummed up a plan that involved flying a missionary friend of ours to Miami to rent a truck, pick up the barrels from the boat, and fly them to Haiti via a missionary flight service. My DH called the boat, asked them to hold back our barrels, and promising they would, we set the plan in motion. Our friend arrived in Haiti on Saturday evening, rented the truck this morning, got to the boat only to learn that they had saved the wrong barrels back. Our barrels were three rows deep on the boat and virtually impossible to get to. They - the boat - plan on being in Haiti by the end of the month, but that does not guarantee our stuff will make it through customs in time for us to need it.
All of this happened before I had finished my first cup of coffee!
My DD and DS rode our bikes to the library...that was a lot of fun and other than being a little concerned how they would do, was also very relaxing. We all took some time to peruse books at the library. DD finished a book she had started and DS played on the computer a little bit. I went and found some books for me - after all, if I'm going to encourage my kids to join the summer reading program and meet their goals, I had better do the same! Besides, I got a free water bottle out of it - and not one of the cheesy ones either.
While at the library I learned that the VBS that was maybe not going to happen was now going to happen and I wasn't prepared. No biggie, though, it was an easy lesson and other than having to run to our local Wal-Mart, I had everything we needed! Thank you Jesus!
I dropped all kinds of stuff making dinner and the pile of laundry currently residing on my kitchen table just keeps getting bigger, taunting me. I keep ignoring it. I finally took care of the pile of dirty dishes in my sink that has been taunting me. That one I couldn't ignore any more. It's one of those days when I feel like my house is closing in on me because I'm a little on the stressed side.
But at dinner, just as I sat down (we had to eat outside because of the laundry), my DS says to me, "Thank you for everything you do for us." Out of the blue, no prompting whatsoever (DH is away on a business trip at the moment). By far, my favorite part of the day...both kids gave an example of something I did for them. It was the ONE thing that brought warmth to my heart at that time.
VBS was fun and I always love singing and making a fool of myself with kids...and I got to do that tonight. Doing the VBS got me away from my worries, if only for a little while. It was good.
And so now, it is late, getting close to bed time even, and I'm stuck with my thoughts. My DH and I are supposedly organizing this trip...not the financials, just the logistics. This trip has ended up costing way more than we thought it would/should - about $300 a person more. Somewhere in me I feel like we have failed because the barrels won't be there and now we have to ask everyone to buy sleeping bags, camping mats, food, water bottles, etc., over again. For us, as with most on the trip, budgets don't have that much play in them. But, we leave in less than three weeks and we have little choice but to do that.
This is just another one of those times when God is telling us that we need to stop meddling in HIS plans and just let things happen. We have done what we thought was right and planned it out, but apparantly HIS plans and our plans aren't matching up. Of course, he could just be telling us that we need to trust HIM and stop trying to do things our way. Who knows!!! I know that we have learned not to ship stuff down there again. But is that the only lesson we could be learning right now? There must be more...shouldn't there? Questions followed by more questions. That's usually what happens when we're asked to trust God without question or arguement. When we can't see the outcome is when he asks us to just put the blindfold on and take his hand. He has to lead, and all I can is to follow his voice and keep hold of his hand. We've been down this trusting path before - after Jonathan passed away and when we met Joshua. When we went to Haiti in September, we didn't know exactly why, just knew we had to go. And God showed us - Joshua. We don't know what God is going to do in three weeks, we just know we need to go. I trust and believe that he will show us when we get there. Praise God for HIS plan!!!
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