Changing Plans

I wasn’t expecting to get a phone call from my Costa Rica this morning. I didn’t recognize the number but am so glad I answered anyway! “Mom!! It’s Allie! My plans have changed...” Why was she calling long-distance and wasn’t she supposed to be on a plane?

(We interrupt this student teaching experience to fly back to the Whitworth University campus and take some specific teacher education classes for two weeks. Yep, the extra back-and-forth tickets are on the credit card-ouch!)


Allie is having the time of her life down in Costa Rica. She’s comprehending Spanish,and enjoying new friends, the culture, the food,and the Christian school where she's student teaching. Thanks to Whitworth University "South", my girl is immersed in a whole different part of God’s world.

I was at the Chicago Art Museum when I walked by a wall map and saw on a big-scale how FAR AWAY my daughter is! Central America is quite a long distance from Gig Harbor, Washington! We Skype to stay in touch.

Allie was supposed to be on a plane on her way to Dallas, then Spokane today. Apparently her plane didn’t show up and instead she is being re-routed to Miami. She and her best friend are being put up in a hotel, and then flown to Seattle/Spokane tomorrow. She told me they’re learning to “go with the flow”.

I am not nearly as flexible but I’m getting “stretched”. (Remember, I was the Jr. High cheerleader who couldn’t do the splits.) Thankfully, Allie’s arriving tomorrow around 2:00 p.m. I had made plans to drive across the state tomorrow to spend the afternoon with my girl and have a birthday dinner with her, visit her college brother T.J. and take my youngest on an official campus tour. I'm a planner. The no-show plane almost ruined MY plans, but in reality my schedule has just been altered by two hours.

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Imagine ten years ago when families and friends of the 9/11 victims and first responders heard the news of what those planes had done. Their plans were changed; not just for the week, but for a lifetime... Let's continue to pray for the 9/11 families. "God brings good out of bad circumstances." Romans 8:28

Lessons Learned:“Going with the flow” is a necessary part of the journey and surely Skype was invented to make Mommas happy.

In His Grip, Jane