Hello to all our prayer warriors, friends and family. So, we did not completely make the trip
yesterday. We made it to Raleigh, but
our flight from Raleigh to JFK was cancelled.
Actually, JFK was at a ground stop until 9p-ish due to thunderstorms and
potential flooding in JFK vicinity. But,
we were not able to find any flights out of Raleigh, and so we stayed the
night, and have started over fresh today.
Now, it is human nature to be anxious about these types of schedule
impacts or frustrated about how the schedule and time will be affected, but we
really wanted to leave this all to God.
We really needed to turn it over to Him, and trust He has a reason for
everything, nothing goes to waste. We
had a lot of encouragement, keeping us focused on this, not worrying about how
the work and schedule will be impacted by the day delay.
So, last night, after checking into our room, we headed to
find a restaurant. We were staying at a
hotel located behind a “Buckhead” type shopping center, where we were certain
we’d find a delicious meal. We all
agreed to walk, as it was As we were
walking back, we decided to stop in the Staples store to pick-up some things
and ended up meeting a mother and daughter, who were absolutely amazing. In overhearing Troy talk about buying pencils
and I’m not sure what else, the mother asked about purchasing some for us to
take with us. Before it was all done,
they had donated pencils, markers, highlighters, etc. Amazing!
We headed back to the room, so touched by what this woman had done, not
even knowing us personally. Troy had
given her one of our business cards, and so we were hopeful they would look us
up on the internet and join you and us in prayer. So, back to the room we headed. When we arrived, we received a call from the front
desk letting us know two ladies were waiting for us in the lobby. We came down, and sure enough, there they
were. They just felt a prompting to buy
notebooks for the kids, and bought more supplies. In the conversation, I asked if Troy had
explained what it is we do, and she said no.
I just heard you were working with kids and I knew it was in Africa. In amazement, this absolutely amazing woman
and her daughter were following God’s prompting, not even knowing exactly what
it was about. Seriously wonderful
encounter. Of course we shared a brief
snip-it, and encouraged them to look up on the internet to learn more. Before they left, the mom shared she would
talk to her Sunday School class about praying for us. (We were so blessed…sweet mom/daughter, thank
you for reminding us how God works – and He is always working. If you read this blog update, please email us…we’d
love to get your contact info as well. Onestepinfaith@gmail.com) Karen, I shared with her about how we are
always looking for prayer teams. We don’t
know exactly where God is leading, but we know He is on the move, and yesterday…we
truly were blessed to be a part of it.
Today, as we were validating arrangements and checking on
return situation, we ended up having flight changes on our departure out of
Accra. The flight is now not Sept 2nd out of
Accra, but Sept 4th. I have
to tell you, I was originally stressing – oh gosh – our children…Lord, who will
be able to take care of the children.
Suzanne (Troy’s sister) and her fiancé are taking care of them thru
Monday, and Cody is watching them until we were supposed to be back
Tuesday. However, the Lord covered us
through this too! Todd (Troy’s brother)
and his wife Pypre are picking up Isabella, and so she will get to hang out
with her cousin Maryna for the extra time.
And, Kevin & DiDi, our great friends and board members will keep the
boys. They will seriously love
staying with them. So, the babies, they
are in good hands the whole time we are gone…God is good! So, the next worry hits – oh gosh – work! I will be gone during my part in the month
end close process. OH NO! I made my first call to my friend/co-worker
to discuss options and ask for huge favors to have her pull detail and email me
to prepare while I’m in Ghana. LOL! During this time on the phone, she talked me
off that ledge too! Casie, you are off a day, it is all good. WHAT? Really?! Turns out, we will be home just in perfect
time for me to access and perform my work...right on schedule.
Again, God is good! So, it is not
ideal to be delayed, not ideal to extend our trip timeline last minute, and not ideal to be last minute period in these international
arrangements. But, GOD is ALWAYS on
time, and we trust Him completely, so...I guess from that perspective, we were not delayed and our trip was not extended! Hugs to you all...please keep praying...and we'll try to keep the updates going. Our nephew and Communications director is probably going to be helping make some posts during this time, so...thank you in advance Cody!
Well, I’ll have to type more later. They are calling us to board now. Love to you all…
