Travel Day, Oct 13, 2009

As expected, travel day was full of surprises. After arriving at the airport in Santa Barbara, in a windy rain, my flight was changed. At first I was not phased, the new departure time was within a comfortable window, but soon it changed to 4:30 and then quickly to 6:50. This was not going to work as my flight from SFO was due to leave at 7:08!

Carl quickly jumped into action. The couple seated next to us join us as well, as we were booked on the same flights. The agent booked us into San Jose with a cab to SFO, with a very limited window. We began to pray. Carl assured me that I was going to make this fight, I had work to do in France, and I was not going to be delayed. He then made arrangements with Mr. Sullivan to be my escort, placed me in his care, and off we went to catch our new flight. Our goodbye was short and sweet.

The wind and rain swept our plane and I quietly prayed. "Lord," I prayed, " I know that you can stop time, speed up our plane supernatuarally and even hold our international flight on the ground. This I know you can do, so I'm trusting that if you want me on this flight, it will be done."

I chatted frequently with my new companions about my praying friends, the school here in France, and our common bond of tennis. All the while, the rain and wind pounded our small plane. I tried to keep the conversation light and postive, but the Sullivan's were not as sure about making our connection. All that changed very quickly. After we landed in San Jose, our luggage arrived on the gondola at break neck speed, a cab was immediately available, the rain had stopped, And to top it all off, the cap driver informed us that we could make it to the airport in 32 minutes In fact, he stated that we'd be there at 6:02, giving us more that enough time to make our flight. The mood in our little cab brightened immediately as we quickly made our way down the busy freeway. Our lane cruise briskly along. Only once did we slow down. In keeping with God's extra-ordinary answer to my prayer, we indeed pulled up to the international terminal at 6:02 exactly.

I soon learned that my friends who were traveling to France with me, were experiencing similar trivals. Theirs in the form of slowed traffice due to accidents on the freeway and rainy BART terminals. Our plane? Even though international flights are given first priority for take-off, our flight was delayed by 50 minutes.

We are all safe and sound at beautiful Champflueri. We're off today to a monastary. The weather is brisk today. Much different from our California weather. So today is a layers days. Anna has arrived so we're off soon. Au Revoir my friends. We'll talk soon!