Good God

so, the kids started school last week. and as you can only guess- that's going to get it's own post- but that post is not this post.

sometimes I have a wicked good memory- like I remember that I wore this shirt from a pizza parlor in korea and a pair of blue pajama pants the first time that chris and I hung out for an extended amount of time in my apartment in seoul (while my sister and other roommate were home with us!). that day was actually almost ten years ago to the day...

anyhoo, but sometimes my memory is CRAP. like this morning I went to work and I didn't bring my key to get into the office. I told my boss that I forgot my key, but truth be told- I actually couldn't remember the safe spot I put my key in before I left for Toronto.... fortunately, after some prayer and something like scales falling from my brain- I remembered where I left my key. it's not easy being this dumb folks.

anyhoo, I had such an excellent trip back to my other homeland, and I just do not want to forget all the times Jesus personally showed up on my trip, so I am going to write about them here:

- I flew with the kids by myself on a Saturday. I checked our itinerary and it said something to the affect of a united flight in association with us airways. so, who was in charge of the flight?? surely united. so I got to terminal 2, with plenty of time to spare. but I was wrong. it wasn't united- it was us airways that was actually flying me to Chicago. hot diggity. so we busted our buns over to terminal 4, and almost missed our flight. but alas, Jesus knew I was going to be late and crazy, so he let my plane breakdown and gave me an extra hour to catch my breath and get ready for my 3.5 hour flight. the kids- especially Mia, did so great on every flight, and on the 2 hour car ride to my parents house from buffalo. praise Jesus. it was such a good day, even though it could have been ever so terribly bad.

-I left the United States of America without a passport. not wise. not something I would ever recommend that anyone do. ever. but I tried to renew my Canadian passport from Arizona, and apparently that is harder to do than for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle. it was a disaster to put it very lightly. but God is good. all the time. and I was able to drive into Canada with just my Canadian citizenship card, AND I was able to drive back into the USA with just my permanent resident card. so great. you have to have a passport if you are FLYING out of the US into a different country. but if you are driving- not necessary. so awesome. to this day, I still have not received my renewed passport...

-Coming home from Toronto, Mia fell asleep for the entirety of the drive from Toronto to Buffalo. a seriously solid 2 hour nap she took. we flew to Chicago with no problems. then in Chicago Chris and I parted ways. I took Lily and Topher, and Chris took Mia. we were all supposed to be on the same flight home, but priceline changed Chris' flight, so he was on a different flight. ridiculousness. I almost had a panic attack as I envisioned having to fly home with all three kids again, but Chris is the best human being and he took Mia for the long flight home. and she rewarded his awesomeness by sleeping for 2 hours. TWO HOURS. the five and a half hours that I had been on airplanes with Mia two weeks previously- she did not sleep for even ONE SECOND. not a second. but that's ok. we all got home safely and I was SO HAPPY to be home.

we had an incredibly great time in Toronto. but home is sweet. thanks to all of you who lifted us up in your prayers, especially as we traveled. God heard your prayers and answered them all!!!!