near misses

this entire process has been one near miss after another. i have no idea what the meaning behind it all is, but the forces seem to be simultaneously for and against us.

yesterday at 5:30pm we are asked to postpone our trip due to some administrative issues concerning the church paying for anasazi. lindsay and i both flipped out. at 9:30 last night we found that the following appeal worked to allow us to come now:

1. Where is she going to stay. Her stay at the temporary group home ends tomorrow. Tonight is the last night she can stay there. It is not safe for her to be in our house as she has run away, been truant, (edited for paulette's privacy), while in our care. We are not able to provide for her the supervision that she needs.
   
2. School. Paulette is on a 1-week school break beginning Monday through Friday (20-24 Novemeber) because of Thanksgiving. This means that she will have no place to go where she is supervised during the day.
   
3. Thanksgiving. Kimberly and I have made plans for the holiday. We are emotionally drained, and need some time to recuperate and to spend time with family and friends to recharge our batteries. Delaying one week, would actually mean that we would need to travel on Thanskgiving day to enroll her the following day (they take admissions only on Fridays).
   
4. Work/Jobs. This has been a huge drain on our jobs. We have missed over 80 hours of work in the past month. Since we have already alerted our employers about the necessary time off tomorrow and Friday, we fear that changing things now will only irk them further and may jeopordize Kimberly's employment.

then, today we arrived at the airport with plenty of time. we were in good shape. lindsay and i were both upgraded on the long flight. paulette seemed okay. then, 10 minutes before we were to board our plane there was a total and indefinite ground stop due to torrential storms. our layover in cincinnati was to be 50 minutes long. it didn't take long, about 50 minutes, for us to realize that we had missed our connection. we were conflicted: do we fly through cincinnati or atlanta? as we were wrestling with the decision they boarded our plane. the connection we new we were missing was the last flight out of cincinnati. as the flow of travelers moved towards the plane we were swept up. once seated we realized we never really considered what we should do, but the doors were shut. i ask God to make the plane we were connecting on in cincinnati have a mechanical problem so it would still be there when we arrived and we could catch that plane to phoenix.

40 minutes after our connection was due to depart we arrived. we walked out of terminal c onto the bus to terminal b, which left the moment we got on. once at terminal b, i ran like a bat out of somewhere to check on the status of our connection; the tv screen said it was boarding. the sign above the gate said that the flight to phoenix was leaving at 7:20 (it was supposed to have left at 4:40).

"does this mean i didn't miss my connection to phoenix?"
placidly, "sure does."
"WOW! that is awesome. can i ask why?"
"massive mechanical problems. the other plane was in no condition to fly. we are getting a plane from seattle to take yall to phoenix"

needless to say, i was kinda freaked out.

i had been really worried that paulette wouldn't see jen. that i wouldn't get to eat costa vida. and that i would not be able to keep my upgrade into first class. it all worked out, but not without some serious stress.

our bags didn't make it though.

the good thing is, we are here and anasazi starts tomorrow. i really really hope this works!

i will add pictures later, but all of my cords to get the photos off my camera are in my checked baggage which i should get tomorrow afternoon.