Hearing God's Voice

It’s been A DAY.

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

 

“A leisurely travel day.”  That’s what Steve said.  Famous last words.

Our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 5pm, which is a big change from the 6am flights we’ve taken home from Spain to Munich in the past.  Clearly, today is going to be a total breeze, a vacation in itself, really…

Steve found a new restaurant on the beach near the airport for us to try out on our route.  I had to check off my list of To-Do’s and we’d be on our way.  But let’s face it, a mom’s list is always longer than we first think it is and there are always more obstacles in the way of accomplishing it than we expect.  By the time we’d left the house, I was, according to my husband, “in a wretched mood”.

I apologized in the car to the whole family and told myself that I really need to try to be more relaxed in these situations in the future.

We made it to our restaurant and grabbed a table with a front line view of the Sea.  As expected, lunch was simply great… minus when I nearly burned my feet off running after the kids who’d found a play ground that was much too far away, or when Brenner went into melt down and told us all that he would NOT be joining us on the airplane because our food came out before his, or that moment when Sawyer flipped his plate of food onto the sand, or even when we stopped paying attention just long enough to take a quick drink and saw that Sawyer went for a walk down the shore line – apparently planning to reach the next village before he stopped.

Well then, relaxing lunch behind us, we were now running a bit late for our flight.  In the car, Brenner started crying because his neck was hurting for some unexplainable reason (i.e. he’d been looking down at his iPad for too long).  And, while Brenner cried to me, Steve spoke over him, discussing our plan of attack for checking-in.

Heather Job’s:  Take Danielle (our treasured au pair for the next 2 months), the kids, the car seats, the luggage, all 4 carry-on’s and get us checked-in.

Steve Job’s: Return rental car and meet us at the counter.

(Super great plan for one of the parents)

With the airport cart loaded to an unsafe height, I promptly pulled it off of the curve too hard, sending car seats loudly crashing to the ground.  This was also the moment that Brenner chose to stop walking and start screaming about not being able to ride on the overly packed trolly.  Also, he was furious for having to carry his personal teeny tiny suitcase (which he’d begged me to buy him on this very trip), Oh, and his neck STILL HURTS.

Now, with a tearful 5 year old and a hungry 2 year old (his food left in the sand, let us not forget) we made it to our ticket counter.  Danielle stood in the line as I started my most favorite chore of wrapping car seats in garbage bags with a miles worth of packing tape.  Sweating, I got up to realize I’d put Danielle in the wrong line.  Now, finding the correct line, we got all of our seat requirements worked out:

Sawyer in a row with me – BEHIND Brenner and Steve – so that when he inevitably kicks the seat in front of him there won’t be a stranger to yell at me about my poor parenting.  Which would cause me to follow that passenger off of the plane at close range all the way to the luggage belt, while convincing myself that giving them a special piece of my mind would be less satisfactory than I feel it would be… not that this has ever happened before.

Steve has now rejoined us, having signed that document with the nice rental return people, he was surely exhausted (wink).  And he needed to get through security within the next 10 minutes in order to jump on a call for work.  He said he’d take ONE kid.  I gave him Sawyer – in my opinion, the most difficult of the two.  He said, “No, I want Brenner”.  So I gave him Brenner.  Of course, Sawyer promptly welled up with loud tears and let the whole ticket area know he’d just been cheated of his father.  Steve, in desperation to get him quiet, took him back.

I was headed towards the bulky luggage to give up my massive container of “trash bagged car seats”.  And I hadn’t noticed the silent cry Brenner was now in until it was too late.  Steve was gone and the kid “left behind with mama” felt sorely cheated.  So the long walk to our next belt was a bit of a challenge.

Security was next.  2 computers, 2 iPads, 2 kid waters, 2 mini suitcases, a diaper bag, a watch, a kid, and a belt later, we were through.

The flight is already boarding.  And it is the furthest possible gate from where we are standing.  Steve is still on his call – expertly using the mute button, while gesturing for us to hurry and catch up to him.  I’m carrying what’s easily 40 pounds of weight on my shoulders and Danielle is trying to get the kids to not board any elevators, escalators or stairs that we pass along our long walk (because these are their absolute obsession in life).

We make it to the gate and I realize I need to change Sawyer’s diaper.  I get out of line and send the others on their way.  As I crouched over him on the dirty airport floor, the thought comes to me:  “This day will be a breeze” and I can’t help but laugh a little sarcastically to myself out loud.

On the airplane, we sit down, realize we are in the wrong rows, switch kids, bags, computers, blankets & bunnies and sit down again.

D.O.N.E. — Minus the 3 hour flight, taxi ride home, and unpacking ahead of us.

I reach above my head to find the ridiculously slow the trickle of air from my tiny vent (because I’m sweating once again), close my eyes and take a deep breath.  When I open them, this is what I read directly in front my face:

IMG_2183

The irony did not escape me.

I’d planned all along to write my blog while on this flight.  Truthfully, I’d intended to write about something else altogether, but this little sign, courtesy of Norwegian Air, stopped me dead in my stress-hurricane-tracks.

Here’s the brutal truth:  Sometimes hearing from God feels darn near impossible.  With work, kids, sports, promises, family, bad days, good days, long days, short days and all the junk in between, having time to pee, let alone get a moment to be a light to someone or to hear that still small voice… well, it can seemingly be a joke.

But, with all of our insanities, God is still talking to us.  He is still giving us chance after chance to show his love to our kids, the airport security man, and the on lookers witnessing your break-down moments.  Will you find them?  Will you use them?  Because life is life.  And it’s in our “daily crazy” that we should try hardest to seek and find Him.

After all, we really should “Enjoy our time HERE.  Because we are, in fact, almost THERE.”

 

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  • haileyhiggs April 14, 2014 at 12:28 pm

    haha I laughed out loud throughout this post! I can just imagine all of it! But thank you Norwegian Air for reminding us of a truth we ALL need to remember on a daily basis! Ps we need to meet this new Au Pair of yours!

    • Heather Yoder April 14, 2014 at 8:27 pm

      You would love this new au pair, she’s one of my favorite people on the planet. Maybe you all can have a “date night” sometime soon 😉 She’d totally adore you…

  • Erica April 14, 2014 at 2:28 pm

    Powerful insight! And, a great reminder to us all that we need to capture the moments (both enjoyable and challenging)…and not forget to celebrate along the way as we do! [Thankful for your blog on Mondays!]

  • Gary & Sandy Barlett April 14, 2014 at 3:09 pm

    I think even the small print on that magazine gives us food for thought. Life is “more than a game”. It will make sense when “The Master returns”. Isn’t it amazing that God takes the little things in life (like a magazine), speaks to us and they become the big things? Reminds me of your “au pair”. Enjoy and thanks for sharing.

    • Heather Yoder April 14, 2014 at 8:31 pm

      Well you found a whole new blog in my blog. And I think that makes YOU more like a certain au pair than it makes me like her (but who are we kidding, we all want to be like Danielle). And, so you know, had I done that travel day without her, this post would have been waaay more angry. She’s pretty much fantastic.

      • Gary & Sandy Barlett April 17, 2014 at 3:25 pm

        Now if she can come up with a washable car seat all the young mothers will be wanting to be like her!
        Her dad wants to know if she was driving on two wheels and that is what made Sawyer sick! Only kidding, of course.

  • Debra Jean April 15, 2014 at 4:50 am

    Heather, I’m crying, laughing, laughing, crying…..repeat!! You always write just what I need to hear! Life is certainly not always a bowl full of cherries, like people lead you to believe….I appreciate your honesty and love!!!! See you very soon!!

    • Heather Yoder April 15, 2014 at 8:18 am

      I just hope you are laughing more than crying when you live it right with me in THREE DAYS! Oh, these kids are amazing and they will make you laugh a lot (and just might drive you a little nutty sometimes too). But you are exactly right, life can throw us some pretty tough pills to swallow. 😉 But you’ve taught me that you just keep loving those around you no matter what. You are very good at finding the bright side of all situations. I love that about you.

  • Miriam May 13, 2014 at 9:23 pm

    Heather, you are hilarious. i can imagine every part of it like it’s happening to me! now i have to take a deep breath immediately before the stress hormones are released, LOL. kidding. love the story, and love the point of it all. i think God gives us days like this just to make us long for His return ;-).

    • Heather Yoder May 14, 2014 at 2:39 pm

      I knew you would relate to this one! You have a heart like mine in these crazy situations. 😉