Snow Day!!

So I was scheduled to fly out of Salem, Oregon bright and early… (ok more early than bright, the sun wasn’t up yet) Monday morning. Well, Sunday night it started snowing, but we didn’t think too much of it. We were not that far from the airport and Salem never gets that much snow. I said goodbye to the not-so-small children and we all went to sleep. I woke up at 4am and there was snow on the ground, but not much, maybe 2 or 3 inches and it wasn’t icy, just snow. It was BEAUTIFUL. Kellie and I left for the airport and made it to the airport by 5am without problems.
The first thing I noticed as we drove up to the airport was there was NO plane. Salem is a one plane airport, so you really notice the lack of one! :o) As we were getting out of the car, the security folks were outside and said I had better go in and talk to the people at the desk. The plane had not been able to land the night before so the flight that morning had been cancelled. I was rebooked onto the afternoon flight. Since there was NO ONE else at the airport, Kellie and I started talking to the ladies as they were looking at my information. It was then that they realized I had been rebooked to Salt Lake City but not all the way through to Caracas, and further that I would not make any of my connections. I told them I would rather be stuck in Salem (with the kids playing in the snow!) than in the Salt Lake City Airport for 24 hours. She got on the phone to work it out. She was wonderful! She really went to bat for me, even arguing with the Delta people that their responsibility was to get me to my final destination. She worked on it for almost ½ an hour. I couldn’t believe what she told me when she got off the phone! I went from a itinerary that was 24 hours of travel with two 5 ½ hour layovers to a 12 hour travel day with two 1 hour layovers and an extra day in Salem! God is AMAZING!!!!
Meanwhile, back at Kellie’s house Rob received a call from Salem School District that school was cancelled and a phone call from Kellie that my flight was cancelled. Rob went in to tell the VERY sleepy children that school was cancelled, they each separately reacted the same… ok dad… going back to sleep now… then he said, and Aunt Kimi’s flight was cancelled so she is here another day… Their eyes shot open… REALLY? They were awake now!
The drive back from the airport was much more interesting as the snow was now packed and freezing.
Since it was still dark when I got back to Kellie’s I decided to try and sleep a bit but I couldn’t sleep. I was worried about this and that, and just couldn’t get my thoughts calmed down. It was during all that that the Lord gently said, “will you just relax and take this as the gift it was intended to be!” I finally relaxed, and 15 minutes later Aric was standing next to the couch in his snow gear waiting for me!
We had such fun! Sledding, making several snow men, we even threw a few snowballs. We drank hot chocolate with marshmallows and just generally had a wonderful day!!!
So I got back to Venezuela 12 hours later than I had planned, but got a whole extra day with Rob and Kellie and the kids! Thanks, Lord, for the gift!