Our pastor frequently speaks about the favor of the Lord; some may call this coincidence or fortune, we know it to be providence.
The trip to Russia was planned with great haste; in the hopes that we could possibly bring our baby home before Christmas. We knew it would be difficult to find seats on a flight to Russia one week before departure. We had specific dates to travel as given to us by our agency. We bought two of the last three available seats on the flight to Moscow. They were not together, but we knew that 12 hours on a flight apart would be little in comparison to the years we have spent longing for a child.
We called the airline several times over the last week to see if any seats had opened up. But the answer was always the same; the flight is full, and the only probability of seats together is to check the day of the flight in person at check-in. So we waited; and arrived at the airport in Lexington several hours before the flight time. The ticket agent gave us a few possibilities and we were able to find seats together in the middle section by another passenger. We were very happy with this turn of events and settled in for a nice long wait before takeoff to Atlanta.
When we arrived in Atlanta we had several hours before our flight was to leave for Moscow, so we decided to check with the ticket agent about the possibility of seats on the side of the plane. This may sound like a trivial thing, but in coach on a 12 hour flight, you would prefer to sit on the side so you may sleep in peace. Eric has worked for two different airlines and knew the chances to be slim to nothing. We began the long wait in line with many other passengers to speak to a ticket agent. We listened as many people went away unhappy with their outcomes.
Our turn came and we relayed our request to the ticket agent. She said that the people in front of us had just asked for the exact thing we wanted. They had been told that there was no possibility of changing seats. She looked up the flight and as expected there were no options. She said to wait and she would ask the person handling the flight.
As we waited we talked about how blessed we were to have seats together on the flight. It didn’t matter that we would be like sardines in a can with the third person in our row. We were flying halfway around the world to meet a little boy that may be our son.
She returned and started typing and before we knew what was happening she was telling us that we were in seats 18a and b, two seats by ourselves on the left side of the plane. She handed us our new boarding passes and we walked away from the counter not knowing what hit us. We both were speechless, remembering the couple in front of us with the same request.
We sat down and started talking about what our pastor had prayed for us the night before. He had prayed that the favor of the Lord would be upon us. We knew then that it was.
Hours later we boarded the plane and walked to our seats. We had the seats behind the bulkhead, the seats with the most legroom in coach. And over the wing, the best place to be for airsickness.
We had been assigned the seats we would have chosen if we were able to pick any seat we wanted.
It is the end of a long journey and the beginning of another. For me, personally, I’ve dealt with every level of emotion over the past 3 years. The past three years…. Hmmm… Has it ONLY been that long? For me at least, it seems I’ve been hoping to be a father for multiple lifetimes. Well, it seems
I just want to mention how much I appreciate everyone’s support and prayers! I’ll have more to write when I can see and type straight…. Good night!
Eric
