Well I must say I have seen a lot of miracles unfold in the last few days.
It all starts with our trip to Europe which we’ve been planning for since about February. I’ve been super excited about it and counting down until we leave!
Side note: When we're gone on vacation for a long period of time, we rent out our house through Airbnb. It is some work getting all our personal things packed, but it helps us make a lot of money which offsets the vacation cost! And as an added bonus we really get the house super clean, extremely organized, and also do a lot of decluttering.
So the first miracle happened when our house still wasn’t rented out while we were gone (which means about a $1600-$2000 difference for us!). I remember thinking: “shoot, it needs to get rented!” And then the thought — have you even asked God for help yet? “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Luke 11:9). The very next day after I prayed in faith for it to get rented, I got a request to book — which turned out to be our future renter!
Ready for a slew of miracles? I really do believe the Lord’s hand is in my life.
Our first leg of the journey was to NYC — we left at midnight SLC time and got there about 6:30 am. Then we had our flight to Barcelona from NYC that night at 10 pm.
Tom was sitting up a few rows with Violet and I was towards the back with Theo and Blake. Overall, the flight was good. For some reason though, I couldn’t check us in to our next flight.
So after we landed in NYC, I tried again to check in. But this time I thought, maybe I need to add our passport info before I can check in.
✨ Miracle #2: I happened to grab Tom’s passport first.
That’s when I noticed the thing. His expiration date was over a year ago!!! 😱😱😱
Well shoot. Now we had two choices. Keep it and hope they don’t notice or try to renew ASAP (we had 12 hours until our next flight).
Or cancel the trip and just go home. (I was NOT game for that as I had already invested so much financially and emotionally into this trip!!)
After making a bunch of calls, we found out it would be $1600 AND 6 business days before a third party could renew his passport. Plus the cost of him staying in NYC and me being alone in Europe for that long with 3 kids sounded like way too much — and no guarantees.
✨ Miracle #3: I called the passport control office in Washington D.C. AND
✨ Miracle #4: We got a last-minute appointment.
Blessedly, I talked to the nicest lady. She helped us find the next available appointment (10 am the next day in Houston). There was basically no availability anywhere else for weeks and weeks. And the two other appointments (10 am that day aka in 2 hours in Boston and 9:30 am that day in Vermont) were impossible — Boston got booked while I was on the phone and we didn't have enough time for Tom to fly to Vermont in time for the appointment.
So off Tom went to Houston and there we were — me and 3 kids hanging out in NYC for the day! Our flight had randomly changed to the next night, September 2 (more on this later!) so I booked an Airbnb while the kids watched a movie in the airport.
✨ Miracle #5: A very nice lady on Airbnb took our instant booking (I tried 3 or 4 other places with no luck!) and earlier check in.
We made it on the bus to the Airbnb with zero hiccups (other than a tough time with our stroller, carryon, and kids in a very crowded bus). While we were there, I tried to check our flight again. WHAT THE?! All the sudden the flight was back on for tonight, September 1 at 10 pm! Crap. So that meant I was probably flying to Europe alone, 7 months pregnant, with 3 kids ages 5 and under...yikes.
I called the airline to see if there was any chance we could change our flights. None. So Tom rebooked his flight to Barcelona from NYC for Saturday, September 3 hoping that he would have his passport by then.
Getting dinner at the airport before out redeye flight.
And off we went. I prayed and prayed that the flight would go okay, that I would be okay traveling like that with 3 kids, and that Tom would be able to meet us in Barcelona. If not....I would either be stuck in Europe longer until Tom could meet us...or we'd have to pay to buy new tickets back home.
When I got on the plane, people were looking at my like I was crazy for traveling like that! Which, of course, I am. But I wanted to say (and I did to a few people): "I never intended for this! My husband was supposed to be with me!"
After minor stress at the airport (LEVEL told us the wrong gate 😡), we made it on the plane in one piece! Of course right when we got settled into our seats, ALL 3 KIDS STARTED BAWLING 🤣 🤣 🤣. The people in the row behind us looked at me and I just started laughing. I told them I had to laugh to not cry. Luckily I got a good movie on for Theo and Blake and then Violet decided to lie down on my lap and go to sleep.
✨ Miracle #6: All 3 kids slept 95% of the Transatlantic plane ride!
You can say it was the melatonin, you can say it was the time of the flight, but I know it was a miracle that all 3 of them slept the majority of the flight and there were no more tears after those first few minutes! I was even able to get up and go to the bathroom a few times without any issues. Oh and none of my kids threw up or peed themselves or had a blow out so that was also a major bonus!
✨ Miracle #7: We made it to Spain in one piece and in surprisingly cheerful spirits. And we made it easily to our Airbnb who also let us check in early.
We amazingly had no stress getting through customs or going through the airport and we found an easy way to get to our Airbnb (an easy metro ride with 1 transfer). A miracle was that our apartment building door was open so I was able to drop off our stroller and big suitcase at the door before the cleaning lady got there to let us in early.
On the metro from the airport to our Airbnb.
There is also this DELICIOUS fruit store right under our apartment and we got the most amazing fruit there for the cheapest prices while we waited for the cleaning lady to give us the key. It was sooo amazing!
✨ Miracle #8: TOM GOT HIS PASSPORT!!! And in the same day too.
I was so so happy when he told me the news that I wanted to cry.
✨ Miracle #9: We survived (and thrived for some moments too) in Spain while we anxiously awaited our Tom Cat's arrival!
We found such a good place for this!
This included things like:
* Getting churros con chocolate
* Playing at multiple playgrounds
* Eating lots of delicious cheap fruit from said fruit store
* Grocery shopping and converting the kids to love fresh mozzarella as much as I do!
* Watching movies (Pocahontas, Ratatouille, etc.)
* Going to church
*Adjusting to the new time zone with jet lag (SOS)
P.S. I won't lie to you and tell you it's all been super easy and fun 100% of the time. I have definitely had a shorter fuse than usual (hello kids bouncing off the walls last night until 3 am), and I have been on edge some of the time. But overall, I have truly felt that God was and is watching over us and it's all going to work out!
Signing off now, because Tom just landed in Barcelona and is on the metro on his way to me 😍 Ta ta!