My Angel

Well, a lot has happened in the past year with the birth of our son and Landon’s first year in the big leagues..but I feel like more has happened in the past week than all that combined! To say that this past week has been insane would be a DRASTIC understatement!! In all of our years of baseball, Landon and I have never been moved back and forth. We have always started in one place and stayed for a while before being moved up, to which we have stayed up. This year, that is not so. In an unexpected turn of events Landon started this season back in the minor leagues again (despite the fact that he had a really good year last year), but was called back up last week. I had planned to meet Landon in Las Vegas since we haven’t seen him in a month (Holden and I went home when Landon was moved down because we didn’t have a home!) so this meant I had to cancel our flight to Vegas and Sacramento and book a new one to Tampa to meet him and then book one back to Greenville, then out to Oakland. I no sooner got all of that done then when we found out Landon had been moved back down two days later. I found this out 9 pm on Friday and realized now, I could still make my Vegas flight, but I had to fly out the next morning at 7!! So, I hurried to do laundry and get the house in order to leave it for a month or so. Needless to say, we left poor Sasha at home this time.
Holden and I made it to the airport on time the next morning only to find, we were delayed to Atlanta because of the tornadoes!! When we finally boarded and made the 30 minute flight down to the peach state we get there in time to watch our plane leave! We missed our connection in Atlanta and were stranded! Now, for those who aren’t Mothers yet…these words are DEVASTATING to hear when your son is crawling all over the place, you have been up since 5am and you have NO HELP. The airlines informed me that they couldn’t put me on any flights that day until that night and even then, they probably wouldn’t leave because the weather was supposed to get WORSE!! I was on standby for about three flights (by then Holden was clothes were brown from crawling around the nasty airport floor, and I was sleepwalking). The woman at the counter then informed me that my priority as a standby person had been restarted because I had made a phone call to the delta customer service to see if there is anything else I can do. I then lost it…broke down to the woman at the counter ( and I mean the ugly crying that is really embarrassing..I guess the stress got to me) and she put me on the next flight (guess she could have done that all along) I got to Vegas only to find, my luggage was lost and we had no clothes. I stood in yet another line to get our luggage delivered to find out it wouldn’t be there until the next day…awesome, I told Holden, guess we are going naked. We finally arrived to the hotel in Sin City and you would think yes….happy ending right?? Not so much! After waiting in a 30 minute line just to get our key to the room, we get up there in time to go back to sleep. We enjoyed a wonderful two evenings in Vegas and about the time we get our luggage…Landon gets the news…He is back up. Now don’t get me wrong, we were ecstatic…but oh my. I changed my flight to go back to Sacramento (at least this way I can go to the apt Landon had gotten us and wait until he gets back in Cali). Holden and I leave EARLY the next morning still jet lagged and now going on three days NO SLEEP. We get to Sacramento only to walk out into a rain storm with monsooning winds. We were supposed to pick up a teammates car, so we take the shuttle to the economy car lot. Now, when I tell you we take the shuttle to the lot I mean…Me, Holden, car seat, stroller and about a month’s worth of luggage somehow stumble onto the shuttle filled with people all staring at me like I am crazy for doing this…looking like we haven’t slept in days. Not a pretty sight, let me tell you…you know it’s bad when you see that look on people’s faces. One sweet angel of a man helped me on the shuttle..and I can’t say enough about him. The shuttle finally drops us off in the HUGE parking lot in which I was told to go right and just find the car. Now friends, let me tell you..just go right means nothing in this never-ending sea of cars. As the rain pours down on us, Holden is winching and shuttering because he is being drowned in the downpour. At one time I let go of the stroller and he blew across the parking lot with me running after him..that is about the time I just let go of my luggage ..actually I put it in a parking spot and abandoned it to find the car. That is probably now why my laptop is broken…it fell in a puddle. I called my friend over and over to no avail..and for the second time in a week, I broke down. We were drenched, tired, cold and lost . Literally, I went up and down rows and found nothing..not even their panic button worked. About that time my angel of a man came back! In his white truck he pulled up and said, "Can I help you?” Now you have to understand, as a baseball wife, I am pretty independent and not one to ever take a lot of help, so I didn’t really want to say yes..then he asked “Can I drive you around to find the car? “ I didn’t know what else to do, and was so grateful. He loaded all our things up and put us in the car and we drove until we found the car. I could have given him the biggest hug!
I tell you this story to say…God is always taking care of you. I know for a fact he put that man in my life to help. Some may say in a life like this where you don’t know where you will be tomorrow night or where your children will lay their heads…it is impossible to stay sane and I would agree….IF I didn’t have my Lord and Savior. I have struggled greatly with trusting God’s plan for our lives this year….and God has answered that with two words “Perfect Peace” One day, in a matter of thirty minutes, God brought one verse to my attention THREE times..coincidence, I THINK NOT! The verse? “ You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3. That has been the motto I have lived by in the past month. My friends…I am a living testimony to the fact that anyone can have peace…because as anyone who knows me will testify, I am a bag of stress and nerves 99% of the time, and miraculously…this year, I am calm and confident in God’s plan for our lives, no matter where that may take us tomorrow..or even in the next hour!!