We had our first family trip involving planes this past Monday. Ray has flown twice before, but this was the first time all three of us battled air travel together, with it’s myriad of joys. The flights went very well, but I didn’t recognize that until the end of the day… or maybe the next day when my energy returned. We were blessed in so many little ways that it’s impossible for us to not see God’s hand at work.

Ray didn’t get the memo that the first flight was chosen because it was timed exactly for her morning nap. She didn’t care. She was stimulated and not in any sort of mood to sit quietly or sleep. At the gate she located a crying child with her “bah,” and then proceeded to call out to each passenger lining up to board. With her expression I just imagined her saying, “Hello, people of the plane. Life is new and wonderful!!” Needless to say, the crying child was not trained to respond in the appropriate manner, nor were the very serious people in the early bird A-group line (we flew Southwest). Once we boarded the plane she bounced, waved, and reached out to many, many people. She was loud, but happy. To our delight, the flight wasn’t full allowing us three seats instead of two. There was a newly engaged couple in front of us, giddy about the prospect of life together, and a little girl behind us willing to play peek-a-boo with Ray over and over and over. She never thought about closing those dark eyes.

In Nashville, there was a play area designed for babies and toddlers. We only had a 30 minute layover, but our second flight was delayed an hour giving us plenty of time to wear Ray out on the baby slide, baby tunnel, and soft floor. She was excited by all of it, but running on some serious fumes at that point.

On our last flight we ended up sitting behind the exact same happily engaged couple and across from a couple with a 5 month old baby. The flight was full, so we were nervous about what sort of person would fill the last seat on our row. Turned out to be a calm and understanding sort of man with big earphones. Perfect! Ray ended up sleeping through that entire flight, rendering his giant earphones unnecessary.

I process that travel experience and think again about our best laid plans. We had our flights timed to her naps and despaired during the first flight when she wasn’t behaving as we hoped. It’s not that we thought we could control when planes go and when babies cry, but everything was just exactly right for her to sleep. Yet all she did was clamor over our laps, over the empty seat, back over our laps, all while trying to lick everything in range (including our faces). But she did have the space to roam and a girl to play with on that flight. Had the plan worked out the way we wanted it to, she would have been wide awake on the back of a very cramped and hot plane instead of sleeping peacefully. That man’s earphones would have paid for themselves in one short flight.

We are still at 87% of what we need monthly in order for us to go back to PNG. It’s frustrating and feels a lot like I felt watching Ray not sleep through the first flight. I’m praying that God would give us peace as we seek the rest of our support; that He would help us remember we’re just in the first flight and not seeing the whole picture of the day yet. It’s possible that I’ll look back and say, “Oh! I get it. Empty flight, full flight!” It’s also possible that I’ll never know why our plans were so wrong. Either way, I do know there’s a bigger picture. In the meantime, I’m still wondering when the baby is going to sleep and praying God will keep my sight above.