Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Prayers are answered.

Before I jump into about a million posts about our month long vacation to Arizona and Connecticut, I have to write down the seemingly small miracles that happened on our journey back to England.

The kids and I flew back on a flight leaving at 8 pm and arriving 8 am in England. I was pretty nervous flying 7 hours through the night by myself. After checking our bags onto the airplane, the kids and I headed to security.

From baggage check on until I pick up my checked bags I had the double stroller, both kids, my (new) camera bag, a large back pack and Jude's car seat (what he slept in on the airplane).

Before I even got to the security line a guard saw me and called over to a fellow security worker and told him to take care of me. He ushered me to the front of the line, played peek-a-boo with Jude, folded up my stroller and put everything I had on the conveyor belt.

Because everyone had been so helpful and I had to wait in zero lines we arrived at our gate approximately 2.5 hours before we took off...after pushing the kids around the little airport store loop a couple times and looking at the sparkling MnMs shop display we found an empty gate and camped out.

Livvy played on her (our) new iPad mini (thank you parentals!) and Jude ran around. Right as Jude was getting stir crazy and ready to bolt a lady security guard came up and started playing with him.

Finally it was time to board and we made it on the (maybe half full) plane with little difficulty. The first half of the flight was a little rough (Jude was super tired and Livvy decided she wanted to play and not watch the movies), but the second half was smooth.

We landed and took our time waking Jude up and getting off the plane. As I'm struggling to get the kids in the stroller and the car seat hung on the back, the crew gets off the plane. Everyone just looked at me and kept walking, except the first pilot.

He stopped offered to help me carry the car seat. I told him I was fine and I could manage. He insisted and said no I could not and took it from me. Picture a 50+  pilot all dressed to the nines with his pilot uniform on, captain name tag, and one sleek carry on bag, carrying Jude's car seat.

He then proceeded to walk me all the way to customs where there was a line that extended far back into the room and would take me 2 or more hours to get through.

This angel pilot looked at the line and said follow me. He took me to the front of the line and said that he was helping me and winked at the lady at the stand. She didn't even hesitate to grab our passports and push us along.

At this point I'm about in tears with gratitude for this stranger.

He continued to walk me all the way to baggage claim (where his one bag was already waiting), he then waited with me and gathered up all of my checked luggage and pushed my luggage through to the arrivals area where Lincoln was waiting.

I have no idea how I would have made it to Lincoln without the help of this stranger. I thought Lincoln could meet me at baggage claim, but he couldn't. Beyond that getting through all of the lines and knowing where to go after not sleeping all night would have been impossible. People kept looking at me and my escort, bewildered. I'm sure they were wondering why I was getting this VIP treatment. I know I was.

Earlier that day my mom said a prayer with us  and asked that there would be people along my way to help me. I am so thankful people, especially the pilot , saw my need and helped without a second thought.

I didn't get the captain's name, all I know is that he flew our airplane, was from Scotland, had three kids and was an answer to prayers.

...


P.S. Since coming home I have emailed British Airways and hopefully he will get a note soon expressing my gratitude.



10 comments:

  1. that is such a great experience! Thank you for sharing it. There truly are wonderful people out there ready to help!

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  2. I love British Airways!!! Thank you for sharing your journey and grateful that your mothers prayers were answered !!! You are a very blessed momma !!!

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  3. This post makes me so happy! I love good people and I am so glad you had so much help!

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  4. There are great people out there. I had a similar experience when I flew with my 2 oldest boys (ages 2 & 7 months), had my double stroller and carseat. Countless people asked if they could help, hold baby Sam while I strapped in McKay. One teenager who sat behind us grabbed the carseat before I could decline his offer. Two business men carried my bags and got my stroller out, unfolded it, and pushed it out of the breezeway. Another gentleman insisted on carrying the carseat (which I usually just wore like a backpack) to the luggage claim. I agree. . .there really are such Christian people out there. Something I often forget. Glad you got home safely and that you had a good time in the states.

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  5. That is so awesome! I totally could have used this last night in FHE, we were talking about prayer and how Heavenly Father answers them in many different. So glad you had a great trip and that you made it home safe and sound! Yay for good people in the world!

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  6. Love that story. Love it. Thanks for sharing it.

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  7. What an amazing experience! Glad you''re home safe. Thanks for sharing this. It makes me believe angels walk amoung US.

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  8. What an amazing experience! Glad you''re home safe. Thanks for sharing this. It makes me believe angels walk amoung US.

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  9. what an amazing story. Here I am, bawling my eyes out. i'm so thankful for good people in the world.

    Miss you.

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  10. What a beautiful story! I sometimes am a little jaded because as a young mom, I surprisingly don't feel like a lot of people reach out, even for small things like opening a door when I'm pushing a double stroller. But that is amazing and restores my faith in people! What an incredible blessing.

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