From Melissa Medlin’s blog:
2012
I washoping to bring in the NEW YEAR withthe kids at Casa de Fe. There was goingto be a bonfire, the burning of the old man (almost like a scare crow) and manymore festivities. However, as always, I had problems with my flights. I wasalready a little stressed out from a busy, emotional, Christmas break so when Igot to Dallas and my flight was delayed 3 ½ hours, I was trying to stay calmand prepare myself for the fact that I would miss my last flight into Quitofrom Miami. Finally, when all the mechanical issues with 2 different planeswere fixed, we were on our way from Dallas to Miami. We got to Miami just as myplane to Quito was backing away from the gate. I had JUST missed it. I had tostand in a long line of other people who had missed flights to reschedule. Iwas so upset knowing that flights only leave at a certain time each day andknowing that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to get from Quito to Shell in enough timeto bring in the New Year with the kids. Luckily the airline paid for my dinner,breakfast and lunch along with my hotel room. I would be spending the night andmost of the next day in Miami. It was actually relaxing and the room I had wasnice and included a balcony! I got some much needed alone time with God andwondered if that was His reason for allowing me to get so delayed. He’s jealousfor our time like that Jso it was hard to be upset for too long. Also, He had a rather comedic day instore for me following the restful time at the hotel…….
Iwoke up New Year’s Eve day at the hotel in Miami, rested and excited to spendbreakfast and a cup of coffee on the balcony with God. When it came time tocheck out of my hotel room, I asked the guy at the front desk when the nextshuttle would be leaving for the airport and he responded “probably in about 10minutes”. I said thank you and started walking towards the door where I saw ashuttle parked and people waiting with their luggage, I assumed that was theshuttle that would be leaving for the airport in 10 minutes. After a fewminutes the driver came out and started helping people get their things intothe back of the shuttle. I only had my small carry-on bag so I pointed to itand then to the door at the front of the shuttle and he shook his head yes andI took my seat on the bus with my bag. As we started driving through downtownMiami, I was becoming a little confused because I knew that was not the waythat we had taken from the airport to the hotel the night before, but Ireassured myself that he maybe had to make multiple stops along the way. As wepulled into the cruise port, I kept reassuring myself that after he dropped thepeople off for their cruises that he was headed to the airport. WRONG. When allthe people finally got off the bus I explained to him that I thought we weregoing to the airport. He pretty much told me he could not break the rules andthat he was not allowed to take anyone off of the cruise port property of or hewould be fined a large amount of money. I didn’t know what to do. He told me totake a taxi but I didn’t see any taxi’s and I didn’t have extra money to spendon a taxi taking me to the airport when I should have already made it toEcuador! I started crying and I picked up my bag to get off of the shuttle and tryto find a taxi wherever one might be found. The driver began to feel bad forme, so he told me to go to the back of the shuttle and duck down until we gotpast security. I was really confused and not so sure what I should do but Idefinitely didn’t want to have to find and pay for a taxi so I did what hesaid. When we passed through security he told me it was ok to sit up and kepttelling me not to cry because he would take me to the airport. When he droppedme off at the airport he said, “this is my gift to you, please do not cryanymore” so I thanked him and wished him a happy new year and got off of theshuttle. Then I couldn’t help but laugh the rest of the day at what hadhappened! I couldn’t believe that something like that happened in the States! (granted,it is Miami). I thought things like that only happened in Ecuador! Either way,I was thankful to end up where I needed to be and that I could laugh about it. Itsort of made the whole trip better and seemed more funny than horrible.
I didn’t end up getting to spend that night with thekids but I did get a good laugh. I also got to spend the night in Quito with afriend and although we didn’t do much, it was very nice to go onto the roof topat mid-night and watch the millions of fireworks around the city (the neighborwas even lighting fireworks off of their balcony?!?!). It will definitely be atime that I will not forget when looking back on all the things I have done tocelebrate the coming year!
I am looking forward to the new season God has for meand all of the blessings of this year. I can’t wait to learn and see and growin unexpected ways! God is so good and His plans are bigger than we can expect!I can’t wait to be a part of whatever He is doing here this NEW YEAR!
You can view the original post here.