In the morning we drove to the airport, just me and the kids. Michael had been in Minneapolis for a couple of weeks training for his new job. I have only flown on standby with Mikayla when she was a lap baby and it was easier to get just one seat, but we were going to attempt to get 3 seats and hopefully in a row(at least that's what I asked everyone to pray for). Pray, take a deep breath, let it out and here we go. The first time doing something is always more challenging and a bit terrifying. There's the unknown of, well, everything in an airport. With my trusty double jogging stroller(yes, you can gate check that giant thing) we headed toward our gate - all the way at then end of the terminal.
First ride on the plane train.
First ride on the plane train.
The whole morning I was explaining to Mikayla and Maverick that we might not get to ride on this airplane if it was full and that we could try to catch the next one. With a goofy excited smile Mikayla seemed to understand somewhat of the information that I gave her. She was way too excited to see Michael, I don't think anything I told her would be processed quickly(or comprehended at all). The first flight was full and we didn't make it. We were blessed to be in Atlanta where there is a train that is perfect for passing time with littles. So to distract them from the devastating news that we were not going to be able to fly the airplane, that we stared at for over half an hour, we went to ride the plane-train. I believe that we rode it for 2 round trips. It was perfect. Happy kiddos and a happy mommy.
When we got to the next gate to see if we could fly on that plane, we had already been bumped. Again. If you're a mommy, you know that you've got to have a bag of tricks so that there are minimal tantrums and freak outs due to unchangeable circumstances. But your kids don't exactly understand everything about those circumstances(makes life truly exciting). It was getting close to lunch time so I pulled out trick number two, Chick-Fil-A for lunch. The Atlanta airport has only one Chick-Fil-A at C-Gate. So thankfully, we had to take the plane-train again. Who wouldn't want to take a train just to go eat Chick-Fil-A? I usually pull out all the stops when it comes to food while we are in a situation where melt downs are a dime a dozen. So we had pretty much whatever the kids wanted for lunch, with sweet tea and lemonade - sure, why not?! We got back to the next gate just in time for the kiddos to eat and the gate attendant to say that the flight was full. Awesome. Although I get quite positively sarcastic when it comes to situations like this to keep it light, I truly do I love that The Lord is the only one who knows what is going on and we are bouncing around from gate to gate! The next flight was a couple of hours from departure so I thought that if we rode the plane-train again that it would pass the time way better than waiting around. So, we did - about 7 or 8 times. Thankfully, that never gets old for the kids and we were blessed with Mav taking a nap through half of the multiple round trips. By the time we got to the third gate Mikayla was getting a little concerned with the fact that we weren't on an airplane yet. 7-8 hours in an airport can be a bit trying on a 3 year old's day. I was feeling positive and thought it would be okay to wait once more since it wasn't too long from the next departure. I was only worried that Mikayla couldn't handle one more disappointment and have to come back another day. Michael FaceTimed with us and we started to talk it out and it was looking pretty full for the next flight too, if we actually got on the plane it would be a miracle. Mikayla started to realize that we may not be able to see daddy that day and got really upset(crocodile tears-upset). It had been two weeks with out him and she was done with that. It's really hard to see your children cry about things that truly do matter and you can't do hardly anything about it. So, we prayed and we went to the next gate with hopeful hearts. All day I had been telling Mikayla what would happen when it was our turn to get on the plane and one of the things was that they would call our name. We got to the gate(funny that it was the same one that we started at that morning). They stared to call names off the standby list and Mikayla would say "Have they called our name yet?". I had a list that I could look at to see where we were in the line-up. Our names were just under the number of people who would get to board the plane, so we weren't going to be able to make it by the looks of it. The lady at the gate was giving a last call for a party of 3 "Jones, party of 3 ---- Jones, party of 3". And then we heard it. "Ferris, party of 3." Mikayla immediately jumps up throwing her fists in the air saying, "She said my name! She said my name! We get to ride the plane to go see daddy!!!" The lady at the gate said, "I guess that's y'all?" Not only did The Lord provide us 3 seats, but they were 3 seats in a row. We boarded the plane, me with tears in my eyes and Mikayla and Maverick with huge grins on their faces. Sometimes it's the small miracles that speak louder about what The Lord does and is doing.
When we got to the next gate to see if we could fly on that plane, we had already been bumped. Again. If you're a mommy, you know that you've got to have a bag of tricks so that there are minimal tantrums and freak outs due to unchangeable circumstances. But your kids don't exactly understand everything about those circumstances(makes life truly exciting). It was getting close to lunch time so I pulled out trick number two, Chick-Fil-A for lunch. The Atlanta airport has only one Chick-Fil-A at C-Gate. So thankfully, we had to take the plane-train again. Who wouldn't want to take a train just to go eat Chick-Fil-A? I usually pull out all the stops when it comes to food while we are in a situation where melt downs are a dime a dozen. So we had pretty much whatever the kids wanted for lunch, with sweet tea and lemonade - sure, why not?! We got back to the next gate just in time for the kiddos to eat and the gate attendant to say that the flight was full. Awesome. Although I get quite positively sarcastic when it comes to situations like this to keep it light, I truly do I love that The Lord is the only one who knows what is going on and we are bouncing around from gate to gate! The next flight was a couple of hours from departure so I thought that if we rode the plane-train again that it would pass the time way better than waiting around. So, we did - about 7 or 8 times. Thankfully, that never gets old for the kids and we were blessed with Mav taking a nap through half of the multiple round trips. By the time we got to the third gate Mikayla was getting a little concerned with the fact that we weren't on an airplane yet. 7-8 hours in an airport can be a bit trying on a 3 year old's day. I was feeling positive and thought it would be okay to wait once more since it wasn't too long from the next departure. I was only worried that Mikayla couldn't handle one more disappointment and have to come back another day. Michael FaceTimed with us and we started to talk it out and it was looking pretty full for the next flight too, if we actually got on the plane it would be a miracle. Mikayla started to realize that we may not be able to see daddy that day and got really upset(crocodile tears-upset). It had been two weeks with out him and she was done with that. It's really hard to see your children cry about things that truly do matter and you can't do hardly anything about it. So, we prayed and we went to the next gate with hopeful hearts. All day I had been telling Mikayla what would happen when it was our turn to get on the plane and one of the things was that they would call our name. We got to the gate(funny that it was the same one that we started at that morning). They stared to call names off the standby list and Mikayla would say "Have they called our name yet?". I had a list that I could look at to see where we were in the line-up. Our names were just under the number of people who would get to board the plane, so we weren't going to be able to make it by the looks of it. The lady at the gate was giving a last call for a party of 3 "Jones, party of 3 ---- Jones, party of 3". And then we heard it. "Ferris, party of 3." Mikayla immediately jumps up throwing her fists in the air saying, "She said my name! She said my name! We get to ride the plane to go see daddy!!!" The lady at the gate said, "I guess that's y'all?" Not only did The Lord provide us 3 seats, but they were 3 seats in a row. We boarded the plane, me with tears in my eyes and Mikayla and Maverick with huge grins on their faces. Sometimes it's the small miracles that speak louder about what The Lord does and is doing.
Over the past two years we have been in Birmingham and truly seeking The Lord for where we need to be and what we need to be doing. We know that we are meant for something more than what we are pursuing right now, but we weren't completely sure on what it was supposed to be up until a several months ago. Our church was partnering with the IMB on something called the Global Cities Initiative (GCI) and the moment we heard about it we felt like The Lord was pulling us more towards vocational ministry instead of just serving as missionaries through an organization. Our hearts had already been softened towards a working and serving life after seeing many of our friends taking businesses overseas and church planting wherever they were. After all, isn't that what we should be doing where we live already? We learned more about the GCI and already started researching jobs in the 5 cities that they were focusing on. The bottom line was that for us to do vocational ministry we needed to start flying for regional airlines. After going through a extensive pros/cons list we narrowed it down to a couple of airlines. With the idea of serving vocationally we looked at what cities were these airlines based and how could we start serving now? The main one that we were looking at had bases in New York, Detroit, and Minneapolis. So, we asked ourselves where can we serve in these locations? Our home church has established teams in New York and Detroit. We prayerfully considered and decided that Detroit would be the better option. Michael interviewed and accepted the job. The Lord has been leading us, open doors all the way with this new position. It was like The Lord was "calling our name" after we had been through such a long waiting period and trying what we thought would be the "right time or right flight" for our family to take. We have been blessed with so many people from our different stages of life and different locations. The Lord has truly been preparing us for the task that He has put before us to disciple and love on an unreached people group in Detroit. We are still on track to serve with the International Mission Board via the GCI within the next 3-4 years, but we are truly excited to see how The Lord uses us in Detroit.
(Once Michael is finished with training we will reveal our new employer. In the mean time, please pray for his final check ride on Tuesday and our last couple of days without him. We are also trying to sell our home so that we are free to move up to Detroit, please pray for it to sell soon.)
(Once Michael is finished with training we will reveal our new employer. In the mean time, please pray for his final check ride on Tuesday and our last couple of days without him. We are also trying to sell our home so that we are free to move up to Detroit, please pray for it to sell soon.)
