Saturday, October 17

A Providential Playdate

This week we had a Momtourage playdate. We are quickly being forced inside (boo!), but are sneaking one or two more outdoor playdates in. This week we were meeting at a park downtown for a b.y.o.f. picnic. Since parking downtown is so hard to find and usually expensive, I decided it was time to be adventurous and try taking the bus! Somehow I convinced Adrianne that would be a good idea as well.
Our bus was SUPPOSED to come at 10:32, it came by at 10:20. We watched it go by as we were walking to our stop. At the time, we didn't know it was our bus because they are SUPPOSED TO BE ON SCHEDULE!!!! So, 10:50 and we finally get on the bus. It's freezing, we're now going to be late (and we're the leaders. aghhh!!) and I can feel every single one of G's 24 lbs!!!

But we made it!
Graham's first bus ride
See, everyone is happy. :)You have got to be kidding me!! A produce truck pulls out in front is us and dumps all of this. We sit. and wait. and wait. Adri and I CANNOT.BELIEVE.THIS.IS.HAPPENING. Did I mention we were the ones coordinating this event?!!
We finally get off the bus. Oh, yeah. There is a half mile sprint to get to the park from there. And we are carrying our children. pushing strollers. carrying picnics on our backs. freezing. WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS ANYWAYS???!!!
The plan was to meet under this overpass. Guess what? 2 moms were waiting for us there. (2 moms joined us even later!) They were totally forgiving & gracious as well!

As we walk down the hill, we realize this person is front of us is snapping pictures. Ummm, wierd?! So then he comes up to us and tells us he is from the Post-Gazette and the following picture was in the paper the next day. Along with our names. Along with our Momtourage information!! We've already gotten 2 inquiries through our website!So, all is well! We got lunch! We had 6 moms and 8 kids all together and it turned out to be a wonderful time! Molly is on the right (below), who I met at the library. She in turn met Fulya, who is on the left, who is visiting from Turkey for 6 months. All of our little boys are within a couple weeks of each other!

Could they be any cuter?!
Zephyr, Ali, Graham, Jack
So, I don't know if Adrianne will ever ride the bus with me again... :) :) :)

But we did learn a valuable lesson. If all those things had not occured to make us late, we would have not run in to the photographer at that moment, who gave us more free publicity that we could have ever imagined!
We thank God for his ever Providential hand!

7 comments:

Karis said...

So neat to see God's hand in your free advertising.

Hey, if you would've been here in Cameroon, you would've been right on time because everyone is late. People come late to everything. It's so tricky to know when to start. If we start on time, people miss out (for ladies Bible studies, Sunday School, or whatever), but if we start late, then does that justify them arriving late (probably only an American would think that, though). :-) The funniest "late" story to me was one Sunday morning when we had a baptism. Everyone that wanted a ride to the creek was supposed to be at the church at 7:00. Two people were there at 7:00 not counting us. We left at 7:30 which 20 or so people had showed up by then. Halfway through the baptism (probably around 8:15!), a young man shows up at the creek and said he had been waiting at the church. He had gotten there around 7:45 and waited for 15 minutes thinking that everyone else was late and no one had arrived yet. That baffled my mind, and when I told him that we had left the church had 7:30, he seemed surprised that we hadn't waited for the "latecomers." Okay, I have no idea why I typed all this out when it has only a slight reference to anything in your post. Preggo brain?

Anyway, I am very excited to hear more in the coming months about your outreach.

Kristin said...

Praise God! I'm glad I read your post; very encouraging and exciting! Praying for you and your outreach.

Anonymous said...

What a blessing...I was thinking about God's timing, too, as I read this. This is an encouraging reminder to me to be accepting of His timing when it doesn't mesh with what I want to do with my time. I'm so glad for your free publicity! Way to be brave and face the fierce cold too!

Sharon said...

Praise God for the things we think are inconveniences! Isn't it funny how God will use something like spilled produce to accomplish His plan? How awesome is that?!

Melissa said...

Saw your post over on mamabzz. I knew I recognized you, and then I see all the other NBBC people on your blog list ands realized that is where I know you from!

You've got a beautiful little family! God bless you!

kellyH said...

wow, Karis that is crazy! culture things are tricky to navigate for sure!

JordanandSue said...

That is a neat story- mostly because I can TOTALLY relate to the panic of being in charge of something and having a few wrenches thrown into the mess! It's always neat to see how God had even those 'wrenches' planned from the beginning :)