Trial by Flight

Trial by fire - an expression I've thrown around in the past but never truly understood.  The phrase comes from medieval times, when one's guilt was determined by some sort of a "trial" such as walking barefoot over hot coals. Now I'm not saying we were physically harmed, but mentally wrought summed it up yesterday.  Traveling with little ones, especially by air, is not for the faint of heart.  

I consider myself a fairly organized person, making lists and coming up with a plan for nearly everything. This flight was included in that much. We received an awesome tip from one of my husband's coworkers:

Buy 20 items from the dollar store and distribute them one at a time throughout the flight; and snacks, lots of snacks.

This little hint ended up really paying off. I never knew the dollar store had such an amazing plethora of magical junk! We had mermaids with hair for brushing, Princess crowns, puzzles, silly putty. I was a bonified Mary Poppins. My purse also resembled a Mary Poppins bag with everything from a leftover scone from Starbucks (never throw those away!) to multiple phone chargers. (Trey I think I have yours ;).)

United Airlines, normally a reliable carrier, experienced every delay known to man on this flight short of a hole in the wing. We were delayed at the gate, sitting on the plane, sitting on the runway. Then in typical Texas fashion, a thunder and lightening storm shook the plane grounding us for an additional hour.  Mind you, I could not have been prouder of my three year old who was positively charming the entire day. Scarlett was the positivity and enthusiasm pushing us on. God gifted us another three year old girl in the row in front of us who was also playing with Disney princesses and the girls started trading those things like Pokemon cards. It was the cutest thing. Another blessing? We were seated next to not just a grandmother, but a GREAT grandmother who kept telling me how gorgeous my children were.  Every mother knows how this was what I needed when I was so on edge! An understanding neighbor.

Bless her heart, my little Savannah had one of her worst days ever. But who could blame her? If all the adults on the plane could have kicked and screamed (without being thrown off of course) they would have!!! There was simply nothing I could do. My heart broke for her and just wanted her to feel better. I felt a mother's guilt for asking her to do too much.  She didn't understand.

I captured this image after hours of crying when her little body finally gave in to her exhaustion.  We had a moment of solace.  

Despite all the hurdles, there were beautiful moments mixed in. God was with us and got us through this.  My mom sent me this via text right before we took off:

That's all you have in those situations: prayer and faith.

We are here, we made it, the adventure has begun.