You're Where?

My parents would have a hissy fit if they knew what I did last night. I will thoroughly enjoy telling them later! I am able to write you because I am stuck in Chicago and staying at someone's house I have never met before. I was talking with my step-mom on the phone right before boarding the plane in Portland and she said, "Don't talk to strangers." I am sure getting in a car with a stranger and staying at their house would be included in that.

The flight to Chicago went without a hitch. I had nice seat mates and I looked out the window, read a book on the Rwandan Holocaust (here's to light reading), and drew a picture of the airplane wing and clouds. When I arrived in Chicago, I saw a toilet with a automatic toilet seat cover. It was definitely one of those, "I haven't seen that before!" moments.

When I found my gate, they told us after a while it would be delayed, then delayed some, and some more, and then it was those worlds no traveler ever wants to hear- CANCELED! I went to the desk and got in line and thanks to another traveler, called the number for United. They booked me on flights from Chicago to Cleveland to Washington DC to Greensboro. I was concerned but happy to get something decent. So many flights were canceled last night due to the thunder and lightening storm around the airport. I will tell you, you can only imagine the scene. It's NEVER one I want to repeat. After several back and forth phone calls with Greensboro, they said they would try to find me someone to stay with for the night. I couldn't leave the secured area to do what else I needed to do until that happened. Finally, a woman called to tell me she would be picking me up. I got an overnight kit from bagage claim, waited an hour to print up the new boarding passes and waited outside. Ann had been roaming the airport for an hour waiting for me, what a sweetheart! Knowing what I was wearing, she and her daughter picked me up - my "knight in shining armor" rescuing me from a night spent in the airport. She is the clerk at the Evanston Quaker meeting here in Chicago and VERY kind. She even took me on a tour of Chicago as I have never been here before. I saw all kinds of things, buildings with the history behind them, one of the Great Lakes, the Magnificent Mile and I got history as we went. I will try and write more about it later.

They took me home and I tried to sleep but didn't do very well at it. My body was full of stress. Then I got a phone call telling me one of my flights was canceled. "I can't believe this!" went through my mind. I called the number and they rebooked for two flights getting in at the same time. THANK YOU GOD! Though stressful, he has been with me every step of the way, and though I was screaming and crying inside, gave me the mind to know what I needed to do. I am very grateful for that. And I am VERY grateful for my new friends the Millers who say I am very welcome here. I love the Quaker world!

So I will conclude until I can write later, hopefully NOT from the windy city. And thanks to Tricia and Jeff for talking to me while I was at the airport and here is to you Peggy for talking with me last night as I drove through your hometown. It was nice to hear friendly voices on such a night. Please pray I and my baggage make it to Greensboro this afternoon. And that God would envelope me in unspeakable peace.

Well, it's nearly six here and her son is here as well with his girlfriend and I am going to join them for breakfast. Thank you God for giving me such a blessing in such a time. I still trust you! (Just don't cancel any more flights!)

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane!!!

In early March I received an e-mail with such contents as made me drool all over my laptop. It was quite embarrassing. But at the moment I did not care for my focus was entirely fixated on this incredible opportunity the e-mail link described. As soon as I knew what it was, I wanted to be a part of it- A LOT. It was everything I could want rolled up into one perfect project – the Quaker Youth Book Project. It’s a book filled with non-fiction, poetry, art, and photography written and produced by young adult Quakers, ages 15-30 and the organization, Quakers United in Publishing, was conducting an international search for the editorial board also made up of young adults who would be putting this book together. They wanted people experienced and/or a calling in writing, publishing, art, youth and young adults, and ecumenicalism- many of my favorite things. I requested letters of recommendation from two trusted mentors, wrote a long cover letter answering the application’s list of questions, and e-mailed it off to the project coordinator with everything I could cross, crossed. And much prayer.

The next week an e-mail came into my inbox saying, “I’m pleased to be able to tell you that QUIP has accepted your application to the Quaker Youth Book Project.” I squealed, I jumped up and down, and I made phone calls to the people who “knew you were going to get it.” The next day, the projector coordinator, Angelina, booked my flight to North Carolina for our first meeting along with the flights for the eight other board members. There are nine of us in all from countries including Kenya, Bolivia, Great Britain, Canada, and several from the United States. I am looking forward to meeting them all.

These last few weeks I have been so EXCITED for this trip to Greensboro, North Carolina. I haven’t been further east in the U.S. than Colorado so this is a pretty big deal for me. Not only do I get to meet new people I am sure I will love, but I get to travel to a new place as well. I will be arriving there tomorrow night, on Friday. Saturday we will be with the people of Quakers United in Publishing (how cool is that to meet them!) at their business meeting, then a tour of Guilford College where we’ll have dinner, and then we as a board will speak on a panel before heading back to the state park where we’ll be staying. On Sunday and Monday we’re meeting to discuss all aspects of the book with an evening out on the town on Sunday. Tuesday I fly home in time for tap dancing class. (Anyone want to buy a ticket to our recital?)

All I have left to do tonight is pack and update a webpage or two. I promised Peggy I would blog while there if I could. We shall see. If I get time with someone’s laptop, I will. If not, I will certainly do so when I get home. WITH PICTURES!!! I know I have many people’s good wishes going along with me and I can sense their pride under those airplane’s wings. I cannot tell you in simple words how much this means to me. At dinner with my dad tonight, he gave me a care package of snacks my step-mom put together for my trip. I love parents. Thank you Dad and Mom! And thank you Peggy, and Stacey, and the folks at Freedom Friends Church among many others too many to name for believing in me and being just about as happy as I am that I get to do this. Your joy is making all the difference in the world.

The other night I had a dream of being in that airplane taking off from the tarmac and it felt very much but a little different like a time almost seven years ago when God asked, “Do you trust me?” and I said “yes” and at that very moment, the plane started barreling down the runway and taking off, taking me half-way around the world to an experience I will never forget, one that was both pain and joy filled yet I think, incredibly transforming. I feel like God and I have another of those markers before us, another turn in the road that is going to bring things to a place very different than what they were before. In the dream I felt God with me not asking if I trust Him/Her, because I do, but there will me, enjoying the journey, excited, my sole traveling companion going to a place I’ve never been, to where I do not know anybody, and with the challenge of getting myself there on my own. I think some journeys you just have to take alone and trust that God goes with you. I know He/She does. I am excited to see how this will change my life because I am quite certain that it will in ways I can only now imagine. I am looking forward to sharing it with you in my next post. If you want to pray for something, please pray my bags go with me and do not get lost. I would really appreciate that. Thank you again everyone for believing in me, your love and support is giving my heart the wings I have needed. Ta ta for now!