Back story:
Byron and I will be married 21 years on Thursday, July 12th. We decided to go out of the country this year, so when we found an all inclusive adults only resort we were so ready to begin vacation. We found a deal through a 3rd party, but it wasn't the room that we wanted. We had fallen in love with a 2-floor casita with it's own plunge pool overlooking the beach. The 3rd party website only offered a junior suite at the time, so after reading all of the reviews online, we decided to ask for an upgrade once we arrived.
We did our final running around Monday morning and then headed out to the airport. The flight was supposed to be about an 1.5 hours to Houston, a short layover, then another 1.5 hours to Cancun. Although the flight was full, we had an empty seat between us and slept and watched movies while onboard. The pilot mentioned weather issues in Houston, so told us to remain seated and buckle up. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's going to be a bumpy descent into Houston". No big thing... we've been here before...we could feel the deceleration of the plane, then all of a sudden I noticed we were pulling back up into the sky. The pilot didn't say anything right away, so I just assumed he was going to circle the airport and try again. After 10 minutes, the pilot came back on the air and informed us that we were headed to Austin. The weather was too much for him to make the landing in Houston. Okay, no worries...we'll be back in no time. Besides we had at least a 1.5 hour layover anyway so we had a little time to spare before we could make our connecting flight.
So we land in Austin, in a remote part of the airport, to sit on the tarmac for at least an hour. People were allowed to get up to use the restroom, so the aisles were FULL of people standing in line. The food service had been cut mid-flight due to the bumpy ride, so now people were hungry. They flight attendants gave it to the 1st row and the passengers began passing bags of peanuts & pretzels row by row. It was hilarious! We were able to bear it because we believed at any given moment, we'd be heading back to Houston. I wasn't too worried, because we learned that our connecting flight was also delayed. Cancun, here we come!
Austin was the final destination for 1/8 of the plane. The pilot came on again and said that if a gate opened, he had been given permission to let those individuals off. (Their bags would come later.) So we moved to an open gate, let the Austin passengers off and sat another hour at the gate. They had to do another head count and then told us to get off the plane to stretch and get something to eat. WAIT...WHAT?! I'm ready to get back to Houston, so we can be on our way to CANCUN. After almost 2 hours in the terminal, they were finally ready for us to get back to Houston. GREAT, only that the flight to Cancun just landed at a little after 6 pm... WITHOUT US. My heart aches! We missed our connecting flight.
55 minutes later we pull up to Houston and get off to find out that the airline had already booked us for the a 3pm flight the next day. (Hmmm let's see...our 5 day, 4 night resort stay would now end up being a 2 1/2 day stay.) Because it was weather related, the airline couldn't pay for our hotel; however, they did call around for us to receive the "distress rate". Byron is sick at this point and I am barely holding on but we had to make some calls and decisions.
1st praise report:
The 3rd party called the resort for us and they decided to allow us to re-book the trip for another week without losing anything. In fact, future dates would be cheaper and we would be able to get the 2-floor casita with it's own plunge pool overlooking the beach. WON'T HE DO IT?!
Byron and I decided to stay in Houston for another night just to get some rest and recoup the day. I called the airline and was on the phone for 56 minutes before we were disconnected. Nooooo.... I thought I was going to lose my mind. The agent called me back in 15 minutes and I just broke down in tears.
Praise report #2:
They refunded our entire flight and will send two $100 vouchers for a future trip; we just had to purchase last minute tickets to get back to OKC. It worked itself out. (No pardon me....the Lord worked it out!)
Once all of that was done, we went for a swim ( I now have a small tan...it doesn't take much.) and now we're resting until we fly back home tomorrow. It's not Cancun, but we learned a whole lot about patience and trusting God in the process. The last 2 days have been a lot, but God is faithful!
So even when the situation looks HOPELESS keep your head about you and trust God. We sang this song on Sunday:
"I'm expecting great things, I'm expecting great things, I'm epecting great things....great things.
In my life, you do great things
In my home, you do great things
All around, you do great things
Eyes have not seen, but I choose to believe in great things."
I sang it and declared it before I knew we would have this crazy experience...and great things came to pass. I encourage you to get a song in your heart, sing it to the heavens, believe God...
...now walk it out.
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