The Irish Rosette

St. Patrick's day sneaked up on me this year.  I'm not one of those people who loves to 'party' and celebrate the day, but due to my Scotch/Irish heritage, I do like to wear green for the day.  I was scheduled to work on St. Patrick's and that meant having to wear my chef's outfit. 

This is a chef's uniform:

I have to wear black pants and a black apron.  If you have noticed, there is no green associated with this chef's clothing color scheme.  So I decided to make a little Irish Rosette to pin on my apron. 

It went together quite well and was easy to hand stitch. 

Not the best picture . . . camera was not focused right.

I used a spare button from my Civil War stash.  It was about the only one I could find that was the right size and had 'the' look I was hunting for.  I am rather pleased with how the rosette turned out.  It looked nice against a black apron.

Verse of the week:

"I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart. I will tell of all your wonders.  I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to you name, O Most High."

Psalm 9:1 & 2 

Then God Intervened

Our time in Panama (see previous post) ended all too soon, the only reason I was ready to come home was because I found a scorpion the day we were to leave.

Kristin and I left Boquete by taxi around 10 p.m. and went to the David bus stop, where we got on a double decker bus and headed to Panama City at midnight.  We arrived in Panama City around 6 a.m.  I had never seen a bus stop so large!  And as early as it was in the morning, it was busy!  We both needed to use the powder room, but could we find one where you did not have to use a scan card to get in? No.   We got something to eat at a bread store (it smells wonderful in there!) and did a lot of walking.  Kristin wanted to see the Panama Canal up close and in person because her great uncle helped make/dig it.  We thought the bus stop was fairly close to the Canal, so after breakfast, we headed out (on foot) to find it.  We felt like we were swimming up stream due to the large number of people heading to the bus stop. We walked for a little bit and came to a four lane highway that would need to be crossed.  We stopped and looked at each other.  I didn't want to feel like a bug under a microscope walking in front of all those vehicles.  We decided not to cross, so we headed back to the bus stop in hopes of finding a map.  We could not find a map.
We could not even find someone who spoke the slightest little bit of English in hopes of helping us.  We were at a stand still and were considering just going to the airport and forgetting the Canal all together.

 And then God intervened. 

A couple (looked like they were in their forties) walked up.  "Do you need a translator? I speak English, can I help you?" the man asked.  Kristin and I could hardly believe our ears.  "Yes!  Yes, we do need help!"  Between Kristin and me, we explained that we wanted to see the Canal, but we had to be at the airport by noon.  We followed the couple to a taxi, where the man told the driver where to take us.  Then the man (I'll call him Gabriel) turned to Kristin and me.  "He will take you to the Canal and bring you back for a total of $15. "  We thanked the couple from the bottom of our hearts and crawled in the little yellow taxi.  We pulled into the Panama Canal visitor's center around 7:30 a.m.  The gate man waved us over.  In English he informed us that the center did not open until 10:30.  Kristin explained that we just wanted to see the Canal, and were not interested in all the visitors information.  The kind gate man told/explained to our driver and off we went to a different place down the road a bit.  Kristin and I got out, took some pictures, told each other "We're really here!  We're at the Panama Canal!"

When we decided we had enough pictures, we hopped back in the taxi, and our none-English-speaking-driver took us back to the bus stop.  We thanked him over and over before we parted ways.
Kristin and I decided we were ready to head to the airport, so we got in line to buy a bus ticket.  I am so glad we took a bus through town; we had taken a plane on our way down, which was neat but I was glad to be able to see the buildings and town people up close.
The flight from Panama City to Houston went well.  But as we neared the Houston airport, I was anxiously watching the clock.  From the time the plane we were on landed, we had one hour to go through customs, security, check our luggage back in, and find the gate for our last flight to Detroit. 
Let me interject here and tell you a little bit about my personality: I don't like to be late.  And I don't like to cut things close.  I live by the motto 'To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late.' So with each tick - tock of the the clock hands, my heart started beating faster. 

As Kristin and I stood in line for customs, I anxiously calmly turned to Kristin and posed the question "I think we should have a game plan in case we miss our flight."  Before she had time to answer, the man in front of us turned and looked at us.  "When does your flight leave?  . . . Who are you flying with?" After we answered the gentleman's questions, he informed us that "That is Continental's last flight out for the night.  They won't fly again until tomorrow."  Kristin and I looked at each other.  Being the humans that we are, we both wanted to panic.

Then God intervened.

"What time does your flight leave?" the man in front of us asked again.  We answered and he immediately ushered us in front of himself.  We made it through customs, and walked as fast as our legs could go to the next stop.  Somewhere along the line, Kristin and I got separated; it was after we were (again) ushered to the front of the line because God had (again) placed the man mentioned above, to be next in line. But for some reason he turned around and saw Kristin and me running to stay on time.  "Come on! Jump ahead!  I hope you make it, good luck!" He said as he waved us ahead of the others in line.  Kristin went one way and I started to follow but the airport lady said I was to go a different way ". . . you'll meet her on the other side."  I rushed through the doors, but Kristin was nowhere to be seen.  I said a quiet prayer for Kristin to make it, as I hurried on to security.  I ran through the airport to gate E6 and breathlessly asked the two ladies "Is . . . this plane . . . going to Detroit?"  "It was but it's been moved to gate E16.  We've announced it, sorry. . ."  I turned just as Kristin came running up. I relayed the news and we both broke out on the run again.  People looked at us a little funny like . . . I tried not to let that bother me . . . we were in an airport, right?  People run in airports . . . right?  Or is it just the movies?  Thank goodness for flat escalators!  We took full advantage of them, as we ran.
At last we made it to gate E16.  "You're just in time!" the ladies at the desk said.  We ran down the tram; "We haven't closed the door yet." the stewardess said as we slowed our pace.  We found our sets and collapsed in exhaustion and relief. The rest of the flight went fine; mom picked us up and we made it home in the early morning hours.
Kristin and I had a wonderful time in Panama with Janel and her family, but to be honest, I think the event that will be first in my mind when I think of our trip is when God intervened and placed 'angels' in our path.
A final word to that kind gentleman in the airport:  yes, we made it home. And thank you again!  May the Lord bless you richly for your small act of kindness that got us to our flight just. in. time!

Verse of the week:

"Not to us, O LORD not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."

Psalm 115:1