Adventures in Snow

Fall semester 2008 is finished! Praise the Lord for being the strength I needed to survive!
Last week was quite interesting. I ended up driving to the airport 3 times in 24 hours.

Trip 1: The first time was a fun trip with a few snowflakes Wednesday night. The car was filled to the brim with 4 of my best friends, all singing at the top of our lungs on the way to Panera and to the airport to drop off Kirsten. It was quite fun, and the roads were not bad in the least.

Trip 2: I was planning on leaving to take Jason to the airport at 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning. I get a phone call at 3:00 a.m. from Jason, telling me that it's snowing fairly heavily and we should probably leave at 3:30 just in case the roads are bad. I mumble something about that being fine, I don't care, and I roll out of bed. I meet him outside T-stad and we fit his snowboard, suitcase, and photography backpack in my car, then drive to Sea-Tac. Well, the roads are great. We get there very, very early, and since we can't find a Starbucks easily (I know, crazy!), we go to Denny's to get caffeine and appetizers. It was probably a mistake on my part, as I end up feeling sick and needing to rest in the booth for a long while. We finally leave and I drop him off at the airport, get back to campus at about 7, and sleep until about 11:30.

Trip 3: It is snowing a lot. The roads are getting to be pretty scary. Steph and I take Mikal and Dianna to the airport at 3:00 p.m. so that Mikey can make his flight and Di can try to get an airporter shuttle to take her to Eastern Washington. The roads are extremely icy, snow keeps on coming down, cars are going about 20 mph down the freeway. Did I mention the roads were bad? We saw a car spin out in front of us and hit the median before we even got to the Tacoma dome. A semi almost t-boned in front of us. I had little snow driving experience, so my nerves weren't exactly stable. Thankfully I had my friends in the car to calm me down and give me advice. Without the three of them (especially Steph) I don't know that I could have made it safely (of course, I wouldn't have been going to the airport again in the first place, but that's beside the point). Anyway, we made it to the airport safely. The drive back wasn't so bad at first, the roads were getting better and I was getting more used to driving in the snow. However, the traffic in Tacoma was HORRIBLE. We spent about 2 hours going from the Tacoma Dome to the PLU campus. Steph and I finally made it back to T-Stad at 8:00 p.m. A trip that usually takes 1 1/2 hours took 5 hours. And I still had homework.

So my trips to the airport were complete, and I had about 20 hours to work on a paper and two finals. Since we missed dinner and were pretty much out of dining dollars, Steph and I made pumpkin pancakes. We also found a bag of great, unopened food by the garbage can. God had blessed us with lunch for the next day! Yay! I stayed up until 2 a.m. working on a paper debating the meaning of the word "passer" in two of Catullus' poems (don't ask . . .). I got up the next morning to turn in my Latin paper and take my exam in Admin. Well, the humanities office was closed. Apparently Language and Literature professors don't like the snow. I had to have campus safety come and escort me into the office. It turned out okay, though. I took my exam and then spent the next three hours working on my American Lit final. By 3 I was done, and I had 2 hours to clean my room and pack.
Steph and I finally were ready to leave for her home in Bremerton at 5:00 p.m. The roads were fairly clear; we were very thankful. Then we got into Bremerton. Washington cities don't expect there to ever be snow, so they don't invest in things like snow equipment. Bremerton was a giant sheet of ice with hills thrown in for extra danger. We made it to Steph's neighborhood gate, and then Viola (my car) decided that she had had enough. The tires kept spinning, but I couldn't move an inch. Steph got out and pushed my car, we went forward a little, then it stopped again. Thankfully, Steph's dad came to the rescue and told me what to do. I gathered some momentum and made it to Steph's house, where we have been snowed in since.

My story being told, what is one of the biggest lessons God is teaching me? I'm not in control! My plans don't always work, so I need to trust Him and let Him plan my life for me. Sure, I can talk to Him and make some plans, but ultimately I need to let Him have control. It's not always fun, but God has blessed me so much in the process. :)

Merry Christmas!