Living life the way we have been for the past few months, there are countless times where things can (or possibly should) go wrong. Sometimes they are just minor things, but other times they can be more painful. Anyway, we have been on the receiving end of some extraordinary intervention for three consecutive days.
Example 1: We are in Lyon, France's second largest city, for the annual light festival. This draws millions of people. Extra trains are run between Paris and Lyon. Hotels are booked nine months in advance. After viewing some of the amazing lights, we stop at a sandwich shop to sit and eat. It is 8pm. We leave and head for the subway stop, but before we get to the long line for the subway, we see in the main square a really neat procession of Japanese lanterns. So we walk through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds and watch for 15 minutes. As we are leaving the crowds and heading for the subway line, Maria says she doesn't have her blanket (that would be devastating for all four of us!). We know that there is no way to find it if she lost it in the crowded square, so we head straight for the sandwich shop. When we get there we see several adults sitting at our table. We stare all around them looking for Maria's blanket. Finally the security guard asks if we need help. He actually speaks a little English! We try to explain that we might have left her blanket at that table, and he actually understands. (For those who haven't been to France, English is not nearly as common as you would like it to be...) He goes on to ask the people at the table to move and we see Maria's blanket, wedged at the base of the chair closest to the wall. Anyone with kids knows what a relief that was!
Example 2: Next night in Lyon, we plan on going to the Basilica for 5pm mass. To get there requires us walking two blocks, taking a subway for one stop, and transferring to a funicular for a quick trip up a steep hill. Based on prior experiences, we conservatively estimate this will take us 30 minutes. Since we want some time to admire the Basilica prior to mass, we leave at 4pm. We get off the subway at 4:15, but then discover a very slow moving, several block-long line for the funicular. There is no way to walk up the hill with the girls. Kristi gets all stressed and asks one of the security guards if we can move up in line since we have kids (this actually does happen frequently in France) and are trying to get to mass. The answer is "no". At 4:40, we see a sign that says the wait from our spot s 25 minutes. That means we will be late. Just "how" late is the question... After I calmed down, I said that God will get us there when we need to be, and there is nothing more we can do. God knows we are trying to be at mass, and on time. So the line slowly moves and we board the funicular at 4:59. We arrive at the outside of the Basilica and see another huge line to get inside. Again, from past experiences we know that these are tourists and that there is a separate entrance for mass, but how to find this special entrance? Somehow through the crowds Kristi immediately spots a seminarian and he points us to a side door. As we walk to our pew from the side of the church, the priest is processing in. Perfect timing!
Example 3: After taking a 4 hour train ride from Lyon, we arrive at 4:30pm in Colmar. It is still light outside, but getting dark. It isn't very warm either. We have 3 suitcases, a carryon, two backpacks, and two little kids. We go to the taxi stand to get a ride to our apartment. The taxi driver laughs us off, saying it is very close and we should walk. We ask him directions and he basically says down this street and then go right. We are not very happy about this, but there are no other cabs... We start walking and follow the signs to city center. After 15 minutes, we ask two different people for directions. After a while we are in one of he Christmas markets (a shoulder-to-shoulder, barely moving crowd) with all of our stuff! We slowly walk but really don't know if we are even going in the right direction. We ask once more, and this time the guy confuses "left" with "right" so we walked (crawled) even more. After over an hour, we arrive at our apartment. The landlord is out of town, but had previously told us the code needed to enter the building and the other code to enter our apartment. We make it through the first door only to find a second door. This second door is mostly glass and is just before the steps, and is not the door to our actual apartment. It is locked. There is a key hole. We were never given keys nor told we needed keys. We pull on it. Nothing. We pull harder and I could see the door and the small wall section that is it locked to move forward, but still nothing. Panic time. Prayer time. While Kristi tries to call the landlord on our cell phone, I decided that if breaking the door is the only option, I would do that. It is now 6pm. I pull really hard a few times and just when I think the door is about to break, it opens. We eventually find out that this second door unlocks for 20 seconds after the code is entered on the first door. So you have to go through both sets of doors quickly. I go downstairs with Maria (and my cell phone) to test this out. Sure enough, that is what it takes. The funny thing is that I have tried several times since to open the door after 20 seconds and it doesn't give a bit. How did I ever force it open when I really needed to??? Divine intervention.
Fortunately, the last two days we haven't needed such obvious intervention!
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