sparrows and airplanes

it is sunday night, china time, and i am staring at a pillow.  i'm having this strange little conversation with it.   it looks so good.  but is also a bit intimidating to my travel-tired mind.  after journeying -door to door- almost 30 hours and spending last night somewhere above the pacific ocean ...this pillow and this bed in this hotel look awfully good.  but i just know i am going to climb in and not sleep a wink. with so much excitement...it simply won't be possible.  so, i think i'll write a bit more and then stare a bit longer.  we arrived in guangzhou early sunday morning (saturday night your time).  as the plane descended through the clouds i was glued to the window.  glued.  i saw green mountains and large rivers and fields covered in the morning mist.  and then, out of nowhere, this massive city sprawled out before me.  yep, more tears.  kind of ridiculous at this point, but what can i say?  we were about to set foot in the country of our daughter's birth.  she was here. i looked at rick and whispered, "she lives here."  this is where bella lives.  come on, you know you would be welling up too, if you were along for the ride.  anyway, we finally landed and were met by our guide, nikko.  she couldn't be more precious.  on the ride from the airport to the hotel, she filled us in on all the details of our schedule. my head was beginning to spin.  as we pulled up to the hotel there was a young woman standing on the curb.  nikko told us it was rebecca.  rebecca was the guide who helped early on in gathering information about bella.  last summer, it was rebecca who persistently knocked on the door to the orphanage attempting to get updates for us.  rebecca was just leaving to catch a plane to the U.S. for a month.  but there she was, waiting at our hotel on the curb.  when we got out and were introduced to her she said to me, "your little girl is doing wonderful!  i want you to know she is in very good health. she's beautiful!"  she smiled and we hugged.  no... we embraced.  i embraced this woman who just welcomed me to china with the most amazing gift.  we walked away from that (seemingly) happenstance meeting and walked into the fabulous lobby of the garden hotel.  it was stunning.  we had no idea we'd be staying in such swell accomodations.   wow.  i joked with rick, "815 buttercup trace isn't going to look quite so snazzy after bella spends two weeks in this place!" lately, sarah elizabeth's new favorite movie has been "eloise at the plaza" (sarah really relates with eloise, or so she says)...it kind of reminded me of that set up. "bella grace at the garden hotel." anyway, needless to say we are pleased.  so far everything has gone so well.  God has been abundantly good in His provision and in His attention to even the smallest of details.  we are just amazed.   of course we have had these little moments of uncertainty and fear..of course we've had some anxious thoughts about ...well...everything... but then He just shows up with something like a rebecca at our curbside!   flying through the night sky yesterday, i was thinking about how this enormous plane was traveling across the ocean.  how this great plane was somehow suspended up in this sky with an incredible amount of people, baggage and equipment.  i am always in awe of things like this.  it probably has something to do with the fact that if i was told to float something in a small bathtub, i would fail miserably.  that whole physics thing escapes me completely.  but there i was thinking about this remarkable airplane and how it held us up in the sky.  i know that would have caused some of you to have a full blown anxiety attack.  i really do try not to dwell on all that while flying...especially when crossing oceans for 13 some hours.  it's like i can sort of get the city to city thing...but i kind of think we have to be pushing it a bit when we ask machines to travel to the other side of the world.  it just seems a bit risky.  instead of anxiety though, God brought this verse to mind:

"are not two sparrow sold for a penny?

yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart

from the will of the Father...

so don't be afraid."  ~ matthew 10:29 and 31

yeah, pretty cool, huh?  i guess THAT verse fits perfectly. He cares for big airplanes and small sparrows.  He cares incredibly about big dreams and tiny details.   and tonight as we prepare to meet our daughter ... i am just so glad to know that.