Providence times two

I miss my friend Kelsey.

We still write each other fairly regularly, but I haven't spoken with her in over five years. I miss her laugh. She has a great laugh!

Kelsey and I first met in Rochester, Minnesota. We worked together at the RLS Foundation, and we took a trip to Nigeria together on a 6 week mission trip.

Kelsey is "training" to be a nun. She is in her fifth year. She will make her final vows after year seven. She has studied to be a teacher and is now teaching in a catholic school. She is the godmother for all my children, and is just someone that I love with all my heart.

During the last five years, due to rules during her training, she cannot speak to me on the phone. So we have only been able to communicate via letters. She cannot get on the Internet so I have mailed her copies of my blog to keep her updated on my life.

There have been two rather incredible acts of providence that have occurred surrounding Kelsey and my lives. The first is one you can read about here. I will quickly summarize what happened by saying that Kelsey had a dream and woke up praying for me on the exact night I had to be shipped from Turkey to Germany in what we thought was early labor with Abigail. It was an amazing miracle!

The second bit of providence ...

On our way back to America to have Hannah, I was waiting to board our flight from Norfolk, Virginia to Fort Lauderdale, Florida when I happened to glance over my shoulder and see two nuns in the infamous Southwest Airlines boarding group line for a flight to Nashville, Tennessee.

I was busy feeding my kiddos a $17 breakfast from Starbucks -- trying to organize the muffins and juices and get everyone well fed before we had to board -- when one of the nuns turned to me and said, "I want to say thank you!"

I'm sure my face said what I was thinking. You want to thank me?

"Thank you for being a mom and raising these children," she said.

"Oh wow. Thank you for saying that," I replied. (I really needed to hear it at that moment being hugely pregnant and trying to keep myself calm with my three little kiddos on a two-day-travelling-trip.

"People are always thanking me," she said. "But so many other people deserve our thanks too. Like moms. Raising little children. God bless you."

I smiled and then decided to say something about my friend Kelsey. "I know you don't know her or anything, but I have a dear friend who is a nun who I haven't spoken to in five years," I began. "I miss her. You reminded me of her because, well, because you are a nun," I giggled.

"What's her name?" they asked.

"Kelsey," I said, and then corrected myself. "Well, now her name is Sister Joan of Arc," I said.

"We are from Kelsey's convent!" the nun eagerly replied.

We then spent the next minute or two talking about Kelsey. I asked them if they could please hug her for me and tell her I loved her.

I received a letter from Kelsey a few weeks later. Her fellow sister had in fact remembered and spoken to Kelsey. How amazing that in this big world I was able to touch a piece of Kelsey.

Little miracles remind us of how real God is, don't you think?