Heavenly Father Watches Out for Us- Schaumburg, Illinois

In this previous post, I vented my frustration at the near constant process of packing, unpacking, and shopping for one week of food at a time that we went through for the entire month of May and most of June. I was flabbergasted as to why I would be asked to go through constant travel limbo for this period of time. Austin was frustrated because the project he was assigned was so far outside of his knowledge base, and he would be taking a pay cut to do it (because he would be an operator vs. chief). He secretly didn't even want to go to Dongying. I just wanted to go somewhere and settle in for a few months after a whirlwind trip west to visit family. Mostly I just wanted stability and to know where I was going to be the next few days, or even a week ahead of time. I don't feel like that was too much to ask. 

Dongying was going to be a hard place to live. It is basically a town that was born due to the oil/chemical plants that are found there. Although there were some parks and things to do, we would have to travel a really long way by train, or at least an hour flight to Beijing in order to see other parts of the country. Very few people spoke English here, including the hotel staff from what we had heard. I was worried about finding healthy, safe food for our family. I was planning on traveling the hour by plane to Beijing for prenatal appointments, because there were no English speaking doctors in the area. It was going to be hard, but we've done hard assignments before. It seemed, though, that every time I started packing for the trip, I had an uneasy feeling that we really were not supposed to go there. We prayed for safety in our travels, and that we would end up in the assignment that we were supposed to go to. Austin's bosses seemed to think this was the assignment for him, and we already had Chinese visas so through all the delays they kept us on this assignment in Dongying.

This all culminated with us actually getting on a flight to Beijing, only to have it turn around a few hours into the flight because it ran out of water. That meant 10 hours of flight time, jet lag this week, and we took off and arrived at the same destination. My toddler was so confused! I was so confused! WHY!!?? How can this happen to us? Austin got an email that again, they didn't need him for another week. GAHH!!!

Austin went into work the next day after our ill-fated flight and told his bosses that he didn't think Dongying was a good fit. They kept pushing back the date and we were never going to leave for anywhere. They agreed this time and were angry with the chief at site for stringing him along for so long. They  found us a new assignment that just opened up in Ningbo, China, about 3 hours by train from Shanghai. It is still in China, so we get to use our visas. It is one of the best sites in China. We are staying in a Marriott hotel with great access to food through the club. We can qualify for a suite upgrade to live in a bigger room. The hotel is situated right at the intersection of three big rivers with parks and walking trails along them. Although I'm not positive, I think that I can have my prenatal appointments right there in the city at this giant, state-of-the-art women's and children's hospital. It has many more direct flights to other areas of China in case we want to explore. It's only 1.5 hours from Taipei, so we're definitely planning a trip to Taiwan! I could go on and on why this assignment is better for us and our family. Most importantly, we feel good about it. We feel like this is where we're supposed to go. Austin is doing something that he has a experience doing, and will be compensated better here. We'll be done with the project in plenty of time to come back for the birth of our second son. It's just a perfect assignment for us!

Here's the take-home message: In order to get this assignment, we had to get delayed this long. We needed Chinese visas. Because we're leaving Monday and it's so last minute, we needed tickets to Beijing or else Landon and I would have to stay behind two weeks to save on ticket prices. All the things we have gone through the past month and a half culminated in a perfect situation for us. We could call it luck, but I know better. Our Father in Heaven knows each of us individually. He knows what we need. He knows what is best for us, and may take us on a wild ride in the process. Eventually, with 20/20 hindsight, we can see what He was doing all along. We feel so blessed. We were blessed that our flight did not have mechanical issues, just water issues. We were blessed to have more prenatal appointments with the women that will be delivering our baby, and to even find out that we're having a boy before we leave. We were blessed to go to church in our home ward where Austin could serve in his calling and Landon could attend nursery with his friends. Heavenly Father loves me and He loves you. 

P.S. The quotes and graphics are quotes from Apostles of Jesus Christ, members of the Quorum of 12 Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To learn more about what we believe, click here.