Snacks for Jesus

Thursday night I was jealous of Sloan.  He got to take his buddy E to the airport at Dulles.

Normally, you'd think driving a guy two hours to the airport and back again on a random Thursday night isn't enviable.  But Sloan was driving E to pick up his wife and two kids.  Whom he hasn't seen in close to a year since he immigrated from Egypt.  His wife and kids were finally able to come over safely.

Can you imagine what that was like?  To get to stand on the sidelines and watch God bring a family together after so much longing.  I get teary eyed just thinking about it.

I decided to pack some snacks.  After all, this mom has been traveling with two toddlers by herself!  (Can you imagine?  I'm sure her excitement over seeing her husband counteracted the sheer exhaustion that comes from traveling internationally with a 1 year old and a 3 year old.)  I planned on getting each of the kids some goldfish, a squeezy applesauce, and some milk.  But while I was at the store I also saw a cute doggy toy, and some matchbox cars, and some Colorwonder books, and...and....and...

Yeah, I may have gone overboard.  But I figured that my kids require 47 different snack options and a backpack full of toys just to cross the James river, so maybe Egyptian kids are the same?

Perhaps it was too much.  But I wanted these folks to see how they are loved.  By strangers.  By Jesus.  By God's people who were blessed enough to be given the opportunity to just show up and see Him do His thing.

I just couldn't help myself.  I get this from my mother.*    I got gender nuetral toys, board books, books and toys from drive-thru meals, chips, hummus, carrot sticks, strawberries, apples, grapes, baby food, fruit snacks, Nutrigrain bars, Peanut Butter crackers, Captain's wafers, Pretzel sticks, goldfish, animal crackers, pita chips, and babybel cheese.  We are blessed beyond measure.  Our cups runneth over.  So how could we not give them our extra umbrella stroller and buy a bunch of fruit and carbs and toys for these brothers and sisters of ours? 

Sloan said that the family reunion was a thing to behold.  E stood up everytime the doors from customs opened up no matter that Sloan told him the signs said their flight wasn't through baggage yet.  And when the doors opened up and E's family came through, he was off like a shot running into his bride's arms.  I'd post the pics Sloan took, but they aren't my family pics to share with you.

Sloan did tell me that the mom was beyond done having traveled with a 3 year old and a 1 year old.  While riding back to Richmond, the youngest child was fussing.  She and her husband were chatting away in Arabic when all of a sudden Sloan heard from the back seat, "Baby.  Shut. Up.  Baby, stop your crying."  Priceless.  I speak this Momma's language.  Perhaps I should've packed her a bottle of wine.


*If you were to come to our house at Thanksgiving, you would see that my Mom has prepped the favorite meal of each of her grandkids.  She has 16 grandkids.  We have potatoes mashed, roasted, baked white sweet potatoes, and sweet potato casserole, all because various kids at some time or another have professed a love for some type of tuber.  It is both hilarious and precious at the same time.