Isaiah 55:8

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.

Not long ago, I posted this on Facebook: 

Little did I know I would soon be shown an example of this from my own life.

A bit of background:

We are looking forward to a family trip overseas to visit Mark's parents, brother, uncle, aunt....you get the picture. There are a number of people in Scotland that we are so excited to see! Sadly, this trip comes as a result of a health concern involving one of these people. Prayers for a full recovery are welcome!

Did I mention I'm pregnant? Fortunately, I will be able to "get in under the wire" as far as air travel is concerned - being not quite far enough along for travel to be prohibited. (Not to mention the amazing pregnancy I've been experiencing, with superb progesterone levels and not a hint of pre-term labor! Thank you Jesus and a gluten-free diet!)

Our travel window is defined by the above, the treatment plan for the ill person, Annie's 2nd birthday, before which she is 10% of an adult ticket, and Mark's work schedule. Needless to say, we had a number of rather important things to work around in order to find this window.

God knew this. 

And how does all this relate to my Facebook post?

Crazy Catholics children-loving people that we are, Mark and I were hoping for baby #4 for a few months before she finally graced us with her presence. I love having our children close in age and Annie was getting older by the month, resulting in our longest space between our children yet (19 m, 20 m, and now 26 m). I know, probably still Irish-twin status according to the rest of the world!

Now, I certainly don't want to make light of this baby's existence by assuming that the sole reason God waited longer than we would've to give her to us was so that I could fly overseas. However, I do recognize and marvel in this small part of His plan which allows:

a) Me to travel (I'm not too far along in my pregnancy)

b) Annie to be old enough to be not quite as much of a hand-full, but still not full fare.

c) We won't be traveling with a newborn in tow

If we had received the blessing of baby #4 when I wanted, none of the above would be the case. So, there you have it - God ruined all my plans month after month only to give me His plan in His time, which allows for us to visit overseas during the window of time that's available to us.

Thank you God for having a plan that was better than mine...as always.