We pulled into the parking lot overflowing with parents and teenagers.

My stomach was in a gigantic knot as young college kids were directing us where to park.

“You have one hour to unload,” the scrawny college kid tells us as we crack the window open to hear him.

Great, I am thinking. One hour. How in the world will we unload my daughter’s new life in her dorm in just an hour?

45 minutes later, we scurry to the car for the last load of her things.

I hear a huge pop in the sky.

Looking up, I see a rain cloud hovering right over us.

Since I was a very small girl, I remember writing in a journal. My earliest memory of a journal was a light blue notebook with a rainbow on the front of it.

The journal had a little lock and key on it that held all of my deepest thoughts, dreams and prayers.

Not much has changed. I still write in a prayer journal every single day.

Keeping track of prayers, praises, hardships, joys, God moments….those journals are filled up and then some.

These journals are a reminder to my heart of God’s Faithfulness. If I do not write it down, I am afraid my feeble mind and heart will forget.

We finally, 10 hours later, landed at JFK airport.

Exhausted, cramped, tired, and starving, we made our way off the plane for a four hour layover, yes four.

All of us went in different directions to look for food.

Finally, I spotted a wing place that we were all familiar with and I quickly grabbed a table.

I plopped down, surely I was a sight for sore eyes. Hair greasy, clothes wrinkled, not a stitch of makeup, and more than likely a few drool stains on my cheek from the nap on the plane.