We arrived into Lincoln, Nebraska at about 4pm on May 26th. We had reservations at the Embassy Suites downtown. However, when we arrived a number of things went wrong.
Prior to the trip, I called many hotels looking for a place to stay that would work well for a family our size, and yet still be affordable. My hubby works for the Government, and so often times hotels will offer us a government employee rate. Initially we had booked a room at the Comfort Suites (since my hubby’s relatives would be staying their as well), but we decided to see if we could find a bigger room. When we called Embassy, we told them we were vacationing, but asked if they would still offer a discount for government employees. They said sure, and so we changed our reservation to them since we could get a 2 room suite for the same cost as over at Comfort Suites. We then canceled our reservation at the Comfort Suites.
Well, apparently, the woman that gave us this rate was not suppose to, and when we arrived they said the best they could do was reduce their rate to $139 per night! This was DOUBLE what we had been quoted. Not to mention, there was NO parking downtown, and we were going to have to pay parking fees or valet fees in addition to the room rate.
We went back out to the car to figure out what to do. I had the number to Comfort Suites in my binder, so we called them up to see if we could still stay there instead. The man on the phone said he had a room available until Thursday night. We decided to take it for that night at least, and then call around for another hotel for the rest of the week that was more in our price range.
We headed over to the Comfort Suites and they actually gave us their largest room, which would work out great. Unfortunately they were still saying we would have to check out Friday morning. Friday morning was the Ordination!
So, I got on the phone and started calling hotels. I soon found out that practically EVERY ROOM IN LINCOLN was booked. All I was able to find was a couple hotels that had a “smoking” room with a king size bed. That wasn’t going to work. It turns out that ALL the Public High Schools in town were having their Graduations, in addition to a number of other big sporting events, that particular weekend. I seriously called over THIRTY hotels Monday night, and then again Thursday morning! How could every hotel be booked like that in a town the size of Lincoln? We even tried getting the room at Embassy back, but it had already been taken.
Anyhow, I guess God was trying to teach me that I really am not in control, and remind me that I need to trust in Him. Unfortunately, I failed miserably, and was totally stressed out. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!?!? I had put so much work into making sure everything would “run smoothly!”
I was pretty upset, especially since I had verified beforehand that it was alright since hubby wasn’t “on the job!” There was no way we were going to be able to afford the difference in the rate, especially since we planned to be in town for a week.
It was hubby’s turn to be the calm one and told me not to worry, it would all work out…
That night I thought about getting online and asking for prayers… But instead said a few of my own, asking for the intersession of St. Joseph. I did get online to check my emails, and briefly mentioned our dilemma briefly to Tracy while responding to a question she had emailed.
Wednesday morning, I got back online to find an email from a brave soul, a friend of Tracy’s that happens to live in the Lincoln area! She was willing to take all 7 of us in for the weekend!!! Plus, it just so happens that this friend also went to school with my hubby’s sister. I can’t believe what a small world it truly is! (So, there you have yet another benefit to blogging! Thank you Tracy and Anne Marie!)
In addition, as soon as I got off the computer, I received a call in our room from the front desk saying they had just had a cancellation, and we would be able to stay. Thank you St. Joseph!
Hubby was right, there was no need to worry after all!
Jessica, God always provides doesn’t he? Enjoying your trip through cyber space and this is overdue congratulations to the whole family on the ordination of yet another (!) priest in the family. How blessed you all are! I’d love to pick your brain too about HOW you get your multi pics in one post side by side on blogger and how you get your black boxed articles within the posts as well. Trick? Tip for the rest of us? Perhaps a blog idea for another day? LOL God bless!
that does sound like it was frustrating, but isn’t it cool how those things always seem to iron out in the end…and sometimes without anything we did?!
Who got ordained?
Thanks Renee! As far as the pictures, when I upload the pictures in blogger, and want to space them like that, I choose the setting none (versus center, left, right) and then the small size for portrait style, and medium or small for the landscapes. Then, once they are in the post, you go into Edit Html, and delete the space between each picture. I then play around with them a little, by resizing them right in the post. It is a little confusing, so let me know if this doesn’t make any sense… Also, in regards to the boxes around articles/recipes, etc… I just highlight the text and click the block quote button. I think it looks like this: ” I really can’t remember if this was automatic with my template, or if I edited the html code to put the box there or not. Each template in blogger does something different it seems. I do remember changing the “black” line of the box to a color to match my blog, but it has been so long I don’t remember how I did it! It was somewhere in the template. I hope this helps!
Shelly — Thanks for commenting! It was actually my husbands youngest brother that was recently ordained a priest! My husband has 3 brothers, and they are all priests now. We have traveled back to Nebraska for each ordination.
God Bless!
I’m sorry to hear that you had so much trouble finding somewhere to stay! As I ran errands this morning, I passed a string of hotels, thought of you, and wondered how on earth our little city could fill all of them up with guests. I didn’t think that many people visited us! Glad to hear that it worked out for you!