Mareshah leaves the nest

Well, yesterday I sent my daughter (who graduated this summer) off to Jamaica for 8 months.
She had decided that she wanted to go visit her family and spend some time with them. She also wanted to be able to have the opportunity to get into shape. The food in Jamaica is so much healthier than here. No additives or preservatives. You also have to walk everywhere you need to go, so she knows it will make her feel better.
I have to say that I am SO PROUD OF HER!! I did not think that she would ever do it, but she has! We had to postpone her flight one day because hurricane Gustov was passing over Jamaica and I wanted to make sure it was gone before she went. We left for the airport at 2:30 Sunday morning. We had a good time of prayer on the way, and God proved Himself faithful as the day went on. There were a few things she had some concerns about. We prayed specifically for each of these things. I will list some of the concerns and how God answered our prayers.

1. This was her first flight alone and she had a stop over in Memphis. From the scheduled time of landing in Memphis and when her next flight started boarding there was only 11 minutes! I had instructed her to talk to a flight attendant to ask how to go about finding her next gate. Well she texted me from Memphis and said that her flight was early into Memphis and she was sitting at the gate and had several minutes before they were going to board! Thank you Lord!

2. At Immigration in Jamaica, the officers like to be crabby and give you a hard time. Visitors can only stay on the island for 6 months. You have to have certain papers to be able to stay longer. I had instructed Mareshah what to do if they gave her any difficulties when she was at the Immigration station, because she (being born in Jamaica) is a dual citizen and her first passport is stamped with a "unconditional permit" to stay as long as she wants. (It is the cutest passport because she was about 5 when she got it, but she has to carry it because of the stamp in it). Well, they never even asked her anything, they just stamped her passport and let her go through! Thanks again God!

3. Once you clear customs you have to go out into the area where there are a whole bunch of porters who harass you to let them carry your bags (so they can make some money) before you get to the place where whoever is picking you up is waiting. Mareshah was scared about this because she is such a sweet soul she was not sure she could deal with this. Well check this out...
NOT ONE of them even asked her. She walked right through the area and out the door to meet uncle Assie and uncle-in-law Audley, along with Audley's two young children AJ (5) and RJ (3), that were waiting for her! Praise God!

It is nice to know she is in good hands. God will take care of her there. I already miss having her around the house, but I know she is going to grow up while she is there. She is going to see what all she is capable of doing. She has needed to be able to prove to herself that she can do something like this. I am just so happy that she has lived up to one of the meanings of her name (Brave) and taken this step. I can't wait to hear all of the stories she is going to be able to tell when she finally gets back!