Today was an interesting day. Steve and I woke at 4am to go to the airport to catch a flight to Utah. It was delayed because the de-icing chemicals had not arrived at the airport (Salt Lake had a massive snow storm on the 20th and morning of the 21st) and they did not want planes coming in that they might not be able to get out of the airport - so we waited and waited. Then we heard an announcement that Southwest was being lent de-icing chemicals from Delta. And immediately another announcement that it was snowing and the plane would be delayed for another hour.
Why do I mention all of this - well sometimes I think things happen for a reason. We finally gave up and decided we would not wait any longer to get on the plane. The decision was made to return home and drive up on Sunday (Steve has tickets to the BYU game on Saturday). So we called family and friends in Utah to let them know we would not arrive until Sunday.
We stopped on the way home for breakfast and then went home and fell into bed. Both of us were living on only 4 hours of sleep and were exhausted. I slept for 3 hours and felt much better when I woke. Steve woke at about the same time, but went back to try to sleep some more.
Then the phone rang. "Is this the Shipley home?" "Yes" "Are you Sr. Shipley?" "Yes" "The is the missionary department in Salt Lake" (I held my breath thinking maybe they wanted us to come to SL for an interview or something!!! Funny me!) Sr. Baty (that's a long a) informed me that they had received our papers and were reviewing the medical information. They asked me if Steve had had a Stress Test. Now way back to last June when we had our missionary physicals, Steve came home with his filled out - when I looked at them I noticed that his doctor had not required a stress test - nor any immunizations. (Steve and I took care of our immunizations at the health department here in Clark County last August and September.) He told me with a grin that his doctor thought maybe the missionary department wouldn't notice the stress test thing - after all he had one 5 years ago and it was fine......I thought that I would have been much more at peace knowing a current stress test was normal. Anyway the papers are now in "hold" mode until Steve's doctor faxes a letter saying he does not feel Steve needs a stress test OR that he has Steve take a new one. Sr. Baty did say that the only indication that one should be taken was Steve's age.
It was amazing to us that the Missionary Department not only received our papers but were already reviewing them!!! (even on the day of a massive snow storm) With Christmas next Tuesday we didn't expect they would be noticed till the end of next week or after the New Year.
The doctor did not return Steve's call today - so it may be a week or so before we get this little glitch solved. But had we left for Salt Lake this morning we would not have received the phone call. A Tender Mercy? Coincidence or Design?
