Blessed in Denver

I should be on a flight heading to Dallas right now. However I'm in Denver International Airport sitting in the food court. I spent the weekend in Boulder and was looking forward to finally getting home (even though Boulder is absolutely phenomenal). Due to winter storms, Dallas is shut down leaving me to wait for the 4:00 flight to Charlotte. However this delay did not end being a total disaster. As I sat here waiting for my mom to return with Panda Express, I felt something touch my arm. I looked to the left and was shocked by the sight. It was a little girl around the age of 4. Her hair was cut in a short bob and her face was covered in red splotches all over. She wore bandages on her arms and hands. She asked me my name and I told her and began looking around for her parents. When I looked around i noticed there were three other kids of various ages who had the same bandages and splotches. At that time I heard someone calling for an Alexis. I waved my hand to indicate that she was with me. When the older lady approached us, she began telling me sorry for the intrusion in an embarrassed way. I told her not to worry about it and introduced myself. She told me the story of the kids and how they had been left to die in a burning house by her heroin addicted niece. They were just released yesterday from the hospital and she was taking them to her home to Seattle to raise. My heart was shattered and my moms eyes filled with tears as she had joined us. Stories such as these affect me in a personal way as I too had a drug addicted mother who abandoned me. I am grateful for people like my mother and like Johanna who reach out and take in those children. As I watch Johanna push one child in a wheelchair while herding the rest towards their gate, I can't help but notice the look in her eye. It is not a look of exasperation that one would expect from a lady who took on 4 children who were not her own. I saw a look of love and compassion and strength. And I knew that I shouldn't worry about what would become of those children. With that combination and her determination, I knew that, like myself, they would be just fine.