Day 1
And the morning and the evening were the first
day.
Day 1
After a somewhat short night Wednesday night in anticipation of Thursday morning, one of the most horrific aspects of the trip was awaiting me.
Finally the dreaded moment came, and Paula and the kids pulled out of the driveway, leaving me to finish some last minute packing and pull myself together before my taxi arrived.. The Lord seemed to allow some good distractions to help me get through the morning. Abut 7:45 the electricity went off. That never happens in our subdivision. The last time it was out for any length of time was when the tornado ripped through the area about a year or so ago.
It was off for abut 45 minutes, allowing me to reroute any emotional frustration. Snickers, our cat, was also a lot of help in keeping my mind from focusing on the fact that I would be gone for eight days. Now the moment had turned to eight glorious days without being clawed and scratched and hearing her tormenting screams.
My taxi, P. Ray. arrived right on schedule. (Imagine that! LOL). I finished packing and he loaded my bags in the car. We locked up and headed for Atlanta. One street over, I realized that I may have forgotten my wind-up radio/flashlight/weahter radio combo. Expecting to go back and retrieve it, I was reminded that all the doors were locked and now we had no key to get in. I was anxious to unpack and see if it was with me. ( I FOUND IT LATER!)
I felt rather nauseous most of the way to Atlanta so I decided a nap was probably the best way to deal with that.
I was up before we passed Six Flags and realized that we weren’t supposed to pass there. Oops. I had failed to give complete exit details, but thanks to P. Ray’s overwhelming patience and phone GPS, he worked his way through some very interesting parts of downtown. Again, I figured with the absence of electricity and the scenic tour of inner city Atlanta, the Lord was just giving me some insight in the trip at hand.
We arrived safely at the airport in plenty of time for me to get checked in. One of the attendants was most helpful in checking in my luggage and printing one of three boarding passes for me. He had never heard of Nairobi and I am just praying that my luggage meets me there.
From there it was off to meet David Ray, the international YWEA coordinator and his son Michael. We boarded safely after finding out that Delta had no clue of how to credit my new found sky miles. (Thanks Paula for getting that worked out for me! You always do all this stuff, aand I didn’t know where to start!)
We left Atlanta 2:45 EST and arrived in DC about 2 hours later. The flight was good. I slept off and on and was blessed with extra apple juice and an extra pack of cookies.
We were met in DC by the other members of the group, 18 in total of us, (some I still haven’t met), While waiting we ate at “The Five Men”, It was a cheeseburger lover’s dream and the fries were pretty awesome. After treking back to the gate, with a cup of coffee, by this point, it was almost time to load. I got to make a few phone calls before, during, and after boarding. Paula is helping Pell City High Choir with an upcoming event,
Ashlyn had a great game, Addison got to play 2nd base and pitch during a practice game, and Austen was content that he didn’t go with daddy to Erka (Africa) although that had been his plan for the last week.
Among those that I have met in the group are; Ronald and Linda Martin, Administrative Bishop of Del-Mar-Va (more importantly, close friends of Margaret Gaines), and Sam Abbott, one of Mark Abbott’s cousins.
I was blessed with an aisle seat. My guess is that most of the folks on this flight from DC to Amsterdam, cannot trace roots back to Chilton County or most anywhere in Alabama. My seat mate was from Hungary and has been over for some scientific seminars?
Wee were served almonds and drinks of choice earlier. Our supper choices were pasta or chicken. I don’t think Paula Dean would appreciate what they did to this chicken. There should be international laws against it, --- It was served with rice, some kind of bean salad, roll, and some cherry cake. Thank God for wonderful cheeseburgers!
It is now 10 PM Central time. I have no idea what time it is here now? We appear to be over the ocean but in the darkness it is hard to tell.
I still feel like an emotional slinky (rollercoasters and yo yo’s still have too much form to describe my current state), but I know that God has some awesome things in store. Thanks to each of you for your thoughts and prayers for me while I’m gone, and for “those left behind”. Thanks to so many of you who were so gracious to help me make this trip a reality. (You know who you are).
I’ve actually read a chapter of “Simple Church”, (I have a couple of copies for sale for anyone interested). It is one of the books pushed for 24toDouble. Seems to be the first reading time I have had in a while.
I’ll close for now with the words from a song that P. Ray so graciously left me with today, “I still miss you, life will never be the same with you not here . At least that’s close to the song . It “blessed” me today in my mental state. I know he just wanted to be a blessing . I have trained him well. LOL.
LESSONS FOR THE DAY
#1
Hold your family close and treasure the time you have with them.
(Definition of Family - those to whom you are related by blood line and those special people that God places in your life)
#2
A full airplane and a full bladder are NEVER a good combination.
Will close for now and try to find out the “local” time and catch a nap.Pastor Paul
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