No Voice

Well, it looks like the newbie has fallen for the oldest trick in the book. Which is not saving your voice. Yesterday I went through a phase where most of the talking I did was more of a squeak than an actual communication using words with other people. But, thanks to Liz I have some cough drops and am using them to scrap together what little strength my vocal cords have left for the OMC tomorrow!! For those of you that aren't familiar with the OMC it stands for Organized Mass Chaos. I mean, the name should give away pretty much everything about the game. The staffers that are training run around like kids and collect task cards that have to be carried out, after the task on the card is completed the kid will place the card in the bucket and scamper over to the next card to get the next task. So, imagine about 90 staffers running around like kids completing tasks... and that is OMC during training week.

On another note, track times. I'm SO excited about teaching soccer as my track time this summer. I know that the games are going to be so much fun and that maybe some kids that don't quite "get it" in bible study will be able to pick something up about the Gospel at a track time.

Worship tonight was just awesome. Instead of traditional sing, pray, preach, exit, we sang and then there were five stations set up around the auditorium for us to visit and read the verses, reflect, and just pray about each one. It was so nice to just go around and have some time alone with God. I love praying with a lot of people, but that alone time with God is what makes my relationship so personal. The fact that we were allowed to get that and rejuvenate tonight was so so so refreshing. I can't wait to see what God has in store for this summer!

P.S. Ask me about my team's OMC cheer after I get back... It's an experience everyone needs to have.

Flight Pt. 2

So now the saga of flying must be wrapped up and ended. After about four and a half hours of sitting on the floor of the Atlanta airport, I decided to simply inquire about my bag. Well, the first time I got a really rude lady with a Delta “rhinestone” clip on her had, a jet plane on her lapel, and an attitude bigger than the airport. She proceeds to tell me that my luggage could be in Atlanta or it could be in Nashville… Not comforting news by any means. To top it off she wouldn’t even scan my baggage claim to see if it had been moved. So, as I walk back to my mom, I begin to cry. Like, sob. In the Atlanta airport. In front of everyone. She proceeds to go back to the baggage office, talk to another woman, and have it explained that while my baggage IS in Atlanta, it hasn’t been pulled and if we let it just go on to Nashville it will arrive before we will Friday morning. So we leave the Atlanta airport, me luggage-less, and head to Calhoun. That ride was pretty uninteresting, but it ended with me in a bed and in dream-land. 

I awake this morning and go downstairs in my friends house to see my mom and Mrs. M watching The King’s Speech. I plopped down and watched from about the middle to the end of it, and wanted to stand up cheering whenever the movie ended! After a shower, packing up what little clothes I have, my mom and I embark to Nashville. After arriving, we check into the hotel. Right after we get out of the car we realize that we are outnumbered in the ethnicity department. Seems like a family reunion was commencing tonight that we were not aware or. Checked in and unpacked, we head to the airport where I hold my breath, walk into the Delta office, and squeal and jump with joy whenever I see my bag. I get it without a problem and simply rejoice in the face that I have my luggage back!! 

So in summary, I have my luggage, I’m ready to go to camp, and now all I have to do is pray, sleep, and get to the airport in one piece. (I probably shouldn’t say that seeing my luck lately)

Flight, Pt. 1

Well to start this off, shortly and concisely, this has been the trip from Satan. Literally. It all started last night around six thirty whenever Delta Airlines called us to let us know that our flight had been cancelled and we had to move to another flight. That should have been a tip off right there, but seeing as we now did not have to get up at the butt crack of dawn, Mom and I were grateful. We arrive at JAX around 1:30 and check in, get lunch, and simply wait. Where we find out that our flight from JAX to ATL has been delayed. We board out plane and wait to take off. The we had to circle around ATL because of storms and an overload on Air Traffic Control. We land and meander our way to our gate because now instead of a one hour layover, we now have a three and a half hour one. Perfect, right?

As we’re dutifully waiting for our flight to take off the thunder storm rages on and the flight gets delated thirty minutes… and then an hour. And around 8, our flight is completely cancelled. Seeing as you can’t fly without a pilot, and our pilot was stuck somewhere else is the USA, we were not heading anywhere. 

Mom and I end up canceling our flight because the next open one is the 28, and since I have to be in Nashville by the 28 anyway, we swiftly declined and cancelled the flight entirely and are going to drive to Nashville. As we’re walking away from the gate my mom says two of the most fatal words of the night, “YOUR LUGGAGE?!” We find out that it’s at least a two hour wait to even get baggage from a cancelled flight on a clear day, so of course the wait is upped for one with storms and thirty other cancelled flights from that day. We’re told that the luggage will probably come within about four hours. Keep in mind that this is around 8. We are now in hour 3:15 in waiting for our luggage, and have a screaming child to keep us entertained. Oh the joys. 

After we get my luggage the fun will only begin, we have a 1:30 drive to Calhoun and then we have a three hour trip from there to Nashville. This trip will continued to be logged.