This first installment of the trip to Dallas is brought to you by Kerie Rudd.
Some would say that a cloudy, snowy, windy day would most likely be a bad day. For us, however, it has been a glorious day because we knew that our day would be filled with sun and blue skies. We just had to get to the airport first. We were scheduled to leave from Grace at 10:00 a.m. and Coach made us show him our I.D.’s before we could get on the bus. This proved to be a very wise decision as someone – not mentioning any names – all of a sudden realized that she didn’t have her license in her wallet. After a minor freak-out, she went home to try and find it. Meanwhile, those of us who had been able to board the bus were greeted with a high-pitched continuous warning sound. We thought it was kind of annoying but most of us were too excited for Dallas to care all that much. We later found out that it was some warning about pressure and that we had to get another bus. So we went back inside and waited, and waited, and waited. That time wasn’t a total loss, though, since Anna and I (and Coach Ash helped a little) defeated Abby and Brittany in a couple quick games of Euchre. Of course, right as Abby got her first good hand, the bus rolled up, and we were finally on the road!
We had a couple hours in the bus and so we watched Pitch Perfect on our way to Detroit. We safely arrived at the airport at about 1:30 or so I think (thanks Dale)! We made it through security without any major incidents and our first-time fliers (Amy and Marissa) were getting pretty excited. We waited about 30 minutes until we were called to start boarding the plane. At this point we were all getting pretty excited to leave the snowy windy Michigan weather and trade it in for the sunny warmth of Texas. Boarding took quite a while and getting ready to take off seemed to take forever. We were scheduled for a 3:30 departure but it turned into more of a 4:30 departure between the drive to the runway, the de-icing process – quite the colorful process actually – and the other final preparations for flight. We finally got to the runway and were ready to take off and off we went. It was pretty fun, I have to say, but even better than the take off itself was the look on Amy’s face when she realized that she wasn’t exactly fond of heights anymore. It was foggy enough out, though, that we lost sight of the ground fairly quickly and she calmed down. Then we broke through the clouds. There is something to be said about taking off in snow or rain and that moment when you break through the clouds and realize that once your perspective is changed it is really quite the beautiful day. God truly is the ultimate artist!
We got into Dallas around 6 and were greeted with warm weather and a beautiful sunset. We stepped outside and most of us took off our jackets because it was so nice out. Dallas Christian has been kind enough to let us borrow their van, so they brought us to the hotel and then once we were all settled, we walked – because it was so warm out – over to Fuzzy Taco’s for some delicious Mexican dinner.
It’s been a great first day and we are looking forward to the rest of our trip. Praise the Lord for this wonderful opportunity he has given all of us to be here and represent Grace and His Kingdom!
