A root canal, a flight and a blizzard

My husband was scheduled to leave for Ghana, Africa today to speak at a youth retreat. He spent a lot of time preparing for it, and was very excited to meet the kids he was going to be spending the next few days with. 

A possible glitch in our plans were two back-to-back storms, slated to hit us and quite possibly leave us debilitated for days, thereby hindering our trip to the airport, or even delaying a flight.

With the impending blizzard that was supposed to begin today, we were feeling pressure to make it to the airport and back home before the blizzard hit.  With the entire state talking about this nasty blizzard, my protective Dad decided he would be our chauffeur in his giant, diesel, four wheel drive pickup truck. 

I ended up scheduling my root canal on my abscessed tooth for the this morning, because my dentist is in a town on the way to the airport. That way Dallas and my Dad could watch India while I had the procedure done, and we could be on our way.  And we would save gas.

After my root canal was finished (which was my most painful to date because they couldn't numb me all the way because of the abscess), we had plenty of time to feed India and get me some breakfast with about 3 hours to spare until Dallas had to be dropped off at the airport. 

We planned perfectly.

We made our way towards the airport and decided to stop for lunch at a different Thai restaurant than the one we normally go to.  It was a horrible mistake!  My Dad ordered Stir Fried Potatoes with Beef and got a couple slices of beef, with a scoop of GRAVY, all on a bed of potato chips.  WHAT THE ???  I could write a blog post just about this because it was so horrendous.  I doubt my Dad will ever have Thai food again thanks to me.

As we left the "restaurant", Dallas decided to check the Delta website and found out his flight to Atlanta was delayed by two hours.  It took us a second to realize that because his flight was delayed, he would then miss his flight from Atlanta to Ghana. 

I've arranged enough international flights to know that this isn't a good situation because direct flights to countries like Ghana are hard to come by - especially over a holiday.

Deep pit in my stomach.

Dallas gets a hold of a Delta representative, who assures us that the next flight to Ghana is in 2 days, and he can have a spot on that flight. Dallas explains that he has to get on that flight from Atlanta tonight because he is speaker at a retreat, and it he needs to be there! She says every flight is booked and she can't help him.

She tells him sorry, but that's his only choice.


All the while, I'm whisper-yelling things like "but it's THEIR issue, they need to fix it" and "they better reimburse every penny of this flight and throw in additional vouchers" and "tell her you need a flight on another airline then - no exceptions".
 
It's a good thing Dallas had his bluetooth on, because I was about to reach up and grab the phone myself and start doing some Angry Wife talking.

Around this time, I updated my Facebook status, asking people to pray for me.  Well, it wasn't really for me, it was for the whole situation, but I couldn't explain that at the moment - and I didn't want our hosts to see anything and panic.  We were already all freaking out enough about the blizzard and the possibility of flight delays.

I also texted a couple of close friends some of the details and asked for their prayers.

My Dad, Dallas and I then talked for a second about stopping and contacting our hosts, but Dallas decides he wants to get to the airport as soon as possible and talk to someone face to face.  My Dad suggests that he call Delta again and try another representative, and Dallas does just that.

This representative does some digging, and comes up with a flight to Cincinnati, then finds a flight from Cincinnati to Atlanta. 

All in time for him to catch his original flight from Atlanta to Ghana!

Excitement!  Then we find out the flight to Cincinnati leaves at 3:10pm, and it's 2:15pm and we are stuck in traffic! 

EEK!

Another pit in my tummy!  

Dallas decides to take the flight anyway, as it's his only hope of getting to Ghana this year (ha ha), while I'm madly arranging Dallas' stuff and my Dad is trying to work his way quickly (in his ginormous truck) through traffic (in not the best weather)! 

While driving, I'm giving my nice, sweet, kind husband a talk about being aggressive. I even brought to his memory instances of times in our previous travels where I have been sweet, but aggressive and saved us from missing flights.  

2:27pm - We get to the airport, unload his luggage, swat him on the butt, and I tell him to HURRY!  And I told him I loved him too.  And maybe I didn't really swat him on the butt.  But now, I wish I would've because that would make this story a lot cooler.

I spend the next 40 minutes praying, sweating and hoping that he gets on that flight.  I know the chances are grim.  I can't bear to look at my phone after 3pm because I know soon I will hear if he made it or not. 

3:03pm - I receive a text.

"I made it....just barely."

At that moment, I was so happy!  Words can't describe it.

Our next hurdle of the day, battling the blizzard, was about to begin, but it was small in comparison to getting Dallas to Ghana! 

 

The drive home was fine until we hit a town a little over an hour away from our house.  The road was now covered in glare ice.  It took us a couple hours to get home, but we made it - SAFELY!  I'm so glad that my Dad was with, driving his big truck, and helping me stay level-headed when I wanted to stress in that dilemma.

A lot of things attempted to deter my husband from getting on that flight, but thankfully, the storm didn't interrupt his travel plans, he was gently aggressive, made all his connecting flights and is at this very moment, on a flight to Ghana!

Thank you to every single one of you who saw my post on Facebook and prayed for us - even when you had no idea what to pray!  I am SO grateful for your prayers!!!  I knew God knew exactly what we needed.  And I knew God knew exactly what these students needed! 

And PRAISE BE TO GOD, for looking out for all of us, for providing in what looked like grim circumstances, and answering the cries of our hearts.

Dallas will be a blessing to these guys.  I can't wait to see what God does in all of their lives.  After all the effort and opposition, I know it's going to be INCREDIBLE!