Romania or Bust

So why Chi Chi's Walk? It takes me back to my roots really. It takes me back to a time of miniature golf with our churches boys club. I was probably 10 or so. I wore a straw hat that fall day and the bees loved it very much. That's where I learned of Cici Rodriguez's the famous golfer. They called me that because he also wore  a straw hat. The nick name stuck for a long time. And really it takes me back to a time when God had first gotten a hold of my life. 

I started this new blog and wanted to get things back to where they were in the days of straw hats. But then I realized how many days and hours it would take me to even type everything that has happened between now and then. So I will start off by keeping it simple.

This blog comes on the tail end of a mission trip to Romania. I am 35 years old and the last 35 years have held a lot of events. There's really too many to name. But what I do know is God's hand has been upon my life the entire time. And once again his presence and his hand was revealed to me as I spent eight days in Romania. And that's where this blog is going to start. Trying to recall all the events of that trip.

I should say that AT NO TIME HAVE I EVER DREAMED OF GOING TO EUROPE. I am a homebody. I like America. I like being on the ground OR calm water. Not a big fan of the Friendly Skies. So, going to Romania was a God thing. He made it happen. I tried NOT to go. It was his plan.

DAY 1

It was the day. Thursday October 23, 2014. We got in the car and were finally headed to the airport. I was filled with nervous excitement.  We drove the few blocks to church to pickup Steve, and then we were on our way. I don't really remember the ride to the airport. I drove, so MANY prayers for safety were answered. We parked the car and went inside. We navigated the rigors of checking in and waited for Donna and Jessica to arrive. Once they did I offered my usual cold and rushed goodbye. I dont like long drawn out goodbyes because I get too choked up. So with a quick hug and kiss I said goodbye to my family. We then navigated the TSA line in an every man for himself way. No directions were given. Thankfully the rudest airport employees and security would be left here in the States. The other countries were much more friendly.  We then sat and waited and boarded the first leg of our trip to DC. Once on the plane I let everyone know several things I failed to tell them before: 

A. I am claustrophobic

B. I get motion sick easily

C. I have regular bouts of vertigo

D. I had successfully brought my batman mask onboard

After clearing the air of these details we flew successfully to DC. We changed planes and boarded the half empty 777 bound for Vienna. Our home for the next 9 hrs. This was a pretty nice plane but I was unable to sleep. I was motion sick and having small bouts of EXTREME anxiety. I watched on the map as we flew further and further away from home. I at one point thought of all the ways I could get them to land the plane in Newfoundland and I would just take a boat home. I owe my soon to come calm to God. He gave me a peace no drug could deliver. I was able to sleep for an hour or so.  I awoke calm and refreshed. I would soon become very familiar with diving into prayer only to awake hours later- calm. Overall the flight went well. We landed in Vienna on Friday morning. We had travelled into the future. It was now time to use our small layover to hit downtown Vienna, and find some sausage. We had a very limited amount of time. And ironically the two on our team who were the non risk taker type, were the late ones. We missed our train back to the airport. To Be Continued............