Connecticut

Last week I was in Connecticut doing a psuedo VBS for children of church planters in the New England area. We kept the kids while the parents were in sessions. It was craziness trying to care for 24 preschoolers ranging from 10 months - 5 years in onw space. We had limited resources, and it was quite an adjustment from how we normally do things, but we learned a lot and it was a blessing to serve these families that really do serve in the trenches up there.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

• great team of 10 very different people, neat to see them bond and work together
  
• learned what a grinder is (a hoagie type sandwich in the New England area)
  
• enjoyed much cooler weather while Houston was hitting triple digits!


• got to cross Connecticut, Rhode Island & Georgia off my list of states visited!


• had a tourist day to Mystic, Connecticut - hometown of the movie Mystic Pizza, where we did enjoy a slice of heaven!


• had a 3 hour delay in Connecticut, causing us to miss our connection in Atlanta on to Houston, so then we had to stay overnight to catch a flight the next morning back to Houston. Allow me to outline the events that occured:

3:30pm - get to Hartford to turn in the rental cars, it is decided (not by me) that we don't have enough time to get gas, so we will just pay the premium price that the rental place charges

4:30pm - had checked bags & made it through security, waiting at our gate 1 hour and 25 minutes before our flight is supposed to leave at 5:55...I guess we would have had time to get gas

5:55pm - our flight had been delayed til 6:10

6:10pm - our flight is delayed til 6:30

6:40pm - finally board

7:45pm - still sitting on airplane, we are told we can get off the plane because they don't know how long it will be til we are cleared for take off

7:55pm - instructed to get back on the plane

8:10pm - another delay on the runway

9:00pm - FINALLY take off, by this time we know we have missed our 9:59 flight from Atlanta to Houston and we will be staying the night in Atlanta

11:30 - land, find out that our flight the next morning is at 8:50, thankfully we were all on the same flight, but we would not be getting our bags back, so we had an "emergency kit" that the airport gave us for the night, it included a night shirt to sleep in, a toothbrush & toothpaste, a flimsy brush, deodorant & detergent...just enough to get us through the night

12:45am - finally figure out where the shuttle busses pick up people and take them to the hotel & head to the hotel

1:00am - stand in line for nearly 2 hours to get a hotel room

2:30am - finally get in our rooms

3:00am - head hits the pillow for a 3 hour nap

6:00am - wake up call comes waaaay toooo early

6:50am - head downstairs to get breakfast

7:15am - catch shuttle back to airport without breakfast because the hotel didn't get our food out quick enough

8:50am - finally on our plane, headed to Houston, no delays!

All in all it was a great trip, a learning experience and a great opportunity to serve brothers & sisters in Christ!