First of all I want to start by saying thank you to those of you that reached out with prayers. It meant so much knowing so many people were praying with me for the safety of my dad that awful night.
If you know my dad, you know that he lives life to the fullest. He is always treating us to lavish shows, concerts, trips… I could go on. He has spoiled us so much and he lives that way as well. He has worked as a funeral director for as long as I can remember, he has been a true role model as a hard working dad, to provide for us.
Two years ago he uprooted his life to move to Denton to be closer to his kids and grandkids. He has lived his entire life in San Antonio, on the same street, same house since he was a boy. So moving 5 hours away was kind of a big deal. He works at a small funeral home and visits us every chance he gets. This year alone he has traveled to L.A., Chicago and San Francisco. Did I mention he’s a huge baseball fan and wants to travel to see as many baseball stadiums as possible.
He decided to travel out of the country this fall and visit Paris and London. We were so excited for him. He bought tickets to a soccer game, tickets to the eiffel tower and many other attractions. I never thought his trip would go this way…
Friday afternoon my sister and I were getting texts like this from my dad.
He was so excited to be visiting such a grand stadium. It was his first day in the country and he was ready to explore!
Two hours after being at the stadium we got a text that said, “Phone is dying, I’ll text you tomorrow.”
Both our reactions were…. uuuuh what?!
The following text (praise God his phone was still on to let us know he was alive at this point) said… “2 loud explosions at stadium, they locked the gates, no one can leave. Seriously.”
What happened in the next few hours was filled with worry, tears and a lot of praying.
Shortly after that his phone died. All we could do was wait.
We watched the most horrific story unraveling on the news while I called and texted my siblings non stop trying to figure out what we could do.
One thing we knew for sure was that he was inside the stadium, and was safe…. for the time being.
What we didn’t know was if he had his medicine, if he could get back to his hotel without directions, if he was ok. We knew he was in the stadium and we knew they weren’t letting anyone out. That’s good right?
At this point, it had been hours since we heard from him, Mindy and I were so scared and the news just made it worse. I was a wreck.
Finally… at 5:33 pm my phone rang, it was him. He had gotten out of the stadium (when they finally let people out) walked and walked until he finally found a metro that was letting people on. He got back to his hotel, plugged in his phone and called.
Some of the things my dad told me, I’d rather not share but I will say this. He was alone and he was scared.
After everything, we find out the intial target was the stadium that he was in. He tried to leave the game early and they didn’t let him out, he wouldv’e been on the streets ALONE. Of all places and times to take a trip THIS is where he was when this tragedy happened.
He stayed the remainder of his stay in Paris and he is currently in London wrapping up his trip. There is nothing I want more than for him to get on a plane right this minute and be home but I’ll have to wait a few more days to hug my dad.
Please pray for everyone in Paris.
As angry as I am with this act of terrorsim, this verse keeps coming to mind…
LOVE your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44
God be with us.
I'm so glad he's safe Mandy. Blessing to you and your family and prayers for safe travels to get your dad home. You can give him a ginormous squeeze from all of us.
Marsha
Mandi I am so happy your dad is ok. I was praying for your family Friday. Hugs to your entire family. Xoxo
So glad he is safe. I can't imagine getting those texts and going through that! Xoxo
Unbelievable…glad he is finishing up his trip so evil didn't completely win. I'll bet you just want him home…
I'm so glad that he's ok Mandi! I can't imagine <3
So glad that your dad is okay! Praying that the rest of his trip is uneventful and he makes it home to his family.
-Heather