The Day Has Arrived!! 👏🏼🥳

 We were up by 4:45 am so we could be to the house by 5:45 to get the totes loaded onto Karl’s truck and the suitcases and backpacks into Cams van. All the local cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma piled in and off to Nashville!

We met Flynn and LeAnne + family and our friends Michael and Erica Bodeker and mom Twila Rothgery from Fountain Run at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. 

45 min wait time(10 parties ahead threw us a little curveball but our options were a little limited.?. Our other option of choice was Pancake Pantry 20 min drive  or there is always fast food🤨) we opted to stay where we were and the wait didn’t seem long. We were seated at 4 different tables, our table got served last and Lonnie and I ended up having about 3 min to eat our breakfast altho we stretched that a little. Hurried goodbyes as we were cutting into our recommended 3 hrs before departure.

After the luggage was unloaded and more goodbyes Sherry took their van while Grandma, Cam and girls stayed with us til totes and suitcases were all checked in and we were ready to head thru security

At the gate, it wasn’t long before it was already time(think busy toddler) to pull out the dried apples Lisa T had sent from Mackay 💛, take a “stroller“(car seat on wheels) ride, go find a place to fill our water thermoses,etc.

Nashville-Chicago

12:21 P.M.-2:02 P.M.

Uneventful. small. American Airlines plane.

In Chicago O’Hare we undertook finding our next gate which meant going to ground level where the veiled agent at the ticket counter with hard to understand English was training another lady, they needed to see our passports and boarding passes and they got us onto a bus just outside the door where it was icy cold, snow on the ground! Navigating thru the jets on the runway we made it to the Qatar Airlines terminal. More dark skin, veiled heads, skirts down to the ankles.

We found some supper. 3 hamburger and fries meals/$80. We spent quite awhile over supper, re combed the girls’ hair.

Back to our gate. Where the agents at the counter were were dressed in Qatar Airways uniform complete with quaint matching maroon hat. Google it if you haven’t seen it. And then an unforgettable sight was watching our overseas crew come parading in! All the beautiful dark skinned ladies with bright red lips, in their maroon uniforms with the captains. I just smiled ☺️

Before we boarded, the toddler was getting quite unmanageable so we found the melatonin.

Chicago-Doha 

7:05 PM-5:20 PM Feb.14

By time the boarding process was under way Annslie was “out”. On the aircraft we had to walk past the spacious, comfy First Class….

In the economy seating it was definitely just that, with the only exception being the screens in front of us where we had a large selection of “stories” to listen to.

The meals..

When the options were given, it was hard to understand their English, so we just chose something! We chose chicken and rice, which came in a sealed TV dinner like tray. It was hot and ready to eat. A pile of rice with a pile of chicken curry next to it and a pc of green cooked asparagus? on top. A dense bread bun heated in its plastic wrap. A cup of slaw with fresh cilantro on top! A little dessert cup with graham cracker crumbs. Drinks were a nice, normal variety of coke products and juices. And they have milk for Annslie and even heated it for her upon request☺️

 

1 day til departure

 Tues. night when we went to bed, the next day (day before we left) looked doable. We figured we’d be ready to go/have free time in the afternoon.

Were we ever wrong! 

Wednesday morning Sheila, Cem, Sherry, and Mom came to to a little cleaning, finish packing away some of the last things like coffee pot, toaster, etc , disperse the last of the fridge and freezer items, and watch Annslie while Lonnie and I supervised I guess? Don’t remember what we did exactly😅 Cam and Karl came by,the crib was taken down. Vera showed up also to tell us “Bye” since she hadn’t been at our farewell and ended up staying and helping wipe out kitchen cabinets and China cabinet. 

   Mom had Karl’s, Sherry, and us to her place for lunch. Served up leftover tikki Marsala (I think that’s what it’s called😅).. India chicken curry over rice from supper at Sherry’s last night.

  Then Lonnie, Annslie, and I had a couple hrs at home for Annslie to take a nap and Lonnie and I to regroup and get some things figured out.

  At 3:15 I went to get the girls from school, get their current schoolbooks, and tell the teachers “Bye”. The girls Love their teachers and their teachers do such a good job so it was Sad😭

Cem and Jake and Sheila and children came after school to do more cleaning, wiping down walls,etc.

Merle and Bonnie came by to tell us “Bye” also and Bonnie ended up staying and giving the master bathroom a good cleaning. 

Lonnie and I worked on packing the girls current schoolbooks in,etc 

By supper time there was still too many loose ends😫

We went down the road to Jevin and Kaylee’s for a yummy “chicken corn soup” supper with the whole spread 😉 Jaylen and Jacob dined there with us also.

We didn’t stay late and ran by Dad’s to spend a little time and tell him “Bye”. The girls were entertained by 1 of Dad’s cats and the exercise bike😄

We dropped Annslie by Karl’s so she could get a bath and get put to bed. The big girls we dropped off at U. Cams for the night. Then Lonnie and I went back to the house to tie up the loose ends.

Alas! Shortly after we got back to the house the power went out!! So Lonnie went out to the shop for a flashlight plus our phone lights and we plugged on. Making sure all pieces going with us were just a wee shy of 50lbs to be safe. Then writing out address labels for inside and out of the totes with bags of zip ties taped to the inside of the lids for after inspection as advised. We wouldve printed those all out if we’d gotten to it earlier😣 Btw that was 20 labels with a Really long address!!

House #14 Road#8 Block A

Pink City Residential Area 

Kilkhet, K💭???

Dhaka, Bangladesh

The power did eventually come back on in a few hrs and I was able to get the washer and dryer going again, get that folded and packed away.

Anyways, by time we called it quits and headed over to Karl’s for a short night, it was 1:30 am.

  

3 days left

 Tonight was C.E. on Memories and Dreams for our congregation here at Lobelville. Theme verse,” Where there is no vision, the people perish.” A heart warming service with several bringing a short 3-5 minutes of memories and then a handful more on dreams, both parts had younger and older from both sides of the house.

  Another part to the service was songs by the youth-30 yr olds! Jaira’s comment when they all got up was,”that’s most of the congregation!” We were told, there were a few missing tonight, but our count for that age group is 50!        

  At the end of the C. E. we switched gears to a congregational farewell for us, ending the service with the  congregation standing to sing “God Be With You Til We Meet Again” A good feeling of support from this group of people settled over me…. We know our minds will often slip back to this place we call home.

On the countdown

Sunday January 26,2025

  Last set of overnight guests has come and filled our house here on Burns Ridge with children playing, food served up with many helping hands, conversations flowed. And then goodbyes for the next 3yrs., unless good fortune is bestowed and we would actually see some of these folks from America in our foreign home on the other side of the world. This last month + has been filled to the brim with family and friends. Good memories to carry with us.

  We: Lonnie 40, Lanette 36, Madison Jane 10 (5th grade), Jaira Laine 8 (3rd grade), Annslie Jo 22 mo are excited about the nearness of our anticipated departure.😊 (Feb 13)

Maddie’s sentiments at breakfast yesterday,”I just can’t wait to get on that airplane!”

  We have begun thinking in terms of how we imagine our near future life to be. On the way to the evening service, the question of what the current outdoor temp is, answered by the Daddy in the driver’s seat. “46* and dropping”. From the passenger side, “That’s colder than we’ll ever see in the next 3 yrs”…. We’ve heard that the winter lows in BD are in the 50s.