Lees in France

And we are off….in stages and graces

The kids went to church camp, Sunday, July 31 and said their goodbyes as, “Bye Dad, see you in France!”

Randy and Cody (10 mo. Golden Retriever) flew out of DC, Thursday, Aug 8, 2022, after many events. We thought Cody’s air ticket was $125 already paid. Come to find out he was in the reservation system, however b/c of his weight and kennel size his ticket, which was under the plane in an air pressured control hold, was SURPRISE $400. The $125 ticket was for animals who are small and fit under the seat in the cabin. 

As I was leaving the departure area, I realized I had been a lucky recipient of a parking ticket, $40. Randy to the rescue, tracked the officer down and by grace in many ways the ticket was ripped up. I ventured on toward Jan’s house in Falls Church for dinner.

Meanwhile, Cody met the entire Air France crew and obediently went in his kennel and under the plane, last on and first off. A huge storm rolled in, delaying the plane for an hour. This storm also knocked out power at Jan’s and by the time I had received confirmation that the plane was in the air it was too late to drive 2 hours home during a nighttime thunderstorm, thus a sleepover. 

I forgot to mention that due to moving overseas Randy and I, in stages, had to transfer our phone numbers before leaving the US. Randy was up first for the loss of communication. The storm, inability to reach Randy, kids at camp, unintended sleep over without power, and oh right moving to France caught up to me and sadness quickly ran its course through my mind. I was reminded of moving to Uganda 25 years ago, before cell phones and the internet as we know it. My reliance on communication ability had been stripped away then and now. So, where did I go then and now for comfort and peace? I could only pray to Jesus for this comfort and true peace. This mindset then led me to text some of you and you prayed for this part of our journey!

Friday came, Randy and Cody landed in Paris. They walked around outside the airport for a few hours before loading onto a high speed train to Montpellier, France. Their final leg of transportation was a car ride to our new home in the village of Saint Drézéry.

By grace and amazing youth leaders, the kids made it home from camp. Mazie’s mono sickness continued to improve at camp and Zach returned home a 6ft.+ long tree branch, just because. Our own stages of packing and saying goodbye to people took hold for the next few days.