Monday 5/22: Jared had clinic today. Since we didn’t have clinic last week or yesterday he was really busy today. He really enjoys the clinic. He says it’s getting easier for him to say no to the patients that seem to just be there for the handouts. Sometimes they get perturbed when they get turned down or they think they don’t enough financial help. Miriam says “they should not be annoyed! We give much taka to them.” It was a normal day for me. This evening Jared grilled up all the chicken I had marinating. Layton was all excited because he thought it was all for supper. He said “mom it smells so delicious!” We let him have some. If he is asking to eat meat we let him!!!!! Watched the airplanes for awhile too while we were up on the roof. With there being more of a breeze and more rain lately the air is definitely clearer so it’s easier to see the planes. Sometimes you just hear them roaring above and can’t see them. Our mango trees in the backyard are loaded with mangoes. Unfortunately they are all out of our reach from our veranda. The drivers and moyla ladies have been going back there and picking them up off the ground. One day we kept hearing this loud boom in the backyard. Every time we raced to the back veranda to see what it was because it was quite loud. We never could see anything. Finally we realized it was the mangos hitting the tin roof of a shack back there😂 Sumita just laughed at us jumping! Loud crashing noises make both Jared and I jump… must be the nurse in us still. There’s a new mango dokan that just went up beside our regular fruit dokan. Looks like they have several different kinds.
Tuesday 5/23: Layton could hardly stand it that Shania slept in this morning. “Mom can’t I pick her up?” She is over 10# and 21 inches long. Her legs and arms are starting to get little fat creases in them! Guess I don’t need to worry whether or not she is getting enough to eat. Wish I could get Layton to put on some weight. Jared called mid morning and needed some things at the clinic. We took a rickshaw there since it was so hot. Layton said “are you sure you know how to tell the driver how to get to the clinic?” I said “sure I do!” Several of them know where the clinic is and you just tell them “office.” He is rather doubtful of my abilities at times. Don’t blame him.😂 I am too sometimes. 😂 on the way there we met Tanvir with a load of milk for the clinic. He was finally able to see Shania. He’s been bugging Jared to send him a picture of her. We didn’t stay long. Came home and did random things. Had singing this evening at the clinic. I was really looking forward to going since we missed last week. All the usual ladies were there except Miriam. We were right in the middle of singing a song towards the end and the electricity went out! So that was the end of that. The wind picked up and it rained and rained. We stayed for awhile hoping it would let up but finally we just left. We made a dash for home in the downpour and got home absolutely soaked to the bones. Layton thought it was all quite an adventure😂 We were going to go to Parktown for supper since we haven’t been there for a long time. Thought corn soup, spring rolls and some cashew chicken sounded heavenly! I didn’t want Shania to get drenched on the ride there so we just came home. When it rains in Dhaka the streets fill up with water pretty quick! Not flood style really but huge puddles so we got our puddle splashing in. One tries not to think of what could all be in the puddles. Thankfully we had brought a huge umbrella with us and Jared had me use it to protect the baby. Trying to dodge between cars, rickshaws and not bumping into other people’s umbrellas proved to be quite a task. I got the umbrella hooked on a gate once. Once we got back to the main road we had the sidewalk to ourselves. I told Jared it was probably the only time that would ever happen! . Ended up making grilled cheese sandwiches and egg drop soup for supper when we finally got home. Jared thought it was good comfort food for a rainy evening. It really cooled down which was enjoyed by all! The guard told Jared “boss! Ekhon thanda!!” (now it’s cold!) With the slightest change in weather or temperature or wind it seems like everyone comments about it being or getting “thanda.”
Wednesday 5/24: Woke up to an absolutely beautiful morning! Layton and I went down to the courtyard right after breakfast and played badminton and rode bike for awhile. Jared went to Gulsane to an office somewhere to drop off a packet to get Shania’s “born abroad” paperwork started. After he got home I went to the tailor. Dropped off a 3 piece to get sewn. I’ve been putting off going there for weeks. Been worried that my Bangla isn’t good enough to convey how I wanted it sewed! Sumita finally told me I better go soon before the 2nd Eid comes (the end of June) otherwise it might be awhile until the tailor can sew it. It went better than I thought. I had written down all the phrases that I needed to know beforehand so that really helped. Lanae and Lisa helped me with some of the phrases because I wanted him to sew the pants a certain way. When it comes to having a tailor sew for you there’s so many details that need to be discussed it seems like! I told him round neck, short sleeves, long kameeze and elastic in the waist on the pants. If it turns out ok I’ll take him two more to sew. It’s the same tailor that Amber used so I’m pretty confident he’ll do a good job. This winter I’m going to have him sew some actual dresses for me, as my postpartum ones are getting plenty big on me. When we got to the clinic for lunch I told Sumita I had finally taken my 3 piece there to get sewn. She laughed and thought that was funny. She saw the receipt in my purse and wanted to know how much he charged. I said 500 taka. She was horrified! She told Josna and Miriam that the tailor charged me way too much and that her tailor only charges 300 taka maybe 350 if you ask for piping on the edge of your kameeze. I just listened because not too long ago Miriam was griping that the sisters and her took their clothes to their tailor and “he has no brains” was how the story ended.😂😂 So I’d rather pay more and have things turn out than not. I said he probably charged me that much because I’m a foreigner. They thought that was probably true. 😊 Anyways I’ll go pick up my 3 piece next week some time. Josna made chicken curry for lunch. It was as good as always! Spent the evening at home doing home things.
Thursday 5/25: Got the teacher room ready this morning for the girls last stay in Dhaka! Kinda sad… after they leave it will be quite awhile until there are teachers in Bangladesh again. Lisa is going to teach her children next year and I’m going to teach Layton kindergarten. Doyle’s won’t need a teacher for awhile for their girl. So probably no teacher until Layton starts first grade. Jon brought over the teachers passports with their exit visa stamped in them for the teachers for tomorrow when they fly out. Got some encouraging news in regards to some paperwork about getting funds released. The children and I went and ran errands for awhile in the morning. In the evening Kelly’s, Trevor’s and the teachers all came over. Jared got pizza from the Pizza Hut, Lanae brought brownies and Lisa brought a salad with REAL LETTUCE! If you ever want to see a bunch of happy CSI people… pizza and ice cream and being together usually does the trick!
Friday 5/26: I typically focus on only sharing the positive things of our lives and leave out the negative and the struggles. Some have said they wished they knew when we were struggling so they knew to pray extra for us. It’s hard for me to share when the challenging times arise because I don’t want anyone to get the impression that we aren’t happy here or such like! But life is real here just like at home. Pray for the church in Bangladesh. Seems like there’s several members that are down or discouraged. Pray specifically for the ones that have chosen to not attend church, those on repentance, those that used to be members. In a culture like Bangladesh it’s not easy to be a Christian. Pray for the missionaries that are supposed to be leading the congregations and encouraging the discouraged ones. We feel like children some days and wonder how we are supposed to have the wisdom and maturity to know how to answer their questions. Some times it seems like God called us here for our own sanctification and personal growth. In the end we all are just helping and walking each other home. On the bright side… today church was full! We could have used an overflow! Kelly’s, Trevor’s and the teachers worshipped with us… Miriam came and who should come with her but Lucky herself.😊 Made my heart so happy to see her there. The singing was beautiful. Had 4 part harmony… really miss congregational singing like that at home. Kelly had the message in Bangla. He had Sumita read the verses in Bangla for him. There were two patients and their mamas at the clinic so they peaked in with wide eyed wonder at all the Bedesis having church. The one little boy had already had his cleft palate operation and he was just crying and crying. He was so hungry for rice like he saw his mom eating but all he could have was milk! I felt sorry for the poor little fellow. I was in the kitchen changing Shanias diaper and I turned around and there were the mamas lined up just watching me! Ater church we all went to Farmhouse Burger for lunch and then to UniMart. While we were waiting for them to ground up some beef for us they offered us some oxtail. We declined. We enjoy trying new foods but oxtail seemed a bit much. There was a young guy making cotton candy for free so all the kids lined up to get some. I don’t know why kids enjoy that stuff. Basically a sweet spider cobweb. 🤢 Layton was thrilled because he’s been begging for some ever since he saw the boys selling it on the street. In the evening we all ended up at the guesthouse and bugged the teachers about how much luggage they had! When it was time to leave they put their American head coverings on. Miss Kalli put on the same dress that she was wearing when she came 2 years ago. It was a bit shorter than the ones she wore here!😂 It was hard to see the girls go. I will really miss them coming and going when they came into Dhaka. Was so fun to be with young girls again! Felt like I was with my manor girls again when they were around. When we hugged them goodbye Layton was very worried that his Thomas and Krista were leaving. I assured him that not yet not for a few months!
Saturday 5/27: Sounds like the teachers flights are going well. In the morning Jared and Jon went to the auditors office. (AGAIN!) They’ve about wore their own trail there.😂 Jared says there’s about 10 apprentices that do all the work. Looks quite tedious. So it’s no wonder that there’s been so many mistakes made with that many students. But they have to learn somehow. They thought about switching accountants but not every accountant here in Dhaka knows how to do the books for an NGO like us. Their trip there was somewhat of a dry run. Mid morning the children and I went over to the guesthouse. Lisa Lanae and I were going to go through some dishes, books and things that Elwoods left there from Rajshahi. Wanted to get all of the boxes taken care of before Doyle’s come. I had to abort the mission early because Layton wasn’t feeling well. We came home and I tucked him into bed and gave him his favorite hot cocoa. Shania was fussy so finally I gave up getting anything done so all three of us piled into our bed and remained there for awhile and listened to the thunderstorm that rolled through. Lately Shania will only nap if someone is holding her. The past few days her aunties have been making sure that that isn’t a problem. When I went to the guesthouse this morning, Marci met me at the street and asked for Shania before any one else could.😂 As soon as Jared got home he headed to the clinic. The sisters were having problems with the water system there. A pipe was leaking so Jared hoofed it to Farmgate but the shop was closed so he went and bought a bunch of jugs of drinking water until he can get the right part. After naps Layton seemed to be feeling better so we all headed back to the guesthouse for round 2 of decluttering and preparing. So many of the books are all rippled and worn from the humidity here. Going to give them to the moyla ladies or the caretaker to recycle and get some extra taka. Lucky came and she took quite a lot of things for herself and to take back to her village. By the time we were done it everyone seemed pretty weary so we invited them all for supper. Whitney came home with me and she made tortillas and fresh salsa and I got out the grilled chicken Jared had grilled earlier in the week. Cut the meat thin and sautéed peppers and onions… it made delicious fajitas! After supper we sang for awhile… it gave us a boost! The men had been tracking the teachers flight from Singapore to San Francisco. Right before they landed in California we messaged them and sang them the first verse of “The Star Spangled Banner” to welcome them home. 🥰
Sunday 5/28: Jared was at clinic like usual… I spent the morning doing laundry, dishes and trying to get my life somewhat organized for the coming week. Trevor and Kelly were both over to get various things they needed. Trevor is going to send our Dhaka cycle back to Kulna by train and then Jared is going to find an electric bike. We just don’t need that big of a cycle here in Dhaka. We either take the van or go by CNG or rickshaw if we go somewhere that’s too far to walk. CNGs will take you quite a distance. Spent the rest of the day doing usual things.
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