Christmas Day 2023

So many people have asked what we did for Christmas so here’s a report: 

We left Doyle’s around 8:30 Christmas morning and headed to Bedgram to pick up the Golpaganj members that wanted to go with us to Kulna. Ripon, Ripons nephew and Kokon. Kokon’s wife Beauty didn’t want to come. Krystal told her that she should come and that her children were welcome to attend too. Her children are teenagers so we thought surely Beauty could leave them and come too but that’s not how this culture works. The teenagers still need to be taken care of plus it sounded like maybe they had a program to attend. Natun wanted to come with us as well but his parents wanted him to attend their Christmas program so he said he would maybe come later. We told him it was important for him to spend time with his parents now that he is in Golpagange. That boy just cannot stay away from us when he knows we are up to fun things (like having pizza for supper😂)  and for sure if we will be with Trevor’s and Doyle’s. Ripon hopped in with us and Doyle’s took the rest. Got to Santo’s (where the Kulna church is) around 10. Everyone was all smiles since it was Christmas Day. Santo had hung up purple cloth for a backdrop on the wall behind the “pulpit.” Then had covered the front of the pulpit too with it. It looked nice. We hardly recognized Santo at first. His boys had told him he had to dress nice since it was Christmas. 😄 He had on a long sleeved dress shirt, black dress pants and black shoes! Looked like he was ready for church at home. Santo had the opening then Ripon had some thoughts. Wade Buller (Trevor’s brother in law) had the closing thoughts. My children did not fail to disappoint with their behavior during the service. Both of them sat with me because we didn’t know if Jared would end up needing to share thoughts or not. Layton kept standing up wanting to see Sotti’s (Santo’s wife) duck flock in the pond by the church. We were sitting by a window so we had an excellent view for watching duck antics. Finally I sent him to sit by his dad. Shania kept wanting to stand up on my lap and look out the window too. The church is made from tin and she kept trying to scratch the wall with her fingernails which was not pleasant. Kari (Lisa’s sister) was sitting behind me and I heard her laughing at my feeble attempts at trying to keep Shania from scratching on the tin.😂 Finally I gave up and went and walked around outside with her until church was out. Krystal was doing the same with Jonas. Reminded me of the days when Treva and I were in the nursery together with Silas and Layton! After the service Sotti had to go take her goats to get some grass before we could leave. She didn’t have their little sweaters on this time! The rest of us loaded up on vans and in cars and headed to Trevor’s.  One of Trevor’s Hindu neighbors has been begging to cook for them so they had her cook for all of us. Trevor’s guard Tulsi made the cooks a little shack out of bamboo poles with leaves for the roof to cook under. It appeared as though the women kept him hopping. When we arrived he was very disgruntled because the cook and her helper made him cut up all the coconuts for the egg curry. The cook was clearly from a higher class. She wanted to use Lisa’s knives instead of their traditional cutting utensil. She wanted Lisa to blend up the garlic and onion in her blender so that she didn’t have to use the grinding stone! The day before Trevors and Wades spent a lot of time boiling eggs for her, getting 10 ducks butchered, and making seasoning packets for the curry. This was our first time eating duck curry and sadly I must say I was not a fan. The rest of the meal was great! Rice, vegetable mixture, Dal…They took the gizzards and made “tok” out of it. I didn’t have nerve to try it as any dish with innards scares me. 😳  Trevor bravely tried the duck feet. Lisa thought her husband had officially lost his marbles! Usually I will eat anything here with an open mind but for some reason the duck did me in. Natun showed up right before lunch. He was able to leave Golpagange right after going to church with his parents. Lisa made him his favorite cabbage salad and then all us ladies each brought a sheet cake. Some people wanted a piece of each. Bengalis love American cake! Trevors had a huge carom board set up and their dart board. Everyone enjoyed the games or just sitting and visiting! Us ladies sat and watched the Hindu ladies cooked. Every so often they would get one of the coconuts that Tulsi had cleaned out and scoop vegetables in it and then pass it around for us to taste and tell them if it needed more salt or spice. We immediately said no more spice! I had made a bunch of protein bites for snack before we had left Dhaka that I had brought along. I knew since this was a Bengali meal we wouldn’t eat lunch until later and sure enough we didn’t eat until three! I’ve learned to bring snacks around for events like this…  keeps the kids from getting hangry. At one point we were ready to eat but then Santo had to leave and go give Sotti’s goats some water. Trevors rolled out long mats on their porch and we sat there and ate. As I sat there and ate my food I had to look around at these people we have learned to love. Santo dressed up to the nines, Samid in his leather jacket, Ripon with his sparkly eyes, Sotti with her 10 kaj morich on her plate that she ate with every bite of rice, Santos boys who always are bugging Whitney and Brandi, Brock telling me “Brianna you should have seen these ducks get killed…. Blood squirted EVERYWHERE and do you want me to show you how the heads got chopped off?”, Natun with a massive plate full of cabbage salad “Now I am a cow eating all this salad!” Kokon and Liton hanging to the side of the crowd not saying much and quietly eating… I thought to myself this will really tug at the heartstrings to tell this all bye in two years. 💓After lunch we just sat and visited some more! Some played more games. We were all outside since it was cool. I really enjoyed visiting with Lisa’s sister Kari. They spent five years in Mozambique. We stayed until 4:30 and then headed home. Trevors wanted us to spend the night there but we had left our luggage at Doyles. Plus Wades are there with them and we didn’t want to crash their family time. It’s pretty precious when family comes to visit! Ripon and Natun came back to Bedgram with us. Natun talked the whole way back. He wondered if American houses were made from brick, if Americans left money to their children when they die, if you can live in an old house in America, how many times a day we drove our car, and if we wanted a coke could we walk to the store or would we have to drive to the store, how did Jared and I meet, (he thought Jared was a very brave man for sending me a card.😂) when did Jared move from Canada to US, could I have kept my fathers last name if I wanted too…  It was fun to have lively chatter… it made the drive go by fast. Ripon was mostly quiet. Natun begged us to stay in Golpaganj a day longer but we told him we needed to get back to Dhaka. He said “can’t all your paperwork just wait for another day?” Sometimes we just have to tell him “no.” We got back to Doyle’s after dropping the boys off and we were so tired. Shania and I went to bed at 8 and Jared and Layton soon followed suit! It was such a fun day! 

December 18-24, 2023

Monday 12/18: Layton and I did kindergarten. After Shanias morning nap we went to Farmgate. We were walking down the sidewalk when we heard a shrill scream. The nurse in me HAD to know what was going on so I acted like a Bengali and nosed my way into the crowd to the scene. A man was laying on the ground having a bad seizure. We continued on our way… Jared went to his tailor and ordered some more shirts. I bought me another jacket. I only brought one jacket and one sweater from home because I didn’t think I would really need them! My sweater doesn’t fit well anymore since I had Shania. I’m more broad shouldered than I used to be. So I bought me a Jean jacket. It’s so pretty! I had left my Jean jacket at home so I was quite tickled to find one here.😄 Spent the afternoon and evening at home. Nothing super exciting. We are trying to have plenty of quiet evenings at home now for sure with all the change that is coming with moving. 

Tuesday 12/19: Sumita came to clean. Josna wanted to cook us lunch one more time before they left so she decided today was the day. I was so thankful because Shania and I seem to have a nightly mama daughter date that lasts for an hour or more. She has always been such a good sleeper but this past month has been a doozy! Josna made vegetables, beef curry, rice and dal. The children ate and ate.😀we gave them and Miriam hugs and wished them well on their Christmas journeys. Miriam’s mother in law has moved in with her now so she says she is staying in Dhaka this year. We went home and napped. Another quiet evening at home! 

Wednesday 12/20: Did a bit of kindergarten with Layton. Left for Pink City and went and checked on the house again. The wall in the dining area is up for the classroom and they were busy painting. It’s amazing how a fresh coat of paint can help things. We went through the house and tried to figure out where we would put things. When we left the entrance to the expressway was closed so we had to go the old “airport route” until we could get on the expressway at Bananini. Jared made a fair amount of unhappy noises about the traffic on the drive home. I don’t blame him! At 1 he took the guards out for their annual Christmas biriyani lunch at Farmgate. I was quite envious as I love that stuff! In the afternoon I worked some more on going through more things. Got quite a pile for the trash ladies tomorrow morning. Sumita informed me the other day that I really needed to get rid of that Muslim prayer mat that’s been laying around here. 😂 Layton played down in the courtyard after supper for quite awhile with his friends. One of the other parents was down with their children so I was glad to not have to go down this time. 

Thursday 12/21: A busy day… Did kindergarten with Layton. Shania is into everything now it seems. Comes into the kitchen in her Walker and pulls anything she reach or touch that’s in the trash can. She loves to go on the veranda and watch Layton play in the water! Spent my day chasing after my kids it felt like.😄 Swept the floors and then Layton helped me mop. Sumita called around 6 and said her and Josna made it their village ok. They took the day bus this time, usually they take the night bus. Jared went and checked on the clinic and then went to Pizza Hut and got 7 large pizzas for us to take to Golpagange this weekend. 

Friday 12/23: No church since the sisters were gone. Natun stopped in briefly and brought us some Bengali pastries! He was going to spend the morning with us but received an urgent phone call that required his attention. We listened to the youth at home sing their Christmas songs from the Sunday evening services. That was enjoyable.🥰 Got groceries and then came home for naps. Worked on packing our things for the weekend. Jared went and checked on the clinic to make sure everything was fine there. Made a milk pie for our supper. My boys have been begging for once for several weeks so I finally got one made. I messaged my family and invited them to come eat it with us but those rascals never showed up so finally we polished that thing off in short order! After supper we gave Layton his Christmas gifts which he was extremely excited for. 

Saturday 12/24: Left the house at 6:45 and headed to Golpagange. Got there around 10. Saw a wreck involving a motorcycle, easy bike and a bus. No one appeared to be hurt just bent up vehicles. Sheema cooked us lunch. It was delicious! I was secretly hoping she would cook.😄 We all took naps after lunch. I had been up three hours with Shania the night before so I was a smidge weary. After naps us and Doyle’s took some candy gift bags to the orphanage next door for the girls. Walked down the road behind Doyle’s house that goes down to the Hindu crematorium. It was so peaceful and quiet!  The Hindus were having a gala down the road aways so there was much music and drum bearing. Doyle’s thought it was loud but we didn’t think it held a candle to all the five Muslim mosques by our place.😂

Sunday 12/24: Had church this morning with the Golpagange crew. The last time we had church here with them was when Shania was a month old! How can time have escaped that quickly? After we got home Krystal and I pulled lunch together. Roasted hens, mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin casserole, spinach salad, and sourdough cinnamon twists. We are and are! It was so good to remember what a “real” Sunday lunch was like.😄 After lunch Jared, the children and I met Natun and went to his parents place. They live in a Christian community not far from here. They are both tall people which explains why Natun is unusually tall for a Bengali. His parents are really friendly and want is to come back. Natun took us on a tour and showed us his piece of land that he wants to build a house on. We had snacks with his parents and visited for a while and then headed back to Doyle’s for the evening and night. 

💟I will be taking a break from posting for awhile. I’m unsure of how long. We are really busy with our new house/moving project. My children need 100% of mama right now with another big change on the horizon. Especially my eldest… As soon as we are settled I’ll be sure to write a long post on our “adventure.” 😄 Then hopefully I’ll be able to post every Sunday again.😀 I may post a few sporadic posts now and again if the occasion suits. I’ll post on my WhatsApp status when I’m back to regular posting. Thank you for understanding. 💟

December 11-December 17, 2023

 Monday 12/11: This morning I woke up feeling discombobulated after our busy week last week. It was truly such a fun week even if it was busy. I was sad when Carls left and real life started back up. Seems like I always have a down day after the company leaves. I could have wrote quite an epistle about all the trips to Pink City looking at houses, and Trevor’s spending the night here in our apartment, and so much more etc🥳😍. I sat myself down and made a “to do” list of things that need to get done this week. I felt much better after getting my ducks in a row. Who knows how long they will stay in a row but at least I’m trying! The list was mostly simple little things that needed to be done. Our CSI supper is this Saturday so needed to finish my menu and find a recipe for cabbage salad. Natun requested the cabbage salad. He told me “The last Golpagange didi made this salad from cabbage with noodles in it.”  So the dear boy shall have his cabbage salad. He’s going through a tough time right now so if cabbage salad makes him happy why not?! We are going to get pizza from the Pizza Hut for the rest of the meal and then Layton and I are going to make my mom’s sugar cookies for dessert. Did kindergarten with Layton. He did unusually well with staying focused. (We’ve had to make a rule that there’s no farming talk allowed during school.) I complimented him on his work and behavior and he confidently said “well mom, I just had to tighten up a screw in my brain really tight and that makes my brain work better.” We are wanting to get school finished in a month from now so that we don’t have to worry about trying to do it if we are in the process of moving. Jared had dispensary this morning. He was almost out of meds so several days ago placed a huge order at Square. They are always prompt with bringing it the same day or the next but the meds never showed up. He called and reordered them and they finally came yesterday afternoon. He had three large boxes to haul to the clinic so he called our rickshaw friend to come pick him up. Spent some time this evening going through some cupboards. Layton promptly claimed things out of my declutter pile as “treasures!” 

Tuesday 12/12: Jared had dispensary this morning. The last one of the year! Sumita came to clean and Layton and I did kindergarten. Shania is teething again and wanted to be held quite abit. Her nights have been less than stellar. Sumita told me I needed a nap.😂 After lunch Jared and Layton went to Farmgate to get their Punjabis from the tailor. They turned out really nice! (Imagine a long sleeved knee length shirt with a stand up collar. Buttons half way down.) We had really hoped to have singing in the evening as we’ve had to cancel the last few weeks but the sisters wanted to go to the market instead. Jared suggested going out for supper so that was fun. The evenings are Shania’s witching hour right now while she teeths. I feel bad for her. It’s cool enough now that socks and a jacket feel nice and toasty. The guards have their scarves wrapped around their heads with their hoods up. It’s been in the 70s during the day and upper 60s at night. I love this cool weather. I have not yet forgotten the endless days of 106-110* weather. I told Jared if we think this is cool how on earth will we survive a Kansas winter? When the children and I are out and about I get many unsolicited reminders that it is very cold outside and I should be dressing my baby warmer. To which I want to say “She comes from a long line of strong women on either side of the family.” Haha! Layton and I have been whipping up many batches of hot cocoa.😍

Wednesday 12/13: We left the house around 9:30 and went to Pink City to sign the contract for our new house! “Is this all real” we say while pinching ourselves! A yard with green grass, etc. The owner had several men there with him and was telling them to repaint, build the wall for the classroom and fix some things with the windows, and then new cabinets in the kitchen. He said we could come check the progress anytime. He said the work would be done by January 1. At that point we will see what else we want done before we move in and have the contractor arrange it. Layton is having such a hard time realizing that Pink City is a part of Dhaka just like Monipuripara. He said “so do they speak Bangla in Pink City?” Later in the afternoon our neighbors across the hall had hired decorators. Their son gets married Friday so the decorators where busy! They hung Christmas lights on the outside of the building like is usual. Then in the hallway and in the main rooms of their house they hung lots of dark green tulle in big swooping arches. They had yellow and orange marigolds and had strung the flowers on string and had those hung on the stairwell banisters and wherever there was green tulle! Thousands and thousands of marigolds. Outside their door was “posters” with white and yellow carnations and red roses. Inside their house was much the same. Green tule and more strands of marigolds. They invited the children and I to join their party for the evening. It was close to Shanias bedtime so we went for just abit. They had a henna artist there and they wondered if they could draw henna on my hand to celebrate the upcoming wedding? I said “sure as long as it’s something small!” It was fascinating to watch. It shows up as dark red/brown on my white skin. The bride was in the bedroom getting it done from elbows down on both arms. It was fun to do it with all the other ladies there but it’s something I probably won’t do it again. It’s their version of jewelry in a sense. We had some appetizers before leaving. They said “please you must stay and have meal with us!” I said “well my baby needs to go to sleep for the night.” “Ok so can we bring some food for you when it’s prepared?” I said “Absolutely!” So right when we had all climbed into bed at 10pm the doorbell rang and there stood my sweet friend with a steaming plate of biriyani.😄 

Thursday 12/14: Jared and Jon went to the auditors for awhile to pay some fees. Layton and I did kindergarten. I made sugar cookies for our neighbors here and for the Christmas supper Saturday evening. Layton was my willing helper when it came to adding the ingredients to the bowl and running the mixer at full speed. It takes every ounce of patience I have to let him help me in the kitchen some days. I try to tell myself that his future wife will thank me some day for his culinary skills. 🤭😄 

Friday 12/15: Had church this morning. After church Natun came over. He was distressed and needed to talk. His Muslim friend told him that the Muslims have one god: Allah, but Christian’s have three gods. Natun asked Jared “am I deceived? I thought we only had one God?” Jared explained the Trinity to him and how Jesus is Gods son. Natun said “so is Jesus Gods messenger? Can I tell my Muslim friend that? That would solve all the problem!” For two hours he asked Jared all the questions that his Muslim friend has been asking him. “Why did Jesus die for our salvation? Couldn’t God have chosen a different way for us to receive salvation?” “Why does your church have guidelines?” Jared told him that our guidelines are like signs along the road. That they help us stay on the road. Jared explained to him that the Holy Spirit is also our guide and that we have to follow his voice. Then Natun wanted to know if we followed all the guidelines would we be saved? Jared said “well you can follow all the guidelines and look just right and not be a Christian but you have to have a pure heart and have God in your heart.” That led to a long discussion on being saved by grace not by works. We finally told him that God doesn’t explain everything in the Bible on purpose because He wants us to have faith and believe. Anyways when he left he was much happier and was being his usual laughing self. It seems like he is searching for something. He grew up Baptist. He says now that he is grown up he is finding that he doesn’t always agree with what he was taught.  We assured him that just because he doesn’t know how to answer his Muslim friends questions doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have God in his heart because we certainly do not know how to answer everything either. We told him we loved him. After he left we quick went and grabbed a bite to eat and then got a few groceries and came back home. We changed into our dressy clothes and headed to our friend’s wedding. Jared said he felt like he was getting dressed for church at home again!😂 The venue was actually right across from our new neighborhood in PinkCity! It was a huge lawn with tents set up. The colors were purple and white. There were flower’s absolutely everywhere! I won’t go into all the details because it was quite a sight to behold. It started at 4:30. We all had appetizers at the little food vendors… fuska, rice cakes, cha etc. Then it was a greet and mingle time. We thought there was going to be a ceremony at some point but three hours into it there was no sight of one. The entire time we were there about all people were doing was posing and taking selfies by every little photo prop or group of people. It was hilarious to watch! We visited with quite a few of our friends that were there too… We ended up leaving at 7:30 because Layton was over the crowd and sick of wearing his jeans. The combo was causing much stress in his little life. “Mom can I please put shorts on as soon as we get home??” Shania was getting fussy too from all the ladies wanting to hold her. We tried to sneak out so no one would see us leave because we knew if they saw us leave they wouldn’t be happy. These Bengalis do not understand leaving a social deal to put your children to bed! “Can you come back later?” We made it to the gate and then we were spotted! “Boss! You can’t leave now we are fixing to eat! Come come, you must eat!!” We narrowly escaped and came home. Home seemed so quiet after listening to the pounding music for three hours. It was quite obvious that both the bride and groom came from families of wealth. We were so glad we had went for a little while at least! Like Jared likes to say “it was a cultural experience.” 

Saturday 12/16: Spent  the morning preparing for our CSI Christmas supper. When it came time to leave I told Layton “you need to wear jeans and a nice t-shirt. If you can wear your jeans for a few hours and not fuss then as soon we get home you can take them off and put your shorts back on I promise!” Well let’s just say he was ok with jeans for a short while. I told him he wouldn’t have to wear jeans until the next time we had church. I don’t know how he will ever cope when we get home and he has to wear them to school. He informed me the other day “I only like Tshirts mom. But please don’t make me wear those “fancy shirts” with all those buttons all the way down.” I am glad we don’t have to think about Sunday attire for several years yet with him. I can only imagine the struggle that will be. The CSI supper went really well! We were 16 people. Jared had went to Pizza Hut and got 9 large pizzas and I made a fix n mix bowl full of cabbage salad. And let me tell you… those people ATE! It was hilarious. We set it up buffet style and I made sure to add in chili packets so they could make their pizza extra spicy and then I brought pizza sauce. Bengalis often think American food is dry so they like sauce! Jared and I kept putting more and more pizza out and it kept disappearing. Josna told me that one of the boys ate 5 pieces of pizza. We just sat and visited. We were going to sing some Christmas songs but everyone was having so much fun visiting we just kept on. 😄 Almost all our workers know some English so it was so nice to not have the pressure of trying to talk Bangla all the time.  It was fun to see all our friends that keep us up and going in one spot! By 9:30 we were ready to head home. The caretaker told us “boss you are busy!” Yes we are! It truly did my heart good to see them all pigging out on pizza.😂even Lucky’s daughter who won’t eat American food ate two pieces! Came home and stayed up late. It’s victory day today and the fireworks were going until late. 

Sunday 12/17: Ahhh a quiet day at home! In the morning Jared went to Pjnk City to check on the house. He came back with a good report. The men were busy painting and had put in a new water heater and plumbed hot water to the kitchen. They made the sidewalk abit wider and had put new fixtures in the showers. We are amazed that they are doing all this because at first we thought CSI was going to have to pay for any repair work. Layton and I stayed home and did kindergarten. Our van tire has been having a slow leak and that’s something that’s been on Jared’s to do list to get fixed. Our rickshaw friend came and picked Jared and the tire up and went to a tire shop. The man had it fixed in no time! After lunch Jared had to tend to some more business with the auditors office. When he got back we tackled decluttering the storage room in preparation for moving. In the evening Layton passed out the little sugar cookie gift baskets we made for all his little friends here in Siza Court! 

December 4- December 10, 2023

 What a busy week! Tuesday Carls and their Family plus Trevor’s all came roaring into Dhaka. Life has not been the same since.❤️😍 Carl called Jared and said “Meet us at Pink City in Gulsan. CSI needs to move the Dhaka missionaries to a better place.” So that’s what we have been up to. We found two houses. We’ve already payed rent for one that will be the guesthouse and the other one that will hopefully be ours is “contract pending.” It’s a beautiful neighborhood. Quiet… no apartment buildings just two story houses. They all have small yards with real true green grass in them. The yards are fenced with a gated driveway. Both our houses will need quite abit of work in them to get them up to our American standards. The counters in the kitchen are quite low. I never thought I was tall person but wow! Those counters are made for midgets. This is quite common in Bengali houses and we can’t figure out why. The kitchens are not made for ovens either. Most Bengali women use a two burner stove top that sits on top of the counter.  Also both our houses have hand washing sinks in the dining rooms. We are going to put a wall in part of the dining area to make the fourth bedroom. We are getting a teacher next year for Layton so now we will have plenty of space for a classroom and a teacher room.🥰 Pink City is considered a gated community. We had no idea such a neighborhood even existed in Dhaka. CSI has been wanting to move out of our current location for years but in a city like this trying to find a suitable house is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It appears as though God has shown us the needle! Trevor is talking with a contractor to see if he would be interested in the job of getting crews in to fix up both houses. In the meantime I am starting to go through our apartment to get things somewhat ready for moving. We have no projected moving date yet other than “before it gets hot again.” I was imaging that we would have a quiet boring winter but we are holding onto our hats! Life in the mission has a way of making a person flexible whether they want to be or not! We are sad to leave our friends in Siza Court but this move feels right. Pray that getting our two houses fixed up won’t cause the CSI men ulcers. no seriously… it’s not for the faint of heart. Trevors will come into Dhaka the end of the month and we will start the process of decluttering the guesthouse. 

The weather is definitely cooler now! A tropical depression came swooping by Bangladesh so for two days it rained day and night. It was so nice! It cleared the smog significantly. Lately Dhaka has been in the top 3 worst air polluted cities. Sometimes the air looks like heavy fog. 

Love to you all…. 

🌴November 20 - December 3, 2023 🌴 In Which CSI Goes On Vacation 🌴

Please excuse the lack of a post last week. We have been very busy and I had to let a few things go in order to stay on top of things. But we are back this week😀

Carls and their family flew in November 21. They were in Dhaka with us for Thursday and Friday. It was good having them here again! This time they brought their older children. Layton is loving having their youth boy and son in law here to rough house with him. Apparently Thursday was Thanksgiving which I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around. Holidays here just don’t really feel like at home and it’s easy to forget them! Josna made chicken curry, shrimp curry, mixed vegetable bajhi and chichinga bajhi. For dessert she had bought some tok misti doy for dessert. It’s like a Greek yogurt dessert that’s baked in a clay pot. The meal was incredible! I felt sorry for everyone at home that had to eat plain ole turkey and stuffing. Although I wouldn’t have minded some of Jared’s mom’s angel food cake with lemon curd. Natun came for lunch too. Later he took Carls boy on the metro and out for coffee. It doesn’t take much convincing to get Natun to come eat with us at the clinic.😂 

Friday 11/24: Had church… Jared was glad to have a break and let Carl have the message. Took Carls out to Farmhouse Burger. It’s so fun to take people to the places we enjoy! Spent the afternoon doing laundry and preparing for the upcoming travels. Carl was able to convince Shurov to meet him for supper in the evening. Sounded like not much has changed… 

Saturday 11/25:  We headed out around 10 am for Kishorganj. Jared hired our private driver that we had for when Lawrence’s were here. We took a different route this time which was a big relief to me. The route last time was rough and really congested in Dhaka plus narrow roads with massive potholes through the villages. Took the expressway and another new wide open 4 lane road and literally flew out of Dhaka. Had an enjoyable ride with Carl’s children. Having them along made the 5 hour drive go by fast! It’s fun to hear visitors exclaim over random things here. Got to Kishorganj around 3. Went to our motel and unloaded. Jared was able to park in the parking garage under the motel this time! It was so handy. They made the garage bigger so now it’s much easier to park. Good parking anywhere in Bangladesh is hard to come by! Monica wanted to make us lunch so we were supposed to be there at 4. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast so we were starving! Carl went and found some samosas. A “bread pocket” filled with potatoes and dal. We had those for a snack before heading to Monica’s. She made chicken curry, sobji and rice. It was good to see them all again. Their family is so depressed and tired. They look like the world’s burdens are on their shoulders. Michael (Monica’s husband) continues to be in the mental hospital for treatment for his anger and bipolar/depression disorder. He has been so hateful and physically and emotionally hurtful to them in the past that they are relieved he is gone right now. They are fearful of how he will be when he gets home. His brother Steven says that Michael can put on a good front around his friends and many of his friends have no idea that he has these issues. When he is around his family he is not a good person. We stayed for several hours and visited. Around 7 Monica’s daughter in law wondered what we would like to eat? Having just eaten a big Bangla meal a few hours before we said “please no we are still full!” Carl told them he needed to rest since he was still recovering from jet lag. They all understood that so they didn’t keep hounding us like usual.🤭😄

Sunday 11/26: In the morning we found a good restaurant right down the street from our motel that served breakfast. Got some dim, ruti and vegetables. (Eggs and tortillas) Shania ate and ate the vegetables. Clearly she must come from different stock than her brother! Judith and her girls, my children and I went shopping at some markets in Kishorganj. It was so fun! It felt like I was having a girls day with my mom and sisters.🥰 Layton attached himself to Lanaea. (She reminds me a lot of my sister in law Keisha so maybe that’s why he liked her so much.) Mostly went to fabric dokans and the like. I got two new 3 piece sets. Anytime we entered a dokan or stopped on the street it literally took 2 minutes before we had a crowd of people watching us. I’m not sure what the men all did. They met one of Carl’s friends for tea. (Carls used to live in Kishorganj when they were here 13 years ago!) We went and found their old house and looked at it and then tried to find some of their old friends. For lunch we took Monica and her family out to a restaurant. They seemed to enjoy that. Jared had a hard time explaining to them that we wanted to take them out for a meal and no it wasn’t because we didn’t like Monica’s cooking but rather an act of kindness and love! Monica and her daughters in laws and granddaughters got all dressed up. We spent the afternoon napping for abit before going back for supper. Monica made a pasta dish with scrambled eggs. Steven was disgruntled about it because how was he to go sleep on such a light meal? Now he was going to have to eat rice yet before he could go to bed. Mind you this was at 8-8:30 in the evening. 😱 We all were still very full from lunch so we were trying to politely eat as much as we could in order to make the cook feel good. It was delicious but a big rice meal for lunch and then pasta for supper?! While we were eating Franklin came  in the house with a loaf of white bread and some sweets that were like a huge doughnut hole. We were supposed to sandwich the doughnut hole between two pieces of white bread and eat it like a sandwich. I almost cried. I can’t eat much gluten because I get bad headaches so this meal was a real shipwreck. I ate the pasta and one doughnut hole WITHOUT the bread and fervently prayed I wouldn’t get sick. Around 9:30pm we had a service with them before we left in the evening. They just all cried when we had to tell them goodbye. Jared told Franklin (Michael’s son) “we love you.” Franklin just stood there with tears streaming down his face and said “I love you too.” It’s so hard to leave them. Franklin and Monica aren’t sleeping well at night because of the stress and mental strain. Franklin said “Elwood told us to count our blessings but it’s impossible to do right now.” I had taken them some chocolate cake and that gave them all a smile for a short time. 

Monday 11/27: We left Kishorganj at 6 am. The driver that was helping us transport everyone showed up at 5:20. We headed for Dhaka… stopped for dim and ruti for breakfast and still made it home in 4 hours. When we got home at 10 we flew into action! I did two loads of laundry, quick repacked our bags and got more snacks for the road. Took Layton down to ride bike to wear some of his energy off. Jared took care of some things at the clinic and Jon came over to take care of some paperwork. At 1, (3 hours after we got home.) Jared and I picked up Judith and the girls from the guesthouse and headed to Golpaganj. Hellel (our driver) had taken Carl and the boys on ahead to Golpaganj. The guard didn’t quite know what to think of all our comings and goings.😂 Got to Doyle’s around 4:30. Spent some time with them and had supper.  Layton headed straight to the sand pile and there he remained for the rest of the afternoon. I overheard Amaryllis enthusiastically telling Layton that the tooth fairy left TWO coins under her pillow since she has lost two teeth. Layton said “don’t you know? your mom and dad are the tooth fairy!” Amaryllis just kinda had a stunned look on her face. I felt bad that Layton had spoiled her innocence!🤭 Around 7:30 I was so tired, so we took our children and headed to Samuel Bella’s little guest house and had a relaxing quiet evening and went to bed early.   Wish we could have stayed at Doyle’s with the rest and kept visiting but I knew the children and I needed some quiet alone time as we were only half through our travels at that point! I was glad we did do that because they slept all night and woke up excited and happy. 

Tuesday 11/28: Got up early again and hit the road at 6:30 am. This time Doyle’s joined the crowd. Stopped briefly for dim and ruti in Golpagaj. While we were eating at the restaurant we noticed that part of the room was portioned off with curtains around some tables. Later we realized that maybe it was for the women that wear burkas to eat! They can’t remove their veil around other men so if they are behind the curtain then they can eat. Some will just lift their veil just enough to put the food in their mouth. We hit the road and drove for the next 5 hours. Trevors had left Kulna at 4:45 am in order to avoid some of the heavy traffic. They were quite pleased with themselves to get to Kuakata by 8:20.😂 The traffic wasn’t awful for us… hit a few political prosessions but nothing serious. It was interesting to see the landscape change. The closer we got to the coast the bigger the rice fields became. We started to see more and more tractors and then several rice harvesters. Layton was beside himself! Saw a small John Deere, new Holland tractor and then some Eicher and Mahindras. More and more trees… pine trees, evergreens, lots of palm trees, coconut and banana trees etc. We got to our resort around noon. It was so nice!!! I guess I have been gone from the states for over a year already but it doesn’t take much to think things are really nice. Our room was huge! It had AC, a fridge, tub and shower and two huge soft beds with soft mattresses, lots of big fluffy pillows and crisp white sheets. It felt so luxurious.❤️🥰 There was an eating area beside the pool so we ordered pizza for lunch and ate there. Layton literally jumped out of the van and straight into the pool. He was like a fish in the water. The pool had a hot tub too and he loved it. Anytime he got the least bit cold he said “I think it’s time for the hot tub!” 😂 Him and Brock swam and swam and swam. They stayed out there for several hours. The nicest thing about this resort is that it’s so quiet and there’s no one there other than the workers and a few other guests that stay there. No one was lining the fence watching us because we were foreigners, no one was constantly hounding us saying “please can I take a selfie?” Or “excuse me where your country?” We have gotten so burned on pictures since we’ve been here. If anyone asks Layton for a picture he takes off running or hides behind my skirt. I noticed Kylie does the same thing. It feels like such an invasion of privacy when people take pictures of our children and then we have no idea where they are all going and ending up at. Anymore we ask Layton “are you comfortable with them taking your picture?” If he says no we say “ajke na.” (Not today!) Mid afternoon we all loaded up on vans and headed to the beach! These vans were much more substantial than the ones we ride on in Kulna. They had huge tires and then on the flatbed part where we sit they had mattresses to sit on. It didn’t take long for us all to be very thankful for the mattresses. The drive out to the beach took maybe 30 minutes. It was beautiful scenery. All along the shore was hundreds and hundreds of fishing boats. The children said they looked like “Peter James and John” boats. The fishermen had their nets all layed out on the beach and were carefully folding them all back up! We got to the beach and walked and walked. Just enjoying the quietness… just sand and ocean. No buildings in sight! There were a few other people on the beach but not bad … mostly fishermen. There’s something about standing on a beach and watching the endless waves that makes a person’s problems and anxieties seem so small. There weren’t big waves or anything but it was just so peaceful and calm. There were crabs there so that was really neat to see. Layton was worried that the crabs would jump out of their holes and pinch him so I told him just to leave his shoes on and he would be fine! The sand was black by the water and then up on the beach part is was more grey. Collected a bunch of little seashells. We talked to some fisherman that were working on the shore. We watched the sun set and then headed back into town to get some supper. We went to a “food truck” area. The men went to a BBQ place and ordered squid, octopus, shrimp, crab and two other kinds of “normal” fish. Us ladies went and got fuska. By the time we got back all the men had left of the fish was a pile of bones. They all raved about it and how good it was. We bought a bunch of fresh tortillas for the children to eat as fish and fuska aren’t super kid friendly meals! We went back to the motel and the kids all jumped back in the pool and hot tub. Layton was having so much fun I didn’t have the heart to make him get out and go to bed on decent time so let him stay up late and swim. 

Wednesday 11/29: Several of the men that partook of the seafood the evening before spent part of the morning in the bathroom.😂💩 They all came out saying it was worth the misery and they wanted more! We loaded up on vans again and headed into town. We drove through a village and it was so neat to see. Every village has its own unique personality and style. We went and visited the biggest Buddhist idol in Asia. It was massive. Maybe 20 feet tall? They had candles burning in front of it and incense wafting. Went to a little market and bought the children kites for flying at the beach. When we got to the beach there were lots of tarps on the ground with little fish drying on them. It was neat to see but the smell was not neat to smell! We had our sandwiches and then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon playing in the sand, getting in the water and playing with crabs. The water was surprisingly cool but the children still played and played in it. Mid afternoon we headed back to the hotel and the kids got in the pool again. Us ladies enjoyed the hot tub and sat and visited. We pulled out our American snacks and enjoyed them! Salted nuts, M and Ms, etc.☺️ Spent the rest of the day by the pool. The men went back to the seafood joint while us ladies stayed at the motel and got pizza for the kids from the restaurant there. The young folk played badminton and we built a fire beside the court! It was so fun to sit around a fire again. Layton fell into a sewer trench and that was a-bit traumatic. He went in up to his waist. I took him in right away and washed him from head to toe and then put triple antibiotic ointment on any open areas on his legs and face just to be safe. It was dark and he didn’t notice it and in he went. Everyone was worried about him because everyone is afraid of their kids landing in those things! He was fine just took awhile to calm down. I washed his clothes in the bathtub with shower gel to get the sewer smell out so we wouldn’t smell you know what all the rest of the night. 

Thursday 11/30: We all had one last breakfast together before heading out. Some men may or may not have spent more time in the restroom, compliments of their evening meal the day prior.😀 This is a normal occurrence in Bangladesh so if people are late to a meal or suddenly missing we all just assume they are doing “business.” Haha! We had an 8 hour drive ahead of us so we got on the road maybe 30 minutes before the rest? Carls went to Kulna with Trevor’s and Doyle’s. We were thankful we left when we did. We ran into several political demonstrations. The one they waved us through the crowd that was gathering and the other one we met several hundred motorcycles. Lisa called me all of a sudden and wondered if we were doing ok? I guess the crowds got bigger after we had passed them and by the time Trevor’s and Doyle’s got there they had to be escorted through while the buses behind them got stopped. They saw one political party that it appeared as though they had been throwing bricks at each other. Jared decided that if we encountered anything more that we would reroute to Kulna and spend the rest of the day and night there since Friday is always a non blockade or hartal day. Thankfully we didn’t see anything else the rest of the way home. The roads in Dhaka were pretty good! Got home around 5. Layton was so happy to be with his friends again! He right away got out his kite and played for awhile with them. His one friend said “where have you been?” I said “we went to the beach!” She said “you mean the Maldives?” I laughed and said “no dear Kuakata.”  The caretaker came to tell us hi and said “madam Apni onek besto.” (Madam you have been very busy!) IShania and I went to bed early as we were exhausted. Layton and Jared stayed up later. 

Friday 12/1: Had church like usual. It was good to see Josna and Sumita again! Natun was off at Coxs Bazaar with his friends so we had a short service. We sang Christmas songs and Jared had Sumita read the verses about Elizabeth finding out they were with child. Part way through the service Miriam and her husband Michael came. Michael seldom comes. Jared enjoyed visiting with him after church for awhile. We were all pretty wore out still after our adventures of the past week so we stayed home and had lunch at home and then long naps. Clearly we aren’t used to such excitement! Shania has been been quite a rascal today. She has been held non stop the past week and now expects it to continue. She handled the trip and the 30 hours in the car this past week so so good! She is on the verge of crawling and just wants to be on the move constantly. I spent the afternoon doing laundry and catching up on some housework. Layton had to wear jeans today because all his shorts were in the laundry. He found this to be quite a cross to bear. “Can I take these ridiculous pants off?” Had to have Layton move all his Legos to a higher plain as Shania got into them and was putting them in her mouth. Also how is it December already?? 

Saturday 12/2: Sumita came to clean. Lucky never showed up which honestly I was relieved about. I couldn’t bear the thought of anymore rice this week. Jared did bookwork most of the day and then ran some errands. Shania is developing a strong personality it appears like. She is very determined to get things that are just out of her reach. She got her first tooth a few days ago. Layton likes to tell people that “Shania popped a tooth!” 

Sunday 12/3: Jared had dispensary today. Layton and I did kindergarten. The break from school was nice but it’s time to buckle down and go for it again. His class at home just started kindergarten. Makes me really lonesome. I always dreamed of taking Layton to school and hearing his stories when he got home. But we will wait for that until we are home and he’s in 2nd grade. I tell him that in the meantime he gets to see crabs, go to the Bay of Bengal and ride rickshaws and none of his friends at home get too. It helps convince us both!🤭😂 After our naps we went to Farmgate. We got invited to one of our neighbor’s son’s weddings! We hope to go just for fun. They are always really friendly and are always giving Layton chocolates. Anyways at dressy events like weddings the men here always wear punjabis. It’s like a long shirt that goes down to your knees. I’ve been wanting to get Layton one anyway so we went to Jared’s tailor and got him and Layton measured for one and picked out the fabric! Muslim men wear their punjabis whenever they go to have their prayers. Bought the CSI ladies Christmas gifts while we were at Farmgate. Glad to have that off of my mind! Had supper at Shuktara…