We have moved! What an adventure. It all went much smoother than we anticipated. The movers did an excellent job of loading everything and unloading it. Jared Trevor and Natun drew quite a crowd when they heaved the washer through the back window and lowered it into the courtyard with ropes.🤭 (3 stories down) It was easier to do it that way than to take the washer apart down to the drum since it didn’t fit through the kitchen doorway. Jared Natun and I followed them in the van and nothing fell off the truck that we noticed! The moving men road on top perched high! We worked furiously to get half settled that day. Went to Trevor’s for supper with the crew and then went back to our new house for night! Layton loves his new bedroom. It’s small but just right for him and Shania. I hung up the curtains he had picked out and got the bed ready for him with his favorite blanket and stuffed pup. His eyes just lit up and he said “mom I just LOVE a small room!” He slept all night in there and has every night since! I’m so proud of him. Sleeping in his own room has caused him some fears at times but he loves having Shania with him. The next two days we focused on getting more things put away as my folks were coming in two days. This house doesn’t have much storage so we got rid of so much stuff… probably almost half the amount of things we had in our Siza Court apartment. I love the layout, it feels so much more cozy and homey. We are loving the quiet neighborhood. The first night here Jared thought he needed a sound machine to make some racket so he could sleep. We still have some projects to complete yet but Santo and Ripon will finish them up when they come to finish the guesthouse. We moved on a Tuesday and Trevor’s, santo and his crew and Ripon left on Thursday. It felt so quiet and lonely when they all left. I kept waiting for Ridoy to come flying in the door saying “auntie I need some water!” Or Ripon to come in with his sparkly eyes to do wiring or Santo to come find Jared with another question. I was glad my folks were coming that Friday so that we would have more company. Layton keeps asking “are we going to move away from our blue house when we get home?” He’s kinda over all this moving business. I said “not that I know of but I can’t promise anything.” He said “well that house is PERFECT. It fits us like a glove.” 😂
Darrell’s came February 2 and left February 16. It was enjoyable to be with them. Doyle’s mostly took care of them while us and Trevor’s moved. Hearing their stories of being in Bangladesh how long ago was truly inspiring and made us all feel like big babies. The tales of rainy season alone were something else. Darrell was able to visit all the members plus some of the expelled ones. The members were thrilled to have someone that could talk good Bangla.
My folks came February 9-21. Didn’t realize how much we had missed them until we saw them coming through the airport doors! Jared hired someone to meet them to make sure they found their luggage and got out to the parking garage. Dad said the guy whisked them through the “dignitary line” and that quick they were through immigration and had their luggage. Layton was beside himself that he could talk farming with Grampy. One day Layton came inside all upset. He said “mom, daddy told me to be quiet and I am so FRUSERATED. I have so many things I need to tell Grampy.” 😂 I said “well you and daddy will have to take turns talking then.” The first few days they were here we were just around Dhaka. Went to Farmgate, Kawran Bazaar, rode the metro and went to the metro museum, showed them our old apartment and the guesthouse, showed them pink city. Natun came over one afternoon and evening and had long discussions with Dad and Jared. Went to Doyle’s at Golpaganj for lunch on Saturday. Sheema made goat curry. It was delicious! Our first time having goat curry. After lunch went to Trevor’s. Later afternoon we took electric vans along the river and then stopped in at Santos for cha. Santo couldn’t figure out why we wouldn’t stay for a meal. He told Lisa “Brianna told me when I was in Dhaka that my cooking was the best and now she won’t let me cook for her family.” 🤭 We went to the fuska dokan and got fuska and chapoti. My favoritest food ever! Spent night at Trevor’s. The next morning we loaded up our ham sandwiches and headed for the Sunderbans. We’ve been wanting to go there for a long time. We hopped on a little ferry boat and it was a 30 minute ride to the island where the national forest is. The boat ride was the best part! We saw all kinds of boats. It was a beauty day outside. Had our picnic on the boat. In the forest we saw so many monkeys. They were quite aggressive so we carried sticks with us. One of them tried to grab mom’s water bottle! We saw alligators and some awful looking lizards that looked like the devils advocate. They were 4-5 feet long with the most awful long black tongue that spit in and out like a snake. Still gives me the shivers. I’m not the sort that screams over snakes but I will scream if I ever have the pleasure of meeting one of those nasty lizards. We went on a long walk through the forest and enjoyed watching the monkeys antics! The little babies would just tumble and fall through the trees. On the boat ride back some saw river dolphins but I never saw them. The boat caption took us to the Mongla sea port. That was so fun. Got to see a whole bunch of huge ships and the cranes that they use to load and unload the ships. One ship was drug up on the beach and was getting dismantled. It had been sunk underwater for at least a year or more.
After folks left, we focused on getting more things unpacked and more settled. A mistri came and fixed my oven. We had to switch from natural gas to propane so the fittings on the burners all had to be switched to the appropriate style. We didn’t realize this and the first time I turned it on flames came whooshing out and a bad propane smell followed. We still need to get the filter set up for the drinking water and get our WiFi set up. We got Jared’s office and desk set up and useable. Jon came over one day to see the house and pick up papers. He was quite impressed! They had wanted to move to pink city years ago but he said he didn’t want to buy a car as this community is set up for cars. He said “finely CSI had a nice house.” It’s definitely more humid here than in Monipuripara. Had some mold issues on the walls but it looks like as long as we wipe the non tiled walls down with bleach it keeps it away. Been having to do laundry everyday so the mold doesn’t get on clothes. I think why there’s mold issues is because there’s a lot of plaster and cement still slowly drying from all the tile getting laid.
This morning when the children were playing in the sand court, It was such a beautiful sunshiney day. I was listening to church at home which was baptism. Layton all of a sudden looked at me and said “mom did something bad happen at Kansas?” I said “not that I know of, why?” He said “well those people keep saying they felt bad.” Suddenly I caught on that he had been listening to the converts telling their experiences. So we had a little conversation about what it means to feel bad like that.
I’m going to try to start posting on Sundays again. Of course if life gets hectic I’ll take a break now and then!
