March 25 - March 31, 2024

Monday 3/25: Last night I had just finished posting to my blog when an amazing downpour started. Shanto Ridoy and Ripon were up on the roof working. They came racing down the stairs, grabbed Jared’s huge umbrellas and kept on working. Finally at 6 they came down. I asked if them if they were ok after working in such a downpour. Ridoy said “we are getting very mad.” I guess the last union they replaced started to leak again or something. This morning the boys went back up to roof to try and fix the plumbing. The water pressure was insane last night. Jared thinks we need a smaller water pump. It is literally blowing the pipes apart. Shanto went to a pump dokan to see if they had any advice. The men decided to fix it one more time and if it blows again Jared will go buy a smaller sized pump. Sure enough I was doing supper dishes and I heard the sound of running water. I yelled at Jared that something didn’t sound right so he raced upstairs and here water was squirting out from behind the toilet that’s in our master bathroom. What’s new? When the pump is on the water coming out of the faucet is brown. Jared shut the pump off and as long as it’s off nothing blows or leaks. I did a few loads of laundry after the toilet drama resolved. Laundry has been piling up since the water has been off for the past few days. Mid afternoon we escaped to the coffee shop for awhile!! It was wonderful. The kids and I got shakes and Jared got an iced brownie mocha. Jared had 45 patients today. The father of the conjoined twins came in. He said the babies haven’t had their separation operation yet but he needed nutritional assistance. Jared told him to come every two months and he would give him milk for the babies. After their operation we hope to give them some Bible School money. Jared only has to see 200 more patients to meet his yearly quota in June. At the rate he is going that should be done in the next month! 

Tuesday 3/26: The boys came over to inspect the plumbing. They didn’t appreciate our tale of water spraying in the bathroom.😂 Jared said “this is enough trying to fix it. Clearly it is not a pipe issue but a pump issue.” For some reason this is hard for Shanto to understand. The boys worked over at the guesthouse. We loaded up and headed to the clinic this morning to give everyone their salaries. We stopped at the old guesthouse and got a shelving unit that’s not being used. I’m going to put it back by the washer for all our cleaning supplies and what not. And since I am Brianna of course I will buy bins and label them.😂 Ridoy and Ripon hauled in a bunch of tall bamboo poles and tied them to the banister and rigged up a scaffold to hang up the light in the stair well. It was not OSHA approved. Poor Jared was kept on the run. One of the toilets had a malfunction so he went to buy new parts for that and then Ripon rewired some things so that a fan and a light in each room would be connected to the generator and needed more electrical supplies. In rainy season the power is out a lot plus there’s load sharing so we wanted to make sure a fan in every room worked. Then Jared hooked both the fridge and the freezer up to the voltage stabilizer. We don’t need to buy anymore new appliances! After naps I had the children all bathed and ready to go and then Sumita called and said it didn’t suit them to have singing after all. So we canceled that and then later took the crew out to eat. Went to Chef’s table for supper. Jared got the crew shrimp and fried rice and they really liked it! The men hauled all their tools out of the house so after Shania was in bed I swept and mopped the downstairs. It is so nice to finally have an uncluttered dining room and a clean floor! 

Wednesday 3/27: Ripon and Jared worked on some rewiring with the voltage stabilizer for the fridge and freezer. Jared did something wrong with his wiring yesterday. Mid morning Shanto left to go buy more tile. The tile mistris only need 10 more tiles to finish the job. Jared, the children and I left and went to Farmgate. The children and I stayed at the guesthouse while Jared had a meeting with Jon at the clinic. At lunch time the kids and I walked to the clinic and then the rest of the crew came by CNG. Shanto said he had went to a bunch of tile dokans and couldn’t find any that matched or the dokans were closed. Everything has strange hours during Ramadan. Jared dropped the children and I off at home for naps and then him and Shanto went to Uttarra to see if surely there wouldn’t be a tile shop there that would have something. You would think plain white tile wouldn’t be that hard to find. Got the news that Neil and Ang Brubaker’s girl Shana is going to come be our teacher!🥰 Layton’s main concern is that she can talk English. Haha! Neil’s were our field secretaries for our first year here. We are so enthused. Don’t know yet when she is going to come. 

Thursday 3/28: What a day I tell you. This morning first thing Jared headed over to the guesthouse and payed the tile mistris for their work. They were hoping to get back to their home in Golpaganj today yet. Layton found an ant hill in the yard and decided he needed an ant farm. He got one of my plastic food storage containers and scooped sand and ants in it. Then he got some leaves and cut them into tiny pieces and put them in the container. He found a piece of wire in his building bin and fashioned a handle for the container that would fit over his bike handle. Away he rode to show Shanto and Ridoy. Shanto told him he was “an ant take care.” I think he meant caretaker.😀 Some previous tenant at the guesthouse left behind an almost new American style toddler car seat. I brought it home and scrubbed it up good and washed the cover. Shania needs to sit in a car seat when we travel now. We spend a lot of time in the car and she is getting too big and wiggly to sit on my lap for hours. She wants to get down, stand up, sit on the seat …. You can imagine! Jared came home and said “let’s go to UniMart quick.” While we were out and about Jon called and said he needed some papers delivered to his house. Jared is resubmitting all his visa paperwork plus Doyle’s. Then he realized that Trevor’s expires in three days. On the way home from Jon’s Jared realized we were about out of gas so we found one in Mohawkali that didn’t have a long line. I told Jared “just think when we get home we can go get gas at Goessel and not have to get up early to go or have to wait in a line.” Came home and rested. We are awfully tired lately for some reason. While we were gone the boys came and worked. They sanded the porch walls in preparation for repainting and then sanded the kitchen cabinets for new varnish. There was dust on everything! I was so grumpy. I had spent so much time yesterday dusting and cleaning everything so it would be clean for the weekend. I got over it eventually. 🙄 In the evening Jared took the car to the mechanic. That thing has been making the most frightful squeal everyone we start it. Even the neighbors stop and stare. Naton says it’s so loud even an old person could hear it. He thought Lisa should stand in front of the van and see if she could hear the atrocious squeal because she’s convinced her hearing is going bad. 😂The mechanics got it fixed up. I was so pleased with myself because for once I made my boys a decent supper and then Jared called on the way home and said “they invited me to have Iftar with them so I don’t need much.” I really do try. Today I was trying to get some things done before we leave tomorrow and Shania kept getting into stuff so I put her in her booster and gave her some Oreos. It gave me 30 minutes of time to get some things done. She looked like a black grizzly bear when she was done eating them. Oreos all over her face and in her hair. She always likes to massage food into her hair when she eats. A hair mask I guess. Her beauty routine is starting at quite a young age.

Friday 3/29: The men were so excited that we were leaving today that they showed up at 8:45 ready to go to church. I had to scurry a little quicker than I currently was. Got to church early and here Naton showed up early too. Church was out by 10:40. What a record. The gossip in church was that recently four men in Kulna were butchering dogs and making biriyani with it and were selling it as “beef” biriyani. Naton said “you should try it Brianna it’s good!” I said “have you eaten such?” Then he laughed and laughed. He is always trying to trick me. I can assure you that butchering dogs here is not normal. Shanto said the police made the men pay a fine. After church we headed off for Kulna. Jared thought we should stop for lunch at KFC in Danmondi but Shanto thought we should drive for awhile first and then stop. We were maybe 30 minutes past the Padma Bridge and suddenly Shanto cried out “accident! he’s dead!” Jared stopped the car as fast as he could. A man was laying on the side of the road. His motorcycle was laying on its side maybe 100 feet away further on down the road. There was no car or bus anywhere around so not sure what happened. Jared kicked into nurse mode. Him Shanto and Ridoy ran to the man. The man’s helmet had fallen off so he had some head injuries along with multiple other significant injuries. We shall leave it at that. I didn’t want Layton to see the man’s condition so I had him lay on the van floor and watch something on my phone until we had driven away. The men picked the man up and carried him over to some grass. I cried when I saw Jared squat down beside the man and tenderly touch his face. I’ve seen him do that same thing when he worked in ER. Shanto poured some water on the man’s face. The police soon came plus a crowd of people. An easy bike showed up and they put the man in the back of it to go to a hospital. The nurse in me cringed every time they lifted the man. He should have had a C-collar on and been on a back board. Ripon stayed his distance. He got some water and tried to wash the blood off the road. After things settled we kept on. Jared got in the van and looked at me and said “that man isn’t going to make it.” Shanto said “would operation fix him?” Jared grimaced and said “I don’t think so.” Stopped for lunch and dropped Ripon off at Bedgram. Continued on to Kulna and dropped off Shanto and Ridoy at their house. They wanted us to come in for awhile but we were so tired so we declined. We got to Trevor’s around 3:30. They are at Golpagange for the day and night since Krystal had her baby early this morning. We crashed at their house. It was pure bliss to be able to sit and do nothing after the past two weeks of constant going! Layton wanted waffles and sausage for supper so we made some. Felt like some comfort food would be good for the soul. Shania was in bed at 8 and the rest of us hit the hay at 9. I do not know when the last time was we went to bed that early.

Saturday 3/30: Slept like logs last night. Shania slept 12 hours! Took the morning easy at Trevor’s. They got back from Doyle’s around 1ish. We all went to KFC and then went to a few random places in Kulna. Went to their grocery store: Safe and Save. It’s a mini version of UniMart. I wasn’t sure if KFC would be good or not because the ones I have eaten at at home are never the best places. The American chains here in Bangladesh are always very clean and look very classy inside. The chicken was very good! Layton wished they had cheese pizza on the menu. Lisa and I spent the afternoon visiting and making cakes for tomorrow and then making supper. After supper Brandi gave Lisa and I facials and foot rubs. Oh did it feel so good!

Sunday 3/31: Had our Easter service at 10. The Golpaganj members were invited to come to Kulna. We wished we could bring Josna and Sumita with us but we didn’t have any room since Shanto, Ripon and Ridoy were with us. Josna and Sumita don’t like taking the bus and then they wouldn’t want to stay at Shanto’s. So finally it was decided that this time the Dhaka members wouldn’t come. I was trying to get Shania to sleep during the church service and Ridoy kept leaving over and trying to tickle her feet. I saw Shotti (his mom) lean over and frown and shake her head at him. Clearly 20 something year old boys still need their mothers to tell them to sit nice in church. Shanto had the sermon. It was all in Bangla so I understood very little. Shotti’s goats tried to come in during the service. Shanto had made chicken biriyani and “roast chicken.” He said he cooked 10 pounds of rice for 35 people. It was delicious. Layton wanted to eat off a banana leaf so Ridoy went and cut him one.😂 Everyone really enjoyed our cakes we had brought. We left around two and came back to Trevor’s to cool off and have the children nap. Spent an enjoyable evening visiting with Trevor’s and eating good food.😀 

March 18 - March 24, 2024

 Monday 3/18: Jared had a busy morning at clinic. He is surprised at how many patients are coming despite it being Ramadan. Last year the numbers dropped significantly. It’s also not as hot this year as it was last year at this time so maybe that makes a difference. This morning was fairly cool so Layton and I swept the yard. Quite a few leaves were piling up under the coconut tree. That tree has at least 8 big coconuts on it. Our papaya tree has 1 big papaya on it, and the jackfruit trees are loaded down as well. Went to the Dokan and bought Layton one of those Bengali brooms that looks like it’s basically a bunch of sticks tied together. He did an amazing job helping me! He had a huge bucket and picked up my leaf piles and dumped them on the street for the trash men to pick up. Of course we caused quite a stir working in the yard like that. People watch us quite closely here. Two ladies stopped and asked why I was sweeping the yard and would I hire them to do it? I said “my son and I need to work.” This really baffled them. All of a sudden here came another lady traipsing behind my house to find me to ask me if she couldn’t clean the yard. I said “no my son needs to learn to work.” They for sure think I’m crazy now. Anyways we eventually got the job done. A white lady working is something else apparently.  Ridoy and Ripon worked in the house all day. Ridoy had white dust from the ceiling all over him and he said “look auntie, I am becoming a foreigner with my white skin.”😂 He really wishes we would get a boy teacher. “It’s ALWAYS girls and I could really use a friend.” I said “well it’s up to Carl who comes.” He has so many questions about working as a nurse in America and “is that a normal job or a fancy job?” Sometimes I go upstairs and or take the children outside so he quits hounding me with questions and gets back to work. I don’t mind visiting one speck but he needs to work. They got my bright green kitchen fan hung up which is so nice because it’s starting to get quite hot and stuffy without one in there. By evening Ripon and Ridoy had finished up the living room so we gave it a good scrubbing and moved everything back in. Jared very kindly swept and mopped the entire house from top to bottom. It was filthy. I know the guys will come make more dust tomorrow but at least the top layer of dust and grime will be off. Felt good to have one room back to normal downstairs. For now our suitcases reside in the pantry while the dining room gets finished. Those suitcases have came in handy for all sorts. They get used to block the stairs off so Shania can’t go up or they get used to block off the kitchen doorway so Shania has to stay in the kitchen while I cook. She escaped today and I found her happily splashing in Shanto’s paint tray. The paint here has an awful smell to it. We retreat upstairs and turn the ACs all on and the fans to keep the smell from getting too strong in the bedrooms. 

Tuesday 3/19: Jared had clinic. A little girl is staying at the clinic now that has had two major surgeries to repair her cleft lip. The split of her lip went up both cheeks up to almost her eyes. They repaired the one side a while ago and it has healed really nicely. This time she came back to get the other side sewn shut. The left side doesn’t appear to have an eyeball in the socket. She is such a beautiful little girl! On the home front… Ripon came and repainted the dining room ceiling. It looks so nice! Ridoy came and invited the children and I for lunch. He said he couldn’t work today because his neck hurt. Layton has taken a real liking to Ridoy. Spent some time upstairs cleaning and organizing all our clothes that I have stored away for next winter and summer. Went to the sand court for a while and was a referee for Layton and Abdullah. His mom came to the sand court and we sat and visited for awhile. She is the perfect person for me to ask questions to. Everyone here says “Layton onek prosno ache.” (Layton has many questions) So that’s probably how she feels about me. She told me that I dress like a Muslim.😂 “Do you always dress like this in America too?” I said “yes i do except my skirts are much shorter.” She said “all the pictures I have seen of Americans is that they have a lot showing.” Then she said “your friend that was just here, she wore the same thing as you. Does she wear that in America too?” I said “yes she does.” She always wonders what I feed Shania and if Shania is ok since she gets sand in her mouth. I really think these people think I’m nuts but that’s ok because sometimes I think they are crazy too. Naton told us the other day that Bengalis just expect Americans to be crazy so it doesn’t matter what we do they will think we are crazy. I said “well I have come to the right place then.” Anyways the kids and I went and ate at the guesthouse with the crew. Shanto made fish curry, then he added sliced potatoes and eggplant to the curry too. It was good. Shanto fed some to Shania and I was worried it would be too spicy for her but she ate it ok. Sometimes she will cry and cry after we feed her Bangla food so we’ve quit trying to get her to eat it. I just take a PB & J along for her when we go places. Late afternoon we packed up the crew and headed to the clinic for singing. Shanto loves to sing! Jared says he thinks Shanto knows every song in the songbook. It took us close to an hour and a half to get to the clinic! Now during Ramadan in the afternoon everyone is trying to get home to eat to break their fast. A lovely rain storm came through while we were singing so when it came time to leave we had a much easier time driving. Hardly anyone was out walking and by that time it was late enough that people were home eating. Stopped at Herfeys for a quick supper. The manager was in there and he came up to Jared and said “my crew says you eat here a lot.” 🤭 

Wednesday 3/20: The boys were over bright and early. Worked on more electrical work. Hung up fans and more lights. These houses have two fans in almost every room except the small bedrooms. Plus a light on every wall. When we moved, Ripon put up a light and a fan in each room and now he’s going back around hanging up the rest. I mostly tried to keep Shania out of their way. She kept trying to play with their tools or climbs up the stairs to find Ridoy or Shanto. She knows they will always hold her anytime! Took the whole crew to the clinic for lunch. Got home and quick had a rest before the boys came back. Afternoon I took the kids to the sand court for awhile. Here was the conversation I overheard. 

Boy: “Are you Christian?” 

Layton: “I don’t know. Mom are we Christian?”

Me: Yes we are Christian.

Boy: “who do you pray for?” 

Layton: “God”

Boy: “we pray to Allah.” 

Thursday 3/21: The boys were really busy today. Jared assembled more light fixtures for them to put up. They got the window trim in our bedroom scraped and repainted. They worked late… The tile mistris are really making progress at the guesthouse! When we had lunch with Shanto they had the living room almost finished and had 3/4 the dining room done. Ridoy and Ripon are hoping to finish up our house in the next few days so that they can start at the guesthouse when the mistris are finished. We want to be moved into the guesthouse by April 13. The owner from London is coming into Dhaka then and we don’t want him to see his house all ripped up! Later afternoon quite a rainstorm came up. Lots of wind hail and rain. Ridoy came racing inside and said “is the car windows going to break from the ice?” Jared assured him that it would take much larger hail to do that kind of damage! The boys stayed and waited the storm out. It cooled off so much that we didn’t hardly need fans at night. Opened the windows and aired the house out good. Got word that Carl and Darrell weren’t able to find us a teacher or get replacements for Trevor’s. They will try again next placement meeting.😀 

Friday 3/22: Church this morning! Quite a-bit of water on pink city streets. Looked like the city men were working to get the giant water pump working. By the time we got home the water was gone so they must have gotten it fixed. We were high and dry on our street! At church Ripon had the opening and Jared had the message. Stayed and had cha with Sumita and Anchila. Went out for lunch and then came back home. Layton and I made chocolate chip cookies and sent them over to the guys for an evening snack. I was informed they liked “all brown cookies.” I asked Lisa what “all brown cookies” they meant and she thinks they meant no bake cookies. They have been hinting broadly at having some mashed potatoes. They love them! I said maybe when they are working at the guesthouse and my house is half put back together then I would make mashed potatoes for them all. The color of the gravy is supposed to be brown I was told. Brown cookies brown gravy. Shanto and his boys are more fussy about eating American food than Naton and Sumita are. Naton and Sumita eat a lot no matter what I make. 

Saturday 3/23: The boys came over and got right to work. There was some initial drama when they locked all the keys to the bedroom doors in one of the bedrooms. Some of the bedrooms at the guesthouse they keep locked because the crew is sleeping in them or they are being used for storage for construction supplies. Shanto worked on fixing up the steps that have a chipped tile. Ridoy and Ripon worked some more scraping painting and hanging up lights upstairs. I wish I could count how

Many times a day I hear “Brianna auntie!!!!!” Or “Jared Kotay?” (Where’s Jared?) It makes me smile! The morning was busy. Jared went out and found more garden hose for the outdoor tap and then the one on the roof. Hung up some hooks in the bathrooms for towels and such. Shanto had the tile mistri come and work on the back bathroom. They took the squattie pottie out and are putting a western toilet in. We noticed after the rain the other day that rain comes in the back screened in porch area behind the kitchen.  Instead of glass over the iron bars it’s just mesh. Shanto is going to drill a hole in the floor so it can drain. It’s not a big deal if it gets wet there but we don’t want standing water. A creepy crawly came in with the rain and now Layton refuses to go back there. So far we are coping ok with all the hustle and bustle and people in and out. It’s always nice when 5 pm rolls around then the boys clean up and we get some quiet time to ourselves until the next morning. 😀 Jared thought it would be fun to go to the American coffee shop that’s 10 minutes away from us. Thought it’d be nice to escape the construction grit and grime. 30 minutes after the crew left they were back all dressed up. I suddenly had this funny feeling that I had missed a memo somewhere. Shanto said he was going to go buy Iftar food for everyone. In just abit they were back. Ridoy invaded the kitchen and got the food prepared and then we said and ate. Of course “auntie do you have coffee?”😀 We ended up canceling the coffee shop idea since by the time they left it was Shanias bedtime. We were disappointed we couldn’t go but Shanto has been lonesome for his family back in Kulna so felt like we should be with him extra! Ridoy thought Jared was 37 because of all the grey hair he is getting.

 

Sunday 3/24: The boys worked up on the roof this morning. Replacing the plastic plumbing unions with metal ones to see if that stops the leaking when the pressure pump is on. We’ve been leaving the pump off so the water is just gravity flow. (We have two large water tanks up on the roof.) . It’s ok that way just not much pressure in the shower. The kitchen faucet is not built for pressurized water. When I turn it on water sprays out from random parts of the faucet where water is not meant to come out of so Jared wants to get a new one after the plumbing is all fixed. Layton spent alot of the day up on the roof with the men! Ripon and Ridoy have been showing him how electrical things work which is his chief delight. They give him old capacitors, bits of wire, old LED strips, pieces of pipe and I don’t know what all. He squirrels them away in his “building Bin.”Layton dreams and dreams of building a robot sometime with all his parts and pieces. He wants to build one that will take care of Shania😂. Anyways, the water was off all day. Before Jared left for clinic he filled a bunch of buckets up with water so I could flush the toilets and wash dishes. Did a lot of dusting today. Furniture the windows etc. Things feel abit cleaner now. Layton considers himself a man now so every morning at coffee break, he pours himself a cup of coffee to drink with the men. The amount of sugar and creamer that go into his coffee is somewhat staggering. Ridoy has been putting him to work and I’m glad! He has Layton scraping the paint off of the porch wall, carrying water for him, handing him tools, etc. Layton loves to help and in the process Ridoy explains a lot to him. The men gave Layton an old battery they found and at breakfast Layton told Jared how it works and which is positive and negative. I’m very glad we finished kindergarten back in January because there is no way I could ever keep his mind on track with that when he could be helping the men and learning about electricity. They say he needs to go to engineering school.🙄 After lunch Ridoy borrowed a tall ladder and climbed up our coconut tree and brought 6 big coconuts down. He cut a hole in them so we could drink the coconut water. Neither Jared or I are big fans! The meat inside is better. Shania loved it! It tastes nothing like the coconut you get in the stores at home. This stuff has hardly any flavor at all and is white and slimy. The men worked late on the plumbing. It has been thundering ominously most of the afternoon. Hoping we get some more rain this evening! The trees look so lush and green now. They are loosing their grey dusty look after the rain. Layton is out playing soccer on the street with some friends which makes this mamas heart happy. 

March 11 - March 17, 2024

Monday 3/11: Jared had clinic. He said it was quite busy! He wondered if it was because Ramadan starts tomorrow. Last year it was quite slow during March because people didn’t want to travel since they weren’t eating or drinking. My children were an emotional bunch so felt like I spent the day outside, reading stories, swinging, rocking etc. Layton needed an extra boost of TLC, so we moved everything out from under the stairs and put a bunch of blankets and pillows under there. We got out his magic twinkly lights from Aunt Keisha and hung them up and it wasn’t long and his tears were dried! I’m not sure if it was the lights that did the trick or thinking of Keisha but I was thankful for whatever it was. We put suitcases around the entrance to the tent so Shania couldn’t get in. Popcorn and chocolate milk were his snack of choice. After awhile of alone time in his new abode he emerged a much happier boy. Shania spent her time trying in vain to get past the suitcases and into her brothers tent. She gets very hurt feelings if she can’t do everything he does. She’s almost one and this behavior is already starting.🤭 Jared says she obviously gets her strong emotions from the women in the family. He didn’t clarify which side.😂

Tuesday 3/12: Jared had clinic. I woke up with the cough/body aches bug that the children have/had. Took it easy… as easy as a mom takes it! Layton and I made “Kinsey cookies” (no bake cookies). I thought they tasted off and here I realized I had forgotten the peanut butter! Shania had just went down for an afternoon nap and Layton came in looking like a storm cloud. He was covered in sand from head to toe. I thought him and Abdullah had been wrestling again but apparently they had a sand fight. Like usual Layton claims he had nothing to do with it “and mom he threw sand at me 6 TIMES!” Remembering my brothers when they were young I said “well what did YOU do?” Things suddenly got real quiet. Then he said “are you going to tell dad?” 😂 I don’t ever know if I should let him fight it out with the other children or intervene. Up until now he’s been so shy that we’ve never had to worry about him getting in trouble. I’m glad if he gets some back bone to him. The tub had a literal pile of sand in it by the time he was bathed and shampooed. Since he can run and play hard now outside he has been falling asleep right away at night and sleeping soundly, plus he’s been eating more! We canceled singing for this evening. I was grieved, even though I wasn’t feeling well I was wanting to go sing. Jared was maybe going to go and pick up Trevor’s new van but it wasn’t ready to pick up. This is the new van they have been eagerly waiting for! Trevor was really hoping to get a new one before they leave this fall so he could enjoy driving it. 

Wednesday 3/13: Naton came over mid morning and then we headed to the clinic for lunch. Shanto, Ridoy, Ripon and Trevor’s came into town as well and met us there for lunch. Chicken curry and the usual! It was delicious. Lisa and the kids went back to the old guesthouse and Trevor Shanto and Ridoy went and picked up Trevor’s new van. We brought Ripon and Naton back to Pink City. Ripon headed off to see his family that lives here in Bashundara and Naton went back to his house. We invited Naton to stay but he declined. He’s been working all nights lately and is so tired. I always tell him to go home and sleep. I’m sure he appreciates me being a mother hen. On the way home, we got pulled over right as we got on the expressway. It was some men doing a survey on if people thought the expressway had made a difference in the traffic congestion and if anyone had comments on what to improve. Only in Bangladesh! Spent the afternoon doing usual things. In the evening the crew all came over. Lisa had drove their old van here by herself and was she ever all smiles😂 The new van looks very nice. Jared went through our house and told the crew what all needs to be finished yet. Fans, lights that need to be hung up. The upstairs bedrooms need to be hooked up to the community generator system. Shanto looked at the leak under my sink and says he thinks the pipes need to be cleaned out under there and it’s causing water to seep out. (Something like that) I told him that I can’t keep anything under there because it all molds because of the constant damp environment. Had to give my crockpot and blender a good scrubbing to get the mold off. That will be nice to get that fixed. It’s where I store our big curry pots and rice pots. The children and I rode along with the rest to Herfeys for supper. Trevors came over later and we visited for awhile. They love how our house is coming together. 

Thursday 3/14: In the morning Layton and Jared went and checked on the men at the guesthouse. I made a pan of bars in case anyone would end up coming over. I worked on laundry until the washer decided to stop working. Suspicious it’s the filter that needs to be cleaned. Later afternoon Shanto Jared and Trevor went to Uttarra and bought tile for the guesthouse. Brock came and played for quite awhile while they were gone. Layton was quite tickled about that! Midafternoon Ridoy and Ripon came knocking at the door and said “auntie do you have coffee?” So I said “sure! Come in!” They stayed for awhile. Ridoy wanted to know all about what “university” was like for Jared and I in America. Then he said “aunti can you help me with my English so I can better understand?” At the 6 pm prayer call the boys and I went to the pita lady and bought some Iftar food. Fried onion patties and dal. It was so good! I really like her food it’s not so spicy as some. Brock and Layton went and got themselves chips and pop for supper. On the walk back to the house, I noticed our next door neighbor had probably 30 young boys all lined up in his carport. They were sitting on the ground and wearing their white prayer caps. Looked they had their prayer during the prayer call and then they were scarfing down their food after a day of no eating. Whitney’s friends here in Pink City told her that when a girl starts to gets her period then she is supposed to fast all day during Ramadan too. Not sure when the boys start. The men soon arrived home. Jared said him Trevor and Santo all had Iftar at a random Dokan that they had stopped in at! He said it was very spicy so hopefully no bathroom repercussions hit. Trevor stepped into the house to get something from Jared and saw the bars on the table and helped himself.😂 I didn’t take my famous bars to Kulna the last time we went so figured I better make them now to keep peace. After all Trevor is the senior CSI man.

Friday 3/15: Had church today! Shanto Ripon and Ridoy rode with us.  It’s interesting, when we park the van at Siza court and get out we soon smell the unmistakable Dhaka smell. We don’t smell it in Pink City. Jared thinks it’s because it’s less populated plus there’s lots of trees. Jared had the opening and Trevor had the sermon. A sobering sermon… One of Trevor’s close friends in Kulna committed suicide the evening before they left to come to Dhaka.  Heartbreaking, he was so young. It happens so much here. Had cha with everyone after church was finished. Naton has been begging us to go out for biriyani with him so we all headed to Danmondi. We got to the restaurant and it was closed! Since it’s Ramadan most restaurants are closed during the day now and open at 5. Just a block away was a Pizza Hut so we went there instead. The crew didn’t seem to mind. Sumita and Anchila came with us too! After lunch people wondered where my “CSI” bars were at.😂 I said “come and get them this evening.” I don’t know why people make such a fuss over them because all they are is glorified cheerio bars. Made them once when Shania was a baby and I was so tired. I had to make a pan of bars then for a get together and these were the easiest things to make at the time and now everyone expects a pan at all times whenever I’m around. 😀We dropped Naton and the girls off at the clinic and then we headed to Gulsan to go to UniMart. Half way there Layton got car sick (which never happens) and then we just pulled in the parking garage and Shania threw up EVERYWHERE. Layton was crying because he was trying not to vomit and Shania was crying because she just had and Jared was mad because he had to use the bathroom horribly bad. I said “pull over and go on the side of the road like the millions of Bengalis do.” This was not a good time for me to crack a joke I tell you. We eventually made it home ok with our marriage intact. Jared made an absolute dash for the toilet while I corralled all our many children upstairs and into bed. Turned the AC on and gave everyone their fuzzy blankets which always take care of any problems. Cleaned out the van and then I took a shower. I may be a nurse but vomit is very low on my list of tolerances. Just ask the people I used to work with. Anyways, after a long rest everyone’s tempers had cooled and the children seemed better. Jared inspected my washer and here one of my bobby pins had gotten in the filter and wasn’t letting water in or out. After naps Naton came to wash his motorcycle. I was out swinging Shania while he was washing it so he told me tales of when he spent two years in boarding school. I think the Naton we know now is a much more refined version than who he was back then! Santo Ridoy and Ripon came for coffee. Sat around and talked until Trevor’s came. We never did really have supper. I pulled out my CSI bars and my cheeto puffs that I found at UniMart the other week. (CSI Bangladesh believes in eating healthy.😂) Been hoarding them away for such a time as this! The Bengali crew was not impressed with them. Layton said “these taste like a hotdog roast!” Lisa and I went on a long walk up and down all the streets here in pink city. We practically had the place to ourselves. Like usual we worked on solving the world’s problems. Stay tuned… During Ramadan there’s hardly anyone out walking and the boys aren’t playing tag or cricket in the street. I miss their joyful whoops and hollers. Put the children to bed and then relaxed for awhile. What a day! 

Saturday 3/16: Shanto came first thing this morning and fixed the leak under my sink. I was very grateful. The cockroaches love that damp environment under there so hoping they will relocate now that it’s not always wet. Jared and I did a quick UniMart run. Got what we needed. This time no one vomited or had a bathroom crisis! Lisa and I are putting together some little care boxes for Krystal since her baby is due quite soon. Came home and had lunch. Shanto came back and worked on scraping off the cement from the doors and window frames that the tile mistris had dripped all over. Trevors came over later afternoon. Lisa and I worked on writing an updated list for things that new missionaries need to bring. The old list was quite outdated and a lot of things that are on there are available here now. For supper Naton took us all to a goat biriyani place in Gulsan. It was really good. Sometimes biriyani at restaurants can be quite greasy and spicy. But this was not at all. The past part was that they had put huge chunks of potato in with goat curry and it was so good! Jared and I love the potatoes like that. Naton found Brock’s water gun and shot it out the window at unsuspecting passersby. I have not heard Jared laugh that hard in a long time!!  We saw the most unique thing on our way to Gulsan. Today the evening prayer call was at 6:11 pm. Trucks were lined up along the Purbachol expressway and the drivers and passengers were all sitting on the grass in the median eating their food and breaking their fast! We wondered what it would be like at home if we would be driving along hwy 15 or hwy 56 and everyone would pull over at a certain time and have picnics along the road in the Kansas ditches??? 

Sunday 3/17: Jared went to KaWran Bazar to get milk for the clinic. It’s a government holiday today so the clinic is closed. Ridoy and Shanto were in and out all day. Sanding and painting the ceilings, scraping more cement off of places, repainting the iron bars over the windows etc. The children and I basically stayed upstairs or were outside. Shania kept trying to crawl for Shanto’s paint buckets so staying downstairs amidst all the work didn’t last long! Ripon was busy at the guesthouse with the electrical work there. I got the “new missionary list” edited and typed up for the other ladies to review. Mid afternoon the tile men arrived at the guesthouse. Jared went to check on them and they were already starting in on the work. Shanto got a different crew to do the guesthouse since the crew that did our tile made such a terrible mess of everything. They did a wonderful job with laying the tile but boy did they make a mess doing it. Spent the evening upstairs playing games with Layton. Monopoly is the current favorite! 

March 4 - March 10, 2024

 Monday 3/4: Woke up to some rain! I dashed up to the roof and grabbed my laundry before it got too drenched. Jared hung me up two very long lines on the roof to hang up the clothes up there. I love having all that space to dry clothes now. It’s nice to be able to do more than one load a day. Bought a big foldable clothes drying rack for upstairs for during the rainy season. We spent most of the morning outside after the rain stopped. Jared had clinic. He was busy again! After lunch Layton played and played with Abdullah. I’ve been collecting strainers, bowl etc. for sand toys. I don’t think Abdullah has ever played like that before. When we got to the sand court he was like a kid at Christmas. I think his mom was a little horrified! The big boys came and asked Layton if he wanted to play football (soccer) with them. I really encouraged him to go play but he chickened out at the last minute. I told him that some day he needs too so he learns how to play games like that for when he’s in school. Had a quiet evening at home. Visited with the neighbor lady again. She wondered what we ate day to day. “Like bread and butter?” I told her hamburgers and pizza because everyone associates those foods with America. She told me about how she has to have two maids. She has three children and she had to hire a second maid because she couldn’t even use the bathroom with all her children needing her.  (I could relate😂) Plus cutting up all those vegetables for Bangla food and then washing the floors…. 

Tuesday 3/5: Today was a low key day. Layton had a cough and fever so he didn’t do much. He would play for awhile and then lay down. The little girl from several streets down kept trying to sneak into our yard again. You can tell she knows better but she slyly sneaks right in until her brother comes and hollers at her. My friend told me that this little girl runs all over Pink City stealing peoples shoes. She leaves hers behind and takes a pair that’s been left by the door! The custom here is that shoes are kept outside. I told her that I had been having trouble keeping her out of the yard. She said “her mother stays inside so the maid has to chase after her!) Had singing this evening with Sumita and Anchila. It was so enjoyable and encouraging. It’s been so long since we have had singing! We sang for 45 minutes. While we were singing one of the little girls that was at the clinic recovering post op came into the room and pointed at Jared and smiled so big! It was so cute!🩷 Had a lot of traffic on the way home. Jared thought there were at least 250 cars in line to get on the expressway. It didn’t take too long though since the jam was from people paying toll. Had supper at Herfeys and then came home. Layton spent the rest of the evening sniffling and coughing while he rested on the couch. 

Wednesday 3/6: Jared spent the morning doing bookwork. The mechanic came and got the van because it’s been making an awful rattling sound from the front end. Since our car was gone we took an Uber to the clinic for lunch. I was nervous about what sort of driver we would get but he did  great! He drove an old van but inside it was spotless. Jared called him when we were done eating and he came and picked us up. Now we have his phone number for the next time. It’s always nice to get phone numbers of good drivers or rickshaw men. Anchila made fish curry, egg curry, pumpkin, dal and rice. She cooks a little different types of food than Josna and Sumita so it’s been fun to eat different things! Kelly said once he saw fish eyes floating in the fish curry once when he had it at someone’s place but I didn’t see any today thankfully. Miriam ate with us too like usual. We got a full report on her 20 year old son that supposedly had chicken pox a few weeks ago. She showed me a picture but i thought it was more like boils than pox. She said she had called the family with the conjoined twins and they told her they haven’t had the operation yet. Jared thinks they are working on getting sufficient funds. There were two patients there today. One was a girl that was maybe 9? A few months ago she came to have her cleft lip repaired and now she is back to have the palate fixed. She just loves Shania and held her quite abit. It’s so fun seeing the patients return for their second oral repair surgery. They recognize us and just smile so big😃 it reminds us why we are here. In the afternoon the children and I were outside for several hours. Abdullah joined us at the sand court. His family’s driver came up to me and said they have been having problems with Abdullah and “he is an angry child and please mam I hope you don’t mind if he doesn’t always play nice.” Jared and I had a good chuckle. The boys were starting to argue after playing awhile so I told them to pick up the sand toys and that Abdullah was supposed to help Layton carry them to our house. He plays really nice with Layton but boy when he gets back to his house he turns into someone sorta crazy. Layton said “mom is that how spoiled kids act?” Watching his parents chase him around the yard when he’s having a tantrum has been quite thought provoking for Layton. One day he soberly said “mom, I know you spank  me because you love me.” Here in pink city it looks like these children are mostly looked after by a maid. We often see the maids out pushing the children in strollers or taking them on walks. My neighbor ladies drivers often appear to be a babysitter too. 

Thursday 3/7: Jared left right after breakfast for Farmgate to tend to some financial matters at the bank. He’s getting weary of all the round the mulberry bush that it’s taking to get the appropriate things approved for the fund release for Khulna. Kulna needs a new van badly but they can’t buy it until the funds are released. Shania seems to have caught Layton’s fever bug. She was so fussy so I took her out to swing and she fell asleep this evening. Layton wanted to listen to church while he played Legos. So this evening was spent indoors doing comforting things. Down the street from us they are having quite a gathering! They set up a bamboo structure and covered it with purple fabric. People that lived on streets 6 and 7 were supposed to supply the food if they choose to attend. A man came earlier asking if we wanted to buy tickets. I asked my neighbor lady if she was going and she laughed and said “my husband likes low key. So if he does not want to go then neither can I.” I told her my husband didn’t like large crowds of people either.😀 She said she doesn’t go to events like that because “the food is full of grease and spice.” Never heard a Bengali complain about that before. While Shania napped this morning I made a chocolate peanut butter pie. Going to take it for “snack in the back” after church tomorrow. We’ve started having cha with Sumita, Anchila and Natun after church. It seems to be a real moral booster. We all sit and visit. Sumita always provides biscuits but I wanted to do something a little special this week. Seems like here we aren’t sure how to show them our love always but bringing an American sweet and sitting with them and having tea means a lot to them. I don’t plan on baking a pie every week but thought it might be fun every so often to do something a little extra since that’s my middle name.😂

Friday 3/8: church today! Layton used to call Fridays “van days” but now that we live in Pink City almost every day is van day. Church was good. Sumita made cha to go with the pie. They all loved the pie! Made me feel loved. Natun needed a listening ear. Him and Jared visited for quite a long while after church. Jared really enjoys being with him and talking. Usually the conversations are deep. Sumita Anchila and I sat out in the little courtyard behind the clinic. Went for lunch and groceries. Stocked up good since I’m not sure how long Trevor’s will be in Dhaka next week. 

Saturday 3/9: Jared did bookwork again this morning. He went and bought a mini ceiling fan for the kitchen. There isn’t any fan in there now but in a few weeks it will be a necessity when it gets hot! Got home and he unboxed it and here it was bright green! The guy had told him it was white. Jared laughed and said “first the Elsa shower curtain and now a green ceiling fan!”  He took a motorcycle and found a mistri that could come install our RO water system. That was so nice to get that done. All the pieces and parts had been sitting in his office and we’ve just been buying so many huge water bottles for drinking water. We ended up using the water tank that we already had since it was basically new but the rest of it we had to buy new. Our system at Siza court was pretty old so we thought we may as well update it. We take having good drinking water pretty seriously in this house for sure with two children. I’m not sure what I did all day other than laundry and cooking and cleaning. At one point I caught Layton drinking homemade chocolate sauce out of the pitcher. He seemed dumbfounded that I would notice and be disturbed about it. Him and Shania seemed to feel much better today which I was very grateful for. After the children had calmed down for the evening we walked to the pita lady and got some pita. We like to eat them with Nutella! I tried to ask for coconut pita because so many say those are their favorite but I couldn’t understand the lady and she couldn’t understand me.😂

Sunday 3/10: Jared had 25 patients at clinic today. Ramadan starts in a few days so we expect the numbers to drop until after Eid. I wrote quite an epistle about Ramadan last year so reference that in regards to what it all entails. The Muslims fast all day including no water drinking. Last year at this time it was already so hot! The poor dehydrated men would just sit under the tree by Siza court. It’s beautiful weather here. Today was 85*. I’ve been opening the windows as soon we get up in the morning because it’s getting down to 60s-70s at night still. I am so thankful the heat is delayed abit. The rest of us did the usual. Jared did paperwork in the afternoon. Layton and I did some school review. In the evenings we’ve started ready a Bible story to the children after supper. It seems to set the tone for a quiet calm evening. Layton has been asking a lot of questions about God lately “can He demand whatever He wants?” “Is God way bigger than daddy?” “ what does wisdom mean?” 

February 25-March 3, 2024

 Monday 2/26: No clinic today! It’s some sort of Muslim holiday. Forgiveness day? Jared and I worked on getting his office organized. So many papers. Layton and I sorted out a bunch of money into 80 taka bundles for the toll booths for all our comings and goings on the expressway. The children and I spent a lot of time outside today. Played and played at the sand court. Took walks up and down the streets here. There’s a main road and then 8 streets. 1a 1b 2a 2b and so on. We live on road 7A. A streets are the right hand side and B streets are the left hand side. The traffic is limited and so it’s quite a relaxing jaunt. The median is full of bushes and shrubs and hibiscus. Sunflowers are planted scattered along the road. Every house has a little garden in front. Some people have their gardens full of marigolds and other flowering plants and some are just bare dirt and some are grass! Layton always has to stop and roll on the grass patches.😂 The yardsmen sweep the streets every morning so there’s no dog poop to avoid stepping on or trash piled up. It feels good to be in a place where things aren’t so trashy. Layton can finally dig holes to his hearts content at the sand court without anyone telling him to quit or freaking out that the foreigner boy is getting dirty. While he was playing this evening a little girl dressed in a white princess dress and a burka head piece came and joined him. I felt sorry for her trying to play all dolled up like that. Shania loves the sand too and spent quite abit of time sampling various handfuls of sand and rocks. Probably why I had to give her dewormer the other week for her raging diarrhea. The neighbor boy and Layton are slowly becoming pals. That boy is quite a brat. His mom overheard me reprimanding Layton and she said “babies don’t need rules only adults.” 🫢 Later afternoon Jared walked down to the market that’s down the road from pink city and bought an extension cord for his laptop and printer. Got it set up and plugged into the voltage stabilizer.pI tried to get ahold of the vaccine clinic for Shania’s next round of vaccines but they were closed. We spent the rest of the day at home. At supper we realized Layton has his first loose tooth! He thinks it’s going to fall out any day now but we told him it would take several weeks. We’ve been talking about loosing teeth for several months now so that when this happens it’s not a scary thing to him. He is like his mother and likes to know things ahead of time. This evening I talked to the lady next door. I’m trying to make some friends here. She says we need to send Layton to one of the international schools here in Bashundara. I told her we would homeschool him. I asked her what the constant talking over a loudspeaker is that we hear every evening. It’s aways away so not horrible loud. She says it’s Islamic teachings “isn’t it annoying?” Clearly she is not Muslim. There’s a lady from France and a lady from Russia that live here in pink city. I hope to get acquainted with them soon.

Tuesday 2/27: Jared had clinic. 40 patients he said! Now that our lease at Siza Court is up he is parking at the guesthouse for now. We have not moved the guesthouse yet to pink city. Santo and his crew are coming back to Dhaka in a week or two to finish up the remodel project so for now the guesthouse in Monipuripara remains. Not sure where we will park during the week once that lease is up in June. My dad says Jared can fit our van down streets in Dhaka that any Kansas person would think undriveable.😂 There is some parking by the clinic but during the week it’s full. We are able to park there on Fridays. It’s going to feel funny to be able to park wherever we want anywhere we go when we get home! The children and I spent the morning at the sand court again. I’m so thankful the weather is so nice now. There’s been a bit of a breeze the past few days. The evenings and nights are still quite cool which we are so enjoying. I’m even more thankful that my children can play outside more now and get Vitamin D from the sun. I’m hoping this helps Layton with some of his nervous energy. I just never knew how important playing outside and sun are to children until we came to Bangladesh! The last two days have been the first days in a long while that life feels normal. Feels like we are getting into a good routine with bedtime and laundry and meals and all that again. After we were done playing outside I rearranged my pantry again. I think I’m finally onto something this go around. In the afternoon the children and I were outside again. Layton rode bike with his friend Abdullah. I am having to set some ground rules with the neighbor children. Since we are new plus foreigners we are quite the spectacle for them to stand and watch. Some of the neighbor children will sneak into our yard to try and play with Layton’s things. One day after naps I heard a noise so I went outside and here a dad had brought his child over and was swinging on Layton’s swing. We made a rule that no one other than us or the yard man should be inside our gate. If the children want to play with Layton they can play on the road or go to the sand court or badminton court. The roads aren’t that busy so it’s perfectly safe for the children to play out there. Other parents here in this community have the same rule for their yards so I felt better about enforcing it. One little girl is determined to sneak in. I told her to leave and Layton went out and played with her on the street. They had so much fun together. She snuck back in our yard and I told her again she needed to stay out. I had to go inside and so I glanced out the window and here she was again trying to play with Layton’s stuff. She saw me through the window and took off running. I feel bad being this way but otherwise we will have tons of children in our yard all the time. One boy came up to the gate and asked Layton to get a drink of water. I told him “no you have to get water from your own house!” Trevor’s have had problems with people coming to their gate asking for water too. Today the yard man asked me if we had a washroom. It feels like we have to almost go overboard with saying no otherwise we will have people traipsing in and out all day long. So I figure in the future we can let up a bit if we need to, but right now until we know the community and people better we won’t let the kids in the yard. The furniture store delivered our storage cabinet for upstairs and the new office chair for the clinic. Layton spent quite awhile this evening riding bike sounds the neighborhood with the other boys. Around 5 in the evening probably 20 boys come out of the woodwork! Looks like ages 5-16. They play tag on the street or jump over the bushes in the median or zip up and down the street! Layton is starting to cautiously join them as long as Abdullah is with him. Some times they all go to the soccer area and play there. 

Wednesday 2/28: Today was a lesson that God has went before and made a way. Natun met us at Siza Court. We turned in the keys and the men talked with Mr Faroque. He wants us to pay for the old apartment to be completely repainted or rewallpapered. CSI has rented that place for 16 years. The amount he wanted us to pay was quite heavy. Natun talked to him and eventually the men thought an offer of paying half would be ok. We will see what Carl says.@“ Jared told him to keep the security deposit. Natun thought Jared should have been more aggressive with his dealings but we don’t want to leave a bad impression or cause trouble since they have been so good to us. Shameem (the Siza court caretaker) offered that we could continue to rent a parking space there! What an answer to prayer. 2,000 taka a month only. Jared has been checking into getting a driver since there’s no where for us to park when we go to the clinic during the week. It would be 25,000 taka! Uber is very expensive too. Natun said this was a steal of a deal. Plus we know the guards there and know it’s a safe place to park. Their only request is that when we park there that we leave the van in neutral so they can shove it out of the way if they need to. We jumped on that offer! Went to the clinic for lunch. Sumita’s niece cooked this time. What a feast. Chicken curry, fried eggplant, tomato tok, dal, rice… Whenever they know Natun is coming they always cook extra dishes. He has them wrapped around his fingers! After lunch the children and I went to the guesthouse to hang out. Natun and Jared went to Maa Medicine at Farmgate. In the past Jared has gotten some meds there for the clinic but the majority of them come from Square Pharmaceuticals. Square delivered them to Siza Court for us. We never knew when they would be delivered they would just call when they were in the courtyard. Natun called them and asked if they could deliver to pink city  but they said no. We thought maybe they could deliver them to the clinic but Jared would have to be there with the money when they arrived. He can’t exactly jump in the van and drive thirty minutes every time there is a med delivery. The med bill is usually quite a hefty sum so we weren’t comfortable just leaving that amount of cash at the clinic for Sumita to give the deliverman. Naton and Jared went to Maa Medicine and they said that Jared could WhatsApp his weekly med order to them and they would deliver it to the clinic the next day. Natun is going to help Jared set up a BiKash account then he can just BiKash them the money. (Bangladesh’s version of PayPal). Jared was so relieved. Last week he just went and gave Maa his order and waited an hour while they prepared it. He doesn’t want to have to wait all the time because sometime his order is quite large. Plus the workers have to stop for prayer time every so often which is at least 10-15 minutes. The whole store stops until prayers are completed. Jared was so thankful that Natun could go with him and arrange all these things. Here in Dhaka quite a few business people know some English, so between our Bangla and their English we get along quite well. When it comes to business dealings and arranging things Jared feels better if Natun is along because then both parties are clear on what is expected of them! Feels like we owe Natun a lot with everything he has helped us with. Jared slips him a little extra sometimes when he pays him for interpreting for us at church. We came home and all slept for two hours.🤭 After that we went and walked along the little river canal beside pinkcity. It was a really enjoyable walk. We were able to walk without drawing a crowd or having to dodge a lot of people. Days like today make us feel even more sure that this move was the Lords doing. All these things we have worried about are all slowly falling into place. Oh and Jared hired Sumita’s niece Anchela to work at the clinic! She is a sweetheart. She loves the children especially Shania. 

Thursday 2/29: This morning was productive. Shania and Layton were both up before seven which did not amuse me. When Layton was a baby I would put him on the floor beside the couch with some toys and he would play while I dozed off for awhile. The princess feels quite hurt by such treatment. It’s not long and I feel her breathing on my face and a wet finger trying to poke my eyeballs or dig in my ear or pinch my nose.😂 My children have forced me to become a morning person. After breakfast Jared went to the BiKash Dokan to send money to the pharmacy for his med order. It worked great and the meds were delivered in the afternoon to the clinic! I cleaned my windows inside and out because they were still covered in dirt from the remodeling. The tile men dribbled cement all down a few of them and I need to figure out how to get it off. It’s not a lot but enough that it’s noticeable. We don’t plan to get a maid for now. I know Sumita would come and clean in a heartbeat if I asked her but I kinda like doing my own cleaning. It feels more like normal home life. Jared assembled my storage cabinet for the upstairs. After naps we went to the wholesale market at Jamuna Park. Got some things we were needing for the house. We bought a microwave and boy was I tickled!!! It will be nice in the summer to warm up leftovers in the microwave instead of heating up the kitchen just to warm up a little bit of food. Jared says now we can make our mug cakes that we loved to make at home. (Cake in a coffee cup that’s baked in the microwave)😄 We bought a new shower curtain for our bathroom. The shower curtains were all folded into tiny plastic packages and you couldn’t tell what they looked like. there wasn’t  a picture or anything on the outside. We didn’t even think to open up the package to look at it because you sure wouldn’t do that at Walmart at home! Jared found one that was blue so we got that one. We got home and I went to hang it up and here it was a Frozen shower curtain with Elsa’s face as big as can be on it.😂 we hung it up anyway just to give us a laugh. Haha! Whenever I got up during the night to use the bathroom there was Elsa’s big ole creepy eyeballs staring at me. 

Friday 3/1: Had church. Took some of the old curtains from our Siza Court apartment and gave them to Sumita. The curtains at the clinic are very old and thread bare. She’s going to take them to a tailor and have them shortened. Jared had the message on Nehemiah. I didn’t get much more than that since Shania decided to make lots of racket during church. Lucky came to church today! It was good to see her again. Hadn’t seen her since January. Her and Jared arranged that she would come and cook once in awhile for us still! Natun told her how to get to Pink City. After church We went and did our usual shopping and then came home to nap. Had a quiet evening at home. Took a walk along the canal again.

Saturday 3/2: This morning Jared and Layton went to a bike dokan and bought Layton a new bike. His old pink one kept breaking and Jared had to keep fixing it. Plus it was getting too small for him. Krystal said she thought it was still the one from when she was here 10 years ago. He was one happy boy! I did laundry and the usual. Cleaned our porch and zapped so many mosquitoes. They seem to swarm right outside our door. Jared wants to buy some mosquito coils and put them on the porch to see if that helps at all! After lunch the internet man came and set up our internet and WiFi. Had to get one for upstairs and downstairs. We spent a good share of the day out riding bike of course with the new bike.😃

Sunday 3/3: Jared had clinic. I packed him a lunch to take this time since he has business to tend to after clinic is over. He said he had so many patients that half way through the morning they had to start turning people away. Seems like there are more and more coming! Or maybe it’s because we were closed for a month while we moved. The children and I spent a lot of time outside. Layton was quite a busy beaver. Rode bike, swung, watered the lawn. We are just so thankful he can be outside so much now! The yard man that comes and sweeps our yard several times a week is doing his best to get money. He told us at first that we should tip him 2,000 taka a month. Several other people that Trevor’s talked to say don’t tip except at Eid. The neighbor lady said you’re supposed to tip 500 taka or so. Finally Jared offered him 750 a month. He wasn’t happy. The neighbor lady told me “he knows you are a foreigner so he will try to get money from you. These people think money grows on trees if you are a foreigner.” Her husband is from Sri Lanka. Women like to come ask me if they could be my maid or cook. I always say “not now.” Maybe eventually but not for now. Made tomato soup and homemade gluten free bread. My mom brought me a whole ton of flour so now I’ve been making all sorts with it. (And eating it too I might add.) 

Anyways thanks for reading my chatter! I really missed writing every day during the move so feels good to get my thoughts out. Don’t worry I only write the sensible ones.😂