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.😂

February 2024

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! 

January 2024

Where shall we start? I tried to keep track of a few things to share this month! Some is kinda a jumble of things that occurred over a span of time and some is specific days where I had time to sit and write. 

New Years Eve: Trevor’s were still in town from dropping their family off at the airport. They jumped at the chance to come spend the later evening with us. They said they needed to do something to not think about their family leaving. Early in the evening I went down and asked the guard if he could please leave the roof unlocked so we could go up there at midnight. I typed out my question on google translate and showed him so there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings! He laughed and said that wouldn’t be a problem. I thanked him profusely. The guards and caretaker have been getting quite strict with what is or isn’t allowed so I didn’t know if leaving the roof door unlocked past 6 pm would be ok. I made sure to ask the tall older guard instead of the young night guards. Earlier in the week the kids had asked the young guard to put up the badminton net and he told them they couldn’t play in the courtyard because of the election coming up on January 7. What????? Then another evening Layton and his friends were playing in the courtyard the night before election and they were told to be quiet because of the big meeting. Layton was whispering. Anyways… Lisa came bearing American cheese and deer bologna that her sister had left them. If you ever want to see a bunch of CSI people hussle just say “we have American cheese.” We went up to the roof around 11. The police had issued a statement saying no fireworks or Chinese lanterns were to be used. Judging by the sounds and looks of things no one got the memo! The same thing happened last year.🤭 It was so neat. Just like last year the closer and closer it got to midnight the louder it got. By midnight we had to yell and stand close together if we wanted to be heard. The neighboring apartment had quite a show going. Disco lights, projector screen, and fireworks going off. Jared thought it looked like maybe they were partying a bit hard as their fireworks weren’t always necessarily going up into sky, some were going off quite haphazardly. Around 1230 we called the party quits. Layton slept in our room that night because the fireworks kept on for awhile into the night. 

Trevors stayed in town for a few days after New Years. We had been getting a strange vibe from the caretaker of the guesthouse that we had spoken for in pink city. The owner is living in UK. It became quickly evident that there was quite a discrepancy between the caretaker and the owner. Natun said something wasn’t right and said he had had a bad feeling about him from the start. Natun had been talking to the caretaker on the phone for us. The owner would tell us we could fix what we wanted as long as we payed for it. The caretaker would say “No fixing up it’s fine how it is.” The owner said “you pay for the repairs and we can do a four year rent contract and the rent will stay the same for those four years.” The caretaker said “after two years the rent will go up for the remainder of the contract.” Natun finally said “look make up your mind otherwise they will find a different house!” Finally we just said this is going to be hard to deal with if this caretaker is saying different things plus is he pocketing the money or where is it going? Just on a whim Trevor decided to go to pink city on their way out of town. There was another house there “to let.” It was much newer and much more up to date than the original pink house we had spoken for. It’s more like our house. The owner is from London. He asked much more decent educated questions and was easier to work with! The house would hardly need any fixing up other than a few minor things. Of course the kitchen will need to be Americanized for the oven. This was a relief that this house didn’t need so much repair work done because the other one needed so so much work put into it. Santo said it needed so much work done that we wouldn’t be able to get it done until March or April or later. (We had really wanted it to be done by March since Krystals baby is due in March!) Jared sent the UK owner our visa information, passport pictures, information on CSI and what we do. A few days later he agreed to “let” us the house! We were all thrilled! This guesthouse is one street over from our house. Three doctors live down that street. One evening Trevor Jared and Natun went and told the pink guesthouse caretaker that we had needed to revoke the contract we had signed. They were worried how it would go. There were a lot of prayers going up about it. Natun handled the conversation very well with the caretaker. The caretaker even agreed to give them their down payment money back which was nice. The green guesthouse guy gave us the keys so now we are all fair and square! 

January 11:  Trevor’s brought Santo and his boys into Dhaka to set up camp in our new house and to get the work done. Trevors moved into Dhaka for the long haul. Brought their kid’s school work and everything. Bless their hearts.❤️ We were so thankful they came to help us through everything. Jared’s clinic is up and going again now so he wasn’t sure if he could do that and run to pink city every day to check on things and get the supplies the men needed, plus get random paperwork around for Jon. Trevors were right ready to come into town. He is only doing eye camps now so it was easy for them to pack up and leave Kulna. Natun has been making so many trips to pink city to help us with the interpreting of contracts and with Santo. God bless him too because I don’t what we would do without him. That boy is just part of the tribe now. I asked him “are you tired of us all yet?” He said “oh no! I love being with everybody.” Course we keep him well fed. Pizza Hut and Herfeys burgers seemed to keep him happy! Santo told his boys “we are here in Dhaka now to work.” Ridoy (Santos boy) sidled up to me and said “auntie, do you have a bike I can use? I will work until five but then I must venture into Dhaka.” I said “I think Jared has one you can maybe use.” However we plum forgot to get it to them and by the sounds of things they are venturing just fine without it.😂 Doyle’s brought Ripon (our brother from Golpagange) into town so him and Doyle could work on the electrical work. They are both electricians. Doyle’s are staying at the guesthouse and Trevor’s are at a motel closer to pink city. 

January 13 Saturday: The men all met in Pink City and then headed out to find tile. They were under strict instructions to send us women pictures of what they found BEFORE they bought it. I think our husbands are feeling hen pecked but none of them have ditched us yet. Krystal and I stayed home with our children. It was 62* inside and out and it felt chilly. We dug out our leggings and socks and it felt so good! I know 62* is quite balmy for you Kansas folk that are experiencing-25*F. Something about walking on cold tile floors just chills me to the bone. Layton and I did kindergarten this morning. We are so close to being done! Lucky showed up mid morning and wanted to cook. It was just Layton Shania and I so I invited Krystal and her children to come for lunch to make it worth Lucky’s time cooking. We told her about the move. She was pretty sad. We will have to let her go when we move unless we can find a way to provide her transportation to come every week. She works so many hours at her other job that we aren’t sure it’s feasible. The men were able to find the tile they needed. I had picked out some I like for the stairwell accent wall as a reference for Jared to look for and can you believe it they actually found the one I liked the best? The tile shop will deliver the tile to pink city for us. I tried to pick something that was more timeless versus trendy. Something that our replacements won’t walk in and wonder what possessed us. We went with white tile for everything else. That way the future ladies can just change out bedding and curtains to easily give it their own taste and flare. 

Josna and Sumita are back in the city after Christmas. Sumita came back two days before election and Josna came back a few days after. Josna told us before she went to the village over Christmas that she was quitting CSI. Jared has always told them “we love having you work for us but you are not obligated to work for us. If you find a better paying job elsewhere that’s ok.” He tells them this after they come and ask for more money right after he’s payed them. We were surprised but yet we respected her decision. If we were Bengalis we would have begged and pleaded with her to stay, and “why don’t you like us?” But we both felt strongly that we should just be quiet and make sure we hadn’t done anything to offend her. One day I went to the clinic and visited with her and made sure everything was clear between her and us. She seemed sad and down. She said “boss is good there’s no problems there.” We were glad at that. So after Christmas Sumita and her niece came back to the clinic. Her niece will stay with her until we can find someone to replace Josna. Since Sumita is manning the clinic I told her to only come one day a week here to our apartment to clean. It was time this happened. I very much appreciated all her help three days a week but it was time for it to change to once a week. Sometimes it felt like she was the boss not me and it was becoming stressful. Every two days I sweep and Layton mops. He does a great job! When he’s done mopping he runs and slides on the floors until they dry. Sumita still comes one day a week and mops and cleans bathrooms. So there are lots of changes going on with Dhaka CSI right now. I told Sumita and Miriam, “I know there’s a lot of change and uncertainty right now but we will work together and get through it.” This seem to comfort them. It seemed abit frightening to them when we told them we were moving. We assured them that the clinic would stay where it was. Miriam was worried we wouldn’t sing anymore on Tuesdays. Jared said “yes we still sing on Tuesdays and eat lunch on Wednesday’s and have church on Fridays!” They love the routine and depend on it. Miriam said “if this move is good for you then it’s good for us.” We told Sumita since she is the one cooking now that she does not need to make elaborate food. Our first meal at the clinic Sumita was kinda nervous. She said she didn’t know if it was good or not! It tasted just like Josna’s but was spicier. Jared and I made sure to compliment her profusely and assure her it was excellent because it was out of this world yummy and delicious! The first Friday Josna was back in church after being done at the clinic, we made sure to welcome her and tell her we were glad to see her. We didn’t want her to thing we were upset that she had quit. I gave her a big hug and she cried. I wish I knew more Bangla and I could ask her what’s going on in her life. She is a very closed person and does not show much emotion unless her and Sumita get the giggles. One Friday after church Lisa and I went to her new house and visited for awhile with her. She starts a new cooking job in February. We just hope and pray that she will keep coming to church. Seems like we have so few courageous members. Someone wondered if we ever did doctrine classes. Currently there isn’t any interest from anyone about joining our church. I think the last new member was baptized maybe 10 years ago. We wish Bangladesh would be like other mission fields where the courage is strong and the interest is great but it’s just not that way. 

January 15: In the evening Trevor’s and Doyle’s came for supper. I was hungry for Navajo tacos so that’s what we had! It’s one of those meals that hardly pays to just make for Jared Layton and I so it was fun to make it for everyone. I was glad I had made a double batch of the fry bread because people kept snitching another one. I’ve been missing Aunt Donna so made “Regehr bars” for dessert. When I told Jared I was making them he said he wondered how many pans his grandma and aunties had made of those in his lifetime? He said every family deal had a pan of them hence the name! At one point after supper the children were sitting on the table with spoons eating them straight out of the pan. Haha! The best part of the bars was that I had American chocolate chips to put on them. Carls brought a massive bag from Costco and I’ve been carefully rationing them out for special occasions! Doyle brought over some lights to see if we liked them. They were super nice and practical so we decided to use them. He had been in a light dokan in Golpagange and bought them for using either in our house or the guesthouse. We are getting warmer lights (not harsh stark fluorescent ones like we have now) since the white tile will be bright already. I hope it makes things feel more cozy and homey. After lunch Jared and Layton went to pink city to check on Santo and his crew. They are removing all the plaster off the walls and getting ready for tiling. We were glad we decided to tile it all because the owner had patched the walls with plaster in a few places and it was already flaking and peeling off the walls. With small children that would have been a terrible mess! We are leaving one bedroom and the classroom untiled. Layton comes up with every excuse in the book why he needs to always stay home with me. Today it was “I think I really need a nap.” We told him he has to get used to not being with mom all the time and that daddy wants to do fun things with him too. Even though he is 6. (Excuse me 6.5, don’t forget the half) we are still attached at the hip. I think Shania is going to be the independent one of between the two of them. Lately Shania has had this obsession of pulling open the oven door to see what’s in there. I was baking bars this morning and she kept scooting over to the oven and trying to open it. I was worried because my oven seems to only bake at 400* so it was quite hot! Layton turned the light on inside and then she sat there in her walker happy as a clam and watched it bake. She has also taken up scavenging under the table looking for morsels to eat when she’s hungry. I had always hoped she would be laid back but it appears as though she is quite the opposite. She is pulling herself up to stand and climbs and crawls to her hearts content. Layton seems like he has really calmed and matured lately. He has been spending so much time with his precious legos and Knex. We bought him a Knex motor so he had been building all sorts of things with that. One day I made him hot cocoa because he was cold and he made a stir thing out of Knex then attached the motor to it to make it spin and he sat there and stirred that cocoa to within an inch of its chocolatey life!  

January 19: Had a full house at church! The whole crew was there. Trevor had opening and Ripon had the message. After church Natun came for coffee. We had decided that everyone would do their own thing for lunch instead of trying to all go together. Lisa called right when Natun got here and said “hey can we come too? The restaurant isn’t open yet!” So we said absolutely! Trevors, Santo and his boys came too for cha and biscuits. I love me a full house🥰 It gets kinda lonely when it’s just the four of us. I very proudly told Natun I was going to make him dudh cha this time because Sumita showed me how to make it. The boy always has to drink American coffee when he comes and he loves dudh cha. Lisa and I decided we would make a big batch for everyone. Santos boy Ridoy came into the kitchen to “help.” We finally told Ridoy to make the cha himself because this is how it went… “didi, you must boil the water and then add the milk powder and boil it again!” “Are you sure you boil the milk?” “Yes didi! Two minutes you must! But you have to blow on the steam when it boils.” Do we add the sugar to the cha now? No pour it in the cups…” on and on it went! It did get made eventually! We decided Bengalis making cha must be like mennonite ladies and their tea recipes. They are all different. Meanwhile Natun and Whitney came into the kitchen and were having an argument over who Shania liked better. If anyone knows the size of my kitchen you will wonder how Lisa, myself, Ridoy, Shurov (santos helper) Natun and Whitney all fit in there at the same time. But we did! Haha! Natun had Shania and Whitney said “she likes me the most! See she reaches out her arms to me.” Natun holds her and says “no way she likes ME better, I know it!” Finally they decided Whitney was the favorite auntie and Natun was the favorite uncle. Later I heard Natun mutter to Whitney “I AM HER FAVORITE UNCLE.” The poor dear is so fussed over she just sits there all bewildered. We all sat and drank cha for awhile. Had some good laughs! Felt good to laugh seems like we forget how to sometimes. Trevors and Santo and the crew went off to Shuktara for lunch, Doyle’s did their thing and we stayed home! Shania had been up for several hours during the night and so had I so we were tired. Natun wondered where we were going for lunch and we told him we were staying home so we could sleep. He said “this time of the day?😂” I said “wait until you have children and then you’ll understand.” We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. After some good naps we packed up and headed to UniMart. Got our groceries and some for Lisa too. I found tortilla chips! I was so excited. I bought all that they had. That’s how we have to do here. If UniMart has an imported American food you have to buy it all because there’s no guarantee it will be there again. I found some flour tortillas as well so swiped a bag. (Spoiler alert: they weren’t good! They were a funny color and tasted like cardboard.) I took a bag of chips to Trevor’s for supper and we totally expected it to be all stale. That’s usually how imported things are… stale and expired. Would you believe those chips tasted normal! We soon had a squabble over the chips. They were gone in short order. Trevor said he hoped I felt bad and would share the other bags I had bought and I told him “we shall see.”😂 If we come home and hoard food you’ll know why! Haha! We sang for awhile after supper. Santo says his helps his mind to hear us sing. They wanted us to sing American songs so we did. It was really fun and a good moral booster. Got home at 11 or so and hit the hay. I love days like this… a full church and a full house. Days like this I wish I could remember for ever. Santo and his big smile, Ridoy carefully making cha, Trevor Layton and Brock flying up and down the streets in Pink City on a motorcycle, Shurov imitating his Baptist church singing “if you wear earplugs then it sounds nice!” people arguing over tortilla chips, Ripon quietly sitting at the table watching everyone and smiling and laughing but not saying a word, Whitney and Brandi arguing over who’s turn it is to hold Shania, Kylie storming around being her little fiesty self… when we came to Bangladesh I wondered how on earth we could ever get attached to these people but over time it slowly happens and one day you wake up and realize they have become yours. It helps when the harsh facts of the country seem a little too harsh. Like the endless traffic and jams, swarms of mosquitoes, horrifically loud prayer calls that go all hours of the day and night, people always asking for money and banging on the van windows the minute the vehicle comes to a stop, etc. Lately since it’s cold here there’s been street children building fires along the streets to stay warm. It bothers me to see that while I sit in my van with my children who have jackets, warm pants and socks on. In some parts of the country they’ve been calling school off when it gets to 50. None of us white folks are complaining about the cool because the previous summer is still quite fresh in our minds. These Bengalis claim that since it took so long to get cold it will take awhile to get hot. We really hope that it’s true! 

January 21: Trevor and Santo went off to buy things for the houses and Jared took Ripon to Islamia Eye Hospital. He’s been having pain in his eye and it hasn’t been draining. He has a tube in his eye that needed to be removed. Jared waited and waited with him and finally told him to just call us when he was finished. At 5:30 Ripon called and said he was done so Jared took him back to Pink City. He’s staying there with Santos crew. I repented and sent another bag of tortilla chips along with him to Trevor’s. Jared said he would eat it on the way there.😂 Doyle’s headed back to Golpagange since Doyle has an eye camp on Tuesday. The children and I spent the day at home. Felt like it was important to have some structure and routine for at least a day. Shania slept for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon! 

One day when the men were all busy at pink city Lisa and her girls and me and my girl went shopping! We went to Jamuna Park. It is such a huge massive place. Five towers with five floors. Supposedly it is the third largest shopping mall in the world which is not hard to believe. It was really nice. American style! We had such fun shopping. There’s never enough time to explore everything you want to there. Went to clothing stores and I went a little crazy buying clothes for the children. Shania needed warm clothes so got her leggings, warm pajamas, bigger dresses (again!) sweaters and a jacket. Can you believe that they don’t have socks?! She has all of three pairs. Layton got more new shirts. It just does not work to be a minimalist with clothes here. It’s interesting how Walmart brand things are starting to show up here. Artisans had Garanimals brand clothing, UniMart has CrazyArt craft supplies and I even saw some Home Edit things! I told Jared if they can have Home Edit things why on earth can they not carry Ranch dressing?! Anyways I digress… Went to another store that was like Sam’s Club. Got a new stroller for Shania as sometimes the wheels on her current one don’t always turn. That store was amazing. Anyways it was soon time go home which is when the real fun started.😳 we got a CNG and told him “pink city housing.” Long story short he almost ran out of gas and we ended up beside the road and Trevor had to come pick us up. The guy totally ripped us off. Whitney said “if we were Bengalis would you have done this?” He said “no?” Ugggg…. “Skin tax” is what we call it here. While we were gone shopping the kids were all playing in the huge jacuzzi tub that was in Trevor and Lisa’s bathroom. They are staying in an Air BnB in pink city.  Jared said he thought Layton and Brock where in there for two hours! 

We have finished kindergarten! Layton said “mom now I can play all morning without having to stop.” Lately a hot glue gun, pipe cleaners, empty pop bottles, and wood sticks are his best friends. He’s been building all sorts. His imagination used to drive me crazy but now I’m so thankful for it. It keeps him well entertained. “Friend Missy” though seems to have been laid to rest. (For those of you that have never met Friend Missy it was his imaginary friend he had for several years. She was quite influential.) We had quite a sad spell one week when we were out of hot glue sticks. I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to find any as I wasn’t sure if it was something someone had gotten from the states but after looking around awhile we found some more so now Layton is happy as a clam. 

January 22: I was inflicted with the flu, plus Shania decided who needs sleep at night. Not a pleasant combo. Lisa offered that Whitney could watch my children so I could sleep so Layton went to Trevor’s for the afternoon while Shania and I napped. I was so grateful! Their air b n b has a massive jacuzzi tub in it so Lisa said the kids all spent hours in there. I felt so much better after several hours of uninterrupted sleep so went along with Jared to Pink city to pick up Layton. I’ve gotten so used to being around my children 24/7 that I’m uneasy when one of them is gone. Ridoy, Ripon and Shurov wanted to make fuska for everybody. It was quite a circus let me tell you! Three different Bengalis all with a different recipe trying to make the same dish. It turned out absolutely delicious even if I could only handle a few bites with my upset stomach. Lisa said she will think twice again before letting three Bengali boys take over her kitchen. It was truly hilarious. To try to explain it would not even do it Justice. It took a good three hours to get it all made. Fuska requires grated boiled eggs. I was going to shred them so we could put them on the table. I was told “auntie you must not shred them now. We have to do it as we eat them otherwise something bad will happen.” Lisa and I could not figure out what the bad was but anyways we just went along with it. 

The tiling in the houses is going well! Natun thinks our house looks like a hospital with all the white tile. We told him just wait until we move in and get curtians and furniture in then you won’t feel like you’re in a hospital. Ripon is almost finished with the electrical work. We bought a bigger vanity for the master bedroom that has more storage in it. So that needs to be installed along with the western toilet put in the back bathroom. We don’t need any squatty potties in this house! When we go to work there the kids have so much fun playing badminton, playing at the little soccer field and in the sand lot. The coming summer doesn’t look so formidable to me now that I know we have good places where Layton can play and be as loud as he wants! We can even use sidewalk chalk now on the badminton court cement which he loves. I’ve been hunting around trying to figure out some clothes storage solutions for our new house. None of the rooms have closets in them. We have one dresser that’s in good shape. Need to find a dresser for the teachers room and the children’s room, and then some type of storage solution for the classroom and then another one for linens, meds, first aide etc. We thought about having Santo get some cabinets made for us but anything wood here goes bad really fast with the humidity and the bugs. 

Jared continues to work on paperwork. His security clearance was denied but Jon says not to worry it’s because of the election. We don’t expect to get any visa anytime soon nor we expect Doyle to either. Trevor is the only one who is here legally right now. One day Jared came home from clinic all excited. A mom brought in her twin girls that were 7 months old. They were joined at the abdomen. They shared some intestines and the hepatic vein. The girls were going to have surgery in Danmondi to hopefully have a successful separation. Jared said they were healthy and both babies were the same size. Often one will be smaller than the other. They each had two legs. He said the mom had a hard time holding them on her lap! They were requesting financial assistance so Jared told them to come back with cash memos after the surgery and he would see how much he could help out. We are so curious how it will all turn out. Jared really enjoys the babies and children at the clinic. He has been getting well over his needed quota every day so we are thinking of closing the clinic for the month of February while we have company and move. Eid and Ramadan are coming up though and the numbers always drop during that time. 

Darrell and Brenda (our other field secretaries) plan to come February 2 and then my folks come February 9. We are so enthused to see our family again and for them to see Shania.