Sat. Sep. 27 To Dhaka 🚙💨

 Breakfast, ice chest packed, van loaded and on the road shortly before 7:00. Uneventful, no road blocks🤍. Stopped at Brianna’s 1st for the bathroom and we knew Brian’s were still having lang. class. Then over to Brian’s at the guesthouse when we figured they would be finishing up lang. class. The teacher, Pannina and Miss Christina finally got to meet in person after having lang. classes via WhatsApp for a month!😊 

We unloaded our ice chest and helped Brian’s clean out the office. Then we set it back up for school and brought in all the schoolbooks etc.

To Herfy’s for lunch with Brian’s and Jared’s.

Then to the Golden Tulip to check in and nap for Annslie. 

We stopped at North End for sandwiches before dropping Christina off at the guesthouse with Brian’s. She’s moving in there already while we stay at the hotel till the big “fruit basket upset” with the housing happens. 

Fri. Sep. 26 worship day

 After the 1st  S.S. here in our Choygaria village, I stayed at the house. While everybody else went on to Chakrakhali S.S., I worked on lunch. Got the potatoes cookin, cut up a salad, and mixed up some biscuits to go with our drumsticks. 

Kobid announced at both Sun Schools that this would be our last S.S. for a month/til we got back from Dhaka.

We started packing, the girls packed their school books, etc.

4:00 church service was good attendance.. Shamir was down in Cox’s Bazaar with his coworkers and Lewis’s wife and dau. stayed home due to a family member with a newborn in the hosp. 

After church, Pinky was asking for a drink when we got to our house again. We told the whole fam. to come in. Shotti wanted Pinky to see the baby bed she’d seen set up last week. Lonnie, Shanto, Rhidoy, and Antoor played “crum”(that’s how everybody here says carrom!😅) I pulled out the Ranch Party Mix and sweet tea. That party mix was a new one for them! Ranch flavor is something you don’t get here. And what does the name Party Mix mean? Espondant didn’t think they had a word for party in their language.?. Shotti pulled a good one, real Bangali style, and put her party mix in her sweet tea!!😅 …they dip their “biscuits” (crackers) in their hot tea so I guess she thought this would be great too! Which, she continued to do it, so it must have met her palette approval! Pinky wanted the recipe.. but 2 of the 4 ingredients in the oil mixture come from America🫣 And I had used a box of Chex in the dry mix that I’d picked up in Dhaka on our last trip up! Anyway they cleaned out the whole bowl of mix. And Shotti wondered if I’d teach her how to make cold sweet tea. She’d tried to once but said it did not taste right! So we had a Sweet Tea making session and I sent it home with her since we would be leaving in the morning.

Then it was time to finish up our packing.

Thurs. Sep 25

 Dipti’s last day before we go to Dhaka till the baby arrives. She didn’t want to leave, and kept hanging around washing up the dishes as I made lunch, etc.

Oh another Dipti story. The other day I was upstairs ironing, the girls were there in the classroom having school, Annslie was sitting at the table close by drawing on a little marker board. Dipti came up and hung out a bit, drawing with Annslie. And then Dipti tells how she never got to go to school.. she wiped the tears from her eyes with her orna as she went on to tell about how there were 4 sisters and 1 brother in her family and she had to work as a young girl…. There are still folks in the world like her…😢 Made me want to set up a schedule with her and teach her the ABCs and 123s! I can’t even imagine not going to school as a child!! So many aspects of life we take for granted

Wed. Sep. 24

 Lonnie and I took care of the pork this morning, grinding and making sausage. We were able to get a hold of 11 lbs this time.

Dipti started on lunch and Lonnie, Annslie, and I ran into Khulna for a few groceries.

Was so lovely to get home at noon, the girls were setting the table and Dipti had the hot pots of rice, chicken curry, veggies, and dhal sitting on the table😌

Lonnie took Tulshi with him and they cleaned the windows at the clinic

 Couple loads of laundry

Brought the shelves down from the classroom that Christina hadn’t found a use for and fixed up a changing table

The girls all spent the eve out writing with sidewalk chalk under the mercury light till shower time.

Toby, our dog, slipped out the gate the other night AGAIN! He has not showed back up yet like he normally has in the past. We are sure hoping he does!!! As he would not be easily replaced as in, I trust him with Annslie, he’s a mannerly dog to have around.. does not jump on you etc., does not chew things up, etc.

Habib, electrician we got to know in Pink City, messaged Lonnie this afternoon telling him that his wife just lost their baby at 6 months gestation! They had been praying for this baby to not be autistic like their 6 or 7 yr old boy! So sad!😩 They contacted the new Dhaka family also, who went to visit them in their home in Dumni.🤍 the report was that his wife seemed really sad, just layed on the bed. Her d+c is tomorrow. They took a bag of rice and flour and left some taka.  Habib has been out of work but has found a job that starts in Oct. the Dr visit tomorrow is 20,000 taka, about 200 USD, a large bill in their situation!

Tues. Sep. 23 Pork Day

French toast breakfast

I got a couple more final seams sewed on my latest dress

Lonnie worked on giving our bedroom A.C. a thorough cleaning with the incentive that it would help his allergies and seemed like maybe it wasn’t cooling as well lately either.?.

Then he and Tulshi went to pick up the pork we’d ordered and Lonnie washed it for me also!🤗

 Grilled chicken sandwiches for lunch.

I mixed up a batch of loaf bread and Cowboy cookies.

Lonnie took Annslie with him to meet the Dristidan(eye camp hosp.) staff with his paper work. Doyle and family were gonna be there too. Christina had lang. class 3:30-5:00 so the big girls n I stayed home with her.

Mon. Sep. 22

Beef roast with carrots and potatoes lunch

Later in the day, made Ranch Party Mix and jumped in on Christina and Jaira’s Cover Your Assets game.

Lonnie visited with Pat via WhatsApp. Overhearing bits and snatches of them hashing pros and cons of the different aspects of the livestock/farming business sure made me lonesome for those folks 💭 

I worked on trying to finish up a dress that has sat on my sewing cabinet for probably a month now.

Sun.Sep.21

 Breakfast burritos

 Lonnie grilled up some white bbq chicken for me

Grilled chicken salad for lunch 🥗 

Lonnie went to clean at the clinic in preparation for hosting the follow up visits from the last eye camp.

In the evening, we all played several rousing rounds of Cover Your Assets.