Tues Oct 27

 Shunil(night guard) told Lonnie the power was s’pose to be out all afternoon. That was nice to have a heads up but it actually was off from 10 am- 5 pm! Battery backup lasted a nice amount of time before we had to turn on the noisy generator….There is a crew clearing around the power lines again. It wasn’t too bad although it was another really Hot day getting up to 93 so we were very happy to have AC to cool the house down in the eve. But then the power left again for awhile…

 Rice and beans and fried apples for lunch

 A couple books repaired 

Lonnie got the new basketball backboard mounted🤩

…took the Bud out for several hours this afternoon

And supplied one of the local pastors with more Gospel Tracts

We did Maddie’s Suggestion Box activity and played a round of Cover Your Assets.

Miss Christina made a yummy sloppy jo supper with fresh 30 minute rolls and veggies and ranch

The girls shot baskets for awhile

Mon Oct 26

 I got a hot spot tidied

And a couple loads of laundry thru

Lonnie got a bathroom door handle reattached 

New clothes line strung 

Taco stack and fresh pineapple for lunch

I got the inspiration to do a Suggestion Box and the girls jumped right on board and were enthused about it too!🤩 Maddie offered a Pringle can she had saved that I covered with brown paper and cut a slot in the lid. The suggestions… are to be any family activity from memorizing a song, to a card game, or a week of getting up at 6:00 to go for a walk before breakfast, or a dessert you’re hankering after, …

Made a different recipe of cinn rolls out of the Meals To The Field cookbook after school. They are called something like “Truck Driver’s Dream”😜 they Were Really good!.. I used honey in place of the sugar in the dough..

Tulshi left early to go to another Hindu Onostan

Sun Oct 25

 Lonnie and I needed to make a trip to Boro Bazaar 

I pulled Cajun chicken pasta out of the freezer for the girls to heat up for lunch and we headed into Khulna

We were parked and walking down the street before 10:00 so there weren’t very many shops open yet. We walked down to the river where the toddler took a bathroom break and we found a place frying “fry bread” and got a cup of cha

By that time a few more shops were opening and after a few tries we found just what I was looking for… (beautiful) cotton pants for my family, when they come, for a grand total of about $2 USD a pair☺️

Lonnie found the bolts he was looking for and we drove to New Market where I got another (much better/real milk) dudh cha. And Lonnie let me go shop Artisan for next size of clothes for Gentry. A half off sale running today and I found a sweater for myself also😊

Sat Oct 24

 Dipti came in this morning since she’d taken a day off this week

Lonnie gave the Bud his 1st haircut.. still mostly just a trim job all the way around.. but it was high time.. hanging over his eyebrows I kept it out of his eyes with a little of Lemongrass’s healing elements and “finger” comb job.. halfway over his ears… and one lock of a reddish blonde curl on the back🥹

Got Annslie down for her afternoon nap as soon as we could and were able to leave for town by 3:00 

Late lunch/early supper at Grand Plastic(aka Grand Placid but Annslie calls is Grand Plastic so we often do too 🙃) Annslie and Gentry played in the play area with Maddie and Jaira taking turns with them. We watched restaurant chefs prepare Middle East food on the big screen TV intermittently as the power came and went. It seemed like it took extra long for our food to be prepared but we much enjoyed it when it did arrive! Artistically plated, complete with roasted tomato roses and heart shaped cucumber and carrot slices☺️

Then it was Shwapno, ATM, Day-7, Safe N Save, and the vegetable and fruit market

Thurs Oct 22 hosting Dipti’s and Baroti’s family

 Oh man just about didn’t write about today!?!

Tulshi told us, “Dipti is bringing her family”

💭 Oh boy, what do I have on hand to serve them!?! Finally decided that coffee would be special to them we could get a pot ready to brew. and If it was us showing up at their place  they would just run to the dhokan for “biscuits” so decided I could serve a package of biscuits that I had on hand.

It wasn’t long and they did arrive.. Dipti’s husband brought them on his rickshaw van… their oldest son Shuvo had to work but it was his wife Baroti, her dad and mom and little brother Rudro..he’s 12 and such a charming boy🤎 and then Dipti’s younger son Turjo 15? They were all dressed beautifully in their red and green saris 🥻 and gold jewelry, the boys wearing nice long sleeved large plaid button down shirts, and the dads wearing their “nice” lungis 😉 

While we started serving up the coffee and biscuits, the dads disappeared.

They ran to a dhokan for gifts… bags of chips, big package of biscuits, a big bottle of Coke, and a Coke glass.

 After coffee, I asked if they wanted to stay for lunch if Dipti would help me cook? “No, no, another day” but when Baroti’s dad heard of the invitation he says, “Yes! Let’s stay!” 

While Dipti washed up the dishes

Baroti’s family wanted to see the classroom upstairs where the girls were having school and then on up the stairs to our roof top… definitely making a stop by the laundry area where I currently had a load going in the washer… they were intrigued and Baroti’s dad wanted to know how long it took to wash a load and then it was the laundry basket that they studied (a woven jute that is made here in this country but are not very easy to find)

Back downstairs, us ladies got busy in the kitchen making chicken curry, rice(it was fun to watch those ladies try to figure out how much to make😉 they decided 6 cups of dry rice would be a good amount for our crowd of 13), lentils, vegetable stir fry.. 

Lonnie pulled out the Bangali edition 101 Bible Stories for Baroti’s dad, as he can read. He ended up reading from cover to cover while he was here! Sometimes reading out loud to Dipti’s husband Uttam..

The boys played with Annslie and Gentry, the magna tiles and games on their phones.. they let Annslie play what looked like a carrom game on their phone with them..

It was so fun serving Dipti’s and her daughter in law’s families! 

I sent home food for Shuvo. Dipti  had the dishes washed almost before I got the food taken care of. She swept all the floors yet and then they took their leave, inviting us to come their way next time😊

Fri Oct 23

 After Chakrakhali S.S., Chaity(lady of the house) brought out a couple plates of fresh, cubed papaya. Lonnie helped Rajib (man of the house) try to get his tiller started.. they worked at it quite awhile. I listened in to Kobid’s conversation with Chaity on the Hindu caste system. Adding a question here and there. Then let the Bud play on Nee-tie’s rickshaw van to try to keep him happy a little longer

4:00 service       just Kobid and Liton. Shanto’s were sick. When “beggar man” came in after awhile, Gentry hollered and begged to go to him! I figured it would make the man feel special so I set him down and let him walk across the aisle to our friend who happily picked him up and gave him some loud smooches. 😅Gentry wanted to get down and play and I soon had to take him back.

After church, we grabbed the sand toys, mat, pumpkin muffins and took Kobid and Liton with us to our favorite stretch of sandy beach along the river. It was pretty hot and humid but as usual the children enjoyed playing. Gentry is still not sure about the sand and plays in it while staying on the mat.

A lady was curious about us, but also more shy than so many are. She knew some English and returned the “Nice to meet you” when we left😊 one of the rare times that Bangali savvies those English words💗

Wed Oct 21

 I woke at 2:15 am with drumming down the road still going on

Dipti had guests and didn’t come in today

Tulshi (day guard) laid pretty low today.. 

at one point I was outside and a couple ladies came to the gate for water (we have regulars that come fill their water pots from our deep tube well but usually Tulshi takes care of it.. putting the hose thru the gate and turning the water on and off) I helped the ladies this time but they wanted to know where Tulshi was🙃

Annslie informed us in hushed tones, at point during the day, that Tulshi was taking a nap, just like Gentry 😉

And later she heard Tulshi’s phone ringing and went and woke him so he could answer his phone🙃

In the evening, we went for a rickshaw van ride. Out to Batiaghata asking the river and back home 💭 Kind of like how we used to like to pile in the back of a pickup and enjoy the night breezes. 😌