Sat Sep 26

 Lonnie, Jaira, and Annslie walked to the pharmacy dhokan to see if they could get some help for Jaira’s rash. We enjoyed a leisure morning. I got the last seams finished on a dress I’ve been working on all week😊

3:00, after Annslie’s nap, we went in to Khulna. Jaira put her afternoon medicine in a little ziplock bag to take along for after her meal. Said she felt like Grandma Frase😉. But she’s already feeling better with not being so itchy even tho the rash hasn’t waned

Mambo’s for a late lunch/early supper. Where Lonnie also met the printer that’s doing the calendars(that we give out) this year and recovered our hymnals and Bibles from church… BUT! He got the Hymnal covers on the Bibles and the Bible covers on the hymnals😩

Day 7 where the cashier asked me how much longer we will be here. Our acquaintances seem to be guessing our halfway mark has come and gone.?.

Shwapnos, ATM that was down, so we had to use only whatever cash we had left at the fruit and veggie market.

Fri Sep 25

 Jaira has had an itchy rash this week that has slowly spread. Starting on her torso, then to her arms, neck head, …. Entire body from head to toe. She stayed home from Choygoria S.S. with me while the Bud napped. Then we got the Bud out of bed and went to Chakrakhali S.S. It was nice to see some of the younger children back today. Seemed like it had been quite while with just a handful of the older boys. Dudjoy was feeling tired and achy all over he said because he’d given blood..?.. When Lonnie finished the story of David and Goliath. Nee-tie(van driver) says he didn’t see the picture of David’s stone hitting Goliath! And sure enough! Lonnie Had missed that picture card when he was telling the story😅 

Lewis’s didn’t come for class at 3:00 so we had a nice, long afternoon. 

Jaira was out right after lunch for a few hours after trying a different Benadryl that was not non-drowsy.

Maddie and I worked upstairs taking care of laundry from yesterday and a table that’s been a hotspot/catch all.

4:00 service

Some of Shanto’s Muslim family from his birthplace were in church. The one lady was really friendly and knew lots of previous missionaries.. has a little boy Annslie’s age that had fun playing with Shania back in the day and mentioned how previous Brandi liked to make chocolatey things, etc 

We invited everybody down after church. Shanto told Lonnie, “sure.. for 15-20 min.” Lonnie says, “Hě, 15-20 min/1-2 hours OK😉” We had popcorn and mango smoothies. And an hour or 2 later, Shanto winks at Lonnie and says, “Time is up!” But the crew didn’t seem to be in a hurry, and once we got outside, tried learning how to ripstick.

Shanto’s invited us for Espondant’s birthday on Oct. 1. Rhidoy and Pinky from Dhaka, plan to be there also🤗

The girls tell us that Miss Christina says she’s never had dim chop. So we all take a walk up to the T to see if they’re making dim chop tonight. They’re not, but say, come back tomorrow and sold us peyag patties instead.

Thurs Sep 24 clinic break in

Lonnie’s day went a lot different than he had expected!… 

He got a call after breakfast that somebody was trying to break into the clinic. So when he was ready for the day he caught rickshaw van over there(10 min ride) and could see that somebody had tried and was unsuccessful. He went ahead and got the battery backup system out since you could see it from the doorway and is something of value that somebody might be after. 

Later, just as we were finishing lunch, a man on motorcycle came by saying somebody was vandalizing the clinic. 

So Lonnie drove over in the gari thinking he could do a drive by without being recognized.

He did stop to observe and the man came over yelling to him and opened his door then opened the back sliding door and Lonnie took off

He ended up getting the landlord and Kobir for translating. The police was notified. The man was arrested. The locals say he is known for always being “high” on something! Supposedly CSI had helped his mother but it had not been successful or something like that..?.. anyways he was out to destroy today and successfully made a Royal mess! Completely thrashed the clinic and ended up in jail. Can only feel sorry for the man..

And Lonnie spent the rest of the afternoon at the local Batiaghata police station writing up his witness statement, etc

Tues Sep 22

 Made my 1st little batch of applesauce over here. Peeled, cored, cooked, and ran thru the blender. Took note that this was the 1st time Gentry has experienced homemade applesauce. Kind of amazing for an American baby but then we had to remember 💭 that this “American baby” has never experienced America🙃 I had Dipti try some also for a 1st for her… she says, but who knows, it’s possible some missionary lady in the last 20 years has had her try it and she’s forgotten..?..

Mon Sep 21

 Pastor James came by in the evening to visit with Lonnie. Told him of his plans of his job in Dhaka. Then he asked Lonnie how he was doing, so Lonnie shared how God has been working in his life recently. James was quiet for a minute and then says, “That is deep. I am learning.” It will be sad to not have him around as he has reached out to Lonnie quite a bit especially as he has hit hard times.

Sun Sep 20

 The Bud👶🏼 turns 11 months

Getting better at his independent walking. His balancing with arms as high as they can reach has dropped to only as high as his shoulders now.

He is doing more copying of sounds. Growls when he zones in on any animal. He did meow for a horse🙃 says “tweet” for birds. He still has the natives convinced he’s learning Bangla because when they’re holding him, he points and talks “oy zha”😉 His most distinct and most used word this month is “Boo” tho😅 he peeks out from somewhere and says “Boo”! with getting behind furniture being his favorite thing also meaning getting him unstuck from tight places being common 🤔

He loves the people in his life.. follows Annslie wherever she goes and thinks he should be able to do whatever she’s doing. Is very jealous of her lap time with Mom. Loves Miss Christina. Cries when Tulshi goes home for lunch. Happily goes to the outstretched arms at church,…..

He also is enjoying eating table food with us and it’s so fun to be able to feed him what we eat. When we were in Khulna the other day we stopped for puri, a street food. I took note that he held and ate his whole puri all by himself. Fun to see him enjoying Bangla food🤎

Sat. Sep 19

 Waffles. Crispy, chewy. With a dollop of whipped cream. Partially thawed mango cubes and a drizzle of homemade caramel syrup. Simple joys. Luxury…

A couple loads of laundry

Lonnie went with one of the local pastors to visit his sister in a hospital at Zero Point. He tells me later he doesn’t think I need to ever visit one of these government hospitals… there’s beds and there’s floor space… if you’re lucky. Your family takes care of you and if you don’t think what the Dr is about to do is what you need then you tell the Dr so and also what you believe it is you need😳

Later Lonnie took us all back to Zero Point for a late lunch/supper at a restaurant that he goes to with the Dristidan Eye Hospital crew after eye camps. He wanted to fix all of our plates for us in such a way that they would not be too spicy and hopefully everybody would enjoy more than in times past of eating this type of food. It was a success and one of the girls was already talking about “next time we come”😉