Thanksgiving Day🍁

 Happy Thanksgiving to each of you!🍂 Would love to hear how yours went😊

Got my “bird” 😉 in the crockpot 1st thing

And the butterhorns out of the freezer

Raspberry rolls from the freezer for breakfast

Lonnie took Annslie with him on a Khulna City errand. He came home with another shirt and pant set… it seems like he really enjoys shopping clothes here😉

And I soon started on lunch prep. 

Green Bean Cass.(I was so tickled to have happened upon a nice sized bag of(French) fried onions in Safe n Save the other day!!)

Layered lettuce salad- those fried onions worked nicely on top to substitute for bacon🙃

Christina and Jaira got the taters on to boil.

Doyle’s from Gopalgonj arrived in time for a 1:00 lunch bringing candied sweet potatoes, apple n pumpkin pies. 

And we feasted🤗 The children out on the front porch. A beautiful balmy day which was something to be thankful for as the power was out most of the day!

The teachers cleaned up the kitchen for us and then left for a walk thru the village. It’s makes me happy that they have each other to do those kind of things with on occasion✨

Krystal and I went for a nice long walk also😊

The teachers and school children had program practice and we put the leftovers on the table for supper before they left

And Thanksgiving Day 2025 is now another good memory😌

 

Wed. Nov. 26

 Lonnie left at 7:00 to do an eye camp in Phultala https://maps.app.goo.gl/bkLXJKH5gtEv63VR7?g_st=ic

Dipti cooked lunch for us. Lonnie had asked to have her make ruti to see what she would make. So when I relayed the information, she wanted to know if I for sure wanted ruti or if I wanted paratha? It seems like there’s so many variations of each that I sure didn’t know what to tell her!! She ended up making ruti.(paratha is thicker and fried in oil, a lot like fry bread) We were very happy with the result! It was a small thin flour tortilla baked on a dry griddle. She rolled each one out with the rolling pin! They were yummy enough that I don’t know why I’d go to the bother of making flour tortillas🙃 She made chicken curry and cauliflower fry to eat with the tortillas. 

In the evening Christina, the girls, and I sat down and wrote things we were thankful for using each letter of the word THANKSGIVING. A picture drawn for each was optional. A fun little exercise😊

Tues. Nov. 25 onek din(big day)

 Lonnie commented at breakfast, just one month to Christmas!

I made a trial recipe of cornbread with the cornmeal Lonnie got ground for me the other day. We all agreed that it was a success🤗 the cornbread seemed a little heavier maybe, not quite as light and fluffy..?.. But no off flavor and definitely satisfied the need for cornbread 😊

 Annslie started complaining of her ear hurting so Lonnie and her went down to the pharmacy dokan where the “doctor” looked in her ear. He confirmed that Yes, she has infection so Lonnie bought antibiotic. She was being such a bear about taking her medicine plus the fact that the momma was getting overwhelmed by all the things that were planned to get done that day plus sick toddler and a baby on her hands🫣 that Lonnie postponed his plans of going with Rhidoy again to work on motorcycle papers..❣️

Got the sweet roll dough going so we could have butter horns for our Thanksgiving meal.

Pork day.

Load of laundry..

Lunch was late:30 due to my baking going on. And Annslie was so tired/not feeling well that she went and laid down on the bed and promptly fell asleep!! A1st for her!

After rice and beans Lonnie, the littles, and I made a run into Khulna City for the bank and groceries.

Miss Christina started supper, the girls worked on a Stack of dishes, and Lonnie and I delved into sausage making. 

Was so lovely to sit down to Christina’s chicken fettuccine after the last bag of sausage went into the freezer🤍

Mon. Nov. 24 Tala outpost

Alas, Annslie was running a low grade fever again in the night so Lonnie thought it would be best if I’d stay home with her😏 The rest of the crew left at 8:00 picking up Shanto, and meeting up with Kobid at Zero Point where they had dim n ruti for breakfast. Today was the 1st time Lonnie had a S.S. there in Tala. Christina and the girls went with Harun’s dau. thru the village telling the children

The children did well today.. I didn’t try to get much else done besides taking care of them, and Annslie did spend time outside with Tulshi like usual, so that definitely helps! So lovely to have him out there for Annslie to “help”, follow around, etc… One day I observed thru the window, Tulshi sitting cross legged just outside the gate with Annslie playing right around him. Every time she’d see somebody comin up the road, she would hurry to hide behind Tulshi, crouching there til the person was done trying to talk to her and went on their way, and then back to her play.

Had roasted veggies and meat one dish meal in the oven when the family got back home that evening

Made a big batch of snickerdoodles after supper

Sun. Nov. 23

 Lonnie took Rhidoy with him to help get their motorcycle papers completed.. they spent all day, but still didn’t end up finalizing the legal work😵‍💫 They got pizza at Dominos for a late lunch and got some corn ground for me at a chicken feed dokan. Then down the road Rhidoy knew of a man that had a sawmill and a flour mill so they ground the corn finer. Now we’ll see how it does in my recipes.

At the house it was another school day. 

I made banana muffins and party mix.

Annslie’s still under the weather and was asleep for her afternoon nap by the end of the 1st story read(rare)

Sat. Nov 22

 We have a day trip to our outpost, Tala, planned for this week, so we had school today.

Lonnie took Jaira and Annslie with him to get dim and ruti for breakfast

While Lonnie spent some time at the computer, I let hems out on a couple of Jaira’s dresses.

In the eve, after dark, while Gentry napped, Lonnie, Annslie, and I took a walk into the village for some of those fried onion patties. Got cha also at Lonnie’s favorite place and after the 1st sip, I knew why it was his favorite! They make a spiced tea with ginger and clove, Very delish✨ when Lonnie went to pay, the dokander says something to the effect of, no need to pay, I give to you, since you have new baby😊 and then I realized, this was my 1st time into the village, beyond church, since Gentry was born!

Annslie was definitely not feeling well tonight with a low grade temp and coughing😏

Fri. Nov. 21 earthquake

Miss Christina made Sour Cream Coffee Cake (Down Home Southern Cookin) for breakfast. If you’re looking for another good coffee cake recipe and haven’t tried this one, it’s worth your time😉 even works without sour cream..

 I stayed home with Gentry thru the 1st S.S. here in Chaigharia.

Put the final seams into my dress, so was able to wear it today🤩 

No S.S. in Chakrakhali for the next 3 weeks due to student exams going on. But Shanto invited us to one of the Sunday Schools that he’s started recently. Kobid came along also and we picked Espondant up on our way past. The Sun. School was at the village/family compound where Shanto has an ongoing construction project for the last 7-9 yrs. It was really enjoyable to observe Shanto conducting the S.S. He was quite interactive with the children. After the prayer, singing, story, and pictures were colored he played a game with them based on the David and Goliath story.

Cha and biscuits were served in one of the houses to us visitors.

When we got home the Bbq thighs in the crockpot were done, heated up rice, and cut up a cauliflower salad for a quick lunch.

4:00 service. It was heartwarming to observe that God has been at work in the hearts of these brethren. We are encouraged.  Annslie sat with me and Lonnie held Gentry until it was his turn to get up and share. He planned to give Gentry to me but I didn’t see him headed my way and Lewis’s wife, who was sitting beside me, got up with a big smile on her face and met Lonnie in the middle aisle and held Gentry for the rest of the service. We had a bit of disruption as 3 of the village children came in for a time.. One of the girls, who hadn’t seen Gentry yet just walked right up to the front row where Lonnie was holding him and took a peek… completely uninhibited, a Muslim girl popping in on a Christian service. Later, when Lewis’s wife was holding Gentry and the village children tried to pinch his cheeks while he was sleeping, she would glare at them and shake her head! 😅 I was glad it was her warding them off! And before long they all headed back out.. 

After the opening prayer, Annslie informed me that “Lisa didn’t pray!”(I wonder how she would know😉) Lisa is Lewis’s daughter who’s a couple years younger than Jaira. They pronounce her name Leeza.

After church, Lonnie invited the congregation over for the evening. Antoor had already asked Lonnie on Wed. evening if they could come over after church and play carrom. It was a good evening of fellowship🤍 Pinky helped me by making the cha while I fixed up a platter of chanachur, nimki, Lexus crackers, energy biscuits, and orange segments… mostly all snack foods you can buy here…pulled the thanda cha(cold tea) out later for Shotti, cause I know she likes it😌

Pinky sat and rocked Gentry for a good little while. Shotti washed the dishes up. There were 4 at the carrom board all evening, the girls were playing and visiting outside, and visitation was going on in the living room. Got Espondant going again and Pinky commented something to the effect that Espondant talks so much English that his Bangla isn’t good🙃

We missed feeling the earthquake today! All we can figure, is that we were driving and didn’t notice..??.. cause Shanto’s family that were at home, definitely noticed it! The report from Dhaka: It was pretty major here. We all rocked around for a while in church, mid song. and then everyone tried to get out the door so fast that there was a jam😄. It was pretty scary for them! And the next evening they felt another tremor! 

Thurs. Nov. 20 Gentry is 1 month old

 We woke to the music of the Muslim festival again.. We can see tents set up across the way in front of our house where they have it going on. Pim, the young man that is a regular friendly visitor to our gate, says the festival has food booths etc..

Annslie woke up croupy this morning and another round of snotty nose and junky cough😔 she had finally had a few days where she was completely free of the symptoms. This has been going on since the week before Gentry was born😣 

And a Thankyou! to each one that prayed for Gentry to get better💙 his cough has disappeared and he is in good health again❣️ he is now past that 1st newborn stage and is responding to us and giving us smiles and coos🥹

Lonnie, I, and the littles made a run into Khulna.

Got home in time to put leftover Bangla food on for lunch.

Lonnie spent the afternoon down the road watching some men pour concrete.

PTM/business mtg 3:30

Then Lonnie put some chicken thighs on the grill for our lunch tomorrow.

Wed. Nov.19

 Dipti cooked for us today

I worked on a dress that I’ve been trying to get sewed. Made good progress, but didn’t get it finished.

There was music in the village All day long with a loudspeaker on a rickshaw van driving past our place many times. It was Muslim doings. When we asked Shanto’s about it, they said the local Muslim leader? would just decide on a day to have this “program”. But also they do not call it music because music is sin as Muslims are very conservative in some areas. They have a different Arabic word for it. But because of that reason, to hear music like that is a very rare occasion over here and I’ve definitely noticed the absence of music here, like driving down the road, you don’t hear radios in the surrounding vehicles, for the most part. And another thing I’ve appreciated that must have to do with the local religion is the lack of loud exhaust on their vehicles and motorcycles!… keeps the sound of the traffic a lot quieter than it could be!

Christina made choc. chip cookies to take to Shanto’s.

They had invited us for supper and it was very fun to have supper plans to look forward to😊

Shotti had 2 new baby goats born that day. She brought them up to the house in a box for the girls to see😊

When Antoor saw the cookies he says, “Did you bring the cookies? Those are my faaaavorite” and Espondant proceeds to tell us how Antoor ate 20 of them one time🫣. 

I watched Shotti and Pinky make the bhortas(a spicy seasoned mash that we ate with the rice) one of the bhortas Shotti 1st sautéed small whole shrimp, garlic cloves, leaves from a vegetable plant, and..?.. then she put it in a blender. The other bhorta was cooked eggplant and ..??… that Pinky just mashed by hand. Chicken curry, dhal, and Shobji(vegetable fry) completed the meal. Shanto took care of Gentry while we ate. He and Shotti would eat later, 9:00 or so is their normal supper time.. Then we moved to our normal “sitting room”(Rhidoy and Pinky’s bedroom). Where cha and our choc chip cookies were served.

Tues. Nov 18

 It seems like Gentry is not sleeping thru all the daily sounds like he did the 1st few weeks so we’ve started putting him in the spare bedroom in his car seat on the bed. Well, I heard him cry so went in there to find a very alarmingly sweet picture😱🥹 Annslie was sitting there holding him in the position we always put him when we let her hold him a bit!?! But I cringed to think of the process it took to get him there!? It’s not exactly easy to get him out of the car seat! And he’s a bit heavy for her being probably around 10 lbs to her 25 lbs! He went right back to sleep after I took him and didn’t seem to be hurt or have any ill effects!?!

We got pork again today but decided to wait to make sausage till next week in hopes of getting some extra fat to make it more tender

Christina’s last day of Bangla class🥳 to celebrate, we decided to go up to New Market in Khulna City for ice cream cones. We opted for blueberry flavor. It was soft serve style. And the small waffles cones were crispy🤗 a nice change from the pre-packaged icecream cones we get from the dokan or grocery store. And it was free refills. Several took advantage of that option and Lonnie did by trying more flavors.. mango, vanilla,.. 30 Taka a cone.. close to 30¢ a cone.. Walked down to Day 7 for a few groceries, stopping at another food vendor on the way, and a little further down running into a couple young men that spoke very good English with Lonnie. Before they went on their way, they wanted to know if the vendors were asking a higher price from us since we were white? Which tonight, they weren’t. And always the beggars following us, wanting a handout. 

Mon. Nov. 17

 This afternoon Pannina said she was sick so Christina’s final test is still on hold. 

We decided to go check out the Linear Park in Khulna City https://maps.app.goo.gl/CU73kJeEo7KYCBHz7?g_st=ipc a walk along the River with places to sit and play, but the playground equipment was pretty dilapidated and the park was a bit overgrown, for sure the further down the path we went. The sun was setting as we got to the end of the path and it was quite dark as we walked back but a park security man said he would walk behind us… 

Then we went to Shanto’s for the rest of the evening. This was the 1st time for the rest of the family to see Gentry as only Shanto and Espondant were in church last Fri. Rhidoy was just getting back with Pinky. She’d just spent 5 days back in her village with her family. It was the 1st time she’d been back to her village for a few days by herself since they’d been married last Dec. Shanto picked up some sweets for the evening. The best mishti I’ve had here! A thin crispy fried dough wrapped around and around til it was the size of a doughnut and glazed. Had just a hint of spice like it had been fried in the same oil as something spicy, but it did not detract from the deliciousness😋 The men played carrom. Shotti made and served cha(hot tea) and took turns with holding the baby. But evenings can be a fussy time for Gentry.. so it was not very relaxing for this momma..

Sun. Nov. 16

 Power was off most of the day. We’ve sure been enjoying the battery backup that runs a few fans and lights throughout the house so we don’t have to have the noisy generator on all day especially since we’ve been having the windows open with the nice weather. 

My load of laundry ended up sitting in the washing machine all day till the power came back on in the evening.

Christina was planning to have her final language test today but never heard from her teacher and couldn’t get a hold of her.. 

Since Christina wasn’t busy with language class we were able to leave the house before 5:00 and go out to the river as the sun set. A most beautiful evening!.. the fine light gray sand was cool to the touch and the girls very much enjoyed playing in it! The big girls went down closer to the water to the wet sand to spend their time. A couple on motorcycle came over to where Annslie and I were playing in the sand. The man says, my wife thinks your daughter is so cute and wants a picture with her.. Annslie already had her face hid in my lap as soon as she’d seen them approaching.. I told them they could try.. But, of course she would never show her face.. I told them Onek lok (Many people) want their picture with her and she does not like, does not want.. they did not give up right away but eventually they walked away. Annslie picked her head up , “ they left? And they didn’t take a picture!” 😊.. her face was beaming and she went back to playing in the sand. That’s her price of being a cute white toddler in a foreign country…

The big girls were able to wash most of the muddy sand off in a puddle before we left to go find chatputi. The dokan that’s close, just down from Shanto’s that we like to get it from had a large tent set up right next to it with Hindu worship going on so we ended up driving further to the place by Bro. Liton’s barber shop for chatputi(Chick pea soup stack up with slivered cucumbers cilantro and crushed chips on top) and fuska which is a thin, crispy round shell that they stuff with a yummy mashed mixture and top with slivered cucumber, cilantro, and then they have 2 sauces you can drizzle over the top.

Once again Annslie had ladies wanting her picture… they were not successful either…

Sat. Nov. 15 -9 months in BD-

 With this lovely weather and Gentry finally taking a turn for the better🤍..we haven’t felt like he’s needed a breathing treatment the last day or so🤗

We decided today was the day to go visit our local zoo here in Khulna City https://maps.app.goo.gl/Uf1PXbJKb4wJri2i9?g_st=ipc

Some of the highlights:

1st off, at the ticket counter.. there was a beautiful green parrot behind the bars with the ticket agent 🦜 

A cage a big African Gray parrots

2 little bitty baby monkeys in the monkey cage that were really cutting capers 🐒 

3 active black bears that were very close with being only about an arms length away 😳 

2 Massive pythons 7-8? ft long, 12+” around with 2 white chickens in the cage with them just waiting to be the next meal😱

We paid to go in the aquarium.. which we’ve been told a person should go to at least once… a large percentage of it was preserved sea creatures😝 including a large shark and a quite large manta or sting ray

The playgrounds were a good share of the zoo experience also😉 

but you dare not stay in one spot too long or the other zoo goers get distracted and start gathering around the white people instead of enjoying what the zoo has to offer🤦🏼‍♀️

To Domino’s for a late lunch and grocery shopping at Safe n Save

Fri. Nov. 14

 I stayed home with Gentry and the rest of the household went to the 2 Sunday schools. 

My morning was full- between taking care of the young son, there was the last 2 pans of banana muffins to finish baking up, receiving another list of eye patient names and phone numbers from a local Christian pastor who showed up at the gate on his motorcycle and needing more Gospel Tracts, a couple of seams sewed on another much needed dress, drumsticks to go in marinade,…

The Sun. Schools were at about half attendance.. I don’t know how the protesting between Muslim and Hindu political parties affects the folks out here in the village..?.. but our Sun. Schools are a good mix of Hindu and Muslim children…I say that, but it Is a little hard to tell on these children sometimes! Like the time I saw little 5? Yr old Rahat walking down the road with his white prayer cap on completely took me by surprise as I didn’t realize his family was Muslim since his sister Oompa never wears a hijab, the Muslim head dress.

4:00 church service. Bro Ripon from Gopalgonj was in church again as he has been over here helping Shanto do an electrical job. The men were waylaid quite awhile after church cause the beggar man would not leave. Ripon gave him some pain meds since his complaint is always his back pain, but the response was that those give him stomach troubles… he wants financial aid to go to the doctor… They finally ended up going with him up to the dokan and buying him 15 kg of rice. The next day he called Lonnie, “don’t need rice, sick, doctor!”😏

Thurs. Nov. 13

 When Lonnie went out the gate this morning he met Tulshi coming in late to work. Lonnie asked, “shamosha?”(problem?). Tulshi says “shamosha..?🤔.. uh.. went to concert last night. Got home at 4:00 a.m.”🫣😵

Update on Gentry: no new symptoms. Continuing with morning and evening breathing treatments which loosens his chest up..which we want, but then it’s a junky cough to listen to. Onion by his bed at night. Otherwise, he’s a mostly “happy camper” still spending most of the days and nights sleeping, waking to eat and diaper change, with just a bit of awake times. The big sisters love to hold him and he gets lots of kisses. They do a good job of getting him quiet if he fusses which usually just requires that he’s swaddled nicely, held, and walked with a bit. If Annslie hears him fussing it’s not uncommon for her to try to convince us, “He wants me”. Or shushing his mouth or wrapping her arm around his head to try to comfort him. Otherwise, he mostly resides in his car seat up on the carrom board. Before he was born, we joked to some, that we were gonna keep him on top of the fridge(out of reach of the toddler sister’s mothering) but the carrom board has been a very effective place letting the household have some peace of mind😌

Annslie does have a renewed interest in her dolls🥰

Before Tulshi left that evening Lonnie asked him if he was goin to concert again. The reply was, “yes” and then Lonnie asked if it was protesting. And once again the answer was in the affirmative!😳🤦🏼‍♀️… the government parties have been on a roll locally again.. couldn’t imagine our mild, peace loving? Tulshi involved in protesting.. Lonnie told him, “Be Careful! I need you!”

Wed. Nov. 12

 Dipti cooked lunch for us

Lonnie spent some time at the library (classroom) just down the road again. He told how the teacher had slapped a mosquito on his(Lonnie’s) neck and then reached over and felt Lonnie’s arm. “Gorom!” (hot) so Lonnie felt his (teacher’s) arm and it was cool to the touch.?. Anyway this lovely, balmy weather is Cold to these folks!! Especially as night comes on , we see stocking caps and fleece jackets….. at 71*!!!! And this weather has also brought on mosquito season 🦟 which is very sad cause we really enjoy having the windows open! Would love to all night too, but as evening approaches the amount of mosquitoes in the house increase as most of the windows do not have screens😏

I made hot hamburger dip for a light supper. Lonnie brought “chips” home from the village.. but we just really don’t care for the flavor.. they are very thin and crispy shaped like a tortilla.. we ended up pulling out the crackers instead. He also brought home some fried “street food” that we really enjoyed. Small round peyag(onion) patties fried crispy that had some very flavorful mash? mixed with the onions😋 hopefully they’ll be available when you come to visit😉 they asked Lonnie if we have anything like this in America?

Tues. Nov. 11

 A lovely relaxed morning.

Doyle’s from Gopalgonj came over bringing lunch and to see the baby💛 After lunch the teachers and schoolchildren went upstairs to go over their Christmas program for the 1st time. Doyle helped Lonnie figure out what was going on with the battery back up for when the power goes out…The battery was dead, hadn’t been charging. We got some good visiting in and the children played, although Annslie was having a rough day.?. Starting when she woke up in the morning “on the wrong side of the bed”..?… 

All too soon, it was evening, and our friends loaded up and headed home. Too short. We always enjoy when “our people” come for a visit. And we had a bit of “after party blues” after the lovely afternoon

Mon. Nov 10

 In the night, Gentry took a turn for the worse with his chest congestion making his breathing very labored. Lonnie and I spent quite a few hours up with him.

In the morning, Lonnie took him to the pharmacy dokan here in the village where they have a nebulizar and sell breathing treatments. He ordered a nebulizar machine to have at the house so we could give treatments even when the dokan wasn’t open and also a pulse oximeter so we could monitor his oxygen levels.

Christina made Eye Platz(another version of crepes) for breakfast.

We were happy to see Gentry responding well to the breathing treatment🤍

After supper, Christina and the girls made choc chip cookies and we listened to Jared and Brianna’s Bangladesh report back in Hesston, KS.

Sat. Nov. 8 🍁

 Lonnie had spent awhile with Gentry in the night, cutting up an onion for him to breathe to hopefully help with the junk in his chest. We’d rubbed “Unkers” salve on his back and feet before we put him to bed..

In the morning, was the 1st day of this truly glorious weather! Turned off A.C.s and fans and opened windows🍁🤩 a most lovely breeze made the curtains do their own happy dance. We lit a fall scented candle. Perked some coffee.☕️ Threw our big, wooden, double front doors wide open.. and reveled in the glory of the day☺️

After breakfast was cleaned up we all headed into Khulna City to get groceries at Safe n Save and Day-7 and stop for more fruit along the street…Some large, very round , shiny green, seedless, sweet grapes from Thailand and mangos from Rajshahi, mandarins, oranges, and bananas,..  Dominos Pizza for lunch.

The girls helped get all the veggies, fruit, eggs, soaked/washed and the laundry hung out.

Heated leftover biryani up for supper.

The girls spent quite a bit of time playing just outside the gate. It made this mama a bit nervous so I asked Tulshi about it. He said, “bhalo na” (not good) short time, ok. Long time, not. We have quite a busy, narrow, paved road that runs right past our gate. Motorcycles, rickshaws, truck like contraptions😅 carrying loads, pedestrians, cows, dogs,….. some of the auto rickshaws and motorcycles really whiz by just 2 ft from our gate and Tulshi mentioned that many men come by and are watching… the warning words of caution were passed on to the girls..

Fri. Nov. 7 Worship Day

 Now really, HOW can it be November!!!?! We had Such a long summer and now, all sudden the calendar says November!!???!

I would not be going out today with Gentry having such congestion in his chest/junky cough. Lonnie was really not feeling great with his head cold, sneezing, etc. but didn’t feel like he could opt out of today. Annslie stayed home with Gentry and I much to her sadness!!.. she’s still got a junky cough herself but also a toddler handful…

After the 1st S.S. here at our church in Choygoria Miss Christina and Jaira stayed home with Gentry and I, and Maddie and Annslie went with Lonnie to some memorial at Shanto’s of his parents. His dad has been gone a year and his mom 7 yrs.?. We were not sure what it was all about but Lonnie thought he should make his presence. Turned out to be a full blown service with talks, prayers, songs, memories, and then Lonnie was asked if he would leave some thoughts which he had no clue what all had been said, since it had all been in Bangla, and really what exactly kind of service this really was!? But he went ahead and shared some “in the moment” inspiration. Later, somebody said the occasion was a Catholic tradition to pray for the deceased one’s souls as they had been Muslim..??.. We don’t know, maybe we’ll hear another explanation of the occasion yet, too..??..

Anyways, Lonnie had thought he’d do a slip in/slip out/ just show his face but by 1:00, those of us back at the house decided to go ahead and have lunch.. beef roast, baked beans, and strawberry jello with mandarins and whipped “cream”. Shortly after we finished, Lonnie and the girls showed up with Bangali sized portions of chicken Biryani with cucumber slices for each of us. Most of them went into the freezer and will be handy to pull out at a later date😌

Lonnie put Annslie down for a nap and then the big girls went with him to church.

I mixed up PB Choc. Chip Cookies (Love Wears An Apron)

And btw the power was off most of the day, running a few things on generator…

After church everybody came in the gate to say “Hi” to our little man. Lewis’s wife picked some leaves from the roadside and told me how to make a tea with them for Gentry’s cough. She also picked a magenta flower from our bougainvillea bush telling me “Congratulations” as she gave it to me🥰 and then the custom of giving, at least meeshti balls, was brought up. I asked if cookies would work. They said it would, so I ran in for those.

Sun. Nov. 2 🍁 - Thurs. Nov. 6

 A Most Lovely change in the air this morning!! Finally!!🤗🤗🤗🤗 nothing nippy yet! But amazingly balmy with a gentle breeze😌 Lonnie looked at the forecast and Next week is the beginning of highs in the 80s lows in the 60s!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 I was afraid Fall had forgotten to visit us over here!! 

Not sure what days the the next things all transpired 

but I got loaf bread baked again, my 3 maternity/nursing dresses seams taken in so they weren’t 9 mo. pg billowy anymore, the fall vibes are hitting good and strong now finally so I got my cloth stuffed pumpkins out that I’d brought from home and the fall scented candles I’d found in Dhaka🍁 also a couple meals made extra special by making chips out of the really thin XXL tortillas we’d brought back with us from Neela Mkt close to Pink City there in Dhaka… Santa Fe Chicken Chili (Table for Two cookbook) and a cabbage, cilantro, taco meat w/beans, grated cheese, home canned salsa, and LaHa dressing stack up(my go to meal back in America but just hadn’t “cut it” over  here before chips) and I only recently in the last couple months got home canned salsa on hand which is pretty vital for the stack up also!

Lonnie caught up on book work, replaced the teacher’s water heater, took the kitchen fan and got it working again at a local dokan, took Annslie with him whenever he went somewhere, took me grocery shopping and ATM stop, made a new harness and leash for Toby (the dog)

Annslie ended up coming down with several days of fever to accompany her 2+ wks of congestion and junky cough.

Gentry has come down with congestion and a junky cough😩 What in the world does a person do with a 2 wk old with symptoms like that!!?!

The rest of the household is dealing with varying degrees of congestion also.

I spent a day with the chills and full body aches.

Tulshi (day guard) took a several day vacation to the Sundarbans.

3 hijras (special humans that are born with mixed genders going on, sadly not uncommon here) showed up at our gate, demanding 100,000 taka equivalent to approximately $1,000 USD😳 supposedly they would work on ruining our reputation and perform all manner of obscenities if we did not comply🤔 Tulshi(day guard) translated for us and told them they couldn’t dance with our baby boy and that we did not have permission from The Big Boss in America to give them that much but could give them a small gift. Lonnie also called Daryl for advice on what to do in this situation.. This was the introduction to a Bangali custom that has to do with having a son after 2 or 3 daughters… Here you are expected to give in this occasion and even more if it’s a son after 3 daughters!.. food (fish and rice, meeshti balls (sweets), clothes, And then taka to the hijras!!?! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Sat. Nov. 1 Moving Day

 Brian’s invited us for a pancake breakfast, which was nice cause then I could concentrate on getting bedding and bath towels into the laundry and the final packing process well on it’s way 1st thing when I got up.. 

It was 1:00 pm before we were headed south..

We hit rain about an hour before we got home and the power was off when we arrived at our Khulna home.

Miss Christina made up ham sandwiches with the homemade buns from Kaylee and the girls helped put groceries away. We worked on unloading suitcases and settling back in.

It was fun to put a sleeper on Gentry for the night again. (I hadn’t brought one bigger than NB with me to Dhaka) He really is just a little guy especially when compared to the next youngest on the field who is a roly poly 8 mo. old but maybe on the big side for being only 12 days old.. his arms are as big as his legs😅 This little guy is different from his sisters in so many ways! Some of them being his just light covering of hair on his head versus the girls’ headfuls, his light eyebrows and eyelashes and short eyelashes, and blond hair on his arms etc. Time will tell, but we are suspicious his hair will turn reddish🤷🏼‍♀️.

Fri. Oct. 31 Worship Day

 To the clinic for church with Brian’s and the Sisters and Naton interpreting. Miriam (Catholic clinic nurse) showed up again. Also Neil, a Canadian from Ontario,(I think I’ve got the details straight but not completely confident🤔) Brian met him in the government office and he’s joined the group at the clinic a couple times but is headed back to Canada and then down to Texas. He has a very interesting story and has spent most of his life abroad. He’s a very young looking, energetic 55 yr old that felt called to be single. Anyways, at today’s service, his bass added to the singing making for a full spectrum harmony, which I very much enjoyed😌

Chef’s Table (food court) lunch and UniMart grocery shopping.

Later that evening there was just a couple more things I was looking for so Lonnie, 2 littles, and I went to the (airport) UniMart in search of and also stopped to fuel the van in preparation for our trip back to Khulna tomorrow.

The girls at home went to Brian’s for the eve. Brian took them to Wynwood Coffee for drinks🥰

Thurs. Oct. 30 Gentry’s procedure day

 Breakfast a little earlier than normal to get left from the house in time.

Across the city to Square hosp. To admissions and then up to Pre-op where we gowned up, complete with foot slippers and hair nets and hung out in a several bed ward before, during, and after procedure. The bed where we hung out was very soft/comfortable, unlike most beds that we use in this country🙃

Long story short, what was looking like we’d be back to Pink City by noon or before turned into 5:00 that evening!! We caught Domino’s Pizza for a Late lunch before heading back to the guesthouse. Annslie fell asleep before the pizza was done. Some class/grade 11 students were in the booth behind us having a good time.. 2 girls, 2 boys and then 2 more boys joined them. All in their crisp school uniforms that look So professional. They were absolutely smitten with Annslie asleep on the bench, resting her head on the diaper bag, covered up with one of Gentry’s blankets.. but the one girl was Very polite and would not let the other girl touch her for fear she’d wake Annslie and later she was gonna make the whole crew move farther away cause they were getting animated and she didn’t want them waking Annslie. We told her it was no problem, if Annslie woke, she’d eat pizza…

Wed. Oct. 29

 Lonnie went to his 3rd dentist appt for his root canal. We’ll catch his final appt. on our next trip into Dhaka.

Lunch at the Clinic cooked by our Sisters Josna and Sumita😋

Lonnie had brought his knife sharpening kit along to Dhaka this time so Kaylee wondered if her knives could have a turn also. So Lonnie worked on that in the afternoon.