Lonnie made a trip into town to get a small battery backup system for the guard shack and to run the yard light. We’d been having Such interrupted nights with all the power outages and our night guard turning the generator off and on several times during the night, for a fan in his quarters and a yard light. Fast forward: it has made such a wonderful improvement to our nights 😌
I sat down with Jaira’s music book and remembered, Today! We were suppose to make cupcakes for the lesson on blending our voices while singing. The instructions in the lesson call for a cake mix which we do not have the likes of. I thought, “Well, I guess I’m of the hook.” But about that time, I remembered a Basic Mix I had in the freezer. So, into the kitchen Jaira and I went to apply the lesson to making cupcakes. Added a few sprinkles to make them fun and piped green cream cheese frosting on.
Later in the afternoon 2 boys that like to come by were at the gate on bikes. I went out to visit with them. They usually don’t have much to say so I end up asking whatever questions I can come up with to say in Bangla. After awhile, Tamim quietly says, “It’s my birthday today.” 14 years old. So I asked if he would be having a birthday party.
No.
Why not?
We are too poor. And having heard Dipti lament the same thing. I believed him.
So, what does a birthday party mean to you? Cake? Balloons? Friends?
Yes.
So, if you had a party tonight who would you invite?
My friends and cousins.
I made cupcakes today, I can give you.
And then I went to the shed where Lonnie and Tulshi were working on installing the IPS system to see if he had any advice .. Lonnie questioned if it was actually even his birthday, cause how would we know if he was actually telling the truth.?. True… But what if he Was telling the truth!? And I have the cupcakes sitting right there on my kitchen counter! The reason for being careful, we’ve been told that when giving things to the villagers, it spreads like wildfire and then their neighbors and friends will need “cupcakes for their birthday also!”
So, I decided if I gave him only 1 cupcake it wouldn’t be overwhelming if other village children needed a little something to celebrate their birthday with.
I went in and put 1 cupcake in a paper bowl(as bad as I would’ve loved to send the whole pan), pulled out a small package of birthday candles that were here at the house when we arrived and Saran wrapped them on the bottom of the bowl.
They were still waiting by the gate wondering when I would give the cupcake? So I presented it to him, “Shubho jon modeen” (happy birthday) and telling him to be quiet about it so the rest of the village would not be at my gate asking for a birthday cake!
Then he and his friend happily took off, taking turns holding the cupcake
It felt like the music lesson today with the cupcake object lesson was a little miracle from God so that I could be prepared to share a birthday cupcake🤍
I am often reminded of the Sister back home sharing in S.S. how maybe we are like Chess pcs in God’s hands…. being moved about, coming in contact with people according to precise timing, and I had to think even prompting us throughout our days… I do not always have a Basic Mix in the freezer and it would have been very easy to have the music lesson without baking the cupcakes, I do not always notice or go out and visit those that come to the gate, etc., etc.,
And who knows, maybe it wasn’t Tamim’s birthday, but I felt blessed anyway.. and it felt like a faith builder of just doing the things as they come to us..
We get used to the poverty all around us and then things like today, will all sudden, unexpectedly hit really hard! It was difficult to sit down and enjoy all the rest of those cupcakes… it wanted to make me feel guilty… life is so…..uneven.
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