Wed. Dec. 17

 Due to the bridge taken out to be replaced, Lonnie decided to try taking the van out the other direction, thru the village, out along the levee, and around. Parking it on the other side of the bridge repair project so we can still use it by taking a rickshaw van ride to the bridge.

 Lonnie, the littles, and I made a trip into Khulna City to pick up Jaira’s new salwar kameez from the tailor, ATM, and groceries. Despite the inconvenience of not having our van right outside our door, I really enjoyed the rickshaw van rides in the beautiful weather for some fresh air and sunshine 🌞 refreshing!

Home to lunch cooked by Dipti. She was still finishing up the last of the ruti(tortillas) when we got back. And the girls surprised us by having the table set and tea made.😊

Lonnie went with Shanto again for candy bag supplies.

I made another batch of Russian Tea Cakes. This time finally mastering the tiny size, just perfect for popping whole into your mouth, by using a 1/2 Tablespoon to measure out the dough for each ball. For the record, that makes 72 cookies using the recipe out of Christian Home cookbook

A recipe of Hard Candy, per Jaira’s request, Christian Home cookbook also.

Tues. Dec. 16

We continue to wake to Hindu wedding music, the girls practice Christmas program over it, we run to the gate to watch the rickshaw van with a Bangladesh band playing on the back go by, and go to bed to the beat of their drums.

Pork Day. We made 14 lbs of sausage…The amount of pork we were able to get a hold of over 2wks..

Miss Christina’s night to cook- poppyseed chicken and rice.

And I was able to get to some ironing that had been stacking up.

Lonnie went to the pharmacy dokan and to play carrom.

I mixed up Party Mix

The girls played outside by the light of the yard light like they often do. And their games are very loud with much hooting and hollering..!..

Mon. Dec. 15

 Finally finished Maddie’s Christmas program dress 🤗 ..while getting snatches of Christmas carols coming from the rooftop where the girls were practicing program 😌

At 4:00 this afternoon, Lonnie went with Shanto for the evening. Shanto wanted to do Christmas gifts for his and our S.S. children with Lonnie. Lonnie suggested doing “candy bags” like we put together back home for after our Christmas programs. Shanto had a few ideas of his own of what should go in this “candy bag” and how it should be put together so it’s turning out quite a bit different than Lonnie’s original thought of “candy bags” like we’re used to!.. 

I mixed up a batch of peppernuts and Jaira helped me roll, slice, and bake. 

Lonnie discovered that the bridge repair on our road is now in progress! They have built up a temporary road to go around but it is not something we will be able to take our van over😳 Lonnie has been planning to park the van on the other side during this process but didn’t find out when they were planning to dig the road out! 

Sun. Dec. 14 evening at Liton’s

 Made Russian tea cakes this afternoon, one of Lonnie’s favorite Christmas goody. 

We were invited to Liton’s at 5:00 for pita. He does not live far away, a10 min. gari drive right along the highway into Khulna City. I had never been to his place or met any of his family. But it was a good experience and an experience at that!! We parked the van along the road and walked thru an open area where boys were playing cricket. 🏏 Then stepped thru a shrub row into Liton’s family’s yard. Mama hens and their baby chicks running about the dirt yard. Lonnie commented that when he had been here in rainy season this yard was all under water and the mom was fishing from her front porch!?! And he had walked in on a little foot bridge. This afternoon, Liton’s mom was there on the front porch cooking at the gas burner. This house is made of bricks and has a dirt floor. 2 rooms with the 3rd room being the other end of the porch from the cooking area. Truly felt like we were stepping back in time! This house reminding me of cabins I’ve toured from early American days, but here in Bangladesh is living conditions of 2025! Truly hard to wrap one’s brain around the actuality of it😳! 42? Yr old Liton lives here with his parents, “little” brother, and sister and her 2 children (sister’s husband was at his home village  currently ..?..) Anyway, so Liton’s brother showed us his cages of parakeets, beautiful blues, greens, and yellows. One mama bird was sitting on eggs and when she got off for a minute we could see one had hatched, the tiniest featherless pink baby bird! 

They had us sit in Liton’s room on his bed that he shared with his brother and sister’s 11? yr old son. We could watch Liton’s mom cooking the pitas thru the barred window… very interesting. She would pour batter from a cup into her wok of hot oil, it would all sink to the bottom and then after a bit she would slowly start working it loose from the bottom. After a bit she’d turn it and when it was done, hold it against the side of the wok to drain some of the grease. Liton’s dad would come around and measure out the next cupful of batter for his wife occasionally.. I thought that was really sweet of him and found out later that he is a chef at a girl’s home locally! 

For the conditions that they live in, I was impressed with their level of cleanliness and tidiness. But at the same time was not a great surprise as Liton is usually very well groomed and dressed.

We sat on Liton’s hard bed as we were served. There was also slivered alu (potatoes) in a sweet white sauce served in small porcelain dishes with gold spoons. Liton soon arrived back from a dokan with a 2 liter bottle of water and a1liter Coke. Cha (hot tea) was served also. Lonnie had  played a bit of cricket while pitas were cooking so he was really warmed up especially since he’d worn a long sleeve shirt so he went outside to take his tea and we all joined him after a bit. It was a nice cool evening. We sat in the yard and visited with Liton, his dad and sister while Annslie and his 15 month old niece Annie cut capers around us. Then Liton’s mom joined us and Liton asked Lonnie to have a prayer. We sang a few songs and made our departure. Was special to see Liton’s family and where he lives.. he’s a barber who cuts Lonnie’s hair but I only see him on Fridays.

Sat. Dec. 13

A relaxed morning..

 A trip in to Khulna. 1st stop, Artisan, for some cool season clothes shopping… leggings for Jaira, a sweater for me.. 

Safe N Save for groceries and stopping at our favorite fruit and veggie market on the way home.

Leftovers for a late lunch

Fri. Dec. 12

 Miss Christina got us started with her yummy coffee cake and scrambled eggs breakfast.

The rest of the crew headed out for the morning of 2 S.S. 

Lunch was chicken breast in the crockpot, mashed potatoes and gravy, and crunchy cabbage salad. Jaira commented that it was the Best “Sun.” lunch I’d made here! Thankfully, she was easy to please today😅

Christina and the girls cleaned up the kitchen then visited on Miss Christina’s veranda.

4:00 service. I attended, but still battling this terrible head cold that I am taking my turn with this week. Shotti wasn’t there due to a headache and Rhidoy had fever 

Maddie was holding Gentry as we walked to church. But after we were all seated, Lewis’s wife tapped her on the shoulder and asked to take him and held him thru the service😌  

Shanto had a very good and thought provoking opening on respect to God,  also bringing out respect of children to their elders and how it’s up to the parents to teach and by example…

It is Hindu wedding season by all appearances.. there are 3 going on around us this week. This means days and nights of music and festivities. So we endeavor to sing our own Christian hymns with the beat of drums and Hindu music going on. The church house windows were closed to try to make it a bit quieter but couldn’t tell that it helped much😏 At one point I couldn’t even get Shanto’s prayer even tho his voice was quite a bit raised to try to talk over all the noise. I was surprised to hear Kobir being able to continue to translate!!?!

By the way, I’m very pleased to finally know Lewis’s wife’s name☺️ She would tell me when I would ask her, again, what her name is but I could never get it to stick beings it is not one that my English speaking brain is accustomed to. And I was getting embarrassed to keep asking her to tell me her name! And these folks, when I would ask them, “What is Lewis’s wife’s name they would say, “I don’t know. We just call her “Didi” which is kind of like auntie or directly translated as elder Christian sister. And something they would use regularly, what I am referred to here as. So, when Kobir replied the same, I asked him, “Do you know what my actual name is??” And he says, “No Sister, I don’t”🫣 and btw we have been in BD for 10 months, a good 5 mo. in Khulna, and spent Lots of time with Kobir! Anyways, Shamir finally came to my rescue and taught me Lewis’s wife’s name by trying to teach it to Maddie. Having her repeat each syllable after him several times Pu • r(rolled) • nee • ma.

After church, Liton spent some time with Lonnie in the lean to just outside our gate…. We took popcorn and hot tea out to them.

… I can’t remember if I’ve wrote about this or not but Lonnie has spent some quality😉hours designing and building a chimnea out of bricks in the front corner of this lean-to. (.. this lean-to has a bench in it and as the cool season came on our day guard, Tulshi closed in the sides by loosely weaving palm fronds in the bamboo framework. This bench is Very used and usually occupied by 1 or several. Anybody, it seems, that needs a place to rest or hang out or friends of our guards..) Anyway, now in the evenings, Tulshi lights a fire in the brick chimnea creating a warm spot for the old men that often gather. One in particular, is an old man that is completely bent over and walks with a cane. This chimnea has gotten a lot of attention from the villagers and the women have shown interest, stopping on their way past to check it out and ask what Lonnie cooks on there? Rice? Ruti? That’s all they know, is a cooking fire..

Tues. Dec. 9

 In the eve. 

Lonnie was in the village playing carrom with the boys. 

Christina made little poppyseed ham sandwiches for supper starting with making some 30 min buns.✨

 And I was able to get Maddie’s Christmas program dress cut out🤗