13th July 2011

We had a crazy weekend with 3 friends who had come to stay with us. The weather has changed in the last week to very freezing! I was sure that winter had come and gone but alas it is here with a vengeance!!! We spent most of the weekend indoors around the fire playing card games! We couldn’t bear to face the elements!

On Monday though we put ourselves to work and started moving the seed bags with soil in them on to the beds where they will stay for seed planting and irrigation. Myself, Sarah and Erin had a wheelbarrow and were moving bags but we realized that we probably did more talking than we did moving as the 3 guys on the other side of the bed probably did twice as many us (they are men though! And they seem to move a heavy laden wheelbarrow a lot faster than we did – it took 3 of us to move one!) But we did a fare share and were happy with the progress. It is amazing how quickly the nursery has been set up. It looks so professional now! We picked up some seed today so it really is all systems go now to get them planted and growing before November!!!! Very exciting!!!!

On Monday afternoon we went to a golf course near us for lunch and discovered this amazing pit close to one of the greens. There are many different explanations for these pits in the Eastern part of Zim. Some say they were slave pits, some say they were used by which ever tribe used to live in that area to keep their livestock away from predators and a recent explanation is gold-mining?? They are an amazing site to see. So deep and the rocks walls all so perfectly placed without the use of cement! This particular one was very inviting and they guy with us decided that he was going to go down and investigate. There is a tunnel that comes out of the ground near by and he had first thought to go in down the tunnel and then decided that in case there was an animal in there that he was not prepared to face, he jumped down into the pit and went up and out of the tunnel. I couldn't resist going in when he yelled from the depths of the tunnel that he had found a pot! So I jumped down too and explored the inside of the tunnel. An incredible bit of masonry with these old beautiful pots in it!! The archeologist in me was jumping with joy!!!!! A must see for anyone who decides to visit us!!!!

4th July 2011

The tree nursery/shade house is moving along so quickly. Just a few days ago it was just a few poles up and now it has piping installed and the beginnings of the irrigation all in (all the plumbing done by my husband’s fare hands) and the shade cloth was going on this morning! There are now 17 people packing the seed bags with soil. They were paid a few days ago and I think that the money helped them see that it was worth sitting in the dust and the sun putting soil into bags!!

I was driving to Bonda the other day and came across what to us is a traffic jam! I was stuck for a whole 40 seconds or so while the cows meandered out of the way chewing on the cud and looking completely unfazed by the fact that I needed to pass. It does amuse me every time we get stuck that this is all that we need to deal with as far as traffic goes. It is such a blessing to not have to sit in real traffic jams for hours on end. A mere hoot of the horn and the cows move out of the way.

27th June 2011

I headed to the field today to pack my 1000 bags of soil! I actually didn’t get to 1000 today but I did do 800. Will have to carry on tomorrow. I figured out that I could do 100 in 30 minutes and I hoped that the other people who are meant to be coming along to help would be able to do their 1000 in a day too.

22 June 2011

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year. Well on the Southern hemisphere anyway! It was also an exciting day at Golden Harvest as the truck with the pipes and tanks and irrigation pieces all arrived for the tree nursery. The guys have been working super hard on the field by the dam to get it all level for the nursery and we were all down there waiting and at about 4pm there was a distant hum of a large truck coming and soon it arrived at the gate! I was very excited and shouted the truck is here! The guys all looked at me like I was mad!

Now is must say that I actually did a bit of physical labour myself yesterday. I had wandered down to the field to see what was going on and checked on the fire break around where the tanks are going to go for the irrigation and Matt mentioned that he needed to figure out a route for the truck to go when it arrived to get the tanks in there. It is a huge cleared circle in the middle of rather thick bush. I told Matt that I would go and investigate for him and I found what I thought looked like the shortest and less dense part and decided to take it on! I had left my work gloves that I got in Texas in the house – not thinking that I would actually need them that day so with my bare hands I was tearing at trees and pulling out grass – it was rather cathartic! I felt like a “Mcleod Daughter” (for those of you that don’t know that show it is an Australian show with a bunch of woman that run a ranch and they do all the physical labour!) It felt great to see what I wanted done and to get it done. My hands did not enjoy me after that but I got the job done. I think somewhere in it all I slipped into my tidy up mode which is actually a great thing to do with something like that as it gets the job done quickly and rather efficiently I’d say. Matt was impressed with it but my body is not impressed with it today.

The truck arrived and poles were off loaded and the tanks were off loaded (along my rather smart looking path ;-)) and seedling bags and all kinds of things were coming out of the truck – it was so exciting! I can’t wait to see how the field is going to suddenly transform from bare earth to a nursery! Pictures will be added and up dated as the work goes on.

Today the two guys who built our stone wall behind the house, are coming to start building the structure for the nursery and the little house for the pump! It is all very real now.

16th June 2011

Last night I was once more in awe of our amazing God! There was a lunar eclipse and I can’t even begin to explain the feeling that I had watching the moon which was huge and bright and full, slowly disappear. It took an hour too completely cover and during that time the sky around us went from being as bright as if a spot light was shining with no stars to a vastness of twinkles as the moon turned from white to an eerie red. It was a pretty cold night so I wrapped myself up warmly and went out to watch it all take place. We had no power either so there were no man-made lights to affect the God-made extravagance. (The power came back on in that time and it was probably the first time I said “oh no” and ran in to switch them all off again!) It slowly began to get darker and as it did so even more stars started to appear. My heart was full! I cried as I stood there starring at the sky and the song “Indescribable” came into my head. He placed the stars in the sky and knows them by name! What an amazing God! I was awestruck and felt so alive in that moment of the greatness of our Lord and yet He knows simple old me – He knows my name and loves me. He knows your name and loves you! He is powerful and did it all just for us to see Him and know Him and worship him as each and every star does!

“You made it all, said “Let there be”, and there was all that we see. The sound of Your voice the works of Your hands, You do all things well!” (“You do all things well” Chris Tomlin)

10th June 2011

We set off to the Logan’s house today to borrow a tractor from them to level the field where the Tree nursery will be. It turned into quite an interesting time. The tractor turned out to be one that came to Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1947, so who knows when it was made! It looked like a pretty nifty, working piece of machinery, however it turned out to be a piece of machinery that should have been in a museum years ago. It took all morning to get going and it took forever to get back to our place but it did help a bit with the field. Darryl helped Matt to drive but it kept cutting out so had to be towed every so often. It was yet another adventure, but we realized that the good old tractor was probably better as a vintage in a museum than a work horse – it has done its time!!

7th June 2011

Matt had to go into Harare today to sort out a few things. We have finally got a tenant for the house in Harare but they have their own gardener so Matt went to pick him up and bring him and his family here. Another family at Golden Harvest to add to the birthday celebrations ;-)

I stayed at home as there would be no space for me and Austin and his family and goods. It has been a rather miserable day weather wise. Very grey and windy and cold. Has made me want to stay inside all day. I am about to head to the orphanage though, I am going to start my first day of helping them with their homework and just building a relationship with the children there. I am interested to see how they are all doing with their school work.

The afternoon was quite an interesting time. The children speak as much English as I do Shona so we had a hard time communicating and as I had gone there to do great things and to help them with school work and all it kinda fell flat. But it made me stop and think and to realize that actually for now all that I need to do is build a relationship with them and in actual fact if all that these children need is to have me play with them and spend time with them that no one else does then I am happy to do that! They are all very sweet children and I am really praying that my time with them will just up lift them and if anything changes then God can have the glory not me. It broke my heart walking around the orphanage to see the blankets that they use – on these cold nights of winter they have very scrappy blankets and I wonder if they really do stay warm at night. A friend in town who has a heart for orphans too has been able to get a group of friends together to collect things like blankets and warm clothes and I am sure that the smallest thing will help them. With the lack of communication all that we were able to do was draw pictures, a language that anybody can understand.

2nd June 2011

Today is Shelley’s birthday (Moses’ daughter) she is turning 8 and I have made some pink cup cakes to take to the celebrations later when everyone has finished work. I have enjoyed doing this with the Golden Harvest family. I am sure that they have never had a cake baked for them never mind given a card and sung happy birthday too. I found a sweet book for her and wrapped it up with a bow – I hope she likes it.

We are back from the party and my heart is touched! We went to Moses’ house – a one roomed abode that he has set up very well and we all had something to sit on. We told Shelly we just wanted to celebrate her and then had Moses pray for her. It was such a beautiful father prayer and made me smile so much. After singing four verses of ‘Happy Birthday’ (did you know that there are that many – “Happy birthday” followed by “how old are you now” followed by “I am…years old now” and finally “We wish you many more”!) Siphiso, Moses’ wife stood up to share something. She read from her daily devotional from the church she goes to and it was all about not comparing ourselves to others but seeing ourselves as the Lord does. And she shared about how every year Shelley asks her mom if they will celebrate her birthday that year and have a cake and every year she has said no, no cake this year, so she was so touched that we were doing this for Shelley finally. She told us that for 3 years she tried to have a baby and finally along came Shelley so she is a real blessing and Siphiso was so happy to be able to celebrate her life. I was so glad that there was only candle light as I had tears streaming down my cheeks! I was so touched by the whole thing. I guess it got to me more knowing the feeling that Siphiso had in those years of trying to have a baby. No matter what our walk in life is or where on the food chain society puts us, we still are all humans and still go through the same hurts and hardships. I was humbled tonight!

31st May 20011

I apologise for the lack of news the last two months – they went by so fast I can’t even believe it has been 2 months!

April came and went and it was pretty busy. The beginning of the month we had a few things to do in town and then went hiking/camping in Chimanimani mountains which are about 5 hours from us. We went with our good friends the Edwards’ and another couple and their 2 girls. We had packed our packs and since it was going to be a 3 night camp we did have quite a bit of stuff to take – but after putting our packs on our backs we all knew we had too much stuff!!

It was a long trek to where we were going. We had planned on camping in a cave called Terry’s cave and got directions to it. Because our packs we so heavy we did take a long time. The littlest of our group was 7 years old and she didn’t have a pack but kept arguing with her sister who did have one that it was her turn to carry the pack. The rest of us kept telling her she was more than welcome to take one of ours! My pack alone was about as tall as her! We were heading in the direction we were meant to but the last path we were meant to take disappeared along the river bank where gold-panners have destroyed the bank and so what we needed was no longer there. We crossed the river twice and then found what we thought was a path but then turned out to be a game path. Darryl Edwards decided that he would go up and see what he could find. He was gone for about an hour and by that time the sun had already started its decent home! Darryl had taken their two little ones with him and after an hour he showed up at the top of the cliff above us and beckoned for us to head that way – he didn’t have the two kids with him! He had to come back down as he had left his pack with us, which weighed a significant amount and he was already tired and worn out. None of us had any water left as we thought we were nearly there when we sat to finish our water supplies and none of us thought to replenish them while we sat there waiting by the river! Anyway Darryl started to panic a bit as he had left the two kids up there somewhere and the sun was very much going down. All we could do was head straight up! Seeing that cliff on our way down again I can’t believe that we did it! It was sheer determination that got us up! I know for myself I just said to myself you can do it now go! (Not what I was saying about an hour into the hike – I had sat down on a rock and with tears in my eyes said to Matt “I don’t think I can do this!”) Amazing how we had all grown in strength in just 8 hours! It was a vertical climb with not much to grip on to other than tufts of grass which fortunately were very secured into the ground. I would just grab handfuls and heave myself up. We all made it up though after a few near domino effects down the hillside and much sweat and tears. Darryl had the rear and when he came up next to me at the top he looked like what I imagined Jesus to have looked like that day he carried His cross. His back was bent over in pain and exhaustion and the look on his face was one of anguish and desperation! He asked if any of us had water but we couldn’t even help with that.

The last leg was probably the longest for Darryl and Hazel knowing that their two youngest were up there somewhere by themselves in the dark now. We found them though with their head lamps shining and we just barely made it to where we all decided would be a perfectly good spot to camp for the night! As much as we complained about the lumps and bumps beneath our tents I think none of us really cared and were just happy to be horizontal.

Despite the long trek, the 3 men folk (who were greatly out-numbered 8 to 4 by the women) still found the energy to have a slight adventure that night. They had been trying to light the gas burners for us to cook on and one of them was leaking. They had tried all kinds of things to fix it and for some insane reason lit it while it was leaking gas. It burned normally for a few seconds and then went woosh and fire fell down its sides sending the men in all directions. The other guy with us Jaku stayed well away and kept saying “it’s gonna blow, it’s gonna blow!” while Matt and Darryl were trying to find ways to put it out. Darryl attempted to use water but it made no change and Matt scratched around at the dirt by my feet and grabbed a handful to throw one the fire. It was a pretty funny scene – if any of you have watched Natcho Libre, the silly movie of the monk who wants to be a wrestler, there is a particular scene where he throws tortilla chips on the ground the attract the street dweller he wants to join forces with as a wrestling duo. Natcho does this very quaint running/hopping thing as he throws the chips and this was exactly what Matt did with his sand! I sat there laughing as that was all I could see in my minds eye and needless to say he didn’t put the fire out! I’m sad to say that Matt wasn’t the hero but Darryl ended up stealing the show by rushing in with a whole jug of sand and without a blink strode over to the fire and placed the jug over it! All this time I might add Jaku was still shouting “It’s gonna blow!” whilst the women carried on preparing dinner and the children were all in their tents playing cards – as if nothing was happening!

The rain and cloud came in that night and we all had very wet tents. The cave we were meant to be in was about 500m away from where we had camped so we packed up and moved into the shelter of a very ideal cave. It wasn’t huge but big enough for 2 small tents and the other tent was put just around the corner under an over hanging rock and the kids camped on the cave floor. The weather stayed pretty gloomy the rest of the time and the clouds only parted enough for us to see the full moon which light up the valley like a spot light. It was magnificent up there – not a soul to be seen – it was as if it was just us in the world! We attempted a few fires with wet wood so it wasn’t completely successful but we didn’t go hungry that is for sure! The last full day we had there a few of us went cave exploring which was so enchanting. It was like a world of its own behind the face of the rock, with alley ways and crossroads and trees that stretched high above the rocks to try and touch the heavens above. We even had to leopard crawl at one stage to get through a very narrow and low tunnel. The roads we took ended up taking us right back and around the other side of our cave where Matt was waiting with a fire. We set of the next day knowing that we had a very long walk in front of us and we couldn’t believe that what we had gone up on that first day was so vertical when we went down it and we had been so close to the actual path all that time!

But we made it down after much slipping and sliding on the mud from the rains and as beautiful as it was I think I will have to say that it was a case of been there done that, tick the box! I may change my mind after a few months or years!

And then Easter came along which brought Rita (Matt’s sister) from New York and a few other friends. It was a fun time and Rita was able to do a few videos of the house and property to show the family in UK. Rita was last here in Sept 2009 so it has changed a lot since she was last here. It was a busy time with her but fun too and we went back into town for HIFA (Harare International Festival of the Arts) the week in Zim when everyone can have their fair share of culture. Rita went to more things than we did – Matt and I have realized that we really do have that “farmer” mentality of early to bed where 9.30 is too late for us – hence we didn’t’ go to too many shows. The one we did see was awesome – a guitarist from Italy who was worth the late night.

We were pretty much busy the rest of April seeing people in Harare and sorting things out with the house in Harare.