I also apologise for any really bad grammar and spelling ;-)
26th September 2011
The dogs disappeared this morning! Matt had gone to the field on his bike and the gate was closed behind him but I have seen how Holmes can maneuver it open. I wasn’t aware that they had gotten out until Matt came back and I heard Moses whistling. Then Matt casually mentions that the dogs were out!!! Those of you who have visited us – know just how big the expanse of our property, and the ones beyond, are. Moses whistled and whistled but nothing. I put my gumboots on and set off up the drive way. I couldn’t see any foot prints in the soil, but continued to walk. I had gotten most of the way up and had been asking God to send them home, when I felt I needed to head up the hill to the right of the road. I went up, climbed through the fence to the next door property and in front of me lay rolling hill after rolling hill. I found a path in the grass, made by cows, and thought to just follow that a while and even if I didn’t find them, just enjoy the beauty and peace, I always feel so close to God right up the top in the grasslands. I looked towards the house and was about to head that way when I felt a prompting to go a little further. I wandered towards some rocks that look down to a friend’s house (the lady we got the dogs from) and in my head I laughed thinking that maybe they had gone to visit her. I was just getting to the rocks when I looked up and sticking out of the grass where two heads! They came bounding over to me, tongues hanging out of their mouths, tails wagging as if they had done no wrong! As annoyed with them as I was, I couldn’t help but be relieved to see them! The Lord He is good – He knows they are my companions when no one else is around and He let me find them. The goat-dogs continue to keep us entertained!!!!
30th September 2011
We had the first rains today! It was bizarre. There were a few clouds on the horizon and it had been pretty warm, but with all the smoke from bush fires, the sky has not been very clear the last few months and clouds do build up but nothing happens. But today I was proved wrong in that thinking. Across the valley from our front door the clouds grew darker and darker and eventually we could see the rain falling on the horizon. We wished and prayed for it to come closer (the day before the dogs and I had done a rain dance – something that Rita and I discovered works one September ;-)) And sure enough it came, the view began to disappear and turn white as the rain grew closer and we could eventually hear it coming. A loud but soft rushing sound and then the drops began to fall, huge splatters on the ground. We had a couple with us from Wales and he mentioned that in Wales the view does disappear like it did but there was no way that the drops were that big. It turned into hail and that fell for about 20 minutes and then the rain fell. The poor dogs had never experienced hail before and although they hid in their dog boxes, after a few minutes of the hail pounding on their roofs, Holmes took off around the house, not too sure what he was meant to do about these hard white things falling from the sky. I think he felt a bit like those poor animals in that children’s story, who were convinced the sky was falling down on them! After a full speed lap around the house he ended up in Pedro’s box with them and they sat it out together in each other’s company! Poor things!
2nd October 2011
We woke up this morning to get ready to go to church and I happened to look out the bedroom window and was trying to figure out what all the foam was that was laying around the dogs boxes. They normally chew on things and had done so again but then I realized what it was and rather loudly said ‘Oh Dear!’. Matt asked what was wrong and if the dogs had been in the herbs again but I told him it was worse than that. We opened the back door and his bicycle which had been propped up between their two boxes had fallen over at some stage of the night and they had totally annihilated the seat on his bicycle. Needless to say they were severely spanked! Oops!!
4th October 2011
Matt does his first Agro Forestry talk tomorrow. I am sure he will be brilliant. It is funny how once you get involved with something you become so much more aware of it. We constantly drive around now looking at trees, I try to identify them and Matt gives me the Latin name if he knows it!
We go to the doc on Friday for our four month scan. I know it will be fine, am just a bit nervous/excited!! My tummy is definitely showing now so I have no doubt that I am really pregnant now! So very exciting ;-)
8th October 2011
It is Sunday but we are not going to church today, there is a certain World Cup Rugby on at the moment that needs watching! Especially the 2 quarter final games that are on today! We are avid New Zealand fans… I will say no more!
Matt’s Agro Forestry talk went well. I didn’t attend this one because I went to pay a visit to the school I used to teach at. The one lady I used to work with who wasn’t aware that I am pregnant, looked at me and said wow you look well, you have put on some weight, especially around your tummy area. The other ladies standing with me, who had just heard that I am pregnant, looked at her and said that’s because she is pregnant! Normally it’s the other way round, ladies always get themselves into trouble by saying are you pregnant to someone who has just put on weight! Quite funny really!
On Friday we went to the doc to check on things with the baby. I was a bit nervous, but as he placed the scanner on my tummy, I was overwhelmed with joy and awe at our Creator. Our tiny baby was asleep with his/her hand on a cheek. The doc kept the scanner on for quite a while and we watched bump start to move around, little hands moving and legs kicking. We also heard the strong heart beat! I was totally amazed. What a privilege to be a part of something as special as creating a life, and watching it grow. The doc said our baby was perfect and healthy and that I was a picture of health after he took my blood pressure! Praise the King!! We have a picture from the scan and we wanted to send it to Matt’s folks. While the doc was taking my blood pressure, Matt was studying the picture and really looking at it, and eventually said, wow you need a doctorate to understand this picture. Doc just looked at him and said not it’s not – look there is the head, two eyes, a hand and the tummy! I got it after a bit but Matt was still looking very confused, but has it now J
It is a glorious day today. It has been strange weather – it is October and is meant to be what we have always called in Zim, the suicide month because it is so hot. I remember school days of October when it is just so hot you can’t concentrate, however last week, it rained like crazy in Harare – we didn’t get much at home – and not it is like winter again. I guess it will warm up in the next week or so. But this morning, although a bit fresh, is just so crisp and clear. I went out to feed the dogs and stood looking at our incredible view and thanking the Lord for such a special place that He has put us. The birds were chirping merrily and the cows mooing across the valley. The sun was glistening on droplets of water that were hanging from the grass like chandeliers, simply beautiful! I love our home and our life!
17th October 2011
The dogs are no longer goat dogs but goat herders! The goats were near the vegetable garden today and I was opening the gate for Matt, saw them and just thought ah they didn’t chase them last time and didn’t worry that they ran after them. The dogs however saw goat and just ran. They disappeared over the hill and were gone! We had to drive up the drive way to see where they had gone to, and they were herding them down the path. Pedro seemed to be doing a better job of it, he stayed behind them the whole way, while Holmes would run in front and chase them the other way again. Finally they were both behind and ran all the way back to the next door neighbour’s property! We called and called after them, and only once the goats were back on their side of the fence did they stop and come back! What a laugh it was to watch them!
28th October 2011
I am sitting outside in the shade, trying to keep cool. These last few days have been unbearable! I have spent the afternoons, either sitting outside with my feet in a bucket of cold water or sitting in the bath in cold water! Flip I know I’m pregnant and the whole thing of you feel the heat more when you are pregnant, but it really is very hot! If it is hot like this here, where there is always the idea of crisp cold days in the mountains, I would hate to know or be where it is known to be super hot anyway! We have heard that in Kariba (the lake north of Zim) it has been 47°C ( °F). I also heard that this has been the hottest October since 1965! Now that I can believe. October started out pretty weird where it was still cold and we had some rain which has happened before in Oct but some places were getting 80mm! Then the rain went and the real October summer came – with a vengeance. Funny how when it’s cold we want the heat, and when it’s hot we want the cold – God must get confused with us silly humans always wanting the opposite. For those of you with air con inside you must think well, just turn up the air con – but only about 5% of places in Zim have air con – the normal home doesn’t so we go the route of feet in buckets or sitting in the bath J We do have a little rock pool that was put in for this very reason but the water table is pretty low at the moment with no rain, and the dam is pretty low too from all the irrigation of the trees, so alas it sits empty for now.
The trees are doing well – to a certain degree. The indigenous ones have done really well and came out pretty quick, whereas the Eucalyptus, which we thought would germinate faster is still minute. So many weeds came out of the soil with the rains and for a while Matt wasn’t sure what was weed and what was tree not knowing what the Eucalyptus look like small. There was a certain plant that came up that looked exactly like what we thought Eucalyptus would look like, and it seemed to be everywhere, but we were sorely disappointed when a guy from the tobacco company came and said nope those are all weeds and the real tree was still only just popping its head out! The guys went around weeding and now the bags all look empty again, but more are coming up now. The big boss from the company came around on Wednesday and Matt was trying to figure out how to say…ummm the trees aren’t growing, but was relieved to know that the other tree nursery they run in Zim has also had the same problem with the Eucalyptus, the cold weather stayed around too long and so the trees have taken longer to germinate – praise the Lord – we were a bit concerned we were doing something wrong!
The big boss was very impressed with the whole set up and Matt felt pleased to know that. Him and the guys have been working so hard with the whole project, I am very proud of them all. Especially Matt for his driveness to get it done excellently! Please pray for rain though as the dam has dropped significantly and with this heat, irrigating needs to be done almost everyday.
Baby is doing well. I have been feeling movement the last week and Matt was able to feel a few little kicks or flips or whatever was going on. Last night in particular I think there was a party going on in there, or we have a champion swimmer or kick-boxer on our hands J We have a 20 week scan next week. I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by. I really want to make the most of these last few months with Matt and I by ourselves. I guess as much as I am really looking forward to being a mum, I’m a little scared things won’t be the same, well I know they won’t be the same, but I don’t want to lose the closeness to my husband. It really is something we have to work at I guess, and it is such a blessing the life we live, where we can be together so much. None of the spending hours in traffic to go to work and home from work, we get to spend those hours together. It really is such a blessing!
I have started counting down the days when our friends from Texas arrive. They will be here beginning of Dec and I am so excited! I woke the other day with a text message from Tish saying that their flights were booked and it felt like Christmas morning to me I was so excited!! They were here last in March 2009 so a lot has changed since they were here.
29th December 2011
I can’t believe that we are this close to the end of the year again!!! Where did the year go to. I realize that I am way behind in catching up with the last month so I will just go from here.
It has been a pretty crazy last month – I think back to November and actually can’t remember what happened in that month. I do remember that it was a crazy hot month – so hot that I was lying on the concrete floors at home trying to keep cool - I guess as they say when you have a baby inside of you there is a little hot water bottle that keeps you hot too! It was weird weather because Oct is meant to be the month that is so hot. It seems the seasons are all a month behind this year.
Early December we headed down to South Africa to spend a week with Matt’s mom and dad. It was a lovely time, did a bit of baby shopping and then spent a week at a resort called Tshipise that has a hot stream that flows into the swimming pools – it is pretty much hot there most of the time and so in the day the idea of a hot swimming pool isn’t very appealing but the fun of that is that you can go swimming at night and in the early morning in the warm pool and it is awesome!
Our travel back to Zim was pretty intense – it rained the whole way back and we didn’t have wind screen wipers!! The guy in SA told us it was the motor and that we needed a new one (turns out it was rats that had chewed the wires!!! Praise the Lord though as a new motor was very expensive. Matt and our mechanic friend were able to strip the wires and put them back together again.)
We were back a few days and then headed to a high school camp – my old high school. It was their leadership/prefect selection camp and Matt was doing all the talks. They are a great bunch of girls. We dealt with them 2 years ago when they were having a few issues and seeing them now, how much they have matured and are more together as a year group was great! Matt was inspiring as he always is ;-) The girls love him! We went into Harare after the camp for a night – back home for 2 nights and then back to Harare again to meet our friends from Texas! It was very exciting to go pick them up. Tish’s bag was left in Ethiopia though and it was rather amusing because at first Jeff and Dusty just thought that there were maternity clothes in there for me – but later realized that the hammer drill they were bringing for Matt was in there too and so the urgency to get it back was suddenly felt by all persons involved! It did arrive the next day though much to everyone’s relief.
Their time here was good. Tish and I went along with the guys to the children’s home and while they patched up roofs (after Jeff made the one hole bigger by falling through the roof), fixed ceiling boards, fixed pots and made shelves for the children’s clothes, Tish and I did a few Christmas crafts with some of the smaller children. Tish was amazed that they were so happy and seemed so together. They do seem so much happier than a lot of children’s homes I have been too and I think the Anglican nuns who run it should be thanked for that. They really seem to love and care for the children and have a genuine interest in them once they reach the age when they leave school, some homes send them packing and say have a nice life, but this home lets them stay on after school until they have found a college or a course to do that will benefit them in the future! God bless that little home!!
Tish and I also did a bit of painting and tiling in what is now our guest house. We felt like we didn’t really do as much at the guys – well I am 6 months pregnant and she came to visit me so we didn’t feel to bad about it ;-) After 10 days of work we took them to a little lodge for 2 nights so that they could experience a bit of wild Africa – it was Dusty’s first time to Africa. The place we went too didn’t have any dangerous wild life but we were able to creep up on some Zebra’s and took many pictures of some giraffe. The rest of the time was spent playing 42 and just relaxing. It was great!!! After a sad farewell again, I hate good-byes they were on their way back home and us to sort things out for Christmas. I had the brain wave to have Christmas at Golden Harvest thinking it would be a breeze ;-) not realizing that there was still so much to do to sort the top house out.
Well Christmas is done – it was actually quite fun. Was just my mom and dad, my sister, husband and little boys and my aunt and uncle and 2 cousins. We were able to put curtains up, have the painting finished and comfortable beds to sleep in, but there was no water, electricity or a front door with glass! The water was purely the fault of the season not bringing us enough rain to fill the dam up which pumps to the house (the trees being watered everyday have used a lot of water), the electricity is because there is no transformer that goes to the house (not a train smash and Zimbos are pretty much used to that and we are getting a gas stove and lights for up there) and the front door – well that was stolen years ago – completely torn off its hinges. My question has always been when that door was stolen I KNOW that whoever stole it was not going to go out the back way of Golden Harvest, over rocks and mountains carrying a door, so he/they obviously took it along the road. Now did nobody, absolutely nobody stop and question the person carrying a door – very obviously torn off by the hinges – as to where they got it from or why were they carrying it around?? Baffles me completely. Anyways, we have been searching for a French door for a very long time and the ones we had found we ridiculous prices and so 2 days before our guests were arriving we gave it one more bash in Nyanga. The shop we went to told us they didn’t have any but a guy in there told us to stop at a guy who is a welder, he may have something. We went round to his little on the side of the road shop and asked for the welder. A guy came up and said it was he and we asked if he made French doors – there was not a whole lot on the yard except a stand so it wasn’t looking hopeful. He said oh like that and pointed to a French door – the only other thing there and it was almost finished! And it was the perfect size! Man the Lord is good! He said he could have it ready by the next morning so we went round and picked it up so put in the house. It took Matt 2 hours to bash the existing frame out, and we saw that it wasn’t going to go in that easily – it needed to be welded in place, so we propped it up in the doorway and placed a table on either side of the door telling our guests it was not to be used.
But it all came together in the end, there was even a real Christmas tree with decorations! Everyone had to come and bath at our house but we had a very festive time of happiness and presents.
15th January 2012
Woops! I missed the new year coming in on the blog. New Years is our anniversary – 3 amazing years! Matt surprised me with a visit to the Vumba (an hour and half from us) and we spent 2 very relaxing days up there at a lovely hotel tucked away in very jungly vegetation. I wasn’t aware that there was good internet there, well didn’t know I was going for a start, and so didn’t take my computer, but I could have done it from Matt’s, but then his charger packed up – so it wasn’t meant to be! I apologise that the updating has been so sporadic the last few months. The next time we are in Harare I really am going to try and update this all!
We didn’t actually even see the New Year in – we went to a lovely restaurant for dinner and were back at the hotel by 8.30pm. We managed to stay up until 9 but that was about it. Crazy what being farmers has done to us J
The New Year has started really well. We went into Harare last week for a scan at the doctor and saw our beautiful sweet child, who now weighs 1.4kgs! Put on 800grams since last month! A real mover and dancer and at the moment is thoroughly enjoying kicking mom!!! I can’t believe that we have about 10 weeks to go before we are parents. I was saying to Matt today that I can’t wait to be our child – what an exciting time of life! Praise the Lord for our perfect little gift J
We have also had 2 church services at Golden Harvest which is very exciting! We met last weekend for the first time, it was just the 2 of us and 5 of our staff. They were very happy to have a church to go to so close and where they feel like family. The service grew to 12 today, the one guy brought his mom and sisters. It is such an uplifting time and we really believe that the Lord is going to start doing things in the community through it all. The one guy, Lovejoy, has a beautiful voice and he leads us in a song and everyone joins in, in perfect harmony with nothing but an upside down water drum as the drum. It is a beautiful sound and I know that the Lord smiles on them! Matt has lead the service and Herbert translates it into Shona for those who don’t speak English very well. We see the church growing more and even having a little church building for us to meet in – can’t wait to see what the Lord is going to do with this!
And to date - our baby is well - I turned 30 and we have 2 months to go til we become parents
The trees should be going in 10 days time!!!!
Photos will come soon of everything - have lots of time beginning of March while i wait for baby to arrive to update it all properly!!!
