In Zithulele, summer is variable. The weather alternates between muggy-hot and misty-wet. The impossible ocean stretches out across the horizon, sometimes blue, sometimes silver and sometimes invisibly shrouded in the rain clouds that seem to drape their way all the way down to the muddy sheep tracks.
This summer we've had days of no solar charge for our batteries (and the slight tension of deciding whether we should put our freezer off) and other days of showering at lunchtime just to make it through the afternoon. Joanna has found the heat particularly draining. Fortunately, there is almost always some wind, or a thunderstorm, or a whole misty day to bring some respite. And of course the beauty and clarity of our surroundings is a constant companion - with the hottest days boasting the most classical beauty!
Joanna is now entering her eighth month of pregnancy, and the physical demands of day-to-day life (walking about 4 km per day, for a start, as well as a fairly significant teaching load this month) are starting to become challenging, especially since she twisted her ankle a few weeks ago. Recovery has been slow, unsurprisingly! Adam is taking on more and more of the life-admin around the house in order to manage her capacity, but we are both tired. The last stretch of working 6 days a week has not been easy on either of us. Happily, Jo at least can start to take a backseat at Axium again, as everyone is back from leave, and some of the staffing vacancies have been filled. She will also be able to focus more on her teacher coaching and resource development rather than rushing from one classroom to the next - a win all around!
Our baby is doing well. We had a check-up with a private obstetrician in East London part way through February (grabbing the opportunity to do lots of chores and fix our car at the same time) and he had nothing but good news, except that Jo needs to drink more water! Yesterday evening after church we had another of our monthly check-ups at the hospital. This time we listened to her heartbeat on the CTG machine - a wonderfully soothing ten minutes! The results were again completely reassuring, though we discovered that babies have very high average heart-rates! We have met with such loving care at our hospital, and are very happy with our decision to try and deliver our daughter here.
Around our home, when we have any spare energy, we are trying to set things straight for our child's arrival. Our tiny veggie patch has made little progress, but the faithful spinach plants are starting to provide us with vegetables when we don't get to the shops. Mama Nophumzile has also been feeding us (well, in particular Joanna) green vegetables (imifuno) as she is concerned about the baby getting proper nutrition!
We also brought a few more home essentials while in East London. A few more cloth nappies and extra washing lines were first on our list (though we are STILL waiting to get our washing machine hooked up). Some less essential buys were two comfortable camping chairs - we've already gotten good use out of them on our stoep!
As we look forward into March, we are definitely reflecting on a season of slowing down. Joanna in particular needs to listen to the needs of her body, and manage her own expectations of how much work she is able to get done. She is getting better at asking for help when picking things up off the floor, for a start!
We are very grateful for a supportive workplace and colleagues who are the first to encourage Jo to take it easier; and even more grateful to be in jobs that we love and believe in. Finding it hard to leave work is really a function of how much we feel we are in the right place, serving the right people, and that is a massive privilege.
That's all for now. Next time we write, who knows? We might even have baby pictures!