ARF

Lovely to meet some of you at the EDT a couple of weeks back. Just to report the arrival of Laura last Monday, 23 March. She was a few days early, and arrived so quickly that it was an unplanned homebirth as we didn't have time to get to Kings. All went very smoothly thanks to the lovely Oakwood midwives. Interested to see the discussion about dates above - I had followed my midwife's advice to eat six dates a day from 36 weeks. A not very scientific sample of one but it worked for me this time round - a totally different experience to the three day induction with my first daughter. I haven't fancied a date since though! Anyway, couldn't quite manage meeting up on Mon, but would def be up for meeting up with any Spring bumps and babies from next week onwards. Alexia

I am due on 27 Mar and have a daughter who will be 28 months. I would love to meet up but have my 36 week scan tomorrow morning so can't make it then. I've just started maternity leave so hope I can make it the next time. Alexia

I received a DIY kit as a present which came with the clay and a frame and my husband and I managed to get really good prints of our daughter. There look to be various versions available online.

I recommend the post office on Forest Hill Road, in the parade of shops next to the Herne Tavern. I had a passport photo of my 5 month old done there today and it was very quick and easy and the staff were lovely.

Were they two guys with a wheelbarrow? I saw them peering into a neighbour's front garden in Ryedale earlier and thought they looked up to no good.

Very little discussion of this month's book given the distractions of curry, and more importantly, sending Helen off with our good wishes for her move to Hong Kong. We agreed to carry over discussion of The Suspicion of Mr Whicher to next month's meeting, at which we will also discuss our next book - The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (synopsis below). The next meeting will be on Wednesday 11th April, back at the Clockhouse. Happy Easter! Missionary Nathan Price, along with his wife and four daughters, have just moved to the Belgian Congo. It is 1959 and Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to spread the Word in a remote village reachable only by airplane. To say that he and his family are woefully unprepared would be an understatement: "We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle," says Leah, one of Nathan's four daughters. But of course it isn't long before they discover that the tremendous humidity has rendered the mixes unusable, their clothes are unsuitable and they've arrived in the middle of political upheaval as the Congolese seek to wrest independence from Belgium. In addition to poisonous snakes, dangerous animals, and the hostility of the villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in the jungle and the threat of war in the air. Could things get any worse? In fact they can and they do. The first part of The Poisonwood Bible revolves around Nathan's intransigent, bullying personality and his effect on both his family and on the village they have come to. As political instability grows in the Congo, so does the local witch doctor's animus toward the Prices, and both seem to converge with tragic consequences about halfway through the novel. From that point on, the family is dispersed and the novel follows each member's fortunes across a span of more than 30 years.