Turning Over a New Leaf

I know – it’s cliche! Six months ago today we drove away from New Jersey to head to our new home in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. It was the beginning of a new phase in our life – turning over a new leaf.

bridge near Fiona's school

In two days we will have been in our new home for six months. I must say I’ve enjoyed living here and plan to do so for a while yet. Sometimes the itch to travel comes on and we have to take a long drive. It’s time for one now as a matter of fact. Maybe this weekend.

We have had beautiful weather the whole time and fall is now here. All the trees changed colors and then a couple of very windy days brought down most of the leaves on our trees. However, there are still some beautiful colors to be seen.

fall colors on the trees

I wonder what winter will be like….? Will keep you posted. :)

 

South New Jersey in the Fall is Beautiful

We’ve been in South New Jersey for nearly three weeks now. You probably thought we fell off the face of the earth since we haven’t posted much here lately. No, we didn’t. We’re alive, and even well!

Let me first say that we’re enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Seeing all the different colors in trees everywhere is spectacular! I love that even when it’s cold, there’s usually sunshine. And it’s a nice 55 degrees right now at 5 pm.

So what is going on with us?

In August while we were house sitting for Rita and Carl again in Colorado, we were contacted about coming to New Jersey to house sit for several months. It seemed like this would be a good opportunity for us and arranged to make our way out here. In the meantime we also arranged for the Big Book Release Party on November 11, 2011 in Philadelphia.

As soon as we arrived we realized we wouldn’t be able to stay at this assignment. Joel immediately had very bad allergic reactions to what we believe is some sort of hidden molds in the home. We’ve been told by several locals that this particular area has had mold problems due to flooding. Within a few days Fiona also started having symptoms. We knew we had to make other housing arrangements immediately. And it had to be in this area since the book release party was coming up soon.

Someone in our local Bible Study group was able to loan us an air purification unit for a week or so to help alleviate the symptoms until we could find other accommodations. Within 10 days one of our new friends in the Study group had contacted one of their friends who had some extra rooms available. We talked with them and explained that we needed a place to stay immediately and that if possible, we’d like to work something out to rent their rooms for a while.

So now we’re staying with Cheryl and Joel. Yep, there are two Joel’s in the household! They are wonderful people and it looks like we’ll be with them for a bit.

To add to the fun, we had already invited our son James out to stay with us and join us in the business. We’re working out all the details but he’ll be joining us shortly. We do have a mailing address in New Jersey now. So if you’d like to send us a letter, just contact us and we’ll send that address along!

That’s the latest! We hope to travel to various spots here on the East coast while we’re in this area. So watch for more…