It has been a long time since I felt the freedom to write for my blog. Since my last post I have done a lot of old fashioned journaling, but haven't felt the freedom to do much publicly. Let me just say that a lot has changed since my last entry. We have started a whole new chapter of our lives. October 14 we packed a 21 foot Penske van with what remained of our earthly belongings (which was quite a lot of stuff, actually,) and headed north with our two youngest daughters, the family dog and the porch swing tied to the top of our little red Vibe.
We were on our way to a new adventure, leaving West Virginia to start a new life in Hampton, New Hampshire, where Mark had been voted in as pastor of the small but mighty First Baptist Church of Hampton.
It is an adventure in many ways. Mark has never lived outside of West Virginia before, and neither have Charis and Zoe. The church congregation is small, but made up of people who believe that God is not done with Hampton First Baptist. They have a desire to see the church move forward and reach the next generation for the Lord. We were moving, for the first time, into a parsonage, and the house we thought we might spend the rest of our lives in is for sale. 
We had a great crowd to help us unload- new friends from the church and some of my family drove down from Maine. We even had a volunteer from a local high school, putting in her community service hours. It was a good day, though I personally didn't know what to do with myself. Thankfully, we had lots of other good help.
I am including a few more random pictures of the day, though the one I didn't get would probably be the best- Mark and Joe Noyes could only get our couch into the house by putting it through the living room window. It's a long story, but we are just glad they actually found a way to get it in.
So, the silence is broken. You will hear from me again much sooner this time.
