As many of you know, my partner Margy
and I started a search for greener housing while I was on sabbatical
last summer. Becoming more and more aware of the environmental
challenges that we are facing on our planet, we wanted to find a way
to take some steps toward using less fossil fuels, and putting less
carbon in the air. We decided it would be good to live in a smaller
house and move closer to Portland. We started to look for a house
that would have a southern exposure for solar panels, as well as meet
our other needs and wishes. I started to blog about the process and
the lessons learned along the way. (You can find that blog at
www.findingourwayhomeblog.wordpress.com
)
We will be moving to our new home in
Portland on February 26th. We aren't finished with our
journey toward greener housing—that will be an ongoing process.
But our new house is small, with a big yard that will hold food
gardens of some kind in the future. We've installed lots of
insulation in the attic and basement rim joists, and air source heat
pumps that are very efficient for heating and cooling. We are
exploring the options for solar panels, and hope to be able to have
those installed later this spring. It is a lot of work, but I feel
very happy at the prospect of moving closer to the deep ecological
values I hold dear.
We are still in the process of selling
our house in North Yarmouth, and hoping that will go smoothly. We
are in negotiations with a promising buyer. I will be taking some
unused vacation days and be away from the office from Feb 23 to March
2 as we pack and make our physical move. Our church administrator will check phone messages for me. In case of
emergency, you can reach me on my cell phone. You can
also contact the Pastoral Care Team via care@a2u2.org.
Wish us good weather for our moving day! Thank you for your support
and encouragement on this journey.
