Our Search for Greener Housing

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 26^th. 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.