5 week update

Wow, time has flown by.  It's hard to believe we left Towne Lake over a month ago.  So what have we been up to the past 5 weeks? Well...after the Annual Meeting (which I will have to write a separate post about!  I mean...how exciting and incredible was it to be a part of history? and how much are you loving your new Bible??) and our Circuit Assembly the following weekend in Georgia, we left for a two week trip to spend time with my family before our move. 

First stop: Columbia, SC. 

 Granddad and Grandmom Arnold with me and Gregg

Granddad and Grandmom with the grandkids

 

 

We had a great time spending time with family, going out in service, and eating mom's cooking!!  No joke, I literally gained 5 pounds...and I'm not even upset about it.  It was worth every bite!

 

After we left South Carolina, we drove 9 hours down to Port Charlotte, FL to spend a week with my dad. 

 

The pier in front of dads house. 

You can actually see my dads house all the way on the left.  Not a bad view!

 

 

We went to the beach, went in service, and put his back porch to good use. :)  It was a great time! 

 

After we left Florida, we head back up to Atlanta to pack up the car.  The day we got back also happened to be our 6 year anniversary, so how sweet of Gregg's family to put together an anniversary dinner for us! 

 

That's an ice cream cake! Does my family know me or what??

Our nephew Ethan and us

 

 

It was nice to have a couple days to pack up everything.  The car filled up quick! Good thing Gregg is good at puzzles :)

 

 

So off we went on our 16 hour drive up to NJ.  We left on Friday Nov. 1, and were picking up keys to our apartment on the 2nd.  We decided to break the drive up into two days since we had been doing so much driving lately. 

 

 

 

We started getting excited when we began seeing mountains

 

 



So where are we living? Well...we scratched the whole RV idea due to the fact that a camp site cost $1,000 a month (Yup. That's right! and no...that doesn't include the camper!!) and started looking for an apartment.  I got a text from some friends we have in Bethel, and they told us about an apartment that would be available 9 miles from the Warwick jobsite, and it was fully furnished.  It was the answer to our prayers.   It was currently rented by a couple who had been accepted to Bethel for 3 months and was going to be available November 1st  (perfect timing!)  and it was around $200 less than anything else we had found. I called them right away, and via emails and texting we worked everything out.  Just one more thing that we have left in Jehovah's hands and has completely worked out...even better than we could have imagined.  So we are living in Wanaque, NJ, and I must say it is just beautiful here.

This is the road we take to the Kingdom Hall. Such a pretty drive!

The Kingdom Hall we go to.  Ringwood and West Milford Congregations meet here.

First day in service!

 

 

So, maybe you are wondering...what is our assignment? What have we been doing for the two weeks we have been here?  Well, we haven't heard anything about our temporary applications yet.  We are in the process of submitting our commuter applications, and also getting involved with the local RBC so that we can work on local Kingdom Hall builds, but in the meantime, we have been doing lots and lots of preaching.  We are enjoying pioneering together for the first time... it is truly an amazing experience.  The congregation is so loving and has been so welcoming to us, and made us feel right at home!