Who moves to New Jersey?!?!

We do. That's right. All five of us, and our stinky cat, George, packed up all of our earthly belongings - at least the ones that would fit in a UHaul, travel trailer, truck and mini van, and we headed East...for about 9 hours. The drive took FAR longer than the 9 hours our GPS told us, but we made it safely. 

Matt took a new position for a school out here in NJ. We prayed and talked about it. We sought wise counsel...we prayed some more...I cried and then we both declared that the right thing for us to do at this point in our life was to take this next step of faith. I'm constantly asked, do you know someone out here...my answer: "Not a soul". I've had the opportunity to meet and befriend another young wife and mother who also relocated to Jersey from Michigan just a few years ago. For someone as social as me, this has been quite a change.

 I'm certain I will adjust as well as our kids have soon, but for now, I've kept a bit to myself and enjoyed making our new house a home. I've found there are several pluses to living in NJ. Actually, most of the things about this area are wonderful.

 There is just one BIG FAT negative...no family or loved ones here! Well two really - no family and the extremely high cost of living on the East Coast. I LOVE that where our new home is, we are no more than 1.5 hours from anything and everything you could ever want to do. Oceans, New York, mountains, theme parks, water parks, lakes, forests, and etc. You name it - it's here (or in PA or NY). 

Our new home (rental property), is lovely. It's a large home. Much larger than our home in MI and quite nice. It sits at the top of a high street in the middle of the woods. Our street is full of children and our kids have made fast friends with many of them. They disappear outside for hours at a time. They run and play and get dirty and I love it.  In fact, I can hear them running and yelling outside right now with some friends..although it's odd what you hear boys say when they are running and playing.  Things like...EVERYBODY DOWN...IT'S A BOMB or I'M GOING TO SHOOT...thankfully, we all know it's kid out there!

People don't move the Jersey.  They move to places like California or Florida...not Jersey.  We really have been pleasantly surprised.  It's NOTHING like the crazy folks on Jersey Shore.  In fact, most people here are ashamed to admit that they film that show here!  Most folks are just as nice and friendly as you'd expect.  I grew up in MI so it's not as if, I'm coming from the South where everyone is friendly and full of smiles.  I'm used to rude folks on occasion and haven't encountered too many of them.

So...We moved to Jersey.