A Fresh New Year

Greetings from the warm southern state of Arkansas. As I check out the Minnesota weather on the internet, I am reminded once again of one of the many blessings of our move. While the North coils under a freezing arctic blast, we continue to stretch and grow under the southern warmth of sunshine.


And, we have been busy.

New Years Day seemed like a perfect opportunity to get outside and play in the sun. Our destination was the Coleman quartz mine and the forecast was calling for temps in the 50's. We were fortunate our weather had been favorable all week; no rain meant that we would not be digging in mud. It felt good to be outside digging in the earth and looking once again for her treasures - even though the ground was cold and our fingers froze up quickly. We came away with happy hearts but realized we probably wouldn't return again until the end of February. (Spring) This is "show" season as most of the mine operations are geared to preparing and attending the various shows around the country. The focus at the Coleman mine we were told was packing - no trucks were working down in the mine. Of course, it was a Holiday! We were content with going through the existing piles that were dumped the previous week. Most of the piles seemed to be from clean up work as there were not a lot of crystals to be found. Again, we were just happy to be outside – In January – digging in the earth.

Last weekend we finally made it out to our land for some quality time. We can only go on the weeks that Jack is not on call as his work cell phone has no reception on the land. We are working to find a solution to this phone issue as it will limit when we are actually able to move to our land as well.

We spent the weekend mapping out where we want our new home located and clearing out some of the small brush. The land is filled with very large pine trees and smaller oak trees. Our goal is to have a very minimal impact on the land and only remove as many of the larger trees as are absolutely necessary. A lot of the bush and clutter around the house site will have to go though as we don't want to encourage snakes and critters to take up residence in our immediate living space. We also enjoyed walking along our creek and spending time in meditation. It was so peaceful in the woods! I know I will have to visit the woods often until we can actually move out there.

So far this year, we also attended our first Course in Miracles class and were able to participate in a healing session at our new Unity Church. The course class was a little more structured than we were used to but both Jack and I realize that is what we need right now. At the healing session, we met a woman who has connections with the Psychic community of Little Rock. She also gave me a lead on a possible job at the University of Arkansas - in their research department. It was enough to motivate me to update my resume, get a haircut and freshen up my suit.

This afternoon - I think I'll head over to the local job service to see what is available in the area - besides retail! It feels like it's time for me to find a pleasurable way to earn income as we continue to settle into our new home and community.