Splittin' the Mitten

Well, the name says it all. As you can see, this is now "The Sheep and the Goats: Life Lessons From the U.P." My family and I took a gamble and came to live with the yoopers. So whats with the title "Splittin' the Mitten"? Look at a map. The shortest route from NW Ohio to the U.P. is straight through downstate Michigan (the mitten). We've traveled those roads so many times in the last two months...it's really kind of sad.

I took a job in Marquette, Michigan. It's the largest city in the whole U.P. with a modest population of ~20,000. We bought a house in a small town called Negaunee (crazy Native American names up here). I've been at the new job for about a month now. Seems like a very interesting company. My co-workers have been great to work with so far.

What else...hmm...? Oh, we're also expecting again! Eshell is due in early-to-mid December. That was a surprise.

Our van also broke down. Luckily it happened before Eshell and the children made the trip up here. I can't imagine the chaos of it breaking down on the busy interstate with all of the children somewhere in Michigan. The mechanic wanted $5000 for a new motor. We have a good friend down there who's wheeling-n-dealing with a mechanic friend of his on our behalf. So, last Friday I'm on my way to Ohio to pick Eshell and the kids up to bring them to Michigan because we're closing on our house on the following Tuesday. I just cruised through Mount Pleasant and it's 11:00 p.m. I hit a deer in our only functioning vehicle. The car is rendered inoperable. I call the cops and he calls a tow truck and a hotel. Very nice people in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The hotel gave me a room at a discounted rate because of my circumstances. The hotel let me stay an additional three hours for free. The guy at Nextell let me charge my cell phone in his store (turned out his family was originally from Hicksville, Ohio). And the people at Starbucks let me sit in their store for about an hour and a half while my brother brought my wife and kids to pick me up and bring us to Marquette. The car should be fixed by the middle of next week. The van...not so sure. We're driving a rental mini-van for now.

So, that's it for now. I know I'm missing some other crazy adventures. They'll come to me and I'll pass them along. Hopefully my faithful reader(s) haven't given up hope. Maybe I'll get some momentum and I'll start posting again. Maybe not.

God bless!!