It’s been a “Balkan” month as one computer or internet problem after another have left us rather stressed and behind in work and correspondence, hence the reason some of you haven’t heard from us in a while. We have also been busy with a move – yes, we’ve just moved into the nearby town of Estes Park for the remainder of our time here. Living18 miles from the nearest supermarket and from church and friends became quite challenging after Luke was born. So when the opportunity arose to move and save on monthly expenses at the same time, we took it. We miss the peace and beauty of our home in the woods, but our move is already making life a little easier for me (Jo) especially. I can take Luke out in the stroller now and he’s enjoying the more frequent outings and extra stimulation. Our new address is:

508 St. Vrain Lane

Estes Park, CO 80517

Tel: (720) 212 0542

The telephone area code is actually a Denver one because we are using an Internet based system called “Vonage” and there were no local numbers available. We should be able to take this number with us wherever we go in the world. Our email address remains the same.)

If you only receive our snail mail updates, you may not know that in April, I (Jo) stopped working for Pinebrook Vacation Rentals. The workload continued to increase as the summer approached and I found that it was too difficult to juggle Luke’s needs and my need to get some work done. It wasn’t an easy decision but both Luke and I are less stressed now that my focus is not so divided. And Pinebrook continues to do well without me.

Erik’s health has not been 100% recently. Just after we last wrote, he started to have problems hearing. At the same time he was experiencing frequent attacks of nausea, dizziness and intense exhaustion. We didn’t realize they were related, but after consultation with a specialist, it was suggested he might have Menieres Disease. This is (as far as I understand) a disease of the inner ear which produces all of the above symptoms. These attacks were forcing him to spend hours lying or sitting immobile, waiting for his world to stop spinning and his stomach to stop heaving. The good news is that after much research and some experimentation, we have discovered that if Erik keeps to a very strict low sodium diet he is able to do fairly well most days. This is not easy – it’s amazing just how much sodium is in everything – even fresh carrots! So menu options are limited, but it seems to be helping so we’re persevering with it. I never thought I’d see Erik eat so many salads 

We are continually praying about and looking towards next January, when the plan is to return overseas. As yet we don’t know exactly what we will be doing. We have had 4 different proposals made to us in the last 2 weeks and many ideas of our own, but for the moment it seems as if God is asking us to wait. Those who know us know that we like to have things planned out in advance, so this is a challenging experience for us, but it’s a good lesson none the less. We would appreciate your prayers though as we listen to the Lord and seek to make the right decisions.

To end with, here’s a recent photo of Luke. He’s now 10 1/2 months old, laughs at anything and everything and can’t sit still for a second!

From all of us,

Love Jo, Erik & Luke