I'm Back

I just remembered that I created this blog a few years back, and decided that it's time for me to start blogging...

Here's a quick recap of the last two years:

On October 4, 2007, Isaac Erlo Schleif was born in Winona. Lori and I quickly realized that when everyone tells you that "everything changes when you have a kid", they are correct. Isaac is now 18 months old, and is the best thing in the world. More on him later.

At the end of 2007, we were already planning on moving out of Winona, and somehow getting ourselves to Northfield. We had targeted that town due to several reasons, most importantly proximity to family, but the great schools and high level of civic involvement played heavily into things.

In March of 2008, I was offered a job at Kenyon-Wanamingo MS/HS and immediately accepted. We got the house ready to sell, and started looking at homes in Northfield. Since Lori is an online math teacher, she is a bit more mobile, and can work wherever there is an internet connection. At the same time, I was offered a position as Senior Choir director at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Northfield, which I also accepted. Things were starting to fall into place.

With the house on the market, our summer was spent dreaming of our new possibilities and just enjoying our time with Isaac. We will NEVER take for granted the fact that we will always have our summers together as a family.

By August, our house had not sold, and we were planning on moving into temporary housing in Northfield, with the hope that the house would sell within the next few months. The day we were packing to move out, we got an offer, and sold the place. Everything was now ready. We could start looking more seriously for a place in Northfield, but still had a great rental place due to the generosity of one of my sister's friends who happened to have an "extra" house.

We had seen a great place in Northfield that had been vacant for a while, but did not show up on any real estate listings. Then, when driving by one day, there was a for sale sign up. We made an offer the next day, and moved in 3 weeks later.

That brings us to Spring 2009. I'm just finishing up my first school year at the new job, and it's been great. Rebuilding a choir program is one of my favorite things to do, and it's been a fantastic process so far. My church job expanded in January, when I accepted the position of Cornerstone Leader, the contemporary worship ensemble at St. Peters. I'm also the assistant golf coach at school, which keeps me (too) busy during the spring.

Lori is staying home with Isaac, tackling not only her half-time work as a teacher, but the full-time responsibilities of being a stay at home mom.

Isaac is at that wonderful stage in which he is learning several new words each day, and becoming more and more independent. I would take a guess that the bulk of my blog posts will focus around him!

It's my goal to blog at least once a week. Feel free to remind me of that on occasion!