Moving to Aitkin!!!

Well, it's official. We have successfully moved to Aitkin and are now Gobblers!!! (Yes, that is our mascot). It was a crazy couple of weeks as we said goodbye to ministry jobs that we both loved, and friends and family that we became accustomed to spending so much time with. The weekend before we moved, I had a great ordination service that so many incredible friends and family attended! Bishop Thomas Aitkin from the Northwest Minnesota Synod was the one who had the privledge of ordaining me, and the ordination was held at what I consider to be my home church, Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Stillwater (see previous post). 

Then, after spending the week packing up our offices and our apartment, we packed the moving truck and headed north to Aitkin...(Literally...all my belongings in one truck. Crazy). 

We were met in Aitkin by lots of people from our new church who were ready to help!! Michael went up a few hours before I did...I stayed back and cleaned the apartment with my mom and then picked up the girls from my aunt Terri's house and made the drive up. By the time I got to our house in Aitkin, the truck was almost unloaded and people were even starting to put together beds, dressers, book cases, etc. for us!! Oh - and did I mention that they brought us food too!!!??? yep! It was delicious! What a welcome! 

My parents and Brady stayed with us for the weekend and we slowly got things unpacked and moved in. We also got some things taken care of like grocery shopping...

And playing on the new trampoline...

And breaking in the toy room...

And exploring the local park...

And of course...catching up on some sleep on our new and fabulous couch...(well, some of us anyway...)

And as the week went on, we have slowly gotten settled in. We are so lucky that we have even had visitors in the past week that we've been here!!

Addi got to hang out with her cousin Claire for the afternoon on their way home from Itasca State Park on Monday, and we also got to hang out with the Ericksons last weekend for one evening as well!! We have a guest room AND an extra futon downstairs, so you are all welcome to come and stay with us anytime!! We love visitors!! 

So we continue unpacking and getting settled. One of the great perks of small towns is that we literally can walk everywhere and we love that!! We've headed into Brainerd twice already and still have yet to gas up our cars since we've been here! We've also scouted out some great little spots in town for food, ice cream, and coffee!! And as we've been unpacking, we've been finding some fun things...such as winter hats!! (no...I do NOT want winter to come yet, but the kids had fun trying them on)

Michael is adjusting to his new job as a stay at home dad (and is FABULOUS at it may I add!! He takes the girls to the park and library and everything!!) and I'm adjusting to my new job as the associate pastor to Children, Youth and Families at First Lutheran...so far so good! 

Yep...we are loving life in Aitkin!! God is good.