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2012 is shaping up to be the craziest year Exodus has ever seen. Early in June, after months of dedicated work, we launched the newest version of our website—what Eli thought would be the big news of the year (more on that below)—but that is fast being eclipsed by lots of personal news!
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On June 2nd, Caleb married the love of his life—Kristin Kelly of Salem. He is relishing being a husband and can barely wait to leave Exodus every evening. We can't really fault him for that.
He and Kristin are enjoying making a home together and are spending a good deal of their "spare time" beautifying their house and yard.
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Jon is engaged to Laura Root! They're planning an August 18th wedding. Please note that will mean an early closure for Exodus on that Saturday—can't be helped!
This is a big transition for Jon and Exodus. Jon has worked at Exodus five of the last seven years and will be leaving our employment shortly after the wedding. He has been a huge benefit to the company and we'll miss his clear mind, strong opinions, and willingness to speak up for his beliefs.
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From Jon: "It has been a great joy to serve ya'll these last 7 years, talking with and befriending many of you. My interactions with you have sharpened and challenged me. You'll be missed; thanks for allowing me to serve you."
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Exodus Alum Joseph Forster isn't at the store as much as he used to be, but he still teaches music lessons one day a week and helps us keep our bank statements balanced. The rest of the time, he's gallivanting around the countryside tuning and repairing pianos.
He and his wife Hannah are expecting their first baby—a boy—at any time!
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On a personal front, our younger daughter Esther is turning three this week, and this year she gets to share her birthday with Stephen, turning one. Both are happy, busy, loving, adorable kids and it's a real privelege to be their daddy!
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And the biggest news for our family: we're buying a house! It's a beautiful 1900 farm house out in Mulino, Oregon, about 4 miles south of Oregon City. It'll be a slightly longer commute for me, but so worth it. Amanda and I are dreaming of how to make it a center of Evans hospitality. You can pray that the deal goes through; we have a closing date of August 31st.
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Now, if you have an abnormal sense of curiosity, you may be asking: So what about the new website?
Other than the overall look (which is huge), here's what has been improved:
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Revamped homepage, less text and more friendly. New announcement carousel helps us display new products and specials. "Tiles" direct you to main site sections.
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Curriculum overview pages narrow down options based on grade levels needed.
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New autofill search feature.
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Wish list now complete!
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Item detail pages enhanced, more white space, most items have "large" images.
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Every item now has grade recommendations, helpful for browsing and filtering.
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Category enhancements: breadcrumb trails to help you navigate; carousels for related material.
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New filters to help you narrow down selections—especially helpful in history and literature categories, but coming for other sections too! (more on this in a future newsletter)
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Revamped related items system—more intuitive and less space consuming.
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Thousands more product samples, more visible with buttons instead of text links.
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Ever more product reviews.
This launch is the culmination of ten years of development. There are definitely more improvements we could make, but we believe this version holds it own with the best home school websites in existence. We want to thank Zack Lyons (our webmaster), my wife Amanda (for her graphic design), Caleb (for his writing), and Jon, Hadley, and Zachariah Paul for all of their efforts over the last eight months. We certainly encourage you to check it out!
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