the place where we live

Ah, the hills: The North Hills, The South Hills, Penn Hills, Churchill, Squirrel Hill, Pleasant Hills etc. Then there's Mount Washington, Mount Oliver, Brighton Heights, Duquesne Heights, Crafton Heights and others. Pittsburgh should be known as the city of hills. It's not, but it should be. It more commonly goes by The Steel City or the City of Bridges for obvious reasons. But what I notice most about Pittsburgh are the incredibly steep hills! Check these out:

And these are just one set of the "Dirty Dozen" of the steepest hills around the city...and these aren't even in the top 5 steepest hills either. It's like driving on a roller coaster around here sometimes. Because not only are there the steep hills that go straight up, there's the long windy ascents and crazy s-turns all over the place too.

It's really a pretty city though and very unique due to the three rivers that run through it (hence the bridges). Last summer when we visited. we took the kids on a river boat cruise. It was quite fun to see all the sights.

Living here will definitely be an adventure!

Generational Experiences

One of the joys of being a stay at home mom and a homeschooler is the freedom I have with my time. I took advantage of this by spending one afternoon a week with my husband's grandparents, aka Nina and Boppy. I started going over for lunch regularly when I was pregnant with Noah and continued after Lily was born and after Boppy passed and right up until the day we moved. In the last few years it evolved from lunchtime chitchats to game time to piano lessons for the kids.

What a blessing that time has been for all of us...to get to know and learn from the generations that have come before. We got to hear stories of days gone by as well as stories of my mother-in-law's childhood and family members that we'll never meet but who had an influence in some measure on our family today. It really helped me to feel more a part of my 'in-law' family and will be treasured memories for me and my kids for the rest of our lives. And it's not many kids who can say they learned how to play piano from their great-grandmother! We will sorely miss that tradition.

However, the great thing about moving to Pittsburgh is the fact that my family is here and we are not without a support system. Luke will get the chance to experience the blessing of in-laws who accept him whole-heartedly into their midst. We also have the chance to spend time with my grandmother and some great aunts and uncles.

The RP Home is a nursing and assisted living home where my mother works and also where many of my older relatives live. All of my grandparents lived there at one time but now only my maternal grandmother is living. This happens to be the grandmother who wrote her auto-biography, which was recently re-published as, Nadzieja, the Story of a Girl Named Hope. My daughter, Liliana Nadzieja, was named after her.

Just yesterday my sister and her boys, Sebastien (almost 9) and Oren (6) met us there to spend some time with her and two of my Great-Aunts who live there as well. I love that my children get the chance to know and be known by them! My grandmother, who is Russian, grew up in a Polish orphanage and has many stories to tell and she does so with her rolling Russian accent, which I just love to listen to. The kids sat drawing her pictures and telling her of their activities and what they are learning in school and she laughed and joked with them and told them that they were all going to be artists when they grow up. She should know as she was quite an accomplished painter as well as author.

We then had lunch with my paternal Great-Aunt, Jean and then my maternal Great-Aunt, Shirley who lives across the hall joined us for games and puzzles. Noah and Lily loved playing games and putting puzzles together with Nina and now they can do the same with their great, great aunts. Noah desperately wants to beat Aunt Jean at Othello as he played and lost to her the last time we were in Pittsburgh for a visit.

I don't know if this will be as regular a thing as our Fridays with Nina but we will definitely be using some of our free time to spend with these wonderful relatives.

Life in the 'burgh begins

I am sitting at the dining room table, drinking coffee, reading, checking email and facebook, and blogging. A normal, everyday occurrence in my life. The only difference is that I'm at my parent's dining room table three states and 8-and-a-half hours away from where I was doing this yesterday...

We arrived here in Pittsburgh last night after an uneventful trip, thank God, and got to my parent's house before Luke got home from work. My parents are on vacation in Cypress for 2 weeks so we have their house to ourselves for the time being. It's a good chance to get settled without feeling in the way, which I am grateful for but we do miss them. I'll have to be careful not to overtake too much of their space :)

Our first order of business will be to check out the local library and food co-op. The children are getting tired of just reading comics and need some new material and I am in need of some good, healthy, gluten-free food! I hope both are to our liking. We may even check out the gymnastics gym that is next door to the co-op and see about getting Lily signed up for a class.

So, life isn't so different...but it sure feels weird right now.

Easter and an update

Yesterday was Easter...a blessed Holy-day. A day to celebrate the ultimate gift of new life in Christ. It was a beautiful day spent with friends and family and the only thing that was lacking was the fact that Luke was not here to celebrate with us. It was the first Easter in at least 13 years that we were apart. He spent the day with my family in Pittsburgh while the kids and I spent it here with his.

He left last Thursday to start our new life in Pittsburgh. He drove the 26-foot Penske truck loaded with all our worldly possessions and our pick-up hitched on the back. It took him 13 hours to drive what normally takes us 8-9 and on top of the slow driving one of the tires on the trailer went flat. But he got there safely and got everything unloaded at a storage space with the help of my dad, brother-in-law and lots of guys from their church (Thank you!) in quick fashion and had time to rest and relax and enjoy the holiday as well.

Now he is at his new job and I am praying that he has a great day getting acclimated and meeting his co-workers.

I did manage to get some pictures of our day so I can share some of the new memories we made yesterday...

my kids in their Easter finery

me with my gorgeous sister-in-law, Rebecca

and my good friend, Jill

and my Nina

Love you all!

packing, packing, and more packing

the house is looking very bare. when we put our house on the market about a month ago we had to de-clutter to make it look less lived-in and more sell-able. we packed a lot of stuff and put several pieces of 'extra' furniture down in the basement. it actually looked really great: more open and clean and bright. i came to appreciate this place a lot more than i did just before we had to sell it. o, the irony.

yesterday saw the start of the marathon of packing as we come up on the final week in our home. boxes are everywhere, drawers are empty, walls are blank. reality is setting in.

*sigh*