blessed in the 'Burgh

We are finally back home and mulling over all of the wonderful memories we have of our week-plus trip out east. It was a crazy and exhausting week in many ways, and Mike and I couldn't help but glance at each other and just smile when the kids were having simultaneous loud meltdowns in the van as we drew ever closer to Wisconsin this evening. But after the winter we've just experienced, it was such a gift to be able spend some quality face time with many of our favorite people in the world. There will likely be a lot of "blessings" in these travel posts, but that's just how I was/am feeling-- truly blessed by friends and family. Our trip was scrunched, considering all of the driving, and the fact that we split our time between locations (we slept four different places in eight nights). We only had two days in Pittsburgh (Mike worked from the Pittsburgh office on both Thursday and Friday), so we didn't get to see all of the people we would have liked to see, but I guess that's how things go when you're traveling with four little people who still require naps/quiet time and time is limited. My camera was buried amidst a van-ful of stuff during our first sweet reunion- an early birthday party for one of Jack's dearest buddies, so I'll have to steal some from Sue's blog ;^)) This family. I've known Sue since Jack was a baby, but I feel like we've grown so much as friends just this past year,especially during the time we've been away, perhaps because Sue and I are both introverts and seem to communicate more naturally and openly via email. I think we're both learning how similar we actually are in personality and takes on life. I've been so thankful to have this faith-filled family's wise influence, prayers, and love from a distance. They're a blessing... real keepers. Speaking of keepers... what would we do without this family? It seems they've been around since the beginning. I learned to parent alongside Kaethe-- and our families have weathered so much together over these past 10+ years. Kaethe's phone-calls and emails have also been instrumental in keeping me sane since our move. We can always count on this crew for an exciting (and sometimes last-minute) family sleep-over. They graciously hosted us for two whole nights- a house-full of adults and children (seven girls and Jack and one in the womb). We lucked out that CMU's Spring Carnival happened to be the same weekend we were in town. This was the third or fourth time we've walked through the impressive student-built themed booths with the Wards. Once again, it seemed more of an opportunity for the college girls to show of their new Spring wardrobes than anything else (many of the booths had quite a ways to go towards completion).

Again, I failed to bring my camera, so these phone shots (the second courtesy of Heather) will have to do. While living in Pittsburgh, I felt blessed to be just a cross-town drive to my dear, funny sister, that our kids got to spend time playing with and growing up in close proximity to their cousins. Obviously, they can't do that so often now that we live 600+ miles apart, but hopefully even the infrequent reunions will foster a lasting bond in them. We spent some time at the Oakland library before grabbing lunch at LuLu's Noodles. And what would a get-together with my sister be without ice cream/frozen yogurt? Not even a belly full of noddles and/or babies or sleep deprived kids will stop us. This bond runs deep. Razzy Fresh was only a block away, so we didn't mind if we did.

Though only in Pittsburgh for a short time, what a blessing it was to be able to catch up with these three families. Six months is too long to be separated from people so dear to us. We were bummed to have to say goodbye all over again. Good thing this time, our goodbyes don't have to last us for nearly as long- nor for the duration such a dismal winter! On to Maryland...