Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!

I decided to make a new start with a new blog title and layout in honor of the new chapter in our lives which my family started this month, relocating across the country from the Philadelphia area to the Tucson area. We flew out to Arizona on January 14, and moved into our new home in Oro Valley on January 16. Steve started his new job, which is the reason we came out here, this past week (more on that, and him, later!) We've been working hard at unpacking and learning our way around our new city since then.

This was all pretty unexpected and it all seems to have happened so quickly, yet through the whole process, we've truly felt that God has been guiding us and leading us here - and we absolutely LOVE it! We are thrilled to be here in this wonderful city in the midst of the gorgeous Sonoran Desert, but we think of the family and friends we left behind in the Northeast all the time, and miss you all very much. Over the next few days, I plan to tell you about all the things that have made me fall in love with our new commnuity so quickly - and hopefully, after hearing all about them, you'll want to come visit us soon!

We live in a beautiful community called Cañada Hills (cañada in Spanish meaning a valley, dale, or glen, and pronounced "ka-nyah'-da" - not like the country!) It's a large development, central to everything you'd ever need, just a few miles from the city line of Tucson proper, with golf, tennis, and beautiful houses ranging from quite lovely, spacious single-family homes like ours to truly incredible houses that sell for close to $1 million. (I can't tell you how much I wish my Dad were here to see this neighborhood and this house. He would love it.) Everyone is SO friendly, and there are lots of families with young kids, including a Catholic homeschooling family with seven kids just across the street from us!

In the meantime though, I've been promising some photos from the move and of the new house, so here they are! More, of the inside, to come once we've unpacked and decorated....