Moving, Moving, Moving

We decided on our move date based on Nathan's birthday.  We needed to wait for his IEP to go into effect on his birthday before we moved so that it would transfer to Colorado.  If we left before Nathan's birthday, we would have to start completely from scratch.   It was well worth it for us to wait after Brad's graduation before we moved.

We had so much help packing up.  There were many friends from our ward and even a friend from dental school came to help us pack up.  We’d like to think they were there for us, but we know it was really for the free Krispy Kremes we bribed them with.  How else were we going to get people up at 8 am on a Saturday to help us move?  We had a lot of help so loading up our pods was pretty quick.  Then we cleaned, dropped off the keys, and headed out.

I felt a little bad that we spend Nathan’s birthday moving and in car.  He did get to have one last play date with his buddy Russell on his birthday while we were packing up.  Then, while we were in the car, I had wrapped some presents for Nathan to open.  Nathan has recently gotten into Thomas the Train and so I got him a set of the characters.  He was so excited to open up the new trains.  He knows all the names and loves to play with them.

It took us about 17 hours of driving time to get to Minnesota.  The kids did surprisingly well until the about the last 2 hours.  Then they were just done.  We were done too.  Good thing we had Grandma and Grandpa’s house to crash at for a few days.

Things To Know About Philly

If you are moving to Philly there are a few things you should know right off the bat:
- I know people always say traffic is bad wherever they live, but driving in Philly is like driving in another country.  People don't pay attention to red lights.  It's a very common occurrence for cars to be parked in traffic, blocking a whole lane.  I'm talking about at least 15 just to go pick up Brad from school. Usually right next to an open parking spot. Pedestrians do not look before they cross the street. Take any estimate of driving time and at least double it and you'll be closer to the truth.  There aren't turn lanes usually.  You just block traffic until you can go. Traffic is truly awful.
- Also, don't turn right on red.  You will get a ticket.  I'm serious.
- One way roads.  Which can turn into two way roads.  And then back to one way.  All in a 2 miles stretch.  You'll get used to it.
- You know how you complained in drivers ed that you'd never use parallel parking? Well, you'll use it multiple times a day here.
- Did I mention traffic is awful?
- It's a good idea to carry cash.  There are a good number of things you'll need it for.
- Be safe.  I can't count how many friends were robbed while we've lived here. Things can be stolen right out of your hands.  Or even your car (not just what was in your car, but your actual car) from the street.  Brad was assaulted on the street. Philly didn't get the name City of Brotherly Shove for nothin.
- Housing out here starts at about 80-90 years old so rentals are a little outdated.  Don't expect A/C, garbage disposals, gas heating, doors that close properly, floors that are even, bathrooms that are updated, etc.  It's just not very common.
- Go to craft night and book club.  Not only are these great nights to get out of the house, but these ladies will be your closest friends.

Things you'll know after 4 years:
- Some seriously good eats.
- In four years, you'll call the cops more times here than you've ever had to in your entire life.
- There is amazing medical care to be had here.  We've had some seriously wonderful doctors through CHOP and Penn.  Both are top in their field.
- The trees.  Oh the beautiful trees.  People rave about New England fall, but spring is my favorite.  Magnolia, cherry, and dogwood trees all in bloom.  It's gorgeous.
- We had a friend who introduced us to Philly as "the armpit of America." Sandwiched between two world famous cities of New York City and Washington, D.C., Philadelphia is a city with a lot of problems.
- Potholes will not be filled for at least a month.  Please memorize we're they are if you don't want to burst a tire.
- So much history.  Philadelphia was once the capital of the US and as such a lot of very important historical events occurred here and in the surrounding areas.
- Snow shuts down the city.  Even if there is the threat of snow, the mayor will declare a "snow emergency." I'm not making this up.  And often there won't be any snow and people just get the day off work.
- You are needed at church.  It's so different than a Utah ward.  There are not enough members to fill all of the callings in our ward.  You will have a calling or two. At one point Brad had 3 callings. But the opportunity to serve has made church much more meaningful to me.  You see the gospel in action.
- The wards here are very diverse.  The ward boundaries cross a lot of different neighborhoods.  You have everything from wealthy suburbs to inner city projects. We have a lot of converts.  Having gospel singing as the special musical number is not odd.  You have people from all across the world.  It's such a unique group of people, but we're all united in the gospel.
- Your friends here will become like family.  No one has family nearby so you rely on those around you.  I can't tell you how many times I've had to rely on my friends out here.  They are seriously wonderful people.

Living here has had its good and bad.  While I've wondering many many many times, "Why did we move here?!?" Philly has been the right place for our family to be.  Nathan wouldn't have been diagnosed as early if we were someplace else and we wouldn't have had as many services.  We've been needed in our ward.  Brad's been at a great program.  I'm so grateful for the wonderful friends we've made. Heavenly Father had his reasons for directing us to go to Philadelphia.

Goodbye Philadelphia

We had one last outing in downtown Philadelphia before we moved away.  We invited our friends the Murphys, who are also moving away, to come with us.  We met at Reading Terminal Market.  There is so much good food there.  We had to have one last cheesesteak in Philly.  We were able to sit around and chat while we enjoyed our food.  We'll miss the cheesesteaks, but we'll miss our friends more!  We both moved in at the same time and now we're both moving away for residencies.  We've gone through a lot in 4 years together and the Murphys became part of our family while we were away.  We'll truly miss them!

Nathan adores Shawna and Aubrey and asks for them frequently

While we were at Reading we also had to (and I mean had to) stop and get some doughnuts from the Almish.  They ran out of the apple fritters while we were in line, so we tried some new flavors and they were all delicious.

Making apple fritters

On the way home we drove around a bit to see the sights.  We passed the temple, Art Museum, and Rocky.  And then we drove around our old hood and saw our apartment in University City.  Both of us were just so happy we moved to our home in the suburbs!

When we moved to Philly we thought the temple would be done before we left.  Now we're sad we won't see it completed.

It was nice to send off Philly with good food and good friends.  Now on to our new home in Colorado!

Academy of Natural Sciences

Museum Day Live was a last weekend so we took advantage of the free tickets and went to the Academy of Natural Sciences.  There were lot so animals to go see.  Nathan's favorites were the dinosaurs, bears, and monkeys.  Nathan has been obsessed with the book, "We're Going On a Bear Hunt" so we made sure to go find all of the bears.  We'd prompt him with, "It's a . . ." and he'd fill in "Bear!" We also found a statue of a turtle that Nathan feed a few fishes to.

While we were downtown, we took a walk around Logan Square.  It's a fun spot to see a lot of Phillie sights.  From the fountain in the center you can see the Art Museum, City Hall, Franklin Museum, the Library, and the Temple!  We took a walk over to see the progress on the temple while we were out.  It makes me a little sad that we won't be here when it's finished, but it'll be such a blessing to the people of this area.  It's takes us at least 9 hours for us to go to the temple (travel time + session.)  We're hoping the next place we move to has a temple a little closer than that.

Morris Arboretum

Brad was studying on Saturday, so Nathan and I left to give Brad some quiet time.  We headed up to the Morris Arboretum for the morning.  The funny thing about the Morris Arboretum is that you get the feeling of being out in the PA countryside, but you are still in Philadelphia.  Crazy.  It made for a nice, relaxing morning together.

Zack Comes to Philly

Sometimes it is hard to describe how we know Zack.  Brad first met Zack when he was serving his mission in Denver, Colorado.  After they both got off their missions they both went to BYU and ended up having several courses together including Men's Chorus.  Well, Brad got to thinking, "You know who would be a great couple? Zack and Karen (Brad's cousin.)  They would be perfect together. But if I set them up then it would never turn out."  Well, little did Brad know that Zack and Karen had already gone on their first date.  Now, they are married and expecting their first baby.  So Zack is our friend slash mission buddy slash cousin.

Anyways, we were so excited when Zack let us know he was coming on a business trip to Philly and wanted to play tourist.  We showed him around the usual spots, Independence Mall, Reading Market, Art Museum, and Valley Forge.  We love it when people come and we can show them around.  And it was great catching up with Zack and looking back at mission photos.  Thanks for coming Zack!

River Drive

While on our way to our family photo shoot last month we passed by the most beautiful spot.  Unfortunately, we had places to be so we couldn't stop.  We were telling our friends, the Murphy's, that it made us want to go take photos, but we weren't sure where to go.  They said they knew where some beautiful photography spots were and that they would show us around.  We stopped by Boathouse Row (#53) and a couple cool bridges that cross the Schuyllkill River.  It was the perfect night out.  Thanks Murphy's!

Philly Tour

We are pretty good tour guides if I do say so myself.  We give an awesome, whirlwind Philadelphia in one day tour if you are ever interested.  We had some new friends, the Fontouras, move into our ward and they took us up on our offer to go see the sights.  Reading Market, City Hall, LOVE Park, Chinese Friendship Arch, Independence Hall, Society Hill, Benjamin Franklin Bridge, Rocky, the Art Museum, and Penn Campus all in one day.  We even finished the tour with cheesesteaks.

We did mix this tour up a little bit by adding a stop at Penn's Landing (#31).  Brad's been wanting to take photos of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge since we moved to Phillie and today was a great day for photos.  

So, if you ever come visit us and want the tour it will only cost you a cheesesteak.

Christmastime in the City

On Sunday at church we sang both Joy to the World and Go Tell It On the Mountain in the same meeting.  The ward gospel choir (yes, you read that right, gospel choir) did a number and was moving and a swaying.  There might have been some hallelujahs and amens in there too.  And there was a harp solo.  It was quite the eclectic mix, but it was actually one of my favorite Christmas sacrament meetings ever.  It definetly had a Philadelphian spin on it.

We also had some friends over to enjoy the Packer tradition of French Pancakes at Christmas.  Yes, they heard the story of the dying French solider and why we make ten times the recipe every year.  We also made some gingerbread houses.  Scott and Mikjan made the Eiffel Tower, Nettie the Nativity scene, and Holly the house from Up.  What did we make?  Brad wanted a dental office.  He's funny like that.

Luck

We have not been very lucky lately.  I don't want to go into everything that has gone wrong, but the past few weeks have been horrible.  The worst of it started two weeks ago on Monday.  Brad was walking to his 8:00 am class and was assaulted and beat by a man on the street which sent Brad to the ER.  Brad is okay physically.  He was heavily bruised, mostly on his head.  No broken bones or serious head injuries.  He does have a nerve that was damaged, but hopefully it should heal itself within several months.  In the meantime, Brad cannot lower the right side of his lower lip.

It could have been so much worse.  If it hadn't been for an ER resident on his way to work who came to get this guy off Brad it would have gone on for much longer.  I cannot even begin to express my thanks to this man who put his own personal safety at risk to help Brad.  When other people were standing by, watching, this man came running to Brad's cries for help.

The police were able to catch the man who did this to Brad.  It is at least somewhat comforting to know that the man who did this is not on the streets anymore.

Emotionally, we are very shaken up.  We have a lot of anxiety and are trying our best to deal with it a day at a time.  And while I do not want to go into all of that, I did want to thank all of those people who have been praying, fasting, and thinking of us.  We really appreciate it. I cannot say thank you enough.  All the calls, emails, and love sent our way has meant so much to us.  We haven't wanted to be alone and having everyone keep in touch with us has helped immensely.  Please keep it up.  We still need it.

We were very lucky to have Brad's parents fly out last weekend to help us.  I could not have asked for better in-laws.  Brad's dad had just gotten back from Japan and hopped on another plane to come see us.  They are both such wonderful, caring people.

Last Sunday was a particularly hard day.  We're not quite sure why it was so hard, but it was.  We all went for a walk at the Heinz Wildlife Refuge to get our minds off things.  I've gone there before with some girlfriends, but this was the first time that I was able to go with Brad.  It was so nice to feel like we weren't in the city.  We are still traumatized by this event and having to go any where in the city has brought more of those feelings to the surface.  While traumatized may sound like a strong word, it is appropriate to what we have gone through.  It has been scary and stressful to be surrounded by ghetto.  We're having a hard time feeling safe in Philadelphia.  We haven't wanted to go outside or go anywhere minus to pick up take-out.  Being at the wildlife refuge was just so peaceful.  Beautiful trees, calm water, and graceful birds.  Just to take a deep breath for a second and be okay.

As we were walking around, I happened to glance down and something caught my eye.  I didn't believe it.  I couldn't have found one just by chance.  That was just too unusual.  But perhaps after a far out of the ordinary event maybe another one can happen, but for good.  Perhaps our luck had changed for a second, but I found a four-leaf clover when I wasn't even looking for one.

I have since framed my little four-leaf clover with an Irish saying that goes:

"A best friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have."

I do feel lucky that we have each other to help get us through this.  I wouldn't want to go it alone.

We do still have hard days and hard times.  We are going to trauma counseling to help us deal with what has happened to us.   We do feel very lucky that we have family and friends who have been so loving and supportive.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Hopefully, our luck will turn around.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia is an adventure.  Like I said earlier, some of it's good, some of it's different, and some of it's going to take some getting used to.  In fact, one of the girls in our ward said it took about a year to completely adjust to Philadelphia and like living here.  Oh, I hope it doesn't take that long.  So far Philadelphia has been mostly good.

Our first day here was a bit of a shock.  Let me paint you a picture of where we live.  Our apartment is pretty nice.  We live in the second story of a new building.  2 Bedrooms, hardwood floors, dishwasher, and best of all, central air (which is super hard to find out here.) However, the neighborhood we live in isn't the nicest.  Not that it's scary, but you can just tell when you reach this different part of town.  Since the first day arriving here and we've been getting out of the house more, I've realized that most of Philadelphia is like this.  Unless we live in the suburbs (longer transit time) or in the middle of Center City in a high rise ($$$), this is about as good as it gets.  We are very glad that we have a nice place to live.  Unpacking is making it feel more and more like home and is helping me to come to terms with this new situation.

There are great things about Philadelphia as well.  The neighborhood that is just south of us in University City and in Center City is very much a downtown area and I've really enjoyed exploring it.  It's a different experience to walk out your front door and get exactly what you want so close to you.

Love Park in Center City (I want to go back and explore)

Another great thing about Philadelphia is the history.  There is so much here!  Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Valley Forge, Betsy Ross House, Franklin Print Shop, just to name a few.  We've been able to see only a little bit of what the city offers in our first few weeks and it's amazing how much history is here.  You may notice that I've added a new page to our blog called, "Phillie Bucket List."  This is something I started compiling when we knew we were going to be moving to Philadelphia.  We're hoping we can get through a lot of the list before we leave in 4 years.

And the food!  Part of moving is the "eating out until you want to puke or you have the kitchen put back together" stage.  Which means we've successfully found the nearest and least scary food establishments in our neighborhood (our poor waistlines are showing it.)  We're had cheesesteaks at Gooey Louie's (so, so messy, but so, so good) and at the Reading Terminal Market.  Every chinese restaurant (at least that we've seen) has exactly the same menu and is not very good.  This is very bad for chinese lovers like me and Brad.  We eat chinese food like it's good Southern soul food.  Chinese is our comfort food and we are going to search high and low for a good chinese restaurant here in Phillie.  Also, we've been sad to learn that there isn't really good Mexican out here.  They have Chipotle and Qdoba (which are both good), but if we want family style Mexican, we're making it at home.

Gooey Looie's Cheese Steak

Our favorite food discovery has been water ice.  No, not ice water.  Water ice.  It's hard to explain.  It's like ice cream, but with snow cone ingredients.  In fact, it's scooped like ice cream.  But oh so good when it's been 103 outside.

Pineapple and Strawberry Banana Water Ice with Gelati

Other funny things about Philadelphia.  No right turns at red lights signs at pretty much every intersection.  This can be a bit annoying.  If it's red, you can't go.  If it's green, there are pedestrians in the way.  And they are serious about it.  The cops will ticket you for turning on a red light.

You have to cash on you.  Our first indicator was the toll roads only taking cash.  Then the little water ice place only takes cash.  When we asked about going to the Reading Market we were told the only payment accepted in the whole place is cash.  A lot of places out here deal only in currency.  Which is a little weird.  I used to never carry cash.  Now I ask Brad before we leave the apartment if we have enough cash.  It feels like we went back in time to when we got paid for doing chores with cash and that's all we had.

We are still figuring out Philadelphia, and I'm sure there will be more interesting things to tell you about here on our blog.  But for now, we are enjoying the adventure.