We have (most of) a house!

Today we were in Ixtapaluca signing the lease agreement for renting our new house!  Yes, indeed, we finally chose one.  We don’t have keys yet, but . . . soon, really!

Now, I say most of a house because there is quite a bit of work to be done on the inside.  This was the case with most of the houses we looked at, though some only needed a little work.  Almost every house we looked at, for example, had no kitchen – meaning there were hookups for plumbing, but few or no cabinets, light fixtures, counters, no sink (ok, sometimes there was a sink, though not always hooked up), and so on.

This is not unusual at all in Mexico.  Either we’re talking about a house that hasn’t been lived in yet (common in these fast-growing areas) or a the previous tenants take everything with them when they go.

So you want to know about the house.  Well, it’s a 2, 3 or 4 bedroom, depending on how you look at it.  🙂  I would say it has a laundry/utility room, a master bedroom, and a smaller bedroom.  The laundry/utility room will become a laundry room/office (type type type – scrub stain – file file file – change loads . . . how handy . . .).  That’s the top floor.

On the next floor down, we are converting the large bedroom into two small bedrooms for Hannah and Nathanael.  Then we will take the other one.

The bottom floor includes a kitchen, and small dining room and living room.

It is small, smaller than what we have now, and no yard to speak of.  However, it’s in a nice neighbourhood, and on a very quiet street.  The living area and dining room are small but open enough that we would be able to entertain a group.  And we’re in a community with other families with kids.  So I think it will be a good place for us, even though it will take some adjustment.

There is a fair amount of work to be done.  The house was not totally finished inside.  The kitchen needs to be put in, much of the house still needs tile and paint.  But the good news is that there are already men in there doing the work, thanks to the arrangements that our coworker Rod was able to make.  Thanks Rod!

It’s unlikely everything will be done by the time we move in (over the next week or so, Lord willing, we hope to finish packing and moving), but the tile should be done and it will be easier to get other things done once we’re there (since it’s about 2 – 2.5 hours from our home in Cuernavaca).

So – there you are!  Praise the Lord for leading us to what seems to be a good house, a good landlord, and a good neighbourhood.  Now comes the next step!