I think it’s time for a moving update!  Well, an update about moving … I’m not sure how moving the update will be.

As the title says, we’re still in Cuernavaca.  We’re facing some delays at the moment.

First, we’re waiting on some of the work being done.  Obviously, it’s hard to move in furniture when the floor is being tiled (it’s not so spacious that we can just put the furniture somewhere else!).  There’s a door still missing, and no railing on the stairs, and of course no kitchen cupboards (or paint on the kitchen walls).  We’re not expecting all this to be done before we move, but were hoping at least the tiling would be done.

Second, there’s the owner.  He needs to give us the gate-opener, so we can actually drive up to the house and unload things.  Also, he still has stuff in the house, such as furniture.  Again, there’s not a lot of room for our furniture along with his!

We keep finding out that it will be another day before his things are moved out, the tiling will take longer than expected, the workers need more materials, etc.  Delays and complications are not unexpected, of course.  However, it does mean our plans are changing every day or every few hours, and we have to make new decisions as we go along.

Things also get more complicated the longer we wait to move.  Today we discussed everything from moving Friday (the day after tomorrow) to moving two and a half weeks from now!  I won’t go into all the factors involved, but suffice to say it’s keeping life interesting.

So the latest … which may change later tonight still … is that we’re thinking of moving on Monday (possibly still coming back to finish cleaning here, but hopefully we’ll be done!) and stalling with more of the work.  That means more work being done on the house while we’re living there, but - no option is perfect!

There.  Were you moved?  I sure wasn’t.

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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!

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