December 30th, 2015

On January 15th, we are planning on moving out of our temporary quarters and into the house that we hope to make a home. We signed a contract a couple of days before Christmas, working out the myriad of details ever since. A few weeks ago, my Mom shared her wisdom with us in regards to sifting through our wants versus our needs when it comes to housing. We also watched an episode of House Hunters International that took place in Germany (thanks Julie for the idea)! With a renewed perspective, we revisited one of the houses we had walked through earlier in December. It doesn’t have all of our wants but meets our needs and then some.

By the time we move in, we will be coming up on our two month anniversary of arriving in Germany. Before leaving home, we lived in a hotel for ten days while our household goods started their journey here. And before that, we spent five weeks in a crazy whirlwind of house-selling and preparing to move. The thought of setting up a home again and settling into a routine seems so inviting right now!

So here is the first picture I sent my parents when I told them we found a place to live…

Its the barn behind the house. =)

The house was built in 1847, a year before the German Revolution of 1848-1849. Our new landlord, Herr Schmidt, gave us a short history lesson the first day we met him. Thankfully, he speaks English. He seems to be a kind man, is a Physical Therapist by trade and a handyman by hobby. He renovated the house in the early 2000’s, modernizing it while still keeping some of its “heritage.” He did a great job!

It’s 1,657 sq. feet with 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. For those of you who remember our last home…we are getting an additional 629 sq. feet, an extra bedroom (for guests!) and an additional bathroom. The boys will still share a room allowing us to have a second living space to read, play and watch movies in or transform into a second guest room when needed. It may also be a bit of a storage room since we won’t have any closets, typical for German homes. We can use a part of the barn for storage too. The upstairs has wood floors and the downstairs has tile. Though its bigger, it feels cozy. The house sits right up on a street, which wasn’t our ideal. However, we plan to use the back door as our primary entrance.

Here are a few more pictures of the boys’ room (both sides), kitchen, staircase and upstairs bathroom (where the laundry machines might go)…

The house is located about half way between hubby’s work and E’s school (he starts on Jan. 4th). There is a German Kindergarten down the street that we are hoping to enroll our little guy in if there is room. There is also a train station on the outskirts of the village, a couple of grocery stores, an outdoor pool, a soccer club and some nice trails nearby. That cool coffee house is just a few miles away!

We took the boys over to the village yesterday afternoon to ride their scooters on one of the trails as we walked behind them and talked. Hopefully, this will be a part of our weekly routine when the weather is nice. The house has a small space in the backyard, mostly for parking, which makes these trails even more inviting. The surrounding beauty definitely nourishes our souls. We are grateful!