Our New Digs

Howdy folks!

I'm back to blogging now that we've gotten set up in our new apartment! When we first got back to Germany, we were busy looking for a place to move here from Essen, where we lived last year, in addition to auditioning for work. We stayed for about a month with our good friends in Essen, the Janz family! We all had a wonderful time, and we'll very much miss our fun times of prayer and worship together, our family dinners, our movie nights with Nette, and our deep conversations with Phil! Our Essen parents: Manni and Irene Janz helped us move up to our new apartment in HAMBURG about two weeks ago now! Thank you Janz family for a fantastic time of getting to know brothers and sisters in Christ, and for adopting us as your oldest two kids! We love you! :D

It was also a huge blessing the way we got into this apartment - we were basically the only ones who looked at it - unheard of in Hamburg! That's like being the only ones who want an apartment in NYC or Chicago! Our new apartment's practically downtown (5 minutes/two underground stops from the central station!) We've got two grocery stores in 5 minutes walking distance, access to three different underground lines within 5 minutes walking distance (which means we don't ever have to wait on a bus - hallelujah!), and are only 20 minutes from our church (as compared to about an hour last time we lived here in HH!)

After moving in, we decided on paint colors, and proceeded to paint an accent wall in the bedroom, living room, as well as the top half of the kitchen. We also had to get some rugs, lamp shades, and various other things that were either not in the apartment or that we didn't yet own. We're very pleased with our paint color choices and how everything turned out! What do you think? We've now gotten everything unpacked, and washed our two weeks worth of laundry - phew - in our new to us washer that our church in Essen gave us (since it was just sitting the the cellar! Thanks guys!) They also gave us our vanity (which there are no pictures of because we're not satisfied with the shower-curtain situation at this point - more pictures will come, to be sure!) Here are the ones we have so far...

Our front door (from the inside, of course) with the poster above it that our church family in Essen gave us when we left. You may not be able to read them, but all the little bits are individual notes of encouragement, prayers for us, or scriptures! What a blessing our Essen church family was!

Our shoe rack. As you may notice, there are no summer/FL shoes on this rack. That's because Winter is upon us here!


The view when you walk into our bedroom.

Our bedroom overlooks the street and the apartment buildings on the other side. It's a one way street and, despite the fact that the hospital is at the end of the street, is nice and quiet!

Our two wardrobes are on the wall opposite the bed, and have between them...

Our desk - which Sidonie painted the same color purple as the accent wall!

As our room is quite large, we have room for a sitting area. This is on the wall opposite the windows (directly in front of you when you enter the room from the foyer. Notice the VERY soft sheep skin rug in front of the couch. We like it a lot! :D

Directly in front of you when you enter the living room from the foyer.

The wall to your left as you enter the living room.

The view to your immediate right upon entering the living room.

Looking toward the opposite corner of the living room.

Once you step into the living room, you can see through to the breakfast nook.

Our beautiful view from the breakfast nook!

You can see here one of our three orange circular rugs. We couldn't find an area rug or runner that we liked and matched our orange/navy motif, so we got three little round rugs instead!

The picture/TV/bookshelf wall of the living room.



Closer photo of our picture wall!

The Fall view from our living room window!

Our shelves with dappled afternoon light. Beautiful.

The view straight in front of you as you enter the kitchen.

Our little peeping tom window that looks through from the kitchen to the shower!

To your right when you enter the kitchen.

Because of the relatively small amount of counter space, there's an extra fold-down counter top to your left as you enter the kitchen - very useful!

Our kitchen window overlooks the patio.

Our patio view is also beautiful and green!

We're so blessed to be back in Hamburg, and are already planning a reprise of an American Thanksgiving in Hamburg!

Love and Hugs to you all - let us know how you are!