Moving Right Along...

Well, we are almost at the two month mark, and plenty has happened since my last post. First of all, after MUCH drama with our home, we are in the clear to be here until we move. It looks like a short sale will be made, and we are of course extremely relieved. The bank is currently processing an offer, and I hope this also means that we can stop showing it-- that has been quite a hassle!

I have two more weeks of work before I close my practice, and the timing seems just about right. I am enjoying working, but will soon be so preoccupied with logistics and future adventures that I wouldn't be able to do much good anyhow.

Here is a very interesting wrinkle, speaking of logistics: Jeff's employer will pay us a very large bonus to NOT ship our belongings over to Germany. The sum is easily thrice what our things are worth, so we accepted. The other side of this is that we actually get to SELL almost everything we own, so we will be able to start fresh with financial ease.

Speaking of ease.... We already have an apartment waiting for us! Not only is the apartment itself large and beautiful, but it's in the town we wanted to live in. Moreover, it's on the main pedestrian street of downtown Amberg, so everything will be very close by. The train station is a couple of blocks away, and of course shops and cafes are just downstairs. I look at the pictures of the apartment and at photos on Google and am in total disbelief. I have the "don't count your chicks before they hatch" philosophy deeply embedded into my brain, so it has actually been a little hard to enjoy all of this. I need to "have a little faith" that good things are really coming our way!

This is a picture from Google Maps of the block we'll be living on!

The odd thing is that there is so much I don't know about our place. It has three bedrooms, but I don't know how many bathrooms or what the total square footage is. I don't know what the kitchen looks like, but I have caught glimpses of red and white checkered tile on the floor and walls. The one bathroom I've seen is fully tiled, which I love! As for the picturesque little courtyard, I don't know if we share it with another unit or not. We have two staircases, so does that mean that we have three stories? Or is the entrance at the bottom, just going right up the stairs? I look forward to finding out more. My number one requirement is lots of light and windows, and so I am very very happy! Here are some pictures...






So-- how did all of this happen? When I showed her pictures of our new home, Amelia suspiciously asked me if I'd gone on an airplane to Germany to find it while she was sleeping. The real story is that Jeff's future teammates have just been incredibly kind and helpful. One family will be leaving at the end of June, and they contacted us to see if we might be interested in taking over their rental, which just happened to be in the town we were hoping for. The landlord has been very agreeable and accommodating as well. It can be really really hard to find an available apartment in this area, so we are ecstatic. Can you imagine how much more difficult it would be to arrive and have to start looking for a place to live in several different towns? Now we even have an address! Also, they have been helping us to find a preschool (Kindergarten there) for Amelia so we can get her settled into a routine quickly. Next, we hope to find a car-- a cute, speedy, German one, of course.

What else?... Well, I think the biggest thing on my plate right now is just selling our things. The DoD will pay for storage, but we only plan to put some heirloom furniture and boxes of mementos in there. We'll ship things like sheets and towels, kitchen tools, and clothes. Apart from that, we plan to sell it all. We had one yard sale already, and next is a party where we turn our home into a little shop and invite our friends over to get first pick of everything. Then it will be a huge Craigslist push, followed by a few more yard sales. Wow! Needless to say, the next couple of months will be crazy. I am thankful that we can enjoy a part of what Portland is best at-- summer! It seems like a really nice way to leave, eating our meals outdoors, going to farmers markets, attending concerts in the park, etc. Lots of good stuff coming our way!