Our new apartment!

I'll go ahead and tell the story of how we got into this apartment in this post because it really was a blessing that God had in store for us at just the right moment.

When we arrived in Chile, we decided to go straight to Vina del Mar, which is a coastal city about 1.5 hours away from Santiago, but only about 20 minutes away from David's sister and mom. We had some leads that there may be work there for David and we felt like we had to give it a shot. We spent 4 days in a temporary apartment that was spacious but sub standard in it's amenities. During those 4 days we searched for an apartment to rent and for a school for the kids. Right when we found a school and a potential apartment, David had a meeting that indicated that he'd need to be in Santiago to pursue the work he was interested in. That same day, we packed a few bags and headed to Santiago to figure things out there. We left most of our luggage behind at David's sister's house. We arrived in Santiago without a plan, or a place to stay for that matter. After sitting in the upstairs of McDonald's (which happens to be the nicest fast food chain in town and all stores have 2-3 levels and an espresso/ice cream cafe attached) for a few hours, we eventually found a temporary apartment that was very comfortable, but not in the best part of town. That apartment was available for 3 nights, which was our time frame to find a place to live in Santiago. Thursday night would be our last night in that apartment and by Wed night we still had no potential apartments. We found that an apartment in the area of town that interested us and that we felt safe in would be way over budget for us....not to mention we were hoping to find a furnished apartment.

There were no apartments that even came close to our wish list: certain part of town, close to the metro but not on a main street, furnished, with a parking spot, preferribly with a storage space, safe for the kids, and it had to be within budget. Thursday morning was difficult for us because we were down to the wire with no direction yet. We had been praying and believing that God was going to open the doors and provide a place for us, but by Thursday morning doubt crept in and we started to feel desperate and discouraged. I believed still, but was starting to doubt and fear that we might not find anything that we could move into the next day. It seemed somewhat impossible at that point. The good thing is that God is a God of the impossible.

David made call after call to agencies that list apartments for rent and then we got a bite! The agent said that she had an owner that was renting her apartment for much more than our budget, but that she said she'd really like to have a family rent her place and maybe she would go down. We set up an appointment with her and found out that the apartment had been rented until the day before, but that the person backed out last minute from moving in. If we had called even one day beforehand they would have never mentioned this apartment, but since we called Thursday morning, we were the first to the punch once it became available. When we arrived at the apartment, we quickly saw what a fabulous location it was in; Residential, but w/in walking distance to the metro, and in the part of town we preferred. The owner agreed to rent the apartment to us for $400 less than what she had intended to rent it for....and furnished! She left everything! And....she agreed to move her stuff out and let us move in the next day!

In front of the apartment complex there is a plaza with a playground for the kids. There is a little boy playset and a big boy playset. The apartment complex is gated and has a 24 hour consierge. The owner rented the apartment to us with an assigned parking spot and a storage room!. She left EVERYTHING in the apartment for our use. We have not had to buy anything! It is literally everything that we had on our wish list!

The space is very small compared to the states, but adequate for big city living. It's probably 300-350 sq.ft. total. There are two bedrooms and two baths with a balcony that overlooks from the 6th floor towards The Andes mountain range. In the kitchen there is a compact washer to wash our clothes. There is actually sufficient closet space, but you just have to close one door to open the other since all of the storage is in a corner behind a door somewhere. There is no central heat/AC, but that is standard. Basically you just open or close the windows. We won't be here during the winter, but during the summer it will be hot on some days.

We are very thankful for this apartment and we already feel very comfortable here. I will be thankful when we can afford to put up a protective screen on the balcony because then I can leave the sliding doors open and that will give us another 50-75 sq.ft. for the kids to play. Right now the balcony wall is too low and it is not safe to let Ty go out there. We have to have a screen installed to make it safe. Luckily the owner is not opposed to us having it installed eventhough she does not intend to use it. Other than that, we need to figure out a bed/sleeping arrangement for the boys because they will not be able to share a bed the whole time we're here, and I really want a coat/bag rack to put at the door....details. Haha!

Pretty cool, huh? It's amazing what will come along when we're not in control but God is!

*Note: These are the pics I took the first day. We've since rearranged a little, but you get the idea.