Once we had done this different things kept on coming up that made me worry that maybe we had been a bit hasty with our decision and should maybe have looked around a bit more. For example, it was on the fifth floor with no lift, which I thought being heavily pregnant I might really struggle with, church was a good 45-50 minute walk away which again I thought would be pretty tough and it was quite along way from the beach (certainly not walking distance) which seemed quite a shame when living in a city with a beach! Also we didn't even consider which health centre we would come under, where the closest shopping centre was and whether we'd be able to cope with having to walk everywhere if these things weren't close by.
It turns out my worrying was silly, we had prayed about it and had felt that we should rent that flat. Although we hadn't taken everything into consideration, Heavenly Father knew what we would need when we were here and had us covered far more than I could have imagined.
- The 4 flights of stairs are really not a big deal, they make your legs ache a little bit but even with my extra baby weight that I'm carrying I can still go up them all without stopping and my body has got a lot more use to them.
- There is a bus stop 30 seconds from our house that goes straight to where the chapel is which is amazing, and we have actually walked to church twice which is quite a pleasant (though long) walk.
- There are only two trams that go directly to the beach, as it happens one of these trams has a stop at the end of our road so we can go straight to the beach really easily!
- The health centre is two streets behind us (a 3 minute walk), with two of the lovelies midwives who love taking all of our many questions about how giving birth works in Spain and ask if I have understood what they have said to Ethan in Spanish.
- The hospital we come under is the newest in the city and is therefore one of the best, and they also happen to have a British midwife who works there, so our midwife at the health centre has said they will arrange for me to have her if she is on duty when I go!
- There is a taxi rank right next to our flat with at least 3 taxis permanently waiting, so we know we can get a taxi to the hospital as soon as we need to.
- There is a Mercadona (A supermarket about the size of your typical Aldi) on our street and a big shopping centre with a Carrefour (the continental Tesco equivalent) 15 minutes (10 for Ethan) walk away that has a big variety of shops like clothing, homeware, sports, food etc.
- The flat is big enough that my family of 5 were able to come and stay with us for 6 days and it wasn't cramped at all and they all had their own bed (except poor Pete) and more of our family and friends are able to come and visit us over the next few months and have rooms to themselves!
- There are only two trams that go directly to the beach, as it happens one of these trams has a stop at the end of our road so we can go straight to the beach really easily!
- The health centre is two streets behind us (a 3 minute walk), with two of the lovelies midwives who love taking all of our many questions about how giving birth works in Spain and ask if I have understood what they have said to Ethan in Spanish.
- The hospital we come under is the newest in the city and is therefore one of the best, and they also happen to have a British midwife who works there, so our midwife at the health centre has said they will arrange for me to have her if she is on duty when I go!
- There is a taxi rank right next to our flat with at least 3 taxis permanently waiting, so we know we can get a taxi to the hospital as soon as we need to.
- There is a Mercadona (A supermarket about the size of your typical Aldi) on our street and a big shopping centre with a Carrefour (the continental Tesco equivalent) 15 minutes (10 for Ethan) walk away that has a big variety of shops like clothing, homeware, sports, food etc.
- The flat is big enough that my family of 5 were able to come and stay with us for 6 days and it wasn't cramped at all and they all had their own bed (except poor Pete) and more of our family and friends are able to come and visit us over the next few months and have rooms to themselves!
In conclusion we had no idea really when we 'booked' our flat just how perfect it was going to be for us here, but Heavenly Father knew our needs. I'm so grateful that we are able to pray and get answers to our questions and that we have a Heavenly Father who loves and cares about us so much and takes care of our needs often before we even knew what those needs were!
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| The beautiful sunset from out kitchen |
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