Our provision from the Lord

(This post might be way too much information for some of you, but for others... you wanted all the detail, so here it is.)

We came to Bristol thinking we'd have to kind of rough it. For what we could find on the internet in our price range, we definitely didn't expect anything great. God had another idea though and gave us a super affordable place that's nicer than anything we've ever lived in since we've been married.

It's a furnished (really nice that we didn't have to buy anything!!!) row house, or terrace house as they call it here, on a fairly short street, like the short part of the "Y" if that helps you any. We're learning as we meet more of our neighbors that many of the people have lived here for years and years. A very tight knit group if you know what I mean. I think so far we're being watched to see if we can be "in the club." I guess we'll just keep taking baked goods to everyone and hopefully they'll "let us in"!! Once we're in though, the rumor is we're protected for life.

Hamilton Residence

Right inside the front door.

The front room is the dining room, which is kind of odd that it's so far away from the kitchen, but it works fine. It's also our school room. We're so thankful for a big table!

The living room, second room off the hallway, right across from the stairs. French doors open up to the patio (L-shaped around the kitchen.)

Nook under the stairs just past the doorway to the living room on the way to the kitchen.

My favorite part of the house. It's a great little kitchen, heated floors and everything. I was a little disappointed at first because the table was in a different room, but it actually works really well to have the couches instead. It makes the kitchen really comfortable and everyone hangs out there. There's a small bar that's useful for Elliot and Nate when we eat in the kitchen. We usually have breakfast in the kitchen and sometimes lunch depending on what Mark's doing, but always have dinner in the dining room.

Sorry this picture is kind of dark, it was too bright outside.

Small dishwasher on the left, which we don't use because it's more trouble than it's worth, and our washing machine on the right. No drier. We've been hanging everything up on drying racks in our room. Welcome to stiff, stretched out clothes! There's a clothes line outside, but it never stops raining long enough to hang anything up and let it dry. Maybe in the summer.

Our little refrigerator/freezer, smaller than seminary housing, but bigger than some of the British homes we've been in.

Backyard (proper British term: garden)

Picture from the yard looking at the back of our house.

Nate's room is at the back of the house, over the kitchen, and looks out over the backyard.

Hallway view from Nathanael's room, bathroom door to the left. Elliot and Hudson's room is up the stairs to the left and ours is straight ahead.
Our only bathroom, which has been just fine. It has a nice corner shower and big bathtub. There's also a big skylight that lets in lots of natural light. Only two negatives were there was no storage, which we were able to remedy, and no electrical outlets. Kind of weird not being able to plug anything in, but we've figured other places to use those things that would need electricity.


Elliot and Hudson's room is over the living room. Their window is above the French doors in the living room and looks out over the patio.

This is one of those things you would never see in America, unless you were in a hospital or nursing home and it was connected to call switch. They're in all the bedrooms above the bed (in addition to the switch on the wall) so that you can turn the light on or off after you get in or before you get out of bed. They're in the bathroom too. No bathroom I've been in yet has switches. They all have the pull cord. Just one of those, "I wonder why?" things we stumble upon occasionally.

Our bedroom is at the front of the house above the dining room.


View of hallway from our bedroom.
So that's the end of the home tour.


One more big thing we're grateful for...
Yes, we're rolling in a beamer. A pastor at a local church got us in touch with one of his members who was trying to sell a car. Low and behold it was a BMW. Although they are more common here, I never thought I'd be driving one! It's a '97, but it only had 80,000 mi. on it so hopefully it will last us awhile. Hudson gets car sick often so he typically sits in the front. During the week it's just me and the boys so Nate and Elliot have the back to themselves. When Mark's with us, he drives and I squish in the back. It's much less space than we're used to, but I don't think I'd want to be driving anything bigger on the streets around here. I'm nervous enough about knocking someone's mirror off or sideswiping someone! We weren't planning on having a car, but later realized it was more necessary than we originally thought. We're so thankful God provided one we were able to afford. Petrol as they call it here is another issue. Thankfully we don't drive a ton and our car gets good gas mileage because gas is almost 6GBP per gallon which is $9.70/gal in America. Anyone want to complain about gas prices in America anymore?!?!

Side note, when I was working on putting this post together last week our car was working. At the present moment it's not drivable. Looks good on the curb though, right?!?! (catch the hint of nervous laughter) We are praying that it won't stay there for much longer! A slight set back, but we did find a part that apparently is impossible to find and a mechanic is coming today to fix it. The part wasn't too expensive, pray the labor isn't either and that he can fix it without any further problems.