We interrupt this cleaning and packing frenzy for an update

I just wrote this update in an email to a friend and realized I should go ahead and share it more generally. If it sounds more like a casual email than a blog post - though even as I type that I'm thinking to myself that there's probably no difference in my tone for those two scenarios - it's because it is. Was. Whatever.

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Things are CRAZY here. Nathaniel and I head to KS tomorrow to pick up the kids. They've been at my parents' house for TWO WEEKS. I think we've officially found the length of time at which I legitimately miss my kids and am ready sweep them up into big hugs again! Not that I'm not sort of wishing for more time, just because I have so much to do and I know it's been a million time easier to plug away at the work around the house when I don't have to stop to provide meals or to clean up messes. But I really am excited to see them all!

Great news on the housing front. We lined up a group of 22 year old young ladies to rent our home. It's not what I was originally envisioning, but it should be pretty ideal. They asked for the living room and kitchen to remain furnished, which saves me some work. I still had to clean out all the kitchen cabinets to wipe them down and then decide what I was willing to leave for their use versus what I cared too much about and wanted packed away... but I could do that NOW, even though we'll be in the house a while longer, and we can manage with the pared down kitchen till we move out. Especially since that's coming soon. They're renting starting August 1! We'll be staying at Sherri and Andrew's for most of August till we fly out on the 23rd. It'll be complicated and awkward from time to time, sharing space (we're such a big group to invade someone's peaceful, clean home), but I'm actually really excited about how it breaks up the deadlines for me. We do have to think about packing for Sweden enough to bring with us to Sherri's anything we want to take, but I can focus on house packing/cleaning for the most part until 7/31, then once we're at Sherri's, i can turn my focus to shopping for any more clothes we need for Sweden, or reassessing what I can fit in suitcases, etc. I can't imagine the stress of trying to get the house cleaned to move out AND packing to fly out, basically on the same day. This is good!

ALSO! We lined up a flat in Stockholm and I am BEYOND excited about it. It's not huge, but it has three bedrooms and the location could not be more ideal. It's in walking distance to the kids' school and Nathaniel's university. I'm really excited, too, that it's a flat in the city rather than a house in the suburbs, because that will be such a more different experience for the kids, in a cool way. Plus, it's in a really nice area, not far from the palaces of the Swedish royalty. I'm a sucker for royalty! The biggest downside is that it's only partially furnished, so we're going to have to find a few cheap beds/mattresses-for-the-floor/whatever. There are some beds, but not enough. The kitchen won't be furnished, either. Thank heavens we're headed to the homeland of IKEA, so I'm confident we can get some basic plates and flatware for reasonable prices. I still have no idea how we're going to get our huge family and ALL our huge luggage from the airport to the flat (on the fifth floor of a beautiful old building with only one small elevator), but I'm excited for the experience once we settle in!

Given all that, as you can guess, I've spent my two child-free weeks almost entirely in cleaning and sorting and donating and throwing away and packing and cleaning some more. It has not been particularly restful, but I've squeezed in evenings out with friends and a few meals out with Nathaniel. It's been really good overall. Now I'll go get my kids, leave the parakeet with my parents, and say goodbye to my family for the year, then come home to more of the same sort of work. I'm not sure how the kids feel about the whole "We're moving to Grandma's house in less than a week" thing, but they'll manage. I imagine we'll spend a LOT of time in August at the pool or the zoo or similar, just to stay out of Sherri's hair during the days. They'll like that.

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That was the gist of the email. Don't you wish you got emails of that length from friends more often? Thanks for nothing, FB and Instagram, for making long, rambling emails nearly obsolete!

I have loads on my to-do list for once we're at Sherri's, but I'll try to post updates as we get ready to go, and I do hope to blog more while we're abroad. At a bare minimum I hope to post on Instagram regularly.

I cannot believe how quickly this summer is flying by! Pray for my sanity. Thanks.