Arrival of 93 Boxes

On January 26, 2015, (click on the date for that blogpost), our house was painstakingly dismantled and put into boxes, loaded on a truck, and driven away. After spending some weeks on a ship, it arrived in the port of LA and finally arrived at our new house on April 13, 2015. I must admit, yesterday was a fun, overwhelming and surreal day. 
When the movers arrived and opened up the truck, it was a serious déjà vu moment. The alfa moving boxes were neatly stacked, looking just like they had when the truck drove away with them 10 weeks ago. As the guys started bringing it all, we were a bit taken aback by how much stuff we had! We have been living in a minimalist fashion since we arrived and in some ways have gotten quite used to that. Even so, as we unpacked and we found the stuff that makes our house a home, it definitely created that sense that now we really have moved here. 

It was pretty fun figuring out where to put things in the kitchen and seeing our lovely china and glassware was a real treat. Filling the hutch was a favorite part of my day. There's a store in Chicago called the Sweden Shop and I had to laugh because our house looks like a bit like that! I guess after 17 years of living in Stockholm, it's no big surprise that our house has some Scandinavian flair!
Tanner was super excited when the rest of his toys appeared! He was especially delighted to find the pig that I won at my book club white elephant party last year. It brought tremendous joy to my heart to hear that oinking again!

The crew was great! They were a wonderful bunch of guys who worked quickly and efficiently. The container, now filled with trash, and our great crew, as they prepared to leave.  They arrived at 9.30 and left us surrounded by stuff and boxes at 12.00 noon! They helped us unpack a ton of stuff, but the books and the clothes and the decorative items...they just seem to go on and on. Our house is quite a bit smaller than the one in Stockholm and we don't have nearly the spaces for odds and ends so we're going to have to figure out how to best display the things we love. 

The rug that we had in our dining room looks different than we remembered!  But it still looks nice in our great room. It's bigger than we recalled and has more red it in that we both remembered!

I'm not complaining that the boots, heavy coats, and sweaters can be safely stored away now. And I will do more thinning of my wardrobe. I need to do some thinning of myself too so some of that wardrobe will fit better! It was funny for me to find dress shoes. I have not had to dress up since we arrived. Doug was laughing because he never wears long pants anymore. I suppose there might come a day when these things will be necessary again but for now, our shorts and t-shirts are working quite well. I am pretty happy to have a few more things to choose from in my closet! But I have experienced a pared back lifestyle and I do like it.

Admittedly, candle holders and candlelight are not nearly as important as they were in Sweden. The mercury hit 95°F yesterday so cozying up to some warm candlelight wasn't exactly what we were thinking! Plus, there's the threat that the candles might actually melt in the dead heat of summer.

We were totally exhausted at the end of the day yesterday. We treated our sore muscles to an evening dip in the pool and a soak in the jacuzzi. Coming home to our big, queen size bed was a real treat. Who knew that a 21-year-old bed would be seen as such a luxury?

Even Tanner was exhausted by the process!

A new day has dawned and we are ready to keep tackling the boxes that are strewn about the house.
Nothing broke in the move but we had one casualty during the unpacking process. This lovely little porcelain basket bowl from Hungary was tucked inside something else and flew out and broke. Sniff. It was a gift and a valuable little piece. But the truth of the matter is at least now I don't have to find a place for it. 

Adjusting

So, we've been back in the US of A for 11.5 days. Admittedly, it still feels like vacation. Certainly the worst accommodation I've ever had on vacation but even so...it hasn't fully sunk in that we are not going back to Sweden in 2 weeks. I'm quite content with being with back in California and love the area where we are renovating our new home. After a day of working hard on house stuff, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful swimming pool and jacuzzi. We dashed up to the pool for a quick swim and a nice soak in the jacuzzi and I tell ya, it's pretty idyllic. The night sky twinkles with thousands of stars that we can actually see due to the darkness of the desert. Gorgeous sunrises and sunsets are part of every day and I've started taking advantage of the fitness classes on offer at our club. We haven't found the time to get our golf game going but that will come in due time. I truly love this area and feel so thankful to have the chance to live here again.
Of course, all of the goodness in being here is counterbalanced with the deep sense of loss I feel in my parents not being here. Not a day goes by where I don't think about how delighted they would be that we are here. My dad would be loving following the renovation. We miss them, plain and simple.
As for other adjustments...I'm enjoying the cheaper retails opportunities, especially as we shop 'til we drop to get our new house up to speed. The grocery store hasn't been super overwhelming and I think that is in part because due to a tiny fridge and limited storage, I'm still kind of shopping like I did in Europe. Smaller loads. Going to the store more often. Being able to use the grill and sit on our patio is truly a bonus.
It's weird to be in the car every time we need to run an errand. We can't walk anywhere. The bank, the grocery store, and everything else we need are all at least 3 miles from our house. The amount of traffic that California has is also staggering. And people drive really fast!
Sundays are the most difficult and different days for us. We need to start the somewhat challenging yet also interesting task of visiting churches as lay people. We have been listening to the podcasts from Immanuel International and it's been comforting to connect with our church family in Stockholm in some ideological way but of course, we miss being with them! Life would be perfect if everyone could just re-locate to California!
We joined Costco and that made us feel like true Americans! We haven't bought anything there yet, but wandered around last Saturday enjoying all the food samples! Much to my delight, Palm Springs passed an ordinance doing away with one time use plastic bags and now charge for grocery bags. This cuts back on plastic waste in a significant way and since we were already used to this practice in Europe, we are very happy to see this effort toward reducing trash. Recycling efforts still have a long way to go compared to the ease with which we could do it in Stockholm, but we do see more and more positive changes.
I'm still up to my ears with paperwork on various and sundry items, including my father's 2014 taxes. I have a huge pile of "needs attention" mail that I need to dig through. I bought stamps the other day and actually still have no idea how much a U.S. postage stamp costs. I heard the customer in front of me order a roll of stamps so I followed suit. I've written the date wrong a few times, with the day first. We have no cell phone, clearly, the only people on earth without a cell phone. And I'll dedicate an entirely different blog to navigating the health care issue. I'm definitely missing the ease of our life in Stockholm where we didn't have too many extra expenses, beyond our taxes. And Tanner needs a license! We had no idea dogs had to get licensed in the U.S. We are trying to get California driving licenses and finally have an appointment on February 22. Gives us time to brush up on the rules of the road on this side of the pond! So there are a million details right now that we need to pay attention to. The days fly by and I wonder where the time goes.
Having Tanner with us is pure delight. He's great company and seems to be adjusting to his new lifestyle pretty well. He loves hanging in the backyard, basking in the sunshine. He has also figured out that hanging out on the chaise lounge is a good way to pass the afternoon! 
I'm thankful for the fruit trees in our yard and enjoyed a beautiful pink grapefruit for breakfast yesterday. 
We met a couple of kids who live on our block. We were out walking Tanner and they wanted to meet him! They were so cute and it was fun to interact with some kids again. Maybe they will let us play football or baseball with them in the street!
Truth be told, I'm thankful for so many different things right now even though I wish our close friends were able to share this with us.
As I mentioned at the beginning, it definitely still feels like vacation so the reality of actually living here hasn't really sunk in. I'm sure as time goes by, there will be more and more things that I feel very strange about! For now, the adventure of renovating a house and basking in the warmth of a mild climate are doing my heart good which really helps when my heart hurts a bit from missing our loved ones. 

Big News & Big Changes For Us

Back in the spring of 1998, Doug and I signed a contract with Immanuel International to come and be their pastors for three years.

We were excited about the possibility of moving to Sweden, ministering to a multi-cultural community and dipping our toe in the European lifestyle for a few years while we were still young! But then the years started to fly by and all of the sudden, we'd been here a decade, and now 16+ years. At one point we finally decided that we were definitely staying in Stockholm, indefinitely.

And yet, I suppose in our hearts and in our minds we knew that at some point in time, another door would open and we would feel led to step through it into a new reality.

That time has come. After 16.5 years Doug and I are leaving Stockholm and Immanuel International. Tanner is going to become an American hund! So on the 28th of December we will share in our final worship service and on the 29th of January, we will board a plane, with Tanner loaded in the cargo hold, for one last hop across the pond. We plan to land in our home in Desert Hot Springs, CA and see where the winds of change will lead.

Why now? Lots of different things started aligning for us to consider that the timing might be right. Our move has absolutely nothing to do with our dear congregation. They have asked us to reconsider and stay which is lovely but of course, we did not make this decision lightly and feel that God has genuinely led us to make this move now. Of course, telling our congregation that we are indeed leaving has been one of the hardest things we've ever had to do but I've often said that every good decision usually involves a fair amount of pain. This decision is no exception to that reality and yet, while we will miss this congregation tremendously, we feel great peace in making this transition at this time.

We will take a short time of sabbatical to ponder what these years in Sweden and with the International church have meant to us. I have a deep need to continue to sort through everything that my parents' passing has meant in my life and we are both feeling that landing back in the US for a season will be good for us. I'm sure the reverse culture shock will be profound but we are also excited to see what it will be like to actually live in the United States of America once again. While there are many things we will miss, I will not miss the dark winters! Knowing that there will be many impressions and emotions with re-patriating, (a term I loathe by the way), I will continue to blog under a new blog title: Back Across the Pond. I'll keep ya posted on that.

For now, we are savoring every moment with people we love and places we enjoy. We are thrilled to have a final Advent and Christmas season with our congregation and thankful to have the month of January to pack up and sort through our home here.

Tanner has been to the vet to get his first ever rabies shot and obtain his pet passport! I am very excited to see how he adjusts to being a desert dog!

 We appreciate your prayers for us and our church as this significant event unfolds in our life. We remain humbled that God has given us the privilege of being the pastors at Immanuel International for all these years and look forward to what He has in store for us as this new season unfolds.

Soon enough we'll be back across the pond. For now, I'm savoring all that has kept us on this side of that pond for as long as it has.