A couple of our friends have said that if you follow me on social media and you are surprised about this move then maybe you haven't been paying attention ;). Ha! Apparently, I like to post about our love of Stockholm.
Here are a few answers to questions you might have:
When are you moving?
Great question! We don't have a date yet but we are thinking Februaryish! We need to sell our house first. You are selling your house?!?!?! Yep! It turns out living in a one bedroom apartment in Stockholm and then moving back into a 5 bedroom, 4 bath house shows you that less is actually more and that more is just more. We are OVER living in a big house. We are different people than we were when we bought this house 7 years ago. This was going to be our forever home because I thought I'd always live in Kansas. And then we moved to Stockholm and I realized that it is okay to live in different places.
We don't have a date set because it kind of depends on the house. Plus we need to figure out living arrangements in Stockholm. We are thinking we will rent a furnished apartment for a few months and then buy an apartment. It will take 7-10 weeks for our things to arrive so we should have some time. We are mostly taking clothes, some toys for Linnea and only a few other things. We are really excited to "start over" and not take all the clutter we've accumulated over the years.
How did all of this happen?
The short story is that after living in Stockholm on an expat assignment for Jake's job we accidentally fell in love with the city and the way they live life there. About 72 hours after moving back in October 2015 we realized we wish we would have stayed. We loved it there. I had a hard time picturing myself living in a place where I didn't grow up but then I realized that it is okay. It is okay to live in a place you never imagined yourself living.
We took a few months to try and get used to our "new" normal of living in our house and being back in the States. Eventually we realized we were just so dang happy in Stockholm why shouldn't we try to move back if we could pull it off. While we were in Stockholm this summer we heard that we would be able to transfer back. Once we got back to the US in September we started checking off a LONG list of projects to get the house ready to sell and we are finally seeing the light at the end of that very long tunnel!
How long will you be there?
Great question . . . no idea! I used to love time lines and set plans but now I kind of like having things open ended. I don't want to be locked into something if I'm ready for a change but I also don't want to leave if we aren't ready. (Who the heck am I these days?)
What will we be doing?
Jake will be employed through the Swedish side of his company. His job won't change all that much.
I am planning on going back to teaching! As long as we are talking about things I "always thought I'd do" we can throw being a stay at home mom in there. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Linnea but I miss teaching and I'm just not sure staying at home full time is for me. I miss adult or at least actual conversations that involve two people who can speak in sentences ("book, pease" doesn't count). I LOVE teaching. I've been struggling with knowing what to do with Linnea while we are home all day. I'm not crafty and I struggle with being creative with her age range. I feel like my passion is teaching older kids.
Other people have a passion for working with younger kids which brings us to Linnea's plans. She will be going to a Swedish daycare/preschool which we are pumped about! She will probably be speaking Swedish circles around us in no time. The daycares/preschools there are awesome and so affordable (about $150 a month including diapers and food). It is definitely going to be an adjustment and I'm not naive enough to think that we won't have some bumps in the road but I am excited! All three of us are :).
Will we visit the US?
We are planning on visiting the US twice a year and we would LOVE visitors. Cough, cough . . . all of you who said you would visit us last time and didn't (most likely because you were having babies) you now have another chance! We will show you all of the things that made us want to move back and maybe we could even go on a side trip together! Who's in?!?!?!
We will be busy finishing our list of projects while keeping Linnea from eating soap or any of the other crazy things she's tried recently. She is into EVERYTHING! Then we will list our house (anyone need a house in Olathe?) and figure out where we will be living in Stockholm.
We're so thankful for our friends and family who have supported this dream of ours. I know it isn't always easy and we all wish Stockholm was closer (I have thought about that SO MANY TIMES) but we are so excited about this next chapter in our lives!
I miss you guys. See you in two months!
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