Back but still in packing mode

We're back home again, two days before our boys start back at school. I was gratefully unpacking our bags this afternoon, but as I unpacked a niggly thought wriggled into conscious thought:

"Shouldn't you leave some of this stuff in the suitcase? After all you are going to pack again next Saturday and the Saturday after that too."

Yes, it is true. Our lives are quite mobile at present. This probably won't settle down until we go back to Japan, I suspect. However, we won't have a period quite as unsettled as what we've just had until we move out of this house in early July. Since the 17th of December, we've only spent nine days at "home". We've only been home twice - six nights on the first occasion and three on the second. In that entire six and a half week period we've not slept in any one bed for longer than seven days. There are good reasons we did what we did. Only having one in five Christmases in the same country as our family calls for extraordinary effort. We spent about a week with each of our families (or located close to parents, anyway). We also spent five nights at a Scripture Union camp, which was valuable time spent. Two weeks in two separate locations were our personal holiday time. The coming year is going to be busy and stressful, so we're glad we've made good use of our boys' long summer holiday to take some time-out. Now it is back to work. The next two Sundays we have out-of-town engagements, hence we'll have to pack again (not very much, though, for overnight stays). After that we may be able to string together three weeks "at home". For now, though, I'm glad to have a place we call home and to be able to return here frequently.