Sea-Shipment Received

On Monday the trucks started coming from Bangkok with our sea shipment. Almost 2 months and about 10,000 miles later our 'stuff' has arrived. It was really special sleeping in our own bed, eating at a table, setting on a couch and for Ethan, the highlight was getting the TV set up with movie capabilities-it's starting to feel like home. I noticed that after our weekend away, when we drove into the driveway it had that, "great to be home" feeling. I still can't get it to smell like home though. There are some strange smells in this house. Some of you may know that I have an obsession with Bath and Body Works plug-ins, man, I miss those.

The first truck arrived around 8:30 on Monday morning, with 5 men to unload and unpack. They were an excellent crew, we were very impressed with their professionalism and work ethic. It's really quite something to watch 5 small men wearing nothing but flip-flops unload a grand piano out of a truck without a forklift or dolly. Truthfully, I couldn't watch, it was just too much. Everything made it here in remarkable shape, a couple of things broken, a small edge off of Nathan's dresser, a leg wouldn't screw back into an ottoman, the electrical plug for the grill got smashed, nothing to fret over. My job was to verify each box or piece of furniture that was removed from the truck and direct them to the specific area it belonged in. Of course, there were some things that we thought, "What were we thinking bringing that?" I brought way too many dishes especially considering that I've made it over a month with a place setting for each of us, 5 sets of silverware, a couple of bowls, a couple of pans and a cookie sheet.

The VA packing crew had one very interesting member who packed my kitchen on Loth Lorian. We were told that we were not allowed to bring any food items so I had planned accordingly-giving friends food, trying to eat it all down...but when he began packing he just stuffed everything in my pantry into a box. It was kind of a mess, a small jar of coconut flavoring leaked all through one box, which is kind of funny considering we have fresh coconuts everywhere. But because of him, we have 3 cans of Rotel tomatoes, 1 large can of chili, 3 bags of Community coffee, Kool-aid, boxes of butterscotch pudding for gingerbread cookies and several packets of Ranch dressing mix-all things that we can't find here that we will treasure. I haven't quite decided what special occasion might call for a can of Rotel to be opened, maybe just one of those days when I'm missing home.

Every piece of furniture is put into its place and now I just have lots of boxes of stuff to go through and unload. It was embarrassing with our housekeeper watching all the unpacking, she is totally amazed at how much we have. I have already given her lots of things that we won't be needing. I can't even imagine how she talks about her day every evening with her family in their one room. She told me, "We have one room for eating, watching TV and sleeping." She is ecstatic about all the paper and cardboard from our move. She told me that she gets 1 Baht for 2kg/paper. Currently it is about 34 Baht/1 US Dollar or $.03/2kg/paper.

The house is coming together and maybe I'll have some pictures posted early next week. Thankfully, the echo in the huge family room has lessened with the rugs and furniture put in its place. I've really been missing my Mom, I have never decorated a new house without her help, sure wish you were here Mom!

Today, I had to go to pay all our utilities at the 7-11 just down the road from us. It's really quite efficient and amazing. You just walk into any 7-11 with your electric, water, cable, Internet, or phone bill. The cashier scans your bill and takes your cash and you can get some bottled naum all in one stop! Our electric bill isn't too much cheaper than our VA electric bill. Apparently, after a customer passes a certain amount of wattage used the price goes up exponentially thus making electricity very affordable for the poor. We only run our air-conditioners in the evening, a room at a time with all the surrounding doors shut to conserve energy. All the electricity adds up with the water well, the pool pump, the pond system, and normal usage.

I'll close-I'm tired from getting unpacked. Thanks for your prayers, this sea shipment arriving seems like one of the last big hurdles involved with this move. When we look back at how far we've come over the last 2 months it feels exhausting and we're grateful to be at this stage of the game.