Christmas in September

Guess what came yesterday?!?!?!? Yep...OUR STUFF...finally.

It was packed up on a truck in Saline, LA on May 1st. We had scheduled that it arrive just a few days after we did in Brasil. We arrived June 13th. Our American shipping company didn't do their homework and find out what was required as far as paperwork, therefore our stuff was detained at the port. Since we then looked suspicious I guess, the Brazilian responsible authorities had a field day requiring tons of further documents and charging us an arm and a leg for storage. Don't view this as a bitter post, but just a friendly Better Business Bureau tip...if you need to ship things from the states to another country, don't use Air7Seas. Not only did they not do their job on the front end of things, when things did go wrong...really bad customer service...hor-ri-ble.

Anyway, finally after a 2 1/2 month delay, yes, our stuff is here. It really is like Christmas. Super great things that I'd even forgotten I'd packed. It's really fun.

The kids were really excited, esp. Grady. He had been asking about stuff over the past few months (since it left May 1st) and we would always say, "It's in the boxes." He got quite accustomed to that and would eventually, when asking about something or other, would say, "Is it in the boxes?" Yesterday when the truck got here I came inside to get him. I told him to come, there was a surprise. He went outside, saw the truck, and said with eyes as wide as saucers and a voice in a loud whisper, "Is that our boxes?" He could hardly contain himself.

Anyway, we had a great time last night of barely starting the unpacking process. Here are a few pictures from yesterday.


So. Very. Exciting. We actually had to "fight" up til the very last. Here Joel is on the phone with the people at the port. The truckers wanted to charge us for delivering it to the house instead of the airport (where it would've gone if it would've been here in June).
The unloading process here in Brasil was quite different than the loading process done in the states where the crates were loaded by a machine (run by a less-than-in-shape man). Here it goes...off the truck...
...onto the dolly (with Asa looking on)...
...down the patio...
...and into the garage.
Back in May when the truck came to load it up, the Ferguson's (our neighbors, friends, owners of the house we were living in) came over to watch. Mrs. Gail wrote a little message on one. Awww. We seriously miss you too!





And a drawing by the budding artist, Daria. She didn't quite get done with her thought before the big burly loading man took it away.














The kids were just beside themselves with anticipation.















Especially when the crate we opened first just happened to be the one with their toys/stuffed animals/books/dolls. Boy, what luck!














"Wow, I have a bat and ball?"
















Can you see the relief of being reunited with her things/babies? Look at that squeeze.















She looked up and smiled hugging her dolls. I took a picture, but then she wanted me to take a picture with her dolls posed. :)

We are so excited to be able to play with a few different toys, read some different books, watch a few different movies. I am glad to have things like a mixer, blender, microwave, and crock-pot. Joel is excited to have his precious tools which will make his maintenance weeks at Asas much easier. The list goes on and on.

Thank you for your prayers regarding all this. Please continue to pray as we send receipts to Air7Seas. Pray that they will see and admit their errors and rectify the situation.