The Eagle has Landed

It has been confirmed that our container of stuff from the US is actually in Duesseldorf at the airport and is expected to go through customs today. Theoretically, we could have it tomorrow, but at this point, I'm just hoping for before we leave.

I can't decide what frustrates me more--being without our stuff from home for almost four months or the fact that being without stuff frustrated me so much. We've had four towels for a family of three--that's one more than we really need. I've alternated three pairs of pants (two I acutally bought here because the other two pairs I had were cotten crop pants) plus a slightly dressier pair that I've worn to church every Sunday since we've been here. The best part is that the one pair of jeans I wear have three spots on them from where I dripped super glue back in the states trying to fix one of Maddie's toys. They really didn't show when I arrived, but the jeans have been washed so much that has they've faded, the spots have emergered. I've already broken the zipper on the one pair of sensible, warm boots I bought here, but they have laces as well, so I just kind of tie the laces around my calf to hold them together and my pants leg covers it.

I thought I would be beyond this, but I have to say that having a second(or even a third!) outfit to wear to church, a second pair of boots and enough towels to not have to do laundry when four are dirty will make me really happy. I believe I've said this before, but if there were any doubts, this experience has confirmed that I am not prepared to become a missionary to Africa or China.

Skip will also be glad to have more dress shirts. He's bought a couple, but gets in a pinch when he realizes that all four of them are at the dry cleaners and he has a big meeting the next day.

Maddie will be glad to get her stuffed animals (although she has accumulated enough here that there's not much room for her in the bed now! Wonder who she gets that from, Mom?). She also misses her Polly Pockets and wants stuff to put up on the walls that are all very, very white.

Last night we gave Maddie her Christmas present from us. We didn't want to haul it all the way to the US and then bring it back and, once the container gets here, things are going to be kind of nuts until we leave. So, we went up to the playroom, put on the Santa Clause movie (we opted to to view it in English) and let her open her present of the Playmobil Fairy Tale Castle. Good Grief! In terms of pieces and assembly, IKEA has got nothing on Playmobil. I've never seen anything like it. My hands look like I was attacked by an angry cat with all the scratches I have from pieces and the "special" tool slipping. But Maddie loves it!