The first box in our air shipment arrived at the DHL office yesterday! It took a lot of restraint not to tear off the shredded plastic, slip a blade through the tightly wrapped tape, lift open the cardboard flaps, and unpack the box’s contents right there in the back of Chris’s vehicle.

With overwhelming anticipation, we gathered around the large box and silently speculated its contents. Chris hoped that his coffee maker was carefully packed inside the box. Kylee hoped to pull her fuzzy, purple blanket out of it. Ally hoped to see her bungee chair somewhere in the there. And I hoped the microwave was in it. In less than thirty seconds, the box was opened and its contents were revealed, and all the excitement immediately vanished from our faces.

It wasn’t Chris’s coffee pot, Kylee’s blanket, Ally’s chair, or the microwave. It wasn’t even a set of towels or a package of hangers, which we would have been equally happy to see. It was the dehumidifier. Our spirits deflated even more when Chris lifted the dehumidifier from the box and found two smashed and broken stainless-steel lids sitting at the bottom of the box.

One box down and thirteen more to go (as soon as they get here).