"Hey...No cuts"

Have you ever been in line for something? A really long line that you've been standing in a really long time, for something that is very important to you? And then someone who just walks in the door cuts in front? And gets that "something" before you? That "something" you've been waiting patiently for is now one more person away.

That "something" is actually everything, everything we own that is sitting in customs in Santos, Brazil. We arrived at our empty apartment on December 30th, our shipment landed on Brazilian soil on February 22nd where it has been sitting ever since. That in itself isn't the frustrating part. It's the knowledge the many others have arrived well after us and have received their belongings weeks ago. Why is that? It's because they've taken cuts. Well it's really because the customs officials have taken cuts (or bribes) from these families respective companies which have jumped their clearance process in front of us.

As I type this, I'm sitting on the rental love seat, in my very empty living room, waiting for the kids to get home from school. Where we used to have restrictions on electronic time, I now let them play on their ipads as long as they want, surf the web until there eyes cross, and make huge messes with paper, glue and markers- anything to keep them happy. We have even succumbed to a family bed. We moved Camryn's twin bed to the living room so we have more places to sit and watch the one TV we have. Camryn then started sleeping with me in the very uncomfortable rental bed. Then David (the insomniac) started sleeping on Camryn's living room bed so he could have the TV put him to sleep. Aidan, feeling completely left out, started crawling into bed with Camryn and I to read at night and I didn't have the heart to send him back to his empty room, so there he stayed.

Our routines, rules, and habits have completely morphed into survival mode at this point. There are nights I let the kids have ice cream for dinner, because they're tired of eating what I can cook with my limited utensils and I'm sick of cooking too.

My favorite phrase now is "When we get our shipment....." followed by threats, promises, and plans for the future. Every day, I think I'm going to get the call that we have been cleared for delivery, but I usually just meet someone else who has taken cuts in front of me.

One positive side to all this...I'm amazed at how little we really need to get by. I even see that life is possible without a clothes dryer and our clothes seem to look better without one. If I would have known it would be this long, I would have carried a crock pot on the plane. It's my current "I'm missing it most" item. Everyday I marvel at how entertaining a pack of computer paper can be when it's all you have to work with.

And biggest realization of all, the value of a room with a view. Even with very little inside, there isn't a day that isn't filled with the beautiful life of the city as seen from our windows. And maybe some day soon, I'll see a moving truck pull up out front. Until then, there's always the art of origami. Maybe we can make a couple of chairs out of paper.