Pirates of the Spanish Main!

So here is the saga of the our shipping container. It's a long and tragic tale, not for the faint of heart. Read on if you dare!!

We went with a company we will call Bob. Bob said the truck that we would load all our stuff (winter clothing, bed, etc. etc.) would arrive on Tuesday. On Monday I called Bob to confirm that the truck would be there on Tuesday. (We had asked a bunch of folks from our church to come and help us and all our utilities were going to be turned off on Wednesday morning.) Well, apparently Bob forgot to book the truck and was less than forth coming about that little detail. With a flurry of phone calls and lot of sweat and tears, a truck was booked for the Wednesday and the closing of the utilities postponed to the next day and all of our help graciously rescheduled to come the following day.

On Wednesday a truck did arrive as promised and our wonderful friends loaded the truck in less than an hour.

Fast forward to the end of August. Our container is shipped from the US and arrives in Spain on Sept. 4th. Our lawyer here in Spain begins to work on having it cleared from customs. Because it is a container full of personal items, there should be little paperwork and no import fees.

Apparently Bob booked the "worst company in Spain" (words from our attorney) to receive our container. We'll call this company "Stanley" Instead of writing "Personal effects" on the paperwork for customs Stanley puts "For Resale". Stanley realizes the mistake and crosses out "For Resale" and writes under it "Personal Effects". Guess what? Customs didn't buy it and hit us up for a TON of import tax.

Weeks of our attorney throwing paper at them ensue. Add to that a trip to the US Embassy and the Spanish immigration office in Madrid, several missed classes at language school and blizzard of paperwork from our offices in the US.

The final resolution was that we were given clearance from our freight fund from our home office to pay the ransom to have our possessions released. It should (Lord willing) get here tomorrow at 10:00.

During this process the Lord has taught us a lot about patience, and that there are indeed things we can live without. (Although I highly recommend a real bed instead of an air mattress on a hard wood floor.) Did this work out the way we had planed? Nope. But it didn't catch God by surprise. He is a God of grace who loves us and gives us the strength we need every day.

And now for something completely different.

A huge thanks to all of you who have responded with Bug Bite remedies. I've been using them! From Hydrocord-a-whatever-it-is to ammonia I've been using them! Apparently I'm alergic to what ever is biting me. I had a few new bites last night. One was on the Elbow. Now I have two elbows on my right arm. Thanks for all your tips and most importantly your prayers!

~Tony