August 2005: We packed up our stuff in Texas, after paring it down to the bare minimum. Moved it into a spare room in the cowhouse.

March 2006: Upon returning to Texas, we arranged for an international goods shipper to come and pick up our stuff to ship to New Zealand.

June 2006: Our stuff is finally delivered in New Zealand!

Ten months after packing up the barest of the bare minimum of our stuff that we wanted to take with us, we got a call yesterday from the delivery driver who would be delivering it! I was home yesterday because I was feeling awful, so I got to (sort of) help unpack all our stuff.

I was afraid that since it had been so long since we had really seen any of this, that we would start unpacking and think, what is all this? Why did we keep this? Fortunately, that didn't happen. We did a great job of getting rid of the stuff we didn't actually need. One doesn't really need a lot of stuff to live, and in fact we have quite happily lived without any of this for nearly a year. However, it's nice to have various things back.

Amy is thoroughly happy to have her framed photos, photo albums, books, kitchen utensils, and fridge magnets. I am happy to have my books, tools, and telescope. We are both happy to have our kitchen table and chairs, more warm clothes, and movies on DVD. Amazingly, there doesn't appear to have been any damage to anything! Even Amy's genuine Guinness pint glass that survived not only the initial night when she got it (its twin didn't), but two subsequent intercontinental moves, arrived without a scratch.

This is really starting to feel like home now.