Thursday, September 13, 2007

Can we talk???

I am currently in a state of overwhelmedness. Why? Well, allow me to share... because I'm certain you're dying to know. Just prepare yourself for a long post.

Thursday night my laptop crashed. Died, really. A painful, crashing death. My IT folks at work have been steadily working to try to un-encrypt and recover my data, but due to bad sectors, I have lost the following:

  • 1-1/2 year's worth of pictures of my baby that have never been backed up, printed, or placed in a scrap book of any kind whatsoever. Gone. Memories, milestones, celebrations, vacations, smiles, grins ... gone. In a blink of an eye. I'm most sick over this, as you can very well imagine. It's all gone.
  • My book. Four chapters of inspired writing gone. Oh, my burning heart. Months and months of work. Gone.
  • My collection of recipes. Recipes I created, recipes I loved, recipes I wanted to publish at one time or another. Gone.
  • Numerous other personal files.
Lesson learned? Always, and I do mean ALWAYS back your pictures, your work, your everything up by burning them on a CD, placing them on a thumb/flash drive, whatever... just do it. Per my IT person, they suggest that you have your personal items (such as pictures) that you want to keep long-term on two different kinds of media. Back it up, baby!!!

Friday I was given a new lap top at work. I went home eager to get on line and share my hard lesson learned with you all, only to come to a crashing halt because I couldn't get online. Our computer at home had crashed a while ago, but one of our pastors had given us another CPU, so Dan began to set it up, but we were also having trouble with our wireless router. Our Pastor came over on Monday to do some work on the computer and to check out our wireless router. He got everything in order for us (he's a great guy!), but we still couldn't get my lap top to connect to the router for internet service. Finally, yesterday, my IT people responded to my Help Desk ticket and walked me through turning on my wireless card in my lap top. So now, I can connect at home ... I think. I'll be trying it out this weekend.

Next issue... Saturday morning, my husband woke up with a bump on his foot the size of a 25-cent gumball. He has always had a bump there (we assumed it to be a cyst), but it was about the size of a small marble. Suddenly, he woke up and it was huge. And very painful. By Sunday morning, we were walking into an immediate care center for pain management. By Sunday night, we were in the emergency room for more pain management. They tried to drain the cyst, but nothing would come out -- it was a honking needle, too! By Monday, we were in the office of a specialist. When she did a sonogram, the two nurses and the doctor were surprised at how big it was (2 cm x 1 cm) and were oogiling over it. They scheduled him for surgery to remove it because the doctor said that the fluid in it was probably as thick as peanut butter. His surgery is tomorrow morning. Good times. But, God has been working in his foot, because the size of the cyst has decreased dramatically on the top of his foot. We don't know what's going on inside, but we know that God is hearing our prayers, and is doing his shtick -- the miracle shtick! Praise God!

Finally, a rod in my Expedition broke on Tuesday. We think its the tie (?) rod in the front ... but we're not sure. Fortunately, we have three vehicles, so now I'm zipping around town in my husband's Takoma -- which is stick shift. It's been a really long time since I last drove a stick shift -- possibly 7 years -- so I had to get used to that all over again. My insides felt like a milkshake the first day, but I'm a pro by now. And one of these days, by car will be fixed and good to go, but for now? I cram my 32" inseam legs into his tiny truck and putter along. Fortunately, it did not break while I was driving on the highway at a high speed. Unfortunately, we have some hefty car repair expenditures looming ahead. Again -- good times.

So there you have it. My life this week in a nutshell. And in honor of Peach over at Without Fear, I'm going to fill up my Thursday Thanks Tank:

1. I'm thankful that I have a wonderful person in the IT department that is working hard to recover whatever pictures of Hunter possible, and has told me it looks promising.

2. I am very thankful that my car broke down just minutes away from my home.

3. I'm thankful that his healing hand is over my husband, and that the bump is a cyst that can easily be removed, and he will soon be comfortable once again.

4. I am so thankful that we have been having beautiful, cool weather this week, and this weekend promises to be even cooler -- in the 70's... Fall is right around the corner!

5. I am thankful that my Pastor was our acting Geek on Call and came over to our home to work on our computer. I'm thankful for the computer he gave us. I'm thankful for his talents. I'm thankful that he doesn't really work for Geeks on Call, and we didn't have a $300 bill to pay for him to help us out.

5. I am so thankful for my Salvation, and promise of eternal life in heaven. This week, a saint of the church passed away. She was either close to 90, or in her 90s. Her family is exhausted both emotionally and physically, but while this saint is not longer here on earth with us, and while we here mourn her loss, she is no longer mourning, and no longer in discomfort. No friends, she is rejoicing in heaven with our Lord and Savior, the angels are rejoicing over her entry in heaven, and she is reunited with her love -- her husband -- who passed away several years before her. I am most certain that she is dancing on streets paved with gold to her favorite blue grass music!

6. I am ever-grateful for my family. My husband is such a blessing, so loving, caring, and patient, and our son continues to be a kiss of sunshine in our lives!

7. I am so thankful for my in-laws. My husband's parents have been so helpful with caring for my son ... they came over to our home at 11:30 at night so I could take my husband to the hospital. They spent the night and watched Hunter the following day (Monday) so that I could take my husband to run some errands and to his doctor's appointment. They will be spending the night tonight and watching Hunter tomorrow while I'm at the hospital with my husband. They are a blessing straight from heaven!!!

Any way -- I have about a gazillion emails to tend to, a ton of work to do, a lot of re-creating to do, and a lot of lost blogging posts to re-write. But for now, I really am back.

27 comments:

Susanne said...

My heart just dropped to my knees when you said you lost the pictures of Hunter.

That is quite a week. I'd be feeling overwhelmed too, Gibee. Praying for you and for your hubby.

I love how you ended this review of your week, though. With hope. With thankfulness for the good things. Hugs to you, my friend!

merry said...

No wonder you've been AWOL.

Praying for your hubby's procedure and for everything to settle down.

Thanks for the reminder to back everything up, especially pictures. Hoping some pics can be recovered

Pam said...

Bless your big, and loving heart, dearest GiBee. I am so, so sorry about your losses, especially those photos of Hunter -- makes this mama's heart physically hurt to think of it.

Your Thanks Tank touched my heart after reading about your loss. All the more reason to praise Him, dear one! You are so sweet, and I am grateful for you.

Emily Dykstra said...

Oh wow. I'm so sorry for your incredibly busy week, GiBee.

Now I feel badly for peppering your poor email inbox.

Take some time out for yourself and regroup. Sounds like you need another vacation. :)

Rocks In My Dryer said...

OH NO! THE PICTURES! That just makes my heart hurt.

Anonymous said...

I'm soo sorry this happened to you. That happened to us a few years ago and we lost a years worth of our blog and had to start from scratch again. Fortunately we didn't lose our photos. My heart hurts for you. Can you still retrieve any photos of Hunter from your blog? Perhaps grandparents and everyone else you know, who has ever taken pictures of your son, can go make you copies (even though I know it's still not the same).

Beth/Mom2TwoVikings said...

Aw, sweetie. All those pics! Praying that your hubby's procedure goes well and that things settle soon ...and if not, that God gives you strength, discernment, and a boost in humor! *wink*

Lissete said...

I am so sorry to hear about your pictures. This happened to us about 2 years ago. I was so upset. My DH bought some kind of recovery software and we got most of them back & promptly put them on a cd. There is still hope, just back them up right away! :)

Katie said...

I'm praying that you get all your pictures back. That just makes my heart hurt, and reminds me to back up our pictures.
I've missed hearing from you, and I'm so impressed with you remembering to be thankful in all things. I hope your hubby's foot heals quickly. My husband has had 2 hugely swollen cysts. The first time they cut it out. Ouch, he really never could enjoy the sponge baths I had to give him or relax while I shaved him for 3 mornings. And I had thought I was so sexy in the mornings. HA! The second time a large dose of antibiotics kept the surgeon away.

Laura said...

Oh Gibee, I'm so sorry. When it rains it pours that is for sure. Loved how you are still able to see the positive in the midst of such trying times.

Laura

Barb said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Barb said...

Oh my gosh, GiBee, you've had one awful week and you can still come up with things to be thankful for. I'm in awe of you.

It's been bothering me a lot lately that all our photography for two years has been digital and is stored in this computer and not backed up. I'm talking wedding photos and Cameron photos! Oh my word, I'm so sorry this has happened to you but thank you, thank you for the slap I needed to get my photos backed up on another media.

And my Explorer threw a rod, about fifteen feet before we would have entered the Eisenhower Tunnel in the Rockies. Had we been inside that tunnel when it happened, it would have been disastrous for not only us but a lot of other people too.

God is truly, truly looking out for us.

I feel awful about your photos AND your book. Poor you.

Sandy said...

Oh my, oh my. I really don't know what to say. Wish I were there to give you a BiG HUG!
Hopefully you have sent lotsa pix out to friends/family, where they will be able to give them back to you.
Oh, my heart hurts. But I love your list of thanksgiving. Puts it all into perspective.
Hang in there, chickie! Sandy

tammi said...

Oh, GiBee, what an overwhelming week. I learned the 'back up your files' lesson the hard way, too. I only lost the first 3 months of my daughter's life (in pictures, of course), but they included the very first ones of us in the hospital. Ugh, that's just so awful.

I'm praying for hubby's surgery and the return of normalcy to your lives!

rohanknitter said...

Wow, when it rains it pours! No wonder you feel overwhelmed.
Hope everything goes well with your husband's surgery.....and I'm SO sorry about the pictures!! : (

Donnetta said...

Oh my friend... I am just sick for you! I was relieved to hear from you but saddened with you at all of this!!

Thanks for such a great reminder that even in our dark days... we need to praise Him!

Praying for a better end to the week and a restful weekend.

squirrely said...

oh lawsy day woman...not good.

hope they can recover the pics, hope the hubby recovers, and hope the car can be mended as well...

I lost pics of the girls too. Sick I tell ya, sick!

I have to tell you that I had posted some (like 10-20) of those pics on the web to an album to show someone. I was just starting out using the web as a way of sharing photos and I was able to recover those that I posted, but I did lose the rest. Just another way to backup your photos.

((hugs))

Diane Meyer said...

I actually gasped outloud (shall we call that GOL?) when I read what you lost. Each thing, the pictures...oh NO!, the book...I can't breathe...the recipes...how will you live??? I FEEL your pain. I'm sorry. I will back up my stuff. Thank you. And really, thankyou for how you ended your blog with such perspective. Loved it.
diane

Anonymous said...

How terrible! Just one of those things is no fun much less all of them together. I'll be praying that things get better.

Anonymous said...

Sorry all that happened... how wonderful you can still give thanks though.

Jennifer said...

I'm SO sorry this happened to you (and everything else that's happened this week!). I've backed up most of our pictures onto CDs, but I definitely need to do it again. Hopefully everyone will heed your warning!!

Girl Raised in the South said...

I've heard so many great things about your blog, and think I've never been over here, so I wandered in for a visit, to hear you've been hit from all sides! Hope things improve this week, I'll be back to look around some more.

Anonymous said...

GiBee, Blogdom isn't quite as fun when you're away. I pray things are getting better in your world! Please tell us they saved your pics and book.

Jen said...

I lost my pictures once when my computer crashed. It's awful....I learned to back up. I hope this week is much better.

Heather Smith said...

Hey girl! Sounds like craziness. Hope the surgery went well. Praying for you guys!

Jana @sidetrackd said...

Oh, I hope they are able to recover your pictures of Hunter. That is one of my great fears with only having digital pictures.

I hope things are improving on the homefront. And good for you listing your "thanks" to help keep the negative in perspective!

sharon brobst said...

I just happened on your site. And I've enjoyed my visit.

I am so sorry about your pictures, book and recipes....how heartbreaking!

Just last week I download ALL my digital picture onto a CD there were 100s of them. I had been so afraid something would happen! Then I got to thinking what happens if the CD get broke or scatched? So I downloaded them to a memory stick. After reading your loss I'm so thankful I didn't put it off!