Technology and other things

We got this fancy new computer a couple months ago. It was supposed to help me with my picture editing, allow me the freedom to get things done in a timely manner. (instead of taking an hour to edit one picture because my old laptop was so slow)

For whatever reason on Thursday our new computer decided it didn't like us anymore. It randomly crashed and has repeatedly crashed since then. We can't figure out why. We were doing the same things we'd been doing since we got it.

Brian has been working on it since then and as far as we can tell he's no closer to figuring out what's going on. To our knowledge we have no viruses or spy-ware. All scans show up clean and the memory and disk checks find nothing. He even re-installed Vista (don't laugh, we know that must have something to do with it - stupid unstable OS) and still it crashes.

It seems to somehow be tied to our internet usage as Firefox has stopped working all together and it only crashes when we are online. But we don't know what's making it crash.

If nothing resolves itself soon Brian will get to take it with him to the computer shop in Seattle where we bought it when he goes off to his summer job next week.

Needless to say, I probably won't be online much this week or next. I'm lucky that the internet works in safe mode... and of course I could break out my old laptop if I wanted to wait half an hour for it to boot up and load the internet...

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

Happy 4th of July... and I won't even go into have crazy convoluted and un-church-like our church felt this morning...

Book: Love and Other Natural Disasters

This week I read another book from Hachette Book Group. I would say it was about as completely opposite from the last one as humanly possible. The book is titled Love and Other Natural Disasters although there really weren't any natural disasters to speak of... only man-made ones.

Here's the book description:

Is it better to unknowingly live a happy lie than to have your world shattered by a painful truth?

Eve is eight months pregnant and in the middle of a Thanksgiving celebration when she discovers that her husband Jonathan has developed an intimate relationship with a woman over the past year. Jonathon asserts his innocence (an affair involves physical intimacy, and he didn't have any), while Eve feels deeply betrayed by the emotional connection he shared with someone else. What Jon has done seems so terrifyingly out of character that Eve finds herself questioning her entire reality. Did she ever really know Jon at all? Was their happiness together a lie? Is emotional intimacy more forgivable than sexual intimacy? And can their marriage survive?

***

I did read through this book with a feeling of dread that I wouldn't like how it ended. I won't spoil it, but I will say that at least it has a hopeful ending (that was actually one of the book group questions... did you think that it had a hopeful ending?).

It was definitely an interesting look into how two people can so easily become complacent in a marriage. The ways that Eve and Jonathan use to figure themselves out I'm not sure I agree with though. In the interest of disclosure, this is NOT a Christian book so it's the views on life in general I didn't always agree with as well as one scene in the book that, while it helped the story, was rather more graphic than I needed.

Brian has been eyeing this one over my shoulder and since he really loves to analyze things I'll see if he'll read it and maybe give you his reactions later...

Wordless Wednesday: Cherries

Not the greatest shot... but still fun to pick cherries on Sunday night.
Cherry season is AWESOME!
(after the 21 quarts, 2 dehydrators full, and 3 cookie sheets in the freezer that we processed yesterday...)

Book: Love's Pursuit

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Love's Pursuit
Bethany House (June 1, 2009)
by
Siri Mitchell

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Siri Mitchell graduated from the University of Washington with a business degree and worked in various levels of government. As a military spouse, she has lived all over the world, including in Paris and Tokyo. Siri enjoys observing and learning from different cultures. She is fluent in French and loves sushi.

But she is also a member of a strange breed of people called novelists. When they’re listening to a sermon and taking notes, chances are, they’ve just had a great idea for a plot or a dialogue. If they nod in response to a really profound statement, they’re probably thinking, “Yes. Right. That’s exactly what my character needs to hear.” When they edit their manuscripts, they laugh at the funny parts. And cry at the sad parts. Sometimes they even talk to their characters.

Siri wrote 4 books and accumulated 153 rejections before signing with a publisher. In the process, she saw the bottoms of more pints of Ben & Jerry’s than she cares to admit. At various times she has vowed never to write another word again. Ever. She has gone on writing strikes and even stooped to threatening her manuscripts with the shredder.

A Constant Heart was her sixth novel. Two of her novels, Chateau of Echoes and The Cubicle Next Door were Christy Award finalists. She has been called one of the clearest, most original voices in the CBA.


ABOUT THE BOOK

In the small Puritan community of Stoneybrooke, Massachusetts, Susannah Phillips stands out both for her character and beauty. She wants only a simple life but soon finds herself pursued by the town's wealthiest bachelor and by a roguish military captain sent to protect them. One is not what he seems and one is more than he seems.

In trying to discover true love's path, Susannah is helped by the most unlikely of allies, a wounded woman who lives invisible and ignored in their town. As the depth, passion, and sacrifice of love is revealed to Susannah, she begins to question the rules and regulations of her childhood faith. In a community where grace is unknown, what price will she pay for embracing love?

***

I don't know what it is about these books, but I just can't seem to get into them. I read about a quarter of the way through this one and just had to quit. I didn't want to pick it up again and it was hindering me from going on to read something else (I'm a one book at a time girl). I think there was just such a sense of foreboding that I didn't want to deal with it.

I also think a large part of that is the way the book jacket descriptions were written for both this, Love's Pursuit, and A Constant Heart, which I never read. So perhaps it's more of a publisher's problem...

I hope someone else will enjoy them!

If you would like to read the first chapter of Love's Pursuit, go HERE

Camping Adventures

Last weekend our Mom's Bible Study group was supposed to go camping at Banks Lake. Unfortunately 3 days before the date we discovered that the group campsite had been moved to "tick-ville" as Carisa, our fearless leader, so nicely put it. Basically the lovely grassy area with playground and full bathrooms had been designated as a day use only area and the group camp site was now an undeveloped area with "natural grasses". In other words, a field. Not exactly a good idea when the majority of people coming are bringing toddlers and pre-schoolers!

So the camping was moved to Carisa's in-law's house on the river. They are out of town and have a lovely area with actual grass...

It was fabulous other than the fact that Cory didn't sleep the first night. He was up half the night patting my face and talking. Then when Brian got up with him at 6am I thought I might get a bit of sleep... until the Mexicans showed up to work in the orchard next door and left their honky tonk music blaring. I decreed that I wasn't "sleeping" there again so I guess it's a good thing we were only half an hour from home rather than 2 hours so we could easily come back!

Other than that we had a great time! Cory had his favorite buddy here... Dylan!

Hero worship

There were shells and toys of all kinds to play with.

Especially cool ride-on toys and funky glasses...

My steam-punk boy! Taking after Daddy!

The water was a bit cold, but not too cold for jet-skiing!

Cory was too scared to go much, but Daddy and Mommy sure had fun!

The wading was more kid friendly... although out past a few feet it turned into ankle deep muck.
I discovered the muck when Carisa and I did the "polar bear plunge" the first day. I could handle the cold water better than the muck!

We had fun playing Blongo...

and generally sitting around talking even though it was too windy to really enjoy the fire.

Jason and Stella

Mommy Jenny making dinner in their camper

One night Russ cranked up the music and all the kids started dancing... well, and a few of the rest of us too!

Cory loves to dance...
Then he played the chicken dance and I had to teach Cory the proper moves.


Emma was the best dancer there!
And of course no camping is complete without watermelon!
Cory's favorite treat!

He wasn't a fan of the s'mores, but would gladly eat the chocolate and crackers separately! He wanted a marshmallow (or marshmelon as he called them!) and then would take one bite and hand it back to me. After a couple of half eaten marshmallows I decided he didn't really need them anyway!

Book: This Side of Heaven

I read another book lately (big surprise I know!) by an author that I hadn't heard of until recently. I'm quite happy to finally have a chance to read this one since the things I'd been hearing were rave reviews.

Hachette Book Group was kind enough to send me a copy of This Side of Heaven by Karen Kingsbury. Here's what the back cover says:

No one believed he had a daughter he’d never met . . . No one listened when she cried for the daddy she didn’t know . . . Now, in the ashes of tragedy, lies a vindication neither could’ve imagined.

Annie Warren always wanted the best for her son, Josh. But years of failure and bad choices created a heartbreaking distance that has grown far worse since the day Josh was hit by a drunk driver.

Now on medical disability, Josh has put his life on hold for years, waiting for the insurance company to send a settlement that never seems to come. Worse, he believes the story of a scheming woman who claims they have a seven-year-old daughter named Savannah.

Despite the unlikelihood and complete lack of evidence, Josh dreams of being a father and is determined to one day claim the child. His family doesn't know the full story. They don't know what happened the night of the accident that was worth the chronic pain Josh suffers every waking minute, or that he is turning his life around. They haven't seen that Savannah's eyes are his, and they don't know how desperately the little girl needs her family.

When the settlement that rightly belongs to Josh is threatened, Annie sets out to defend her son. But she might find a treasure more valuable than money, one she never expected, one that is the greatest gift her son could ever give her--THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN.

A story of family secrets, broken relationships, and a love strong enough to span an ocean – this side of heaven.

***

Let me just give you a fair warning. I cried through a good half of this book. You'll have to know that I do cry if a book is sad, but not usually for more than a few pages. This one was definitely tugging on my heart strings. And I won't tell you the story, but the character of Josh is actually based on Karen's brother. Wow.

I'm going to be looking for more of Kingsbury's books to read in the future. I thought it was very well written... I couldn't put it down! I finished it in just under 3 hours. That's a good read for me!

A Cosmic Joke

I've been thinking about this all day. I have about a hundred different things I could say, but I don't really want to say any of them. I don't want to have to explain myself. I wish I could wake up tomorrow and have this be a bad dream.

There is no more baby.

No more plans, no more happy news to share.
(just sucky news that I now have to "un-tell" everyone)

No "exchange" for not getting to have my Lasik surgery. Not that that is as important as a baby, but it still matters for all the pain my stupid eyes have put me through. Last night I had a migraine from my glasses.

Tonight I just have nothing. No baby and no relief in sight since God obviously said "no Lasik". It just seems like he has a twisted sense of humor to take that away by giving me a baby and then to take the baby away too.

There is of course the part of me that thinks this is my fault. I did get on the jet ski on Saturday without even thinking about it. If I'm so worried about the roller coasters in Disneyland next month why didn't I think about the bouncing of a jet ski? But I didn't. Is it coincidence that it's 3 days later? I don't know. (hey, look, now I don't have to worry about the roller coasters. some consolation prize that is...)

Is it the fact that I feel like my body's all messed up for the last while? Do I have any control over that?

Who knows why. All I feel like is that I'm sitting at the butt end of some cosmic joke. And it sure isn't funny from this end.

Timing is Everything

If it's Friday when you're reading this, I should have been getting Lasik surgery on my eyes today. The eyes aren't that bad, but the wearing of glasses is just so hard for me that we (I) decided that this might be the best route to go.

Now, you can't have Lasik if you're pregnant or "going to be" in the next 3 months or until 6 months after you've finished nursing. Obviously we've been trying for awhile now and nothing has happened. So I decided that I could take 4 months off if it meant less headaches, rather than having to wait 2 1/2 years or more.

However, I was also pretty freaked out about anything going wrong. Since my eyes are not super bad now and also since everything I love to do really involves my eyes (reading, photography, sewing, etc.). Then of course the liability waiver came in the mail with all the possible side effects and complications and that didn't help my anxiety.

I made all the appointments and even had my eyes dilated last week (wow, that was not an experience I want to repeat soon - I had NO IDEA how frustrating that is!) but I was still wavering about going through with it. I finally decided, God, if you don't want me to do this, then you'll have to make me pregnant. I didn't figure there was any way of us making that happen this month...

But then on Saturday I needed to take a pregnancy test just to be sure that I was okay for the surgery and lo and behold... oh boy, it shows positive!

So, now you know the reason for Cory's t-shirt and also why we can't keep this one a secret. I didn't really want to tell everyone that I "wussed out" on the surgery when that wasn't the real reason for not going through with it! But it's also early still so I hope and pray that things will be okay. (the baby is due sometime in February)

As for me... I'm kind of conflicted. Obviously on the one hand we've really wanted another baby for quite awhile. However, I don't do well with quick changes and I had been putting all my focus on the surgery and the schedule and things like that. Now we are heading in the opposite direction!

I'll get used to it and be happy, but it will take me awhile (in case you wonder why I don't seem as enthusiastic as I should be) because I am still trying to figure out what to do with my constant pressure headaches from the glasses and now I don't see any relief in the near future.

Obviously this was God's timing, but if you think of it, please pray for a healthy baby and some relief or solution to my glasses issues!