Computer Crash!

It's been about a month now that we have been without our computer at home--and we've found that it is very challenging to adjust to life without the internet and all the things we have stored on our computer! Pictures, for one. Of course, I have not backed up my pictures in several months, so the crash made me very nervous. I now have a camera memory card that is full of pictures, waiting to see what has been lost. The good news is that before the computer guru wiped out our whole laptop, he did call to see what we might want to save. "Pictures and documents," I quickly replied. But what else from our busy lives that was saved has now been lost? I had no idea how dependent on my computer I was! It's been a good break, and the word is that our laptop is now ready to be picked up. Tomorrow. I'm sure once we pay the bill, we will expect to find it covered in gold, but I'm just hoping it will be "back to normal." It sure makes life so much easier. Borrowing this laptop for today has allowed me to catch up, but I've also noticed how much time I waste with this screen in front of me! :( Ughhh! I guess self-control is necessary in every area of life. It seems like so much has been going on since the first of the year. Let's see if I can recap in a nutshell with no cute pictures to attach. :( That will have to wait until our computer comes back home. Taylor got his braces off and has a gorgeous smile now! It is a rarity so you'd better enjoy it when you see it. ha! ha! Lindy won the Spelling Bee for the whole Fulton County Middle School! We were so proud of her! Then she went on to compete at Fulton City to see who would go on to Memphis and she came in 2nd place. It was a hard disappointment for her because she felt she should/could have won, but they did things differently. And they had given us a 14-page list of words with roots from 10 different languages to study. We didn't get all the way through them, but she surprised me at how well she did with those! Then at the Spelling Bee, Fulton City used the old list from the original spelling bee that we hadn't even looked at in 2 weeks! She was so disappointed when she forgot to put two "c"s in the word "accrued," but I was proud of her anyway. She is a great speller and has next year to look forward to! This past week Taylor and Lindy gave speeches to their whole grade during a 4-H competition at school. We haven't gotten the results of those speeches yet, but I was so very proud of them both! That was a first for them and they both did great! Lindy gave a demonstration speech on making an origami crane. She was so calm and poised. Taylor gave his speech titled "The Art of Annoying Siblings," and began by saying, "Do any of you have younger siblings? Well, I do. I have four, and I can pretty much say that I have mastered the art of annoying my siblings, especially sisters." It was so funny and creative. Their dad, Marlena, and I went to watch them and we were very proud! Marlena and Jay are doing well in their school work. They are not ready to go to public school yet, but we are trying to get them to that place. I'm not in a hurry to send them, but we're praying that we'll know when the time is right. Today they are enjoying the day off (President's Day) with Taylor home and playing with them. The house may be destroyed when I come out of my room in a few minutes, but they will have had fun together! Lindy is at Daisy Major's house and I can only imagine all the giggles Mindy has had to put up with since last night! Those two are a pair, and I am so very grateful for the Majors' friendship with our family. Lindy has officially concluded her first year of cheerleading and loved every minute of it! She's already excited about tryouts for next year's squad. Taylor finished basketball and has just begun playing Saturday league basketball with his dad as his coach. He looks to get a lot of playing time in, which will be great practice for next year's school team. He has just started track practice for the spring season, so we'll see how that goes. He enjoys running, and since this is his first time ever to run track, we'll see what they have him competing in later on. I love it how he wants to try everything this year! By high school, he might know what he prefers most, but this year he has enjoyed learning football, basketball, and now track. He's a great team player. Enough catching up for now. Hopefully our computer will come home very soon and be well. I'll try to do better writing then. Oh, can't close without saying something about Schaeffer. He is still the energy that keeps our family laughing. He is doing well with one aspect of potty training, but completely NOT well with the other. :) The great part is that everytime I have to clean him up, he says, "I'm so, so, so sorry, Mom! I won't do it again! Tomorrow I'll go poop in the big potty!" He wants to make me happy, but just not yet! He sure makes me smile, though!