So, I haven't updated this thing since October. I have plenty to catch up on, and thank goodness, I even have pictures to post. Last year, I made a pretty poor decision by thinking I should get all of my pictures off of my computer and on to an external hard drive. I thought I had too many pictures and HD videos making my computer run slow. I put all my faith in this little "Seagate". Ugh. Right around Christmas, it quit. I'd maybe had it for 6 months. I KNEW BETTER!! That's the frustrating part. It wouldn't boot up, my computer wouldn't recognize it.. it was d-o-n-e. I sent it off right after the first of the year, and I just had a sick feeling the day it left. It had 7 years worth of pictures and videos on it, and I only had hard copies of about the first 3 years of it. I clung to the fact that birthdays and Christmases and other important pictures were on this blog. At least I had those pictures and even had the memories jotted down to go with them. I had a few videos on Facebook, too. But the pictures that weren't share-worthy (like Landry's birth) I may not ever see again. Seagate was supposed to have my hard drive for about 10 days, and they would give me a verdict and hopefully send my data back on a new hard drive. YESTERDAY (5 months later), after several frustrated phone calls to this data recovery "specialist", I got the verdict. Done-ski. Not able to recover. All gone.
But low and behold... this "data recover specialist" (me) figured out another way over the last 2 weeks. Here's where I give 5 stars to Wondershare. And Google. Trusty ol' google lead me to a program where I might could recover the deleted pictures off my own hard drive on my MacBook. I got 75% of my pictures back. I got things back we never even saved to our computers but somehow ended up on there just by plugging our phones in. The hardest part was finding my 4,500 pictures all in between every other image deep in my hard drive. I thumbed through 200,000 images to find my pictures. Not only were my pictures and videos on there, but so was every image from websites we visited.. every time Heath shopped for equipment, it was on there, and my pictures were all in between. I'm so relieved to have them! There are several things I learned through all of this: 1) Save your pictures in multiple places. 2) Pay $50 for Wondershare Photo Recovery if there are things you think are gone forever on your computer, phone, flash drive, etc. You actually don't have to pay until you see if your data is there. 3) Don't buy a Seagate. I should've read the reviews and not just taken the guy's word at Best Buy. 4) Don't ever sell a computer unless you replace the hard drive. Your personal info can be accessed by the next owner even if you think it can't!
Now, since I finally have my pictures back, I can catch up. I'll try to condense it some.
Last fall, we got in the groove of going to school every day. Luke did really good in school this year! It was exciting to see him eager to learn and grow. He learned to write in cursive and is reading really good. I can give him my grocery list at the store, and he can read off the the things we need. He's getting so grown-y. He used to have terrible separation anxiety, and now, he tries inviting himself places to spend the night. Haha. He has learned to tie his shoe and ride his bike with no training wheels. He has loose teeth... He's getting too big!!! He will be 6 on Friday. Unbelievable. He did Kindergarten this year at LCS but was young for his class with his summer birthday. We are sending him on to Whitharral in the fall, so we are going to let him repeat Kindergarten out there so he's not so young. Plus, he stayed so sick this year, he ended up missing around 30 days of school... which is another story in itself. I'll finish that later. Anyway, I'm soaking up my time with him this summer knowing the time is just around the corner when he'll spend more time in his day with someone else besides me for the first time in his life.
Landry has been in dance this year, and we also got her back into therapy last fall for her eating. We took a break a while back because she had peaked on her progress. We knew we would be back to see Alison again, but she was needing to grow developmentally before we got back in. We went nearly a year without being in therapy. It was kinda nice! But, around the 1 year mark, she was regressing and not putting on any weight. She's still small.. She'll be 4 in August and weighs 25 pounds. She eats, but it's mainly vegetarian foods. She prefers dairy, nuts, fruit, and a few vegetables. She likes breaded, fried meats... She still has never had a burrito, burger, spaghetti, etc. If it weren't for Alison, she'd be on a feeding tube. Alison helps Landry, but she helps me know how to deal with her, too. I'm thankful for her. Landry will start school in the fall at LCS in the PreK-3. Since her birthday is on August 30th, we are starting her late. She'll go twice a week for half a day. It will be good for her! She's ready.
Harvest was pretty rough last year. I think it was rough for everyone. It did rain some, but we didn't get any late moisture to help finish out the crop, and the resistant weeds were a nightmare. I've heard about farmers suffering through hard times, and I probably naively thought technology had come far enough to keep us out of troubles I'd heard of in the past. We have found these hard times to be a time of spiritual renewal though... And we seriously have the best friends, most are in the same boat. The support we have from friends is something else. I don't know what we'd do without them.
The one major event for us was the passing of Heath's great-grandfather, Hulon ("Grandad"). He was one of a kind. When I see him again one day, the first thing I want to tell him is "thank you". I think it's so special that my kids knew their great-great grandfather like they did. And even more special than that, I'm so grateful their first experience with death (that they will remember) is with someone who's faith was undeniable. Grandad's life and death solidified what we have been instilling in Luke and Landry. They remember him sitting with us in church. They know he is in Heaven with Jesus, and they know we will see him again one day. They ask me what Grandad is doing in Heaven, and they remind me of things that he said to them when he was here. His death has brought up so many teachable moments for us with the kids. It's a hard thing to explain to little ones, but they are glad knowing he's with Jesus and is whole again. Landry says when she sees him again she's going to give him a biiiiig hug because he loves her big hugs. She's right!
And to finish the part about Luke that I started earlier.... He has just been so sick. We saw a specialist a few weeks ago and are still waiting to reach a diagnosis with him. The doctor we saw thinks he has a periodic fever syndrome called PFAPA. If you look it up, it. is. Luke. To the T. He gets sick once every 3 or 4 weeks for about 5 days and runs a REALLY high fever (105-106) with a strep looking throat that ALWAYS tests negative for strep. Recovering those pictures from my hard drive, it seemed like half of the pictures I took, he was sick in them. He has been fighting these fevers for about 3 or 4 years, but the nasty throats have only been a problem for the last year. We are waiting for him to get sick again, and when he does, we have 2 different medicines to give him. If the meds make him better within a day, we know it's the PFAPA. A tonsillectomy cures this syndrome 80% of the time. We have an appointment already scheduled with an ENT. The periodic fevers aren't actually caused by a bacterial or viral infection.. it's more of an auto-inflammatory "flare up" he has.. similar to people with rheumatoid arthritis. Though we are anxious for answers, we are confident in his complete healing.
And here's the part I'm so glad to be able to share!! PICTURES!!!!
Luke with his soccer trophy.
Harvest - 4 generations of Greshams
Halloween - We thought we were getting Dale Jr and Elsa. Nanny changed her mind at the last minute and remembered she had an Ariel dress and went for that instead.
Our last days with Grandad - Halloween, Thanksgiving, and his 97th Birthday.
The guys worked through Thanksgiving, and my brothers were both busy, too. Thanksgiving was a little lonely last year! Christmas was fun but rough, too. Luke got the flu on Christmas Day.
Luke got well just in time to make it to our planned trip to Great Wolf Lodge. On the way home, Landry ended up with an ear infection, and we got stranded in Abilene and missed our flight with a group of friends to Vegas. We resorted to riding battery operated animals at the mall in Abilene for entertainment!
Heath and I rescheduled our trip and went with another couple to Vegas after we made it home.
We also got to go to North Carolina with friends to tour Cotton Incorporated.
For Spring Break, we went to Kerrville, and went over to the Safari near New Braunfels.
Heath took Luke to the NASCAR race at the Texas Motor Speedway again this year.
Landry and I went to Waco to welcome my newest nephew, Jonah Mason, into the world!
We went to the lake for a few weekends, too, before Heath got busy.
We actually stayed home some too! :)
Kids in the snow. We had lots of snow this year!
Landry at therapy. Her and her baby try new foods together sometimes.
You never know if this girl is gonna be pregnant or not around here!
Luke and I on a lunch date together. He loves Longhorn Steakhouse - root beer in a bottle, salad, and steak.
Luke got a special "sick" gift from his great-grandparents. We had a "healing blanket" growing up. So, this was quickly dubbed his "healing blanket", too.
Had a fun night out with friends celebrating the Kauffman's anniversary!
And Easter was spent alone, as well. I imagine you can guess - Luke was sick.
Now, I think it might be time for a celebratory drink! Ha! Cheers!
