I HATE technology! Not really, but I do!

I am now referring to this as "The Summer of Poopy Technology!"  Yes, my rhetoric may sound a bit childish, but I live with two small children and my language tends to reflect what little ears can hear.

A couple of months ago, our computer got a "Windows Recovery System" virus that wipes everything off your computer.  Thanks to the Geek Squad and $150, we were able to extract, or recover, everything onto an external hard drive...including every picture we have taken since Isaac was born.  That was my biggest concern.

Then we couldn't find our software CDs that came with our laptop, so I had to order a backup copy of Windows Vista to reload onto our computer in order to have a functioning laptop once again.  No biggie....it only cost $18 from DELL.  So I reloaded the Windows software, only to later discover that I also have to load Microsoft Office with another CD...which I also can't find.  We've moved four times since we got this computer!

Then about a month ago, I was in the shower and Isaac wanted to play the "Bug Game" (Pacman) on my iPhone.  Reluctantly, I let him.  But he was warned that if he did anything else on the phone that he would be in trouble.  Well, he did.  Somehow the little booger put a passcode on it and I didn't know it until I went to use my phone about half an hour later and couldn't even get into the thing!  And did you know that every time you try an incorrect passcode, it disables your phone for longer periods of time?  Each time I entered a wrong passcode I had to wait an hour before I could try again.  And after 10 tries, it disables your phone altogether, and the only way to use it again is to "restore" it to manufacturer settings in iTunes.

So I did that.  And sure enough...it wiped everything off my phone.  Once again...stuff was lost.  I wasn't so concerned with the pictures.  I only lost about a month of pictures.  I last saved the pictures to our computer at the end of April (which Geek Squad recovered for me) and I got a new camera the beginning of June so I had it with me almost everywhere I went and very rarely relied on my iPhone to take photos.  So that left the month of May.  So I wasn't that upset...

...but then I realized about a week and a half ago that I lost my voice memos.  Since both of our children were born, we have prayed with them every day.  We've prayed for their salvation.  That they would be Godly people in a world that has gone terribly astray.  That they would display Christ in their character and integrity.  And that praises to God would always be on their lips.

So when Isaac began singing praise songs at a year and a half, our hearts were SO overwhelmed with joy.  He knew the words.  He would sing right along with me while we rocked at night before bedtime.  And while I realize that he didn't understand what it meant at the time, my prayer for our children is that they will look back on their lives and be unable to pinpoint a day when they first believed in Jesus because it's what they have always done...what they grew into.  Yes, there will come a time when they must start to publicly confess Jesus as Lord before man.  But I want to "train up" our children in the way they should go so that when they are old they "will not depart from it."  (Proverbs 22:6)

So we recorded Isaac singing praise songs on the voice memo app on my iPhone.  And I had a voice memo of him giggling as a young baby.  That contagious giggle of his that I wanted to keep forever.  That HUGE belly laugh that made everyone laugh with him.  And after the "passcode incident"...it's gone.  I never saved it to the computer or made a CD.  

So I started googling, trying to find someone who had experienced a loss of voice memos and how/if they recovered it.  And I found a couple of websites where people out in internet world were able to recover their lost voice memos.  But unfortunately, it required "jailbreaking" your phone and I had absolutely no idea how to even start on that process.  And while it apparently runs the risk of making your phone a "paperweight" (according to my brother), I was more than willing to take that chance to recover precious memories.  

After racking my brain trying to think of someone I knew that could help, my dad suggested I call an old friend from high school and college who married a computer guru who is now the Director of an IT department.  So I did.  And they had no idea.  But I sent them the links that I found and they were going to look over everything and see if something could be done.

Fast forward to last Tuesday.  I took the kiddos swimming with some of Isaac's little friends to the public pool.  And naturally, we started off in the kiddie pool, which is a whole 2 feet high.  Since Gracie was born, I might as well forget about my swimsuit fitting properly, and I never got around to buying a new swimsuit this season, so I wore a t-shirt and shorts.  And after being in the kiddie pool for a whole 5 minutes, I felt something hit my foot.  And sure enough...it was my iPhone.  Left in my pocket.  

So I'd imagine that any chance I had to recover those voice memos is especially lost now that the thing won't even turn on!  

Added to all this is the fact that our video camera broke (which we discovered the day of Isaac's birthday party).  The day Gracie decided to crawl for the first time.    

When it rains it pours!  I don't think I have ever felt so strongly about that old cliche as I do concerning the events of this summer.  Yes I lost my iPhone.  But thanks to the overwhelmingly generous hearts of my neighbors (who all got iPhones for Christmas), I now have one of their old AT&T phones.  So I have a phone to use.  And yes, after having an incredibly user-friendly iPhone, I feel like my 96-year old Grandad would feel trying to learn how to use a computer.  I still have a phone to use even if it requires a little practice or "refresher course."  

But losing my most precious memories is the hardest.  I'll admit, I still haven't come to terms with it to the point I don't tear up.  Of all the things I wanted to remember the most about Isaac's "babyhood," I wanted to keep those voice recordings.    

So once again, I find myself praying to God to grant me grace when it comes to accepting the fact that my children won't be babies forever.  It's easier to accept that when you have videos or little recordings to look back on.  I've never been a person that remembers things very easily over a period of time.  My husband, on the other hand, has a memory like an elephant.  So it's been a hard lesson to learn.  Back up your stuff!  Technology can be poopy and stink like nothing else!