Divine Intervention

I have had a rough couple of weeks, as far as electronics go. When we went to Atlanta, my iPod would keep freezing up mid-song. Brad had purchased the extended warranty from Best Buy, which still had 18 months left on it so we took it in to Best Buy. Long story short they ended up sending it out to be fixed and then they called and said it was "water damaged" which wasn't covered on the extended warranty. After arguing extensively with the managers we were sent on our way, without a functioning iPod. Brad felt really bad so 2 weeks ago he surprised me with a Zune- the Microsoft version of an iPod. He told me to try it out and see if I liked it; other wise he would return it within the 14 days and just buy me another iPod. Well, I ended up LOVING the Zune.

So yesterday I was getting ready to mail the invitations to my sister's baby shower and needed to ask her a question first, so I went to push the speed dial on my cell phone, and the phone shut off. Weird. I thought maybe I had held down the power button accidentally so I tried to turn it back on. No luck. I decided to let it sit for a few minutes and try again. It still didn't work. So I got Savannah loaded into the car and drove to the Verizon Wireless store I found online. I get to the store and it is empty. As in closed. For good. There is a sign on the door saying they moved, so back in the car we go and manuver through traffic, make a few u-turns and end up at Verizon. After waiting in line for about 30 minutes the technician told me it was water damaged. (What is it with me and water damage?!) Luckily I had purchased insurance, something I've never had before, and this time the insurance does cover water damage (!). Unfortuntely, they don't just hand you a new phone, you have to file an insurance claim. So I am handed a pamphlet and told to call the 1-800 number. Easy, right? Well while in this apartment we decided not to spend money on a landline telephone, so I have no way to call to file the claim.

So back into the car we go and drive 45 minutes across town to Brad's office. It is around lunchtime, when Brad usually calls, and I knew he would get worried if he couldn't get in touch with me, and I figured I could call the insurance company from his phone. So Savannah and I surprised him at his office and we ended up going to lunch together. Perfect timing. I got the claim filed and was told the phone would be overnighted to me. The day was starting to look up.

Back at home Savannah was playing while I was updating my MySpace page and putting some photos of Savannah on it. I was looking through all my picture folders and couldn't find any pictures from earlier than last May. Brad came home last evening and while I was cooking dinner I told him about the pictures. So he was on my computer, looking for them, and told me they were all on our external hard drive, where we store all our pictures and mp3s. Silly me :) But I hadn't moved any pictures to the hard drive since last June so he went ahead and moved everything for me. 7 months worth of pictures- over 2000 pictures. Essentially Savannah's whole life.

So, we sat down to eat dinner, a lovely dish of penne pasta and whole grain garlic bread. I myself was enjoying a nice glass of White Zinfandel, a reward for my hectic afternoon. All of a sudden we heard a loud POP, POPOPOPOPOPOPOP. Brad thought the cat had knocked something off the counter. I grabbed Savannah off the floor and suddenly saw sparks, literally bright sparks, coming from the back of my 2 1/2 year old computer. My first thought was that Tebow was back there and had bitten into a cord, a la National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and was now burned to a crisp. But there she was, hiding in a cardboard box. Brad jumped up and switched off the surge protector and started unplugging everything from the back of the computer.

Brad left, went to Wal-Mart to buy some compressed air and cleaned out the inside of my computer. He plugged everything back in and then my fears were confirmed: the computer was dead. Gone. No more.

Praise the Good Lord for His divine intervention. Had Brad not thought to transfer everything onto the external hard drive, ALL of our photos would have been lost forever. 7 months of Savannah's life. Our trip to Arizona. 7 months of Savannah's life. Oh, thank you Lord (and Brad).

Eleven Months

Dear Savannah,

Yesterday you turned eleven months old. It is so strange to think almost a year has gone by with you as part of our family. In a way it seems as if you have always been with us- and in other ways it feels like we've only had you for an instant. One thing is for certain, our lifes really began when you entered them. I've never known a such a beautiful child of God, both inside and out. The past few months have shown us such a sweet side of you and it warms my heart to no end. You absolutely love to cuddle, and you really don't care if it is with me or Daddy, or even with Peyton, your best friend in the world. You absolutely love your doggie, your "bubby" and get so excited when he enters a room. He makes you laugh in a way that daddy and I couldn't, no matter how hard we tried. You even figured out how to say his name this week, calling him "Pay-to", drawing out each syllable like a good Southern girl. You love to crawl up to him, lay your head on his side and sigh, Aww. You've figured out how to pat his head, always with a big (toothless) smile on your face.

Yes, that is right. Eleven months of life have passed you by and not a single tooth has beoken through. We thought you might have on before yesterday- we can see it, can't quite feel it and hoped it would make an appearance. No such luck. I said it is a good thing you don't need teeth to eat birthday cake or else you would be in big trouble a month from now! We are doing a little better on the hair front. It is really starting to fill in on the back of your head, even starting to hang down a little over your shirts! It is so fine, so soft, this hair of yours. I wish I could feel the softness of it against my cheek for the rest of my life, breathing in that sweet scent that is so baby. These days are going by too fast.

You still refuse to even attempt to walk on your own. You have no problems practicing back and forth between me and Daddy but as soon as we try to pull our fingers away you either lift your legs up from underneath you or sit down as quick as possible. I guess you are just having too much fun crawling around to be bothered learning how to walk.

I thank God for you every day, for blessing me with such a sweet girl. You are the best part of my everyday and I treasure every minute we spend together. I love you, Savannah Belle.

Love,
Mama