Lessons from silver linings.

My laptop got stolen last night.  During a softball game.  At least 8 cars were broken into.  Juli's was one of them.  I know, I know... I shouldn't have left it in the car, but "the car park is out of the way" and "we park here all the time" and "I don't want it to get rained on" and "it'll be fine in the back of the van."  Wrong.

I sent Shay down to the car park to check things out as soon as we got word that several cars had been hit.  The one, tiny flicker of hope I had was already being snuffed out by the sinking feeling in my stomach.  Of all the days to have my computer with me, why did it have to be this one?

My phone rang.  It was Shay.  Calling to tell me what I already knew.  It was gone.  Along with my oh-so-awesome orange Patagonia bag that I'd had since college, 30 euro, the Smith's satnav, and Shay's 3 euro sunglasses.

My first thought was about all the things that were stolen with my laptop.  The things that are inside of it.  The things that are worthless to the ones who took it, but priceless to me. My music.  My pictures.  Thousands of pictures.  Pictures of people I love.  Pictures of places I love.  Pictures of a dog I love.  Snapshots of my life, squeezed into a gigabyte of space.  When did my computer become so much more than a computer?  I may not have "big barns" full of "plentiful crops", but I did have a lot of "stuff" tucked away in 4 pounds of metal.  Storing up treasure is a tricky thing (Luke 12:16-21).

Then, in the midst of all the anger and frustration and sadness and kicking-myself-for-being-so-careless, came a slow trickle of realizations that made the terrible situation a little less terrible:

*it really is JUST A COMPUTER.
*I still have my phone... at least that wasn't in the car too.
*they left a lot of important things behind, like my bank cards and my Starbucks card and my immigration card and the cool double-zipper pouch that took me hours to figure out how to make.
*school's already finished for the summer, so I don't have to rewrite any essays.
*I had just paid Juli the 16 euro I owed her, so they only got 30 euro instead of 46... essentially saving me 32 euro (that's funny math, I know, but it makes me feel better, so please don't correct it).
*they broke into a car, not my apartment, so I can still feel safe in my home.
*some of those thousands of pictures are on Facebook (according to the softball team, the picture of my "Jane Fonda" headband and swimsuit/leotard is the most important of them all).
*I hit a triple in last night's game.
*the Creator of the universe holds me in the palm of His hand.  He is sovereign and faithful and loving beyond all measure.  Nothing can rob me of the immense treasure I find in Him.
*it's just a computer.

To God be the glory.  Amen!

Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven... for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."   --Matthew 6:19-21

There was a little girl, who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead...

...but when she was bad, she was HORRID!

Over two months since my last post... how embarrassed and ashamed and horrid I am!  After so much time, the pressure builds to write something totally awesome, which makes it even harder to break the slump.  I have a tendency to lean toward extremes.  Please forgive me.  So here it goes, time rip off the silence like a bandaid.  Time to get back on the horse.  Time to jump back in.  Time to get the ball rolling.  Enough with the cliches, here's what's been happening during my inexcusable Blog-Post-Drought:

*Pam and Jenny came to visit from Scotland so we could see the Hunger Games together.  Their trip really deserved it's own post.  My bad.  The Hunger Games was not disappointing.  That's the best compliment I can give to a movie made after a book I love.  It was good, but the book was better.  But that's how it always goes, right?

*Lots of people had birthdays.  People here.  People in the States.  Everyone got a little older.

*Baseball started!!!!!!  Go Rangers!  On a more local sport's note, the softball season started too.  The team Juli and I play for (Dublin Bay Packers) is currently undefeated!  And we're building the first actual softball field in Ireland.  We've got a tournament there this weekend.  Here we are sifting the rocks out of the base path.

*The school year ended.  I can't believe how fast it went!  I'll blame the end-of-term-crunch for part of my BPD.  I'm glad for a break, but I'm looking forward to being back in September.

*I sewed a little.  Created some new byjo. stuff.  I re-opened my Etsy shop and created a byjo. Facebook page.  Check it out.  I even got some business cards from Vistaprint with my new logo.  I feel so professional :)

*I cut my hair.  The wind and rain was too much for my long hair to handle.  I got really tired of ponytails and messy buns.  And I had a perpetual halo of crazy, frizzy fly-aways that always made Mooly say, "What's up with your hair?"  To which I would answer, "I was outside today."  Enough of that!  Now the wind can blow all it wants and it'll just make my hair look even better... who doesn't love a tousled, wind-blown look?  The fantastic girl who cuts Juli's hair came to her house and chopped mine too.  She didn't know what she was getting herself into.  This is only about 2/3 of what actually got taken off.  It only took an hour and a half.  Now I feel like myself again!

*Irish summer is here!  It came for a few days around Easter, then left again.  It's back this week!!!  The forecast says 60's and sunny for the next several days.  Hooray for sun that's warm enough to make my soul sing but not so hot that my soul starts to wail as it melts.

Now I'm off to enjoy the sunshine and meet up for the coffee shop Bible study we recently started in city center.  My BPD is officially over.  More soon.  I promise.