Hi everyone. I am still here, but things have changed. Monday evening while Niek and I were putting our kids to bed upstairs, someone broke into our house and stole my laptop. Obviously we're very relieved that none of the kids wandered into the room while the thief was in the house, but we are very shaken and upset. The police actually blamed us because we had left our curtains open. What?! Yes, apparently you are supposed to draw your curtains and lock your doors as soon as the sun goes down. There really are boogeymen, and they aren't just under the bed.

The police have not even begun the paperwork that's necessary for the insurance company to have in order to begin processing our claim, so it may be awhile before we are back to normal (whatever that may be in this very screwed up world we inhabit). I am now at work, which is the only place I have Internet access, and wanted to take a moment to let you know why I disappeared.

Everything on my laptop is lost - pictures, patterns, email addresses, and so on. Thank heavens Niek had backed up the baby pictures of the kids on an external harddrive. The loss of those would've been nearly unbearable.

I will post again on my next workday. Until then, I'm wishing you all good health and happy days.