A Belated Birthday Slideshow

Hi all, this is Chelsea. Today (June 1st) I set out to help my mom put together a very special birthday blog post for my brother, Lane. It sounds easy enough but I ran into just about every road block imaginable. At first we were just planning to put pictures up on the post so all I had to do was get all the pictures of Lane that we wanted scanned onto the printer (which wouldn't scan) and then into the computer (the computer of choice was the laptop since it's portable and can be carried to the printer easier than the printer can be carried to the computer... only one problem, the laptop doesn't have Internet access) and then save them into a file with all the other pictures I had found on the computer itself and moved into a portable storage device which could then be plugged into the desk top at which point the file could then be saved into another file which I could then use as the source from Blogger. Yeah, its a lot of steps but it's really pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Well as I said above the printer wouldn't scan the pictures. No problem, I'll just take pictures of the pictures and put those on the computer. So I did. It took a little while to get good quality, in focus ones but eventually I got on a roll. So I'm half way through loading the pictures onto the post for mom (they were even in order of age) and she comments from the kitchen saying something about how it would be nice if they could be a slide show. My first thought was, "That isn't going to happen. We don't have any program that creates slide shows." Then I remember that we actually DO have a program that does slide shows, its on the laptop and I agree, it would be pretty cool to have a slide show, so I cancel the uploading files and return to the laptop. As I'm putting together the slide show I notice some gaps in age between pictures so mom and I hunt through boxes and tubs and find all sorts of wonderful, charming pictures of Lane at all the right ages to fill in the gaps! Awesome! So I take pictures of those pictures and get them onto the laptop and loaded onto the slide show. With a bit of editing I finally get the pictures to flow right. I can see the finish line ahead now for the final push, all that remains to be done is the selection of music and the saving and transferring of the file to the desk top. The music choices were limited but I find ideal tracks in the end. It's all put together finally! I preview it and feel very satisfied with my little creation. I hit the save button and walk away to wait for it to finish loading (it takes a long time for those things to load). I go back to check on the progress and the file has failed to save, there's some sort of error. Dad and I try everything we can think of but it's late and he has to get up early. I'm very frustrated by this point because I have literally been working on this thing from breakfast (which was at about 11am... we slept in!) to 10:30pm and it won't save!!! It's like I was watching the person I'm rooting for in a race run the whole way successfully and then stop 6 inches from the finish line and stubbornly refuse to cross it and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it! But I have a stubborn streak as well and dog-on-it I was going to get the slide show on Mom's blog whether it wanted to go or not! So I pull out Gabi's nifty camera/video recorder (which I had used the whole day to take pictures of the pictures) and attempt to video tape the slide show by filming the computer screen as it plays. Well, first try my hand was too shaky, second try the camera card memory was too full, so I save everything on the card and clear it, find the tripod, set it up, prop the computer up on a pile of blankets and pillows so that it is level with the camera (which is now on the tripod) and push play. After the third try I had the whole slide show filmed. It's a bit bumpy but at this point I'm past being so concerned about the perfection of the quality, all I want is for the sequence of pictures to play with music on Mom's blog! I was able to successfully move the video from the camera card to the portable storage device, and from the portable storage device to the desk top. I save the video into a file on the computer and check to see if it will play. It does! At this point that seems like a miracle worthy of praising God for! Its 11:20pm and the only thing left to do is to load the video onto a post and publish it. Anyone who has taken the time to upload a video on Blogger knows that it isn't a speedy task, in fact it takes some patience, and I am attempting to upload a very large file, so all I can do now is wait and hope that nothing else goes wrong. Twenty minutes later I'm still waiting for it to get past the first part of the uploading process. By this time I'm thinking that sleep sounds very splendid. So I head to bed and plan on publishing the post in the morning (10hrs/9:45am) by which time the video ought to be done uploading! I just hope no one comes down and closes the window before I get up in the morning to stand guard over my hard work.
[Continued June2nd]
Next morning (8:30) it still hasn't loaded. That's a bad sign. So I try compressing it and changing the player type. My patience is already being tried. It really shouldn't be this hard! After 5 hours the video still isn't loading onto the blog, so I try loading it onto Facebook. It actually loads! How amazing is that? Well, I guess Lane wont get a slide show video on his birthday blog post but at least he'll get one on Facebook! And the best part is it only takes 2hrs and 30mins for it to load onto Facebook!!! Who would have thought I would be rejoicing about that?

So, a few things Ive learned through this whole ordeal:
- The value of team work. I wouldn't have been able to get all the great pictures of Lane without my mom's help. God encourages team work. He wants us to work together to further His kingdom. Philippians 2:2~ Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

- The value of generosity. I wouldn't have been able to take pictures of the pictures without Gabi's camera. I'm thankful for her willingness to share. In 2 Corinthians 9:10 it says ~ For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

- The value of communication. It was helpful to have my Dad trying to help me figure out the situation on the laptop. We still don't know what was wrong but at least we could communicate clearly enough to try to solve it.

- The value of perseverance. I wouldn't have accomplished much without a lot of that!
Hebrews 12:1 ~ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

- The value of the ability to change your plans. My dad likes to say that "there are no problems, only solutions" and that you can "overcome, adapt, improvise". Although this whole thing clearly did not go the way I had planned it was a fun challenge! We know that our God never changes, he is the same as he ever was and ever will be, but we must change our plans often times as he leads us. It is our nature as humans to want to be in charge, but that is the way of the world. In Romans 12:2 it says ~ Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 8:28 ~ And we know that in all things (including frustrating technical difficulties*) God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

*words in parentheses are my own and not found in the original text.

So, Lane, I want to wish you a belated Happy Birthday and tell you that I hope everyone who can access the slide show on Facebook will recognize what an amazing guy you're growing into. I'm really proud of you, little brother! Happy 15th Birthday (one day late)!

This is Allison. Happy Birthday Lane! We love you!