Yup. That’s what Mike & I are doing. We are gearing up for tomorrow. It has taken 2 years and 1 month of ongoing computer programming, but the massive system that Mike has written for a travel company is done! It has been uploaded to their server and tomorrow, we trundle off to do training. I only know a tiny bit of it, but I go to offer moral support to Mike who has been the only developer of it.
I am very grateful that Mike has been able to do this and get to the finish line. There were times that I was worried. Before he retired from his formal job, he was leaving home at close to 5am – getting back close to 5pm, having dinner and a little down time and then getting on with programming. He has been a wonderful example of resilience and faithfulness to the job at hand.
Once the system is up and running, there will probably be some tweaks needed. The company have said in the past that they could keep Mike busy for another couple of years. I think it is going to be great when Mike can turn his attention to other projects that he has lined up for a year or two. There’s still a bit of list that we mentally wrote – the “when Mike retires” list. There are a couple of things on it that have been done, but for the most part, there’s a long way to go.
Mike has always been a Jack of all trades and a master of many. We have a set of three wall units and a writing bureau that he made 30 years ago that we are still using. One of my favourite pieces of furniture is a kist that Mike made as his matric woodwork project. (He got the woodwork prize for it!) He made it for his sister who had it for many years. When she downscaled, it came back to our house and has now been passed onto Stacey, who uses it as a bedside table. In fact the little box next to the lamp is originally from Granny – Mike’s Mom. Lovely that Stace is using both every day.
It always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling looking at it. Mike made it when he was not yet 18 and I was just so impressed when I first saw it. It’s a great family heirloom!
It’s great to have things that last, but there are only a few that last forever…
1 Corinthians 13:13
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
The computer programme that Mike has written is finally replacing the one that he wrote for the same company 20 years ago. It was up and running in 1996 and after 4 years was out of date. When 2000 rolled in, it needed to be updated, but Mike didn’t have time. Eventually, he passed the whole project onto someone else who didn’t have the same success as he had and the DOS version kept on going. Two years ago they approached Mike again and with retirement looming, he was happy to take on this massive new project.
Creating it has given him great pleasure. It is amazing that the original DOS programme is still being used. The new one is going to revolutionise how the company does business.
Our prayer is that it all works okay. I’ll let you know.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂