Lost and Found

source

A lot has happened since I shared my last post. We've made a couple of short trips with our cabin-on-wheels and made more memories to treasure. And - in the middle of it all - my blog disappeared. Again! I shared the loss on Facebook and some of my blog friends questioned why my blog was lost when they have never had that problem. I shared the issues with them and how my blog differs from theirs. Here's what happened. I first started blogging with a 'generic' blog through blogger. That meant that my blog address ended with blogspot.com. Then, a few years ago I decided to purchase my own domain so my blog could easily be found. That's when the 'address' changed to withagratefulheart.com. No blogspot. Just my own blog name. And that's exactly where the issue all came about.

This is the third time my blog has disappeared - all because my private domain didn't renew as it should. So - it expired. Thankfully, each time a family member or friend has alerted me that my blog wasn't where it should be. The first time took some serious detective work to get a solution. The second time it happened I had to jump through many, very confusing hoops to get it back. It seemed that the issues had been resolved and this wouldn't happen again. Both times - and this time - they were certain that I received an email notice that my blog renewal was due. My annual payment was set to auto-renew but that didn't happen. Google's Customer Service can be very confusing and I was never able to get back to the online account where I could check my billing and contact information.  Then, it happened again. When it shouldn't have. Again I was not able to get into my account so I could do anything about it. Requests for help were sent and no one responded. Then, in desperation I did more research and found that Google is the 'third party owner' of my private domain. So I reached out to Enom, one of several companies who sell private domains, the company that sold it to me - with Google in the middle. I found a phone number for Enom to see if someone there could intervene and help me. I was very pleased to see that they are in the U.S. and based just a few hours north of my home. In the same time zone.  A very sweet young lady answered my call. Within minutes she discovered and explained the problem. My email address on file was wrong. It had never been changed as I was told it had - and it had not been set to auto-renew, as it should have been. This sweet, helpful young lady made an offer for me to consider. Since my 'Google' affiliation had expired and Google's policy does not give a grace period, I could renew it directly through Enom and she offered to take care of the details to restore my blog. That means in the future I can deal with them directly. With no one in the middle. I was already impressed with the level of Customer Service she offered and it appeared that their site is extremely user friendly.  I didn't have to think about that offer for long. Within minutes she set up an account for me, sent me an email with details about how to pay and where to check to make sure my information was correct and up-to-date. Then, within minutes, my blog was back online. It was found! I am very happy with the decision I made.  Not only did she give me kind, courteous help to get my blog back - she emailed me after everything was said and done. She expressed thanks for allowing her to help me! Her thanking me? Really, I was the one who was thankful for her. She gave me her direct line and email so I can contact her in the future if I have questions or need help. So - I'm back! Ready to go and encouraged that there are still people 'out there' who are kind and patient and helpful. And grateful for the chance to help.

Now all I need to do is to sort through and organize about a million photos and get back to more regular blogging. See you here again. Soon.

I'm grateful to be here and I'm grateful for you, my dear blog friends, who add a bit of sunshine to my day.