Rsync Resume

#!/bin/bash

ME=$(whoami)
RSYNC_DATE=$(date "+%Y-%m-%d")
RSYNC_HOST="host-www01"
RSYNC_DEST="/home/proxy/"
RSYNC_SOURCE="/home/proxy/"
EXCLUDE_LIST="$HOME/common/exclude_list.txt"

LOG_DIR="$HOME/logs/rsync_to_drc"
LOG_FILE="$LOG_DIR/rsync_backup."$RSYNC_DATE".log"
STATUS_FILE="/tmp/sync_"$ME".status"

COUNTER=1
SLEEP_TIME=4

function say_now() {
    date +"[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S]"
}


function preprepare() {

    mkdir -p "${LOG_DIR}" > /den/null 2>&1
    touch "${LOG_FILE}" > /dev/null 2>&1
}

preprepare

while [ "$COUNTER" -le 3  ]
do
    echo "$(say_now)[rsync] Start." >> "$LOG_FILE"
    /usr/bin/rsync --progress -ahvzP --delete  --exclude-from="$EXCLUDE_LIST"  "$RSYNC_SOURCE" "$USER@$RSYNC_HOST:$RSYNC_DEST" >> "$LOG_FILE"

    ret_rsync="$?"

    if [[ "$ret_rsync" == "0" ]] ; then
        echo "$(say_now)[rsync] Completed. Exit." >> "$LOG_FILE"

        if [ -f "$STATUS_FILE" ]; then
                 echo "0" > "$STATUS_FILE"
        else
                 echo "$(say_now)[rsync][ERROR] Status file does not exist ! Creating the file ... " >> "$LOG_FILE"              touch $STATUS_FILE
                 echo "0" > "$STATUS_FILE"
        fi

    else
        echo "$(say_now)[rsync] Failure. Retrying in "$SLEEP_TIME" seconds..." >> "$LOG_FILE"
        sleep "$SLEEP_TIME"
        echo "$(say_now)[rsync] Retrying." >> "$LOG_FILE"
         if [  "$COUNTER" -ge 3 ]; then
           echo "Rsync has failed three times "   >> "$LOG_FILE"

            if [ -f "$STATUS_FILE" ]; then
                echo "$ret_rsync" > $STATUS_FILE
             else
                 echo "$(say_now)[rsync][ERROR] Status file does not exist ! Creating the file ... " >> "$LOG_FILE"
                 touch $STATUS_FILE
                 echo "$ret_rsync" > $STATUS_FILE
            fi
           exit
         fi
    fi
    COUNTER=$(( $COUNTER + 1 ))

done