My Christmas present to myself!

To start off my first entry ever I wanted to share a few quotes that have changed my perspective on life:

"Your networth is determined by the size and the quality of your network."

"If a 100 ft. oak tree had the mind of a human, it would grow to be only 10 ft tall."

"God has a far greater desire to bless us than we have a capacity to understand."

"The only two people that hold us back our, 1. ourselves, and 2. satan."

"There are only two times that we fail; right before we try, and right before we succed."

"Successful people see challenges as a green light."

"No dream is too big!"

In line with these quotes, I decided the best christmas present I could give myself this year would be a bigger and stronger network. It was a natural conclusion that I should first begin with the people who have to love me. In other words, my christmas present to myself is to have a meaningful relationship with every member of my family.

Gerald and Dad and I had a huge bonding experience just before thanksgiving. In going to a conference we had time to talk about our life goals, we learned about others likes and dislikes and opened up on a really meaningful level. I realized than, that my relationship with my family before that point had been on a really superficial level. I don't know anything about any of you, and I've never let you get to know me. I'm sorry for that.

So my goal for this year is to let you get to know me by sharing with you my long term and short term goals. I'm also going to ask for your help, and I pray that you will do your best to help me. It is so easy to reach your goals when you have an army of amazing people working with you.

More than anything though I hope that this will be a chance for me to get to know each one of you. I want to know what your goals are. I want to know how I can help you reach them, either through my prayers or in doing something you don't have time or the capacity to do. I hope that this blog will be filled with daily and weekly updates on how everyone of us is taking steps to acheive our goals, and how other family members can help.

I'm grateful for eachone of you. In the past I have fealt like I could never live up to the legacy that each one of you has left on my life. Now, I know that I can't, but I'm grateful for the great examples that I have in my life and the opportunity to know each of you. So tomorrow I'll write down my goals and ask for help. Just let me know if you will help me. k?

Love ya all,
Jonny

Visiting Santa

Hi everyone. I am going to the north of Finland this week to an area called Lapland. This is where Santa Clause has a house. (http://www.santaclauslive.com/)
So please let me know if there are any messages you want me to give him for you? Is there anything you would like me to tell him or ask him for you?

(P.S. I had reindeer pizza this last week, but don't worry, i don't think it was one of Santa's reindeer)

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi everyone,
Some of you may know already, Im guessing most of you do by now, and those who dont know probably arent reading the blog but I thought I would leave you with a little announcement. We are expecting a new little baby sometime this summer. Hope you had a good thanksgiving, we sure did.

Fall Fun in New England

I wanted to show some New England in the FAll. With the help of my friend Kayla we got some great photos of the kids and a video!! (I had to use her computer, too.)

Okay Anastasia really just layed there, but the others thought that was fun too.

Enjoy - this may be the only video I upload.

I'll put up more photos when I have a chance to do so on my computer.

Announcing - A Family "Reunion" Conference Call - For Free and Just For Fun

Hi Everyone,

Dad and I decided it would be fun to have a family conference call, so we have scheduled it on Sunday November 25th at the following time (for any who want to participate):
Detroit, Hartford, Orlando - 7:00pm
Houston - 6:00pm
Salt Lake City - 5:00pm
Portland - 4:00pm
Joensuu - 2:00am (Monday)

All you need is an Internet connection, a microphone you can hook up to your computer, and be ready for a fun talk with each other.
Go to www.skype.com and get the free download - then either email me your Skype name, or post it as a comment to this blog entry. I will initiate the call with everyone.

I do this kind of a thing with my cross-cultural research team all of the time (which is 8 students from 8 countries) - and it works quite well, so I imagine it will be similar for us too.

Does that time work for you? It is flexible right now so you can suggest an alternative time. If you refer to the World Clock Meeting Planner - it might help)

Anything in particular you think it would be fun to talk about?
Perhaps everyone can simply take a few minutes to talk and share something new they have been up to and how things are going?

posting questions

I think at some point in time I heard people say that they wish they could get an email or notification if something was changed on the website. If you go to settings then comments, you can add your email address to mine to get notified when a comment is left. I think you would need to add a comma, or maybe my name wont show up on yours since it may be up to who is signed in, but if you want to feel free to try it that way. there are a few other settings things that you can look at and maybe it will have other options that I have missed. Good luck, hope this helps

An Idea for a Christmas Present for Mom

Hi Fam,

As I was waking up this morning I had an idea for a present that we could give mom this year, if you are interested in helping.

I have lately had a goal of wanting to make a quilt. So I thought perhaps we could make one for mom that is similar to the one that grandma had years ago.

Each kid, kid-in-law, and grand kid would have a square with their hand-print, and maybe even a screen cast picture on fabric. So each family would have to create the squares for their family and then send them to our house in Utah. Then over the Christmas break, I could assemble them into a comfy quilt - and mom could even help if she wants - to make sure it is a quilt she likes.

I remember how fun it was over the years when we visited grandma Pugh to see the quilt and find my handprint and compare it to how big my hand was now. So I think it would be a fun one for all the grandkids too. I also remember how one of my favorite presents of all time was the quilt Marie and Becky had made for me when I returned from Africa.

But I don't know much about making a quilt - do you know what dimensions the squares should be? Or what is the best type of material, or ink to make the handprints, etc?

What do you think of the idea? Even if you are reading this mom, what do you think? I think it would be fun, if everyone is up for it, and we get some direction from people who know more than me.