It's coming and I can't wait. Remember how last year I told you all about this awesome conference and how much it influenced me? I was honored to be a presenter during that conference, and this year I am again! However, this year is even better. Why, well for one, the conference is partnered with rootstech - thus expanding our outreach dramatically.
See rootstech.org/stories and http://www.cherishbound.com/blog/storyathome/ for all of the delicious details!
You'll also notice we have a wealth of excellent presenters and subjects all tailor made for you.
But I have a more personal and thus more personally exciting reason for saying this year is even better. This year I'm co-presenting with my daughter and co-author Taralyn Clark.
I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to blend our insights and knowledge gained through our shared family life and our distinct professional interests. We've come to realize there are some key things we've identified that every family should know in regards to being able to protect, strengthen, and heal the family. We're in the midst of creating a book based on the very things will be sharing at the conference.
It may sound heavy, but we promise, we're all about joy and laughter. Come to our Adapting to the New Normal presentation on Friday March 22nd and 3pm and find out for yourself.
I'm thrilled to announce I'm part of this brand new anthology! Lessons From My Parents contains unique essays of authors from all over the world exploring life-changing lessons shared between parent and child. This collection is meant to inspire parents of today as well as encourage gratitude for those who have gone before.
On sale now: http://familius.com/lessons-from-my-parents
http://www.familius.com/
More exciting news is coming from this publisher soon.....
Also -
Since some of you tried to come to the last storytelling/family history
event I was scheduled for in Utah, I wanted to make you aware of some
great events coming up. Please understand - I'm not trying to pressure
you into spending money you don't have on things you don't need or want.
I just promised some of you I'd keep you posted about such events, and
this is me keeping that promise.
The first is the Timpanogos 2013 StoryWorks Conference, February 7-9 2013 at the BYU Conference Center. See: http://www.timpfest.org/storyworks
This conference is
focused on the application of story in various walks of life. My
daughter and I are presenting a workshop on Saturday and I'll be
performing Saturday evening as well. There's all sorts of different options and pricing for this event here:http://www.timpfest.org/store/home.php?cat=4
Let me know if you decide to come, I'd love to see you!
Additionally, I have the pleasure of serving on the Story@Home Executive Board. The Story@Home Conference (http://www.cherishbound.com/blog/storyathome/)
exists to help people identify ways to use story to connect with those
that matter most.
I'm
super thrilled this year with our new partnership with RootsTech (the
largest genealogy conference in America). For three days, March 21 - 23
at the Salt Palace Conference Center in Salt Lake City there will be a
myriad of classes offered for genealogists, bloggers, storytellers,
family historians, and the interested public all united through story.
My daughter and I are presenting a workshop on Friday.
The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose.
~George Gissing,The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
January is National Hot Tea Month!!!! In celebration...any tea booked for 2013 during the month of January will recieve a 30% discount for their tea event!!! Call today to schedule your upcoming events...get a head of the rush for Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, a special birthday.....and save!! Take time to tell someone they mean the world to you today!!! 208-200-4473 Not a tea drinker you say? Miss Tonia and The Stillwater Mansion can create a customized event for you anyway! Trust me, tea time is so much more than a beverage - it's a state of mind. There's nothing quite like gathering at the Stillwater with trusted friends to shut out the cares of the world.
There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.
~Henry James,The Portrait of a Lady
Another novelty is the tea-party, an extraordinary meal in that, being offered to persons that have already dined well, it supposes neither appetite nor thirst, and has no object but distraction, no basis but delicate enjoyment.
~Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin,The Physiology of Taste
Okay they aren't the Arringtons yet, but they are going to be! This month brought a marvelous gift into our lives. Peter Scott Arrington asked Taunalee Clark to marry him and she said yes! On March 28, 2013 in Nauvoo, Illinois they will be become man and wife, forever - just forever!
Nauvoo Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Photo by Taunalee Clark
June 2011
Obviously, such news deserves a celebratory sale.
(Not to mention we've suddenly got a wedding to pay for!)
So, here's the deal - I'm extending my Holiday Special.
Buy Wears Like Iron now and save. 30% Off and the more you buy the more you save.
Wears Like Iron is a great tool for triggering your own memories or inspiring your loved ones to share memories of their own. The strength of a family can be found in the stories they tell each other and the stories they share with the world. Buy Wears Like Iron today and strengthen your family.
SALT LAKE CITY-
RootsTech, the largest paid family history conference in the United States, is pleased to announce the addition of Story@Home, a two-day conference offering classes and workshops dedicated to the art and inspiration of connecting generations through stories. Story@Home will enrich the RootsTech experience for anyone interested in learning how to preserve and share their personal and family stories.
Held in Salt Lake City, March 21-23, 2013, RootsTech is a conference experience for young and old alike, regardless of expertise. World-class speakers including nationally renowned storytelling experts Syd Lieberman and Kim Weitkamp will offer the latest tools, techniques, and technology to help attendees find, organize, preserve, and share family connections, history and stories. RootsTech 2013 will offer the following:
Full Story@Home -over 20 classes offer insight into how to successfully research, tell, record, publish, and share family stories.
Getting Started track -more than 30 classes and labs will help those new to family history learn where to start, how to build their family tree, and use technology to explore their connections.
Huge Expo Hall -a 40 percent bigger exhibit hall will bring in many new exhibitors, allowing attendees to discover all the latest products and services.
Over 250 Classes and Workshops
Full conference attendees get access to more speakers,
classes, and interactive workshops to choose from.
Conference Costs
Full 3-Day Pass
$149 (Ends December 31, 2012)
Full One-Day Only Pass
$89
Student 3-Day Pass
$39 (School ID required)
Getting Started 3-Day Pass
$39 (Early Bird)
Getting Started One-Day Pass
$19 (Selection of fundamental classes)
Developer Day Pass
$89 (Full-day technology program for developers)
About RootsTech
RootsTech is a unique conference focused on helping individuals learn and use the latest technology to get started or accelerate their efforts to find, organize, preserve and share their family's connections and history. The first annual conference was held in 2011, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hosted by FamilySearch and sponsored by leading genealogical organizations, the conference includes hands-on demonstrations and forums to provide a highly interactive environment and accelerate learning. Content is geared to young and old, beginner to advanced levels.
About Story@Home
Story@Home is a conference that celebrates the power of story. No matter how you tell your stories - through your family history, at your child¹s bedside, on your blog, or from a stage - the Story@Home conference will help you find, capture and share your stories. Workshops and performances by award-winning storytellers, performers, and speakers will help you explore ways to use the power of story in your home.
Cherish|Bound produces Story@Home. Cherish|Bound is a personal publishing company that specializes in helping you tell your stories. With an online publishing tool, hundreds of pre-designed templates, and a full product line of Story Starters, Cherish|Bound is the simplest way to tell your story - one chapter at a time.
I love the holidays! There's something magical about slowing down, circling the family, and celebrating the life we share. Thanksgiving was a perfect example of that for me. Four generations of our family traveled hundreds of miles to gather in my oldest daughter's home. My youngest daughter brought along her new best friend and introduced him to the family en mass! It was loud, and crazy, and fun, and filled with laughter and great food and the sharing of story. I loved every minute of it, but I think one of the things I'll cherish most was watching everyone share our family stories with my daughter's guest. It wasn't performance based at all, just a natural outflowing of explanation and joy. Families speak in short hand. We have a special code. In less than ten words we can remind everyone present of an epic event from our past. Be it funny, or sacred, or somewhere in between we all do it. It can be tough to be an outsider dropped into a family gathering, because when the shorthand starts flying they are lost and shut out. It's rarely intentional, but it happens often. However, it didn't play out that way this year. Each time the shorthand came out, someone would pause to share the back story. It was a tremendous way for our guest to hear the classic family stories and a delightful way to embrace him into the fold. It is through our family stories we choose to share over and over again with ourselves that our identity as a family is solidified.
That's why I've decided it's time for a Holiday Special. I tell family stories to help others remember and share the stories that matter most in their families. The stories I tell may not be anything like the stories that are a part of your family lore, but they are sure to trigger memories and get your family talking. That is music to my ears!
So here's the deal. For December only I'm offering 30% off my regular CD price. If you buy more than one, the savings grow exponentially. Stories are magic - they never wear out. So why not get some magic today and share it with the people you love?! Simply click the "Buy Now" button above.
Several times this week I've awakened with one of my favorite Bible stories on my mind. Gee, I wonder if someone is trying to give me a message? I think I even know what the message is, but first a brief review.
The story is the story of the loaves and the fishes. It's actually recorded in all four Gospels. It goes something like this. Jesus and his desciples have traveled outside of the city limits for some quality solitary time. But people have witnessed them leave and have followed them. We're not talking a handful here, we're talking thousands of people. They all want to hear what Jesus has to say. They want to hear his stories and listen to his words. They want to be emotionally and spiritually fed. In their haste they did not prepare for the day.
This isn't hard to imagine. If a crowd of teenage girls saw the cast of the Twilight movies walking down the street they'd rush after them for as far as they could, just for the chance to see them, or talk to them. They wouldn't stop for dinner at McDonald's they'd just rush along, trying to keep up.
That's how this crowd was. So, night is drawing nigh. Dusk is fast approaching and Jesus realizes that these thousands of people have not brought food with them. In his concern he asks his disciples if they have any food to share. They assure him there is none. No one planned on 5000 plus guests. The only thing they can find is one young boy with a basket holding 5 loaves and 2 fishes. The disciples are troubled as there is clearly not enough food. But Jesus simply looks up towards heaven, blesses the food and breaks it into baskets and instructs the disciples to gather the people together in order and pass the baskets around. At the end, they collect 12 baskets of leftovers and 5000 men beside women and children are fed. A short time later, this miracle is repeated in much the same way for 4000.
The miracle is that all those people could be fed. But there's so much more to this story. The miracle is that someone was willing to share all he had. But there's so much more to this story. For me, the miracle is that the Lord took all the boy had to offer and increased his capacity to give more.
There's a key here for all of us. So many people I know and love are feeling over-extended at the moment. They feel as if they rush from fire to fire putting one out just in time to address the next one. They fear that in the end, in spite of giving all they have to give that it won't be enough and they will fail somewhere. That's a feeling I've dealt with often. Sometimes, I'm sure I'll break just trying to keep it all together. Life is filled with pressing expectations that demand our attention. We'll fail because it's too much for us to carry.
Actually, we'll fail, because we think we have to carry it all alone.
There is nothing in this life we deal with that the Lord does not stand by willing to help us. All we have to do is ask. All we have to do is show him our little basket with 5 loaves and 2 fishes and acknowledge that we're giving all we have but it's not enough. That's when he'll step in with the miracle. That's when he'll increase our capacity to give. The demands will not be lessened. Over 5000 people still needed to be fed. You will still be expected to do your part. The basket of loaves and fishes was still required. But your capacity will be increased. Your ability to complete your tasks will be magnified. Your potential for reaching farther than you thought possible will be increased. I've been blessed with this miracle often and every time it amazes and humbles me.
The miracle is the Lord took all the boy offered and magnified his capacity to give more. He will do the same for you, if you but ask.
