Speaking of miracles, here’s my baby at 10, almost 11 months

Right before church

Hangin’ with me.

If you’ve read this blog over the years, no doubt that you’ve shared the highs and low of the process that Kristy and I have gone through to start our family. After six infertility treatments (five artificial insemination and one round of IVF), two miscarriages and a whirlwind of emotions, last year on July 17, Savannah Grace was celebrated in ridiculous fashion as she made her way into the world. Needless to say, we were one of the lucky ones to have had our girl after going through so much.

You might be wondering why we had to go through all of those procedures? We were too. I’m not talking about why God made us go through all of that, rather what was going on with either of our bodies to purpose us with this process. While we never figured it out, we had always concluded that our future attempts would take the same road.

We were wrong.

March 2008, we found out that we were pregnant. Much to our surprise, we headed to the doctor to confirm what five, yes 1-2-3-4-5 pregnancy sticks had already told us. It was true, but so were the signs of miscarriage. Days later we lost our third baby.

Normally, this would have devastated us but something remarkable had happened; we got pregnant on our own. That’s never, repeat NEVER, happened before. We hesitated to claim our healing, our miracle, but we did. Remarkably, the joy of the miracle cast a shadow on our grief.

The very next month, it happened. Pregnant again!

As of today, we’re rounding the bend towards 11 weeks. The baby is healthy and growing.

Over the past five years, we celebrated, laughed, cried, been angry, demanded answers, agreed to disagree with God, and wondered if we’d ever be a family. Today, we’re a family of three with another on the way.

Miracles do happen.

The lack of posting over the past few months is simply just one result of … procrastination. I’ve made this blog to be bigger than it is, in my head. I’ve imagined that I could build an audience and create provoking, better yet, captivating content. Yet, in the end, I write nothing because I can’t decide what to write on.

I’ve left out the details that matter in my life. I’ve overlooked the moments, really the God-breathed benchmarks, in search of the perfect topic to bring in the traffic. For all of this vanity, I did what I hoped to not do; nothing.

This blog outlet should and will return to being a place where I write what I want, need and hope to remember in years to come. While this may be an obvious conclusion to many of you, to me, it’s taken some time to come full circle.

I don’t know what’s next or when my next post will arrive, but I’m already looking forward to it. That’s much more than I could have said yesterday.

When I was in junior high school, my parents used to direct church productions. I remember sitting behind this massive spotlight doing what I could to follow-spot the soloist as they performed.

If I was lucky enough, the script would call for the use of gel filters to soften the target(s) with color. If done right, my efforts would alter the audiences perspective and emotions. Personal filters have the same impact. The moment you “put them on” your perspective and emotions can instantly change.

• If your boss constantly speaks down at you, the next time he offers a word of praise, at best, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Most likely, you’ll question his sincerity.
• If you’re a know-it-all, people will stop listening to you because they don’t trust what you have to say; you never listen and it’s apparently, all about you.
• If you’re a perfectionist, you’ll always feel like a failure because you can’t define, therefore obtain, perfection. Others will think that you’re personal expectations are too high and that you’ll never be happy until you lower your expectations.
• If you grew up with every want satisfied, chances are you think that life is easy and plentiful. Others will think you’re spoiled and ungrateful.
• If you’re constantly feeling behind on your to-do list, then you’ll feel the anxiety of perceived under performance, fear of failure and disappointing others.

The list can go on and on, but the point is, filters are perceptions based on past experiences. They don’t just affect how you view people and situations, they also affect how others view you.

What personal filters do you regularly see though?

My brother-in-law, Jacob Sprouls, recently entered a radio contest to win free college tuition (vote). It is a contest specifically for men and women of our Armed Forces, Police, Fire, EMS, and service organizations to have the opportunity for free college tuition (vote) from King College (vote).

As a former National Guard soldier and a current police officer, Jacob is the perfect candidate (vote) and among the top five finalists (vote)! Last week all finalists participated in an on-air interview…this week, the winner (vote) is chosen through online voting (vote). The amazing thing is that YOU CAN HELP (vote) !!!

It is simple (vote) … go to WCQR.org and vote for Jacob Sprouls to win the “College Hero” contest. As you know, this is an amazing (vote) opportunity for him and would a significant help financially. Jacob has always desired to complete his degree. This degree completion program would allow him to complete a Bachelor’s in Business Administration in two years. So, again, I ask you to vote.

I’d also like you to pass this along to people you know. Here’s a copy of the link:
http://www.wcqr.org/pages/studio/contests/college-hero-voting.shtml

Voting (vote) will be open until this Friday (May 30) so, please vote now…and if you don’t mind, help spread the word. (vote)

For a full story behind the contest, check out his wife, Tara Sprouls’ blog post here.

(vote)

Over at EightQuestions.info (social survey experiment), I just posted a survey asking for your thoughts on the rising fuel costs and what can be done to stop it.

Please take a moment and give us your thoughts on our 8 questions. We’d love it if you passed the word to your friends. We’re shooting for 1000 responses.

Short URL: http://tinyurl.com/4tbzz8
Follow 8Q on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eightquestions
Blog: www.eightquestions.info

Thanks!

If you’ve known me for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m a bit of a fanatic when it comes to my Moleskine. In fact, I prefer the graph version. The ruled version just does not work for me.

When it comes to things that follow me almost everywhere I go, it’s a pretty short list:

• Keys
• Chapstick (thanks Dad for this habit)
• Wallet
• Phone
• Moleskine

Yeah. It’s that important.

If you’re a fanatic like myself, then you’ve surely had this internal dialogue, “How can I customize the cover to make it my own?” Well, that question has now been answered.

The fine folks over at Modofly have created a couple dozen unique designs for you to choose from. The price is $36 for one (about $20 more than the average Moleskine). However, if you’ve just gotta have it unique, this is as good as it gets.

For those of you who are asking, can I get my own design on a Moleskine? Yes, you can. Order a minimum quantity of 20 and you can get them for only $26 each. Interested? Contact Jordan Pollard and he’ll hook you up.

The hunt for an easy-to-use Mac-based “Getting Things Done” (GTD) system.

If you’ve ever been interested in improving your personal productivity, there’s no doubt you are likely to be familiar with such books as Getting Things Done (GTD) and 4-Hour Work Week. Both books are inspiring, but when it comes down to practical solutions, GTD has become the gold-standard. I highly recommend it if you’ve recently been caught drifting in a conversation because you forgot to do this, or forgot to email her that.

The Perfect GTD System

One of the cornerstones of the GTD personal productivity methodology is having a system that you completely trust. This eliminates the endless questioning of when and where did I put ____________. (For more on what makes a great system, check out this recent blog post on author David Allen’s website.) Unfortunately, the hunt for the perfect GTD-based system isn’t an easy one. There are a lot of options available and there seems to be more coming on the market regularly.

My Specific Needs

Before I jump into the heart of this post, I should give you context for my particular needs. I’m using a Mac, Entourage for email, address book and calendaring and a Palm 755p for my mobile needs. Ideally, I would find a solution that would allow me to sync Entourage and my Palm seamlessly.

After searching for the perfect mac-entourage-palm solution for quite some time, let me save you the hassle; as of 5/13/08, that solution does not exist. While you could hack your way to some form of synchronization, it will not happen easily and without trial and error. This, at the core of GTD, is grounds for distrust. Thus, I needed something simple and trustworthy.

GTD Software Solutions

After narrowing down my options, I chose to test and review: iGTD/iGTD2, OmniFocus, Inbox and Things. The winner is … Things.

Here’s six reason’s why:

• Simple to Use: The learning curve on this software is about 15-20 minutes. If it’s that easy to learn, imagine how easy it is to use on a regular basis
• In Development: The current version of Things is 0.9.1.1 but the new 1.0 version is due out any day. With most anything, I like to be part of something that’s moving forward. Like many of the other apps mentioned, this software is living and breathing. Expect new changes and feature add-ons regularly. For you iPhone users, expect your own version in late-June.
• Gorgeous Interface (see below): Let’s face it, we all like to look at pretty things. The Things interface is not only easy to use, but it’s fun to look at; which makes it more fun to interact with

• Does NOT Synchronize: While this may be a drawback for some, it’s not for me. At this point, unless it can natively sync with Entourage, I’m not interested in trying to make it work. I’ve spent the past six-months trying to get things to sync through SyncServices and it’s a nightmare. Things inability to sync actually puts my mind at rest on the idea. Otherwise, I’d be tempted to keep that loop wide open in an effort to achieve the sync.
• Brilliant Delegation: If you manage people and are regularly assigning tasks for future follow-up, Things has made delegation (@Waiting for) simple and easy to use by adding a “People” reference. This makes adding people to your project or task easy to do and easy to follow up on.
• The Magic Tag Bar: They decided to leave context lists out and use a familiar tagging system instead. At first I didn’t know if I’d like this, but now, it’s brilliant. There are many levels and features to this system; too many to be described in this post, but is here. Overall, it’s much more intuitive.

My Full GTD System

In order to keep my system functional both at the office and while being mobile, the rest of my system is defined by the following:

• Entourage - will track email, address book and calendaring
• Things - will track projects, tasks and due dates
• Palm - will track @Calls, @Errands, @Agenda’s, and @Lists (like books to read, movies to see…all things I generally discover outside of the office).
• Missing Sync: will be used to backup my phone and synchronize it with Entourage

Which do you prefer?

Have you discovered the benefits and joy of utilizing your own GTD system? I’d love to hear about yours. Post your comments below.

Helpful Links

• Buy Getting Things Done (Amazon.com)
• Download Things (Mac only)
• Getting Things Done Defined (Wikipedia)
• David Allen - Author of the book Getting Things Done
• 43Folders - Well-known personal productivity blog
• OSX Task Manager Showdown – iGTD2 vs Inbox vs OmniFocus vs Things - A much more in depth review and analysis of the software mentioned above

If you’re one of the millions who have started, or already use Twitter, me too. I signed up a long time ago just to see what it was all about. Honestly, at the time, I didn’t get why I could or would be interested in knowing the fine-details of anybody, let alone strangers. Well, I’ve changed my tune.

Twitter Shirt from igadget.com - $20

In the past 30-days, I’ve embarked on a challenge to see how and, most importantly, why I should integrate Twitter into my everyday life. That’s an easy discussion to have in your head, but how do you explain the benefits to your employees, friends and often times, confused family members? After 30 days, here’s my top five reasons for using Twitter:

• It makes me really think about what I’m doing RIGHT NOW. Over the past year, I’ve become a student of personal productivity. Twitter requires me to consider if what I’m doing is Twitter worthy. If it’s not, I question whether it’s really worth my time.
• It gives me “presence” with friends, coworkers, family and vendors. While I won’t say that it creates or sustains these relationships, it provides opportunity to build on them. Why? I can feedback, direct message or simply be aware of what’s going on in peoples lives.
• It’s a great way to stay up-to-date with family. I’ve not been successful in converting many family members over to Twitter (yet), however, I am finding some luck by recently starting a Twitter for my 10-month old, @savannahgrace. Grandparents will do anything to stay in touch with their grandchild.
• It’s marketable. Let’s be honest, I own an marketing company that focuses on internet, new and social media. I have to know how to use it, why it works for some and if and how to make it work for my clients.
• It’s fun. I’m enjoying my new Twitter community of friends: @kristychowning, @savannahgrace, @ashbylane, @ashbychick, @michaelhyatt, @shawnrstewart. Recently joined? Follow me.

The internet is growing exponentially everyday. New social media can either be seen as a distraction or a tool. It’s up to us to consider why we use it to determine what place it will have in our lives. The key:

• Commitment and plan on how you will use each tool
• Integrate it into your life easily and then use it regularly
• Have fun with it. If it’s not fun, you won’t use it.

If you find something cool, be sure to let me know.

In 2004, eBay bought a 28.4% stake in Craigslist. Yesterday, CNN is reporting that eBay is suing Craigslist because they “want to protect its investment.”

A year ago, the CocaCola company released a TV commercial that portrays two Coke employees asking for the input from outside counsel if they can sue Coke Zero for “basic taste infringement.”

There’s a truth known to most people that united we stand, divided we fall (Luke 11:17). It’s why we have divorce, social unrest, family “sides”, companies failing and so on. Based on this fundamental truth, it’s easy to see why the Coke commercial is a joke.

We may never see or hear of the impact of the eBay and Craiglist divide, but the principle will remain true; lines will be drawn and division will ensue. eBay’s short-term gain will certainly come with a long-term loss.

While divisions in the macro world are easy to detect and critique, divisions in the micro world are the ones that impact you and me everyday. Unity is empowering. It can be translated as, “I’ve got your back.” Division is disabling. It can be translated as, “I’ve got my back. Better watch yours.”

In your marriage, friendships, job, church or whatever you’ve committed to, maybe it’s time to reassess and determine if you’re headed for division or unity?