HaltermanAdams

Julia wanted a way for everyone to stay in contact. Here is a copy of her email. Post your comments and they will appear on this blog for others to post their comments in response to yours.
"Hi Everyone,
I have really wanted to start a family website to hopefully facilitate us keeping in touch a little bit better. I have looked around online for website templates, and can barely get my dial-up to show their demos – I’ll probably have to have a faster connection to really get anything going, but I thought I’d just email you all some of the ideas I had. My underlying thought was that it could be kind of like a family/parenting magazine but with people I know and trust doing the contributing. I have lots of questions and thoughts that I want to bounce off of, well, you all. And, I figured that people could contribute when or if they have a moment or if they feel like they have had a helpful experience. I sometimes feel pretty disconnected with the family, and it is all due to physical distance – Alabama isn’t anywhere near Idaho . Florida is a little closer (let’s get together, Jen). Anyway, here are some of the topics that we could cover: Please send any ideas you have, or if you know of a really really easy website builder, send that link. I thought that we could give it a go with the Adams clan, then maybe expand to a Halterman website. It would be great to get perspectives from various stages in life. Just hearing other people’s goings-on helps me to let go of some of my self-absorbed anxiety.
Ideas for web site:

How do you fill Sunday afternoons?

Recipes that kids and husbands like.

Any questions. For example. How do you do things, like read a book, with your older children when the younger ones protest? How do you manage sacrament meeting with little ones? Should I expect my 6 year old to be reverent during prayer? And if he is not, how might I respond? How do you respond to your children like Elder Nelson talked about today, with love and quiet persuasion, when they really make you mad? And finally, do any of you mothers out there struggle with feeling guilty, and how do you deal with that? (feel free to really answer these example questions because I really want to know your thoughts)

Funny, sweet things that your children say.

How do you maintain friendships?

Traditions.

Book suggestions, Movie Suggestions, Music, Web sites
Favorite products.

Memories of Grandma and other things.

Decorating.

Organizing (toys, finances, etc)

Exercising ideas

Home remedy tips.

Those are some of my ideas. The last idea is hard to put into words, but I’d just like to hear/read about those moments that I know you have when you have learned something, just from your life, that gives you hope, that makes you thankful for your life, whatever might be happening. Kind of abstract, but make of it what you will.
On to just some Morring happenings: Sam has come with Gabriel and me to violin twice, and I think he really wants to get started. I really like violin, and I hope my kids will want to keep it up. I need to correct something that I told mom and dad – it was not a tornado that hit downtown Cullman yesterday, it was just some extremely forceful straight line winds that did quite a bit of damage, but we haven’t heard of any injuries. Brent and a group from church were out this afternoon helping with tree removal and clean up. We enjoyed conference, what we were able to hear of it. Gabriel has had two t-ball games, and the coach only has to tell him about 5 times to stand up instead of sitting or lying down to play in the dirt. Attention span of a 6 year old – as it should be.

Kind of funny – A few weeks ago Brent told me that he had some training with the Stake President about Sacrament Meeting. One of the instructions given was that speakers giving talks or testimonies really shouldn’t sing for part of their talk. I thought that was interesting. A couple of weeks later, Brent told me that someone from the stake was visiting our ward, and of all things, one of the counselors in the bishopric sang the last part of his talk. I said didn’t you just learn that you weren’t supposed to do that? Brent said that he knew we never had had that happen in our ward, so he didn’t bring it up, but now he was going to have to. Then, the very next week, another high councilman was visiting the ward, and yet another speaker sang the last part of her talk.

I’ll sign off. Hope you are all well. Sure do love you. Julia and co."