Congratulations are in order (Aaron)

Beth just called to say she got the promotion at work. She doesn't know all the details yet, but basically she will be leading a group of 5 - 7 Organizational Development consultants throughout the entire Banner Health health care facility network.

She is very excited and has already spent time visioning for how she will lead her new team. I am confident she will be successful. Beth has a wonderful ability to manage strategic change in a way which empowers others to their full potential. I am continually impressed by Beth's passion for helping individuals and teams succeed. She will be a wonderful manager and leader.

Congratulations Beth! I am excited for you and know you will be both happy and successful in your new role!

My First Blog!

Wahoo! Thanks To Aaron, I am now an official blogger. Jennifer and I are just hanging out watching the football game. That's all she ever wants to do! No more football! This is our place in Midtown (I just wanted to see if I could add an image) We are about 90% through with our Christmas shopping already which is a record by far. Well, I am off to the kitchen for one more cookie. Since Italy, I can't stop eating desert!........and it shows!

(Lori/Mom) I'm thankful for.....

...my wonderful family
...children who help me muddle through the new world of technology
...a car window that finally rolls up and down!!!
...my wonderful pets that never get mad or ask questions, just give unending love
...everyday

Time to leave work and go to physical therapy (in a nice 95 degree pool). Just being in the pool after working all day is therapy in itself!
Hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

Thankful (Aaron)

Here is your assignment - in bullet format share with your fellow Gortatzkis at least five things you are thankful for!

• My Sunday morning bike ride at South Mountain park with Beth.
• The ability to share thoughts, ideas and feelings with friends and family around the country through the use of technology.
• The complete and healthy use of all my major body parts.
• Dreams...I love dreams.
• My brothers.

Peace homies and homettes - love you all!

Outstanding Business (Aaron)

First off, you may want to put your name in parentheses (like above) in the title of your post, so people know who is posting. I was all like, "Who is Babcock-Stiner?" It could be Jason or Ann or some rare woodpecker variety.

Second, I need everyone's birthdays (see list to the right). Carolyn, I got your's posted - coming up soon, woo hoo! I though Liz mentioned something about having them ALL! But I haven't seen them yet...

Third, can someone send me Tom and Carole's email addresses? Then they can send me their kid's email addresses. Oh, and Lauren's. And Joe's! I still don't have Joe's! And after I put up that handsome picture of his.

Of those invited, Jeff, Jennifer and Jason all have not responded - see something in common there? Hmmm....oh wait, Ryan hasn't either - darnit - that throws off my theory!

Liz, oh keeper of everything, can you email me Jennifer and Jeff's emails to make sure I am sending them to the right place? And Joe's!

Oh yeah, if you want me to post pictures of your pets on the right hand side, email me the pics... aastiner@yahoo.com.

Finally if you need instructions they are here: (click here for instructions on how to post and here for more). Everyone can see what everyone else is talking about. We can post pictures (click here for instructions). And links to things we are interested in (see instructions here).

Now post people, post!

A Word From the Babcock-Stiner With Time on Her Hands

I'm certain many of the comments about non-participation apply to the Babcock-Stiners, so here's a voyeuristic look into the mundane details of our lives.

Flesh and Purple: Not Just for Michigan Homes
First of all, I'd like to say RIP to Liz's flesh and purple house. It will sooth your soul to know that the Babcock-Stiners have memorialized this color combination in their own house. Our creamsicle-orange (now faded to flesh) house has a purple door. Luckily, our shutters escaped this royal hue and are a house-flipping neutral cream.

A Tale of Two Thanksgivings
Our two Thanksgivings were especially yummy this year (my sister hosts her dinner early because John works on the holiday). John's mother made a pumpkin cheesecake that I'm still dreaming about.

A Long Weekend in the Life Of...
Jason spent the balance of the long weekend working on various school papers, leaving me to entertain myself. I engaged in minor recreational cleaning, made spinach-artichoke dip, cookies, and an almond tort, did some laundry, tried to figure out annuities, got punchy with my sister and my BFF, decided on a mid-term investment strategy for the B-S Family Portfolio, trolled Best Buy for a parking spot, and engaged in several conversations regarding Governor Spitzer's end-of-year-one accomplishments. I also continued my personal tradition of napping like a kindergartener (20 minutes every day, sleep optional).

And She's Off!
I've got to run now...spending the afternoon with some local farmers to educate them as to why they should care about providing safe, sanitary, and affordable housing for their migrant farmworkers and their families. It's hard to convince farmers to develop quality housing when immigration raids at gunpoint are occurring at said housing (and churches and schools, but I'll editorialize internally from this point forward).

Enjoy your week!
-Anne and Jason (in abstentia)

Happy Thanksgiving...Where is everyone?

Happy Thanksgiving! Hoping this post finds everyone happy and thankful!

We are enjoying a beautiful 80 degree Thanksgiving Day. Aaron and I just returned from the dog park, where we spent most of the time watching Max to ensure he didn't go into a large puddle he had his eye on.

Now we are home with plans to get ready in a few hours and make two stops.... one at friends Suson and Jeremy (MSU grads!) for drinks and then off to our friends Christie and Brandon's for dinner.

Interviews for the job are over and a decision will be made next week;) It's nice to have a few days to relax and not be preparing for it. I was one of 2 finalists for the second round of interviews and feel like my chances of getting the position are partly sunny with 30% chance of rain.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Love Beth

Nov. 12

Well, this is so weird how I can post on this blog from home but not from work. Must be some kind of firewall or something set up on my work computer.
Not a whole lot of newsy stuff to write about. Both of us are recuperating from a rough week having to deal with his mother's husband passing and working out all the funeral details. This was a week of a lot of "firsts" for me.
On a brighter note, Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away and the "Gortatzki" clan has a lot to be thankful for this year!
So on that note I will close this short blog, and wish everyone a great week!
Lori

Hola la familia...

Quick post to say hi! Are Jennifer and Joe back from the honeymoon yet? Hope to see a post from them soon;)

I got back on the bike this morning;) I haven't ridden my roadbike in several months as I decided to take off the summer (too hot) and then traveled every weekend this fall up until last weekend... so today was the first day back on it.

I like to ride with a group that leaves out of a local park. There are typically about 90 riders that take off together for a 35 mile ride around the city. Since I haven't been going consistently, and I am still relatively new to the sport, I don't know a lot of the other riders, but I am committed to going every Saturday so I can get to know them... finding some people to chat with and ride with make the rides so much more enjoyable.

Today I met up with a guy named Matt from Greece. We had a good chat for the last 10 miles of the ride, and stopped at Einstein Bagels for a coffee break... It's the connecting with others that makes the exercise part FUN!

I find when I do ride I am in a really good mood the rest of the day. I have started the morning with a beautiful sunrise, blue skies and some exercise. Just good for the soul.

As for the rest of the weekend, it's work around the house, and seeing some friends. Tonight Aaron is going to a ballet in Scottsdale. Our friends get season tickets and Aaron and I select a few shows we are interested in. The ballet is one he signed up for, but I wasn't interested in... so he is off to the show with our friends.

Tomorrow will be work on my resume and prep for the interview for the new job. It should be posted this week, which means I will apply and interviews will occur in the next two weeks (I am NERVOUS!!!) and excited...

In other noteworthy news, Omar turned 4 on Thursday. I had called him and he told me about his new spiderman motorcycle and the red popsicle he has for his birthday treat;) I so hope that this time next year he is in our home, and his name is listed among the Gortat birthdays on this blog.

That is all for now! Hope you are well AND that we hear from you on this blog SOON!

Beth

An email from our caseworker

In regards to Omar from our caseworker:

Hi Beth,I spoke with Omar's caseworker again today and she said that the
reunification plan would go until February. It began in August, thus it would
come to an end then. However, she said things are not looking that good for the
birth family. She knows that you are going to be approved soon and she is aware
that you would be an excellent placement. Even when you are approved and have a
license, you would have to wait during this period of reunification. I would
still not get discouraged about this, though. Have a nice day.

So, it seems to be saying they will give this new plan to reunite Omar with his parents a chance until February, that it doesn't seem like it is going well for his parents and that we would be a wonderful choice for Omar if it doesn't work, AND, keep sitting on your thumbs until something concrete happens (or keep holding out your heart for a child without any certainty you will get him).

Sorry, I am a bit cynical today.

As I told Beth at least it's a good sign for us that it isn't going well with the birth parents.

UPDATE!
Well, we just got another email from Omar's foster mom that Omar is acting out after his visits with his parents so the foster parents are trying to get the visits stopped. She is really rooting for us.

And, despite my cyniscism, when you see pictures like this, it makes the waiting worth it!

Ok - where is my birthday on the list?

Great job Aaron i am glad Beth told me what you were doing otherwise I would not have opened it! Jennifer and Joe will have a lot to read when they get back. They are having a wonderful time and will be back this Friday with jet lag.

Sooo....back to the important things, why isn't my birthday on the list? I would have added it but don't know how.

Love,

Aunt Carolyn

While the cat's away....

I guess I should say when the big mountain lion is away, the short mouse will play. I managed to download some photos of the house. It is almost done! I'll have to try and find a "before" shot so you can see the comparison but believe me when I tell you that it was originally FLESH colored and had purple shutters. Next year it is the beadboard overhang, new gutters, and new roof.

Love to all. Liz

Right now I keep getting errors on the photo so hang in there!

What is your Enneagram Type?

Hello all, have any of you ever heard of the Enneagram Personality Typology? The Enneagram is a personality system which groups individuals into one of nine types. It is a system I have used for much of my personal growth.

The core of the Enneagram is to describe the primary focus of an individual's personality structure (their ego) and how each person's particular focus of attention causes them to look at and react to the world in a particular way. It is often used by Christian organizations to help practitioners understand what about their personality gets in the way of them connecting with God. On a practical level it helps individuals understand their particular fixations and how habits of mind can lead to particular frustrations in life.

One of the premises of the Enneagram is how we look at the world is often a habit. That our reactions are by default and we often make decisions unconscious of these patterns. And, by making the same decisions over and over we reinforce our world view and this often brings us problems.

The Enneagram helps us understand our habits of mind and helps us realize our way of looking at the world is not the only way of looking at the world, from a very basic emotional level. If we can monitor how we look at the world, through an awareness of our habits of mind, we can uncover new ways of viewing things and maybe relieve stress for ourselves.

Let me break it down to a personal level. My Enneagram Type is a Four. Four's basic personality focus is on envy, or what is missing in life. Fours from birth believed there was something missing in themselves, that they lacked something inside themselves that everyone else has.

They often fear that they have no identity or personal significance and therefore, in order to reinforce their personal significance they embrace individualism and are often profoundly creative and intuitive.

They are often on a quest to figure out every internal emotion and motivation, thinking if they can figure out what's wrong they can fix what's missing. They like to be special and often will seek attention or love to fill up inside themselves what they feel is missing.

As humans are prone to do Fours reflect their own insecurities on the world and see in everything else what is missing - their mates don't give them enough love, their city isn't cool enough, their job doesn't have enough meaning. Really, it's all about them and what is going on inside of them.

You can probably see there are downsides to this and in order to grow Fours need to realize they don't have to do anything to be special. Fours need to realize they are whole and holy just like everyone else.

When Fours shift their view and open their eyes to new perspectives they realize they have everything they need. They are enough, their spouses and friends are enough, etc. At their best Fours help others realize their specialness and place in this world.

Fours at their best use their deep understanding for emotions (which they have built during their quest to find their place in the world) to help others understand themselves. Their specialness becomes authentic, just part of who they are, not forced.

For me, realizing these things about myself, as a Type Four on the Enneagram, has helped me with a lot of growth and struggles. It has helped me to see the world as more good, more complete and myself as part of the goodness and completeness of the world. It has helped me realize my wholeness.

Some of you by this point are probably thinking you didn't realize Lori's middle son was such a wacko! Some of you already knew that and might be a little intrigued by the Enneagram. It is not a cult, it is not something to put you in a box, it is something to help you understand yourself and others and maybe help you through frustrations in life.

If you are interested in learning more about it check out these sites:

• http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/ This one has a free sorter and is probably the simplest of all the sites and most clear to understand.
• http://www.9types.com/ If you use this one, make sure to click on the Type Descriptions, the diagrams can be a little confusing.
• http://www.enneagramcentral.com/index.htm This one is new to me, but looks like it might have some interesting information.

You can also just do a Google search. Also note if you take one of the indicator tests that it might come out and say, "You are this type, but you could be this type too." Make sure to review both types to see which really fits.

While I presented sort of a deeper theoretical approach, it doesn't have to be that deep and can just be a good topic of conversation and understanding. I would love if anyone takes it to share it with the whole group or just share it with me!

Great idea Liz!

If you look on the right side of the page you will see I posted a picture of max and mokie. If you all email me your pet pictures - aastiner@yahoo.com - I will add them to the page!

Also, remember to check out comments for each post!

Aa+ for Aaron

This is fab! Nicely done my man. Not a ton new going on here just - shocker - painting the house. Maybe while Jeff is in Mexico I'll post some pictures of the house. He and Woody have done an incredible job!

We are also exhaulting in UofM's win over MSU. Shazam...... Hail Hail! Or - Hail Yeah!

It froze last night so time to cut back the daylillies, etc. I'm off! Thanks again for keeping us all together. Hey - what about a section of photos on pets???????

Ahem - and my birthday is 10/20 and Jeffy's is 5/13. Betty's is 6/20, Jennifer's is 4/20. Actually, I have all of them I think. I'll send the list on to you!

xo - LIZ

Saturday Night

This is great--what a wonderful idea!!! I hope all the family decides to join in. I'm a "newbie" at blogging so be patient with me. It takes a while for us baby boomers to catch up to 21st century technology!!!
I can't think of anything to write about at the moment (since it is 10pm Sat night that I am doing this), but I just wanted to pop in and say HI to everyone and, like it or not, you'll be hearing more from me!!
Enjoy your extra hour of sleep tonight!

Mom_Lori

What a great way to communicate!!

Aaron- Thanks for setting this up... I hope everyone finds themselves comfortable with staying in touch through this blog. Thanks to Joe for inspiring the idea of connection and to Aaron for making the idea a reality...

Things here are good. Just enjoying my first weekend home in almost two full months!! All those things I have been "putting off" (fixing the garage door opener, laundry, bills, etc.) are in lists of to do's waiting to be tackled...

Lately my mind has been really consumed with work. There is a new position that has been created that I will be applying for in the next few weeks. It is really exciting to think of the possibilities if I were to get it, yet causing some anxiety thinking about competing with my peers to get it. The role is part of the Sr. HR leadership team for our whole company and would give me to lead the development of an internal consulting service, as well as lead a team of 8 consultants (most of whom are currently my peers)...

Aaron has been good at helping me keep my head on straight through this process, as I try and remain calm and confident and trust that however this ends up will be the way it was meant to be. Things should be well decided in the next 4 weeks. We will keep you posted as things move forward.

Hope to hear from the rest of you. Off to pay the bills and then get outside to enjoy the sunshine.
Beth

Emails needed (Aaron)

Can someone send me Tom and Carole's email addresses? Then they can send me their kid's email addresses. Also, I need Betty and Woody's too. Oh, and Lauren's. And Joe's! Of course, how could I forget Joe's!

First Post - Welcome All (Aaron)

Hello Gortat family et al. That means children (Diane, Betty, Tom, Carolyn, Lori), their spouses (we all know who they are), grandkids (too many to list) and great grandkids (they are probably using Facebook).

Welcome to the Gortat Family Blog! A place for the family and all hangers on to communicate and stay in touch on the latest gossip.

You are all invited to post messages, bulletins, pictures; whatever you please. No speedo pictures, please!

Why are we doing this? Well, blame it on the newest member of the Gortat clan - you know, the one who got a bell - Mr. Joseph Boccelli! Joe thinks it is silly that all of us, who get along so well when we are together, don't do the best job keeping in touch while we are apart.

There are some exceptions, of course, and Joe made his comments in good faith and with love for his new familia.

I for one, think he is exactly right on.

the girls wondering where is their bell

So, I thought, "why not a blog." It is easy to use (click here for instructions on how to post and here for more). Everyone can see what everyone else is talking about. We can post pictures (click here for instructions). And links to things we are interested in (see instructions here).

I hope you will all join (you should have received an email from me - let me know if you have questions) and start a wonderful family conversation!

It will make Joe happy.

And if you don't join in, the rest of us will gossip about you.

By the way, when you post, put your name in parentheses - it makes it easier to see who is posting. You can also comment on posts.

I will periodically update you with wonderful instructions on how to do amazing things.

Welcome to the 21st century!