Jenny, Thanks for setting up the blog. I created a Blogger account in about 2 minutes. Really easy. I didn't even need a Google email account. Here is Mom's orignial email expressing the wish to have a Round-Robin-style communication with us "kids.":
Dear Jen, Joel, David, and Nelson I'm so new at this, but I wanted to set up a group e-mail where we could see or write stuff so we keep in touch better..easier..? at least it might work like a " Round -Robin" .
WE returned from Joel & Carrie's (where we saw the 1st snow of the season )and felt so happy to have seen or heard from each of you---Nelson with that LONG phone call to everyone,and the camcorder conection thru the computer in actual time with all the Denman-Kruits. David and Sydney were on their way to her parents in IN. Those 2 little girls managed to keep us laughing the whole time ! Hallie and Melissa are idolized by them. I was even able to play the "making it strange" drawing game with Camille.
Joel's house is so expansive. Hallie even had a house guest sleeping over. And there was more room downstairs. It was 20 degrees and was exciting to go through the snow and ice to the hot tub, which Joekl had gotten fixed up especially for our visit, inclsuing a last-minute house call from the the hot tub fix-it man while we were there.
I think I told you Elizabeth's and Andrew's second baby (a boy) was born on Joel's birthday. Thank you, Nelson, for writing to her.
It was so great to have Benno's school pictures arrive. That's the first time we've received school pictures, and we love them.
I am going to give a Sinterklaas party for 20 of my friends. I was able to buy some favors and chocolate coins and marzipan in Parker CO, while I was there. I"ll have my friends write poems to each other and exchange white elephant presents, but I really need to have some stories from you, Jenny, about the unique presents and wrappings that are done in Holland. I'm trying to convince Jon to be "Black Piet" and appear in costume and give presents.
Jon did his third live national radio show (Coast to Coast AM) for three hours to about 2 million listeners plus a million more hearing it later via internet digital recording, and he had a live radio interview for a British program next week.
Tomorrow we're having a present-wrapping party for the little girl we are sponsoring in Thailand. Our church has adopted an orphanage for children who are victims of the AIDS epidemic. If they are not rescued, they are sold to the sex trade, which is rampant there.
We are taking our laptop computer to Hawaii with us and would be thrilled to hear from you. We leave Dec 14th for three weeks, the first week at our time share at the Maui Marriott and then two weeks on the Big Island (so we can be near Nelson).
Thank you again, Joel and Carrie, for hosting us and everyone else, at Thanksgiving. It was such a cozy family time. David bringing his famous breads and cookies and giving us a lesson in his signature Creme Brule technique, as well as his adorable daughters, was just part of those good memories.
Love, ....please tell me if this is a good idea for us...we could include Dad if you like.
" Wherever you are it is your own friends who make your world." William James Sending love to you, Jane
Thanks for the long e-mail, Mom - that's a record, I'm sure! It was wonderful to see and hear everybody at Thanksgiving even if the freezing screen drove us crazy and Joel & Carrie were trying to stay calm about the other guests arriving any minute!
One way to share info and keep in touch better would be a b log. I can set one up on Blogger but you'll have to be patient - as you all know, I'm working two half-time jobs, writing for a textbook publisher (deadlines are stressful) and carrying a full-time course load as a student. I know you can't imagine it, but things like Thanksgiving dinners and vacations are pipe dreams for me for a while...
Re: the Sinterklaas presents: the general idea is for the gift, the poem, and the packaging to all be related (so an anonymous white elephant idea isn't Dutch, though of course that doesn't matter if you're not Dutch anyway). So for instance, if the gift is a music CD, the poem might be about how musical the person is (or a-musical - it's generally supposed to be funny or clever), and the packaging might be a homemade piano with only 3 keys. Another example: the poem could be about how someone is aging so well, the real present could be some healthy kind of thing, and the packaging could be a paper-mache jar of wrinkle cream. Get it?
Lots of love to everyone - I'm back to Second Language Acquisition theory...
Joel, hos did you know I'm teaching The Grapes of Wrath to 130 teacher trainees tomorrow and Friday??? The Joads are everywhere!
Just a logistical note: I'm pretty certain that you need a gmail account to post on the main page. You can get one in less than 2 minutes from www.gmail.com and, if you wish, just use it for the blog. It's free and you don't ever have to check it to see if you have incoming mail if you restrict its use to blog use. If you don't have one, you won't be able to post pictures, hyperlinks, or embedded video screens - plus other stuff I probably don't even know about. Check out this blog for one of my seventh grade English (as a foreign language) classes: http://b1doughnuts.blogspot.com You can see right away that it's much more fun to leave a post (on the main page) than a comment (black and white in a pop-up window like this one! I'll post now just to enthuse you... Jen
Hey David! Yes, the Christmas box arrived! You get the prize for the BIGGEST!!! Don't expect mine on the doorstep tomorrow ;-(( but still, lots of love, Jen
oh i just realized i had a Blogger account from last year. That's why i was able to get logged in so quick. I'm helping mom to get her account set up right now. It's important to realize that you only need to create an account, not a new "Blog" --Joel
does anyone know if you can choose to view the most recent posts/comments first (at the top of the page)? I have only figured out how to collapse the posts but not reverse the viewing order. --Joel
Joad is so patient... Hope all packages got there.Sounds like Hawaii mail takes twice as long or more than any other place. Question: do I need to sign my comment or is it automatic ? Vandy
If you are 'signing' your comment with your gmail, then you need to retype the weird letters and then type in your gmail address and password in the space provided. You can also just retype the weird letters and click on Anonymous, but then no one will know who left the comment. Posting is cooler! Joad, I don't think the comments can be displayed in reverse order - but what's this 'collapse comments' option at the top of the comment page...
Hi Everybody! I am under a deadline to finish an article for the paper so I cant stay long, but I look forward to further connection. Ciao for now, Nelz
18 comments:
Jenny, Thanks for setting up the blog. I created a Blogger account in about 2 minutes. Really easy. I didn't even need a Google email account. Here is Mom's orignial email expressing the wish to have a Round-Robin-style communication with us "kids.":
Dear Jen, Joel, David, and Nelson
I'm so new at this, but I wanted to set up a group e-mail where we could see or write stuff so we keep in touch better..easier..? at least it might work like a " Round -Robin" .
WE returned from Joel & Carrie's (where we saw the 1st snow of the season )and felt so happy to have seen or heard from each of you---Nelson with that LONG phone call to everyone,and the camcorder conection thru the computer in actual time with all the Denman-Kruits. David and Sydney were on their way to her parents in IN. Those 2 little girls managed to keep us laughing the whole time ! Hallie and Melissa are idolized by them.
I was even able to play the "making it strange" drawing game with Camille.
Joel's house is so expansive. Hallie even had a house guest sleeping over. And there was more room downstairs. It was 20 degrees and was exciting to go through the snow and ice to the hot tub, which Joekl had gotten fixed up especially for our visit, inclsuing a last-minute house call from the the hot tub fix-it man while we were there.
I think I told you Elizabeth's and Andrew's second baby (a boy) was born on Joel's birthday. Thank you, Nelson, for writing to her.
It was so great to have Benno's school pictures arrive. That's the first time we've received school pictures, and we love them.
I am going to give a Sinterklaas party for 20 of my friends. I was able to buy some favors and chocolate coins and marzipan in Parker CO, while I was there. I"ll have my friends write poems to each other and exchange white elephant presents, but I really need to have some stories from you, Jenny, about the unique presents and wrappings that are done in Holland. I'm trying to convince Jon to be "Black Piet" and appear in costume and give presents.
Jon did his third live national radio show (Coast to Coast AM) for three hours to about 2 million listeners plus a million more hearing it later via internet digital recording, and he had a live radio interview for a British program next week.
Tomorrow we're having a present-wrapping party for the little girl we are sponsoring in Thailand. Our church has adopted an orphanage for children who are victims of the AIDS epidemic. If they are not rescued, they are sold to the sex trade, which is rampant there.
We are taking our laptop computer to Hawaii with us and would be thrilled to hear from you. We leave Dec 14th for three weeks, the first week at our time share at the Maui Marriott and then two weeks on the Big Island (so we can be near Nelson).
Thank you again, Joel and Carrie, for hosting us and everyone else, at Thanksgiving. It was such a cozy family time. David bringing his famous breads and cookies and giving us a lesson in his signature Creme Brule technique, as well as his adorable daughters, was just part of those good memories.
Love, ....please tell me if this is a good idea for us...we could include Dad if you like.
" Wherever you are it is your own friends who make your world."
William James
Sending love to you,
Jane
Here is Jenny's reply to mom's email:
Hi Mom & everybody,
Thanks for the long e-mail, Mom - that's a record, I'm sure! It was wonderful to see and hear everybody at Thanksgiving even if the freezing screen drove us crazy and Joel & Carrie were trying to stay calm about the other guests arriving any minute!
One way to share info and keep in touch better would be a b log. I can set one up on Blogger but you'll have to be patient - as you all know, I'm working two half-time jobs, writing for a textbook publisher (deadlines are stressful) and carrying a full-time course load as a student. I know you can't imagine it, but things like Thanksgiving dinners and vacations are pipe dreams for me for a while...
Re: the Sinterklaas presents: the general idea is for the gift, the poem, and the packaging to all be related (so an anonymous white elephant idea isn't Dutch, though of course that doesn't matter if you're not Dutch anyway). So for instance, if the gift is a music CD, the poem might be about how musical the person is (or a-musical - it's generally supposed to be funny or clever), and the packaging might be a homemade piano with only 3 keys. Another example: the poem could be about how someone is aging so well, the real present could be some healthy kind of thing, and the packaging could be a paper-mache jar of wrinkle cream. Get it?
Lots of love to everyone - I'm back to Second Language Acquisition theory...
Jen
Here is my first "post":
Hi
--Joel
Hey Jenny,
Did the Christmas box arrive yet? David
Joel, hos did you know I'm teaching The Grapes of Wrath to 130 teacher trainees tomorrow and Friday??? The Joads are everywhere!
Just a logistical note: I'm pretty certain that you need a gmail account to post on the main page. You can get one in less than 2 minutes from www.gmail.com and, if you wish, just use it for the blog. It's free and you don't ever have to check it to see if you have incoming mail if you restrict its use to blog use. If you don't have one, you won't be able to post pictures, hyperlinks, or embedded video screens - plus other stuff I probably don't even know about. Check out this blog for one of my seventh grade English (as a foreign language) classes:
http://b1doughnuts.blogspot.com
You can see right away that it's much more fun to leave a post (on the main page) than a comment (black and white in a pop-up window like this one!
I'll post now just to enthuse you...
Jen
Hey David!
Yes, the Christmas box arrived! You get the prize for the BIGGEST!!!
Don't expect mine on the doorstep tomorrow ;-((
but still, lots of love,
Jen
oh
i just realized i had a Blogger account from last year. That's why i was able to get logged in so quick.
I'm helping mom to get her account set up right now. It's important to realize that you only need to create an account, not a new "Blog"
--Joel
David's up and running!
Hi,Joel is helping me!
mom
Yea for Mom!
does anyone know if you can choose to view the most recent posts/comments first (at the top of the page)? I have only figured out how to collapse the posts but not reverse the viewing order.
--Joel
Is it David blogging or Sydney??
Joad is so patient...
Hope all packages got there.Sounds like Hawaii mail takes twice as long or more than any other place.
Question: do I need to sign my comment or is it automatic ?
Vandy
If you are 'signing' your comment with your gmail, then you need to retype the weird letters and then type in your gmail address and password in the space provided.
You can also just retype the weird letters and click on Anonymous, but then no one will know who left the comment.
Posting is cooler!
Joad, I don't think the comments can be displayed in reverse order - but what's this 'collapse comments' option at the top of the comment page...
Here's Benno!
It's cool to see everyone working on this together, and I'm glad Grammy Jane got my pictures. I see Nelson signed up too!
Hi Everybody!
I am under a deadline to finish an article for the paper so I cant stay long, but I look forward to further connection.
Ciao for now, Nelz
Why don't you post the article here when you finish it? Just follow the "how to post on the main page" instructions!
Jen
Uhmmm... Hi.
Post a Comment