Stories – we all have them!

One of the great things I get to do on a regular basis is to meet wonderful people and sit with them in the comfort of someone’s living room and tell them about some of the many stories I have helped to be published in a book. Without fail the stories and their impact on families brings smiles and often tears to the eyes of those listeners.

It is so wonderful to then watch the participants realize that they have family stories that will be forgotten. They light up when they think about that relative that has lived a life rich in stories. Like a young listener of mine this week, whose thoughts quickly turned to her 80 year old grandmother who lived in France during World War II and how much she must have seen and lived through. She concluded that these wonderful stories and memories will soon be lost as grandmother’s age progresses. Suddenly, the idea of capturing those precious stories of Grandmother’s life becomes an urgent imperative.

I look forward to seeing those stories remain alive in a storybook. I love the idea that technology and my efforts will help to bring immense amounts of joy, laughter and even tears for generations of this family.

Who will remember your stories?

Growing Up with Heroes

 Where do the children of today find someone that will help shape their lives? Parents play a big role but sometimes the parental relationship has daily highs and lows as parents play their role of rule enforcer. From comic book heroes to sports heroes the media is having a greater impact on children than ever before.

Grandparents and aunts and uncles are often far away and the relationships are distant. Schools are becoming a questionable value in the life of children; struggling to even teach general knowledge let alone values and principles.

Storybooking was created when one mother wanted her children to know the hero in her life, her grandfather. Since then children across the country are discovering heroes and worthy role models within their own families.

Where will your children or grandchildren find heroes in their lives?

www.GoStorybooking.com

BarbieYGC@msn.com

Your Digital Photos + Your Stories = Storybooks

I remember how excited I was when I received my first digital Camera from my husband for my birthday in February 2001. A digital camera, this was something I just had to have! The camera was a little silver Cannon PowerShot S100 that I could drop into my purse and have on hand whenever I saw something or someone I wanted to take a photo of. Needless to say I filled the memory card in no time at all and then needed to figure out how to save these photos to my new computer. I knew so little about technology, but felt like I was embarking on something that would be fun and enlightening.

Finally I figured out how to download my memory card, but only after I had purchased two new ones and filled them (they were so expensive…) so I really had no choice but to learn to do this as I was not about to buy another memory card and besides I wanted to see the photo’s I had taken on something more than the little screen on my camera.

Now I could look at the jpegs to my hearts content and even view a full screen shot and see every detail on each photo. I learned to fix red eye and a couple of other neat things and I enjoyed emailing out my photos to anyone who showed an interest in them.

Even though I had progressed quite a bit with my quest to move from what my children referred to as “technologically moronic” to “technologically challenged”, I still felt like something was missing – owning a digital camera was nice, but a little anti-climatic for me. I admitted to myself there was no way I was going back to using my old camera and 36mm film and stopping by my local Costco every week to drop off a roll and picking up my prints a few days later as I dropped off another couple of rolls of film – this was no longer an option, though the nostalgia was getting the better of me. 

After seeing a commercial on TV for this great HP printer that you could print off all of your photos in your own home, I rushed to the store and bought one and reems of photo paper in all sizes – I was sure that I was suffering from hardcopy withdrawals. On the way home I felt guilty for buying the printer and came home and hid it in my dressing room for a couple of months – Christmas 2002, yes 2002 (I had been going through this emotional ordeal for almost 2 years) was only two months away and so I wrapped up my printer and and tagged it from Santa for me to open on Christmas day. With a pretend surprised look on my face I opened my gift and thanked Santa, while my family looked around at each other to see who bought mom the new HP printer.

Well I continued taking my pictures and upgraded my little camera to a 3 megapixel Cannon. My excuse was grandchildren, I needed to record every minute of my posterity and believe me I did just that. Soon I had about 3000 jpeg files on my computer and I was so excited to see my little grandbabies growing and I enjoyed printing off their photos and placing them into frames, wallets and fridges and showing them to everyone. But this feeling inside of me continued to persist, there had to be more to this god everyone worshiped called modern technology! More than emailing photos and bragging about my little grandchildren and having tons of framed photos around my house. I had feelings of guilt, instead of keeping memories alive my grandchildren were turning into little jpeg file on my computer. Thousands of little jpeg files!

Then one beautiful Arizona morning in early February of 2005 while surfing the web I discovered Heritage Makers and Storybooking! I was so excited, to think I would be able to take my pictures and place them into hard bound books and preserve the story behind the photo, this was so exciting I could hardly contain myself.

I had to find out everything I could about this company and I had to become an independent Consultant for them. That was the beginning of  www.GoStorybooking.com and a life filled with preserving beautiful memories about my family, my parents and grandparents and bringing my grandchildren to life in storybooks. Little did I know that it was an opportunity of a lifetime and would become a lucrative business, meeting new friends and experiencing personal growth beyond my wildest dreams?

One of the best things about Storybooking is seeing the look on a grandchild’s face when I read them a story about themselves as the hero of the story, seeing their burst of self esteem as they recognize the significance of their little lives in our family. As we work on the stories of their great grandparents I know these little children will come to love and know these men and women and see them as heroes who played a vital role in their very existence.

My passion for Storybooking gives me so much pleasure and it is wonderful to see how everyday things can become important memories when preserved in a Storybook.

I wonder what my grandchildren are going to feel in thirty years from now when they look at books that tell the stories about a trip to the train park in Scottsdale or a visit to the Phoenix Zoo where they are the leading characters in these stories? What emotions will they experience, what memories will be relived as they read their childhood stories to their own children?

I have finally found the magic of Digital Photography - it is Storybooking!

Tim Russert – Big Russ and Me: Father and Son – lessons of life

Tim Russert wrote an important book that opened up a flood of feelings for sons who have fathers who have played an important role in their lives.

His follow up book Wisdom of Our Fathers was evidence of the nationwide connection between his experience with his father and so many sons who cherish their relationship with their father.

I am not a fan of his TV show and I believe that his two books are a greater contribution to society than his show (also known as Meet The Depressed!).

I hope that more sons (and even daughters) will take advantage of digital storybooks that, for as little as $50, memories and experiences can be captured and shared as a tribute for the father in their lives.

To those fathers who have honored their stewardship as a father – well done… and thank you!

To sons who have been the beneficiary of such a father – live a life that will honor him and find a way to acknowledge that to him……… while you can!

 Nev and Barbie

www.GoStorybooking.com

A Journey of Courage and Adventure

I am working on a storybook to record my father’s journey from London to Africa in 1949. He was born in England and served with the British Royal Airforce during World War II. After the war he decided to immigrate to Southern Africa where had meet my mother during the war. To get there he hitched a ride in a single engine Auster 5 with a woman pilot who had bought the plane in England and needed a navigator to accompany her on her flight to Nairobi.

I wish I had known the details of this story when he was alive. Unfortunaly the details of this story only became available after his death.

This story is such a wonderful story that I want my children and grandchildren to know of his sense of adventure and courage. This is part of their heritage and something they can treasure.

Thank you Dad for being the source of whatever courage and adventure I have in my nature! I miss you.

 I will drop a few details of his adventure in future posts. 

 Nev

www.GoStorybooking.com

Kim Kommando – my technical guru

When I started on the path of creating storybooks I felt insecure about my skill and knowledge with computer and Internet technology. I was one of the most untechnical person on the planet. Then I found Kim Kommando both her radio show and her wonderful web site. Kim became my source of technical learning. She provided easy to understand explanations about technical issues. I turned to her web site so many times when I was looking for recommendations when I needed the choices in front of me. I highly recommend her website and radio show. Kim Kommando is an awesome source of information and I would be amiss if I didn’t give her recognition as one of the biggest resources that has enabled me to have the courage to follow the passion I have for this Internet based business. Thank you Kim!

If you are in need of a great technical resource I have included a link to her awesome web site.I have also added a link to another topic that I feel passionate about; supporting our troops. Kim has a great web site to help all of us show our support for our troops. So I encourage everyone to participate in her troop support efforts. Click on the link!

 

Welcome to the world of custom storybooks

In January of 2005 while recovering from cancer related surgery, I discovered the internet. With the help of a new notebook computer and encouragement from my family I learnt the basics of surfing the web. My surfing took purpose as I planned for my post cancer life and decided to find a meaningful business to start from home. The internet searches revealed many options but nothing that I could be passionate about until I found Heritage Makers.

This amazing company had produced a product; online storybooking, that touched my heart. Their mission of strengthening families through the power of the stories of our heritage was immediately compelling to me. I wanted my grandchildren to know the wonderful stories of their family. I wanted them to know the family members that had already passed away. I wanted them to know they belong to a family of wonderful people who have lived amazing lives.

Yes, this was for me. I knew I would never feel embarrased to tell someone even complete starngers about these amazing storybooks. This would be a wonderful home based business that I could “do well with by doing good.”

The concept was simple despite my lack of computer expertise. Creating a custom storybook through an online publishing system. No special software to purchase. Access my projects from any computer connected to the internet. Then upload my photos and writre the story associated with those pictures. Pick a design and page layouts then when I am finished the corporate office prints and binds the book and sends it to me in the mail. A beautiful high quality, bound book that my grandchildren can read and read over again. Wow! This was the business for me.

Now 2 years later I haven’t regretted my decision for one moment. I am more passionate about this world of storybooks than I ever was. It is an incredible experience to help my clients make their books and then share that amazing magic moment when they receive their completed book in the mail. I have had long-distance calls from all over the country and emails from clients who are thrilled to receive their books containing their precious photos and stories.