Dad's Day

We had a wonderful Father's Day...great day at church and then...



Father's Day 2011

Grayson grilled steaks, and we had all the fixins...including...



 FABULOUS...OREO BOMBS!!! (life is good)

It was really too bad Grayson had to leave early the next morning to go to Scout camp for a week, and wasn't around to help us eat these...bless his heart!





Alabama Tornados

The weekend of May 7-8, Steve, Grayson & Sam were part of a group of over 1500 LDS members from the middle Tennessee region and 2500 out-of-state members who went to the Tuscaloosa, Alabama area to assist in the cleanup following tornados that went through there on April 27th, leaving massive damage and killing 292 people.

(I got some of these photos on-line from the Alabama press...)



Remains of a gas station

The group headed down early Saturday (our guys left immediately after soccer games), and everyone worked that afternoon, stayed the night and worked all day Sunday. Lots of people stayed overnight in their cars and tents, but some stayed in a local motel (yeah, our guys). I think it was probably better for them, so they could get enough rest to do all that work! Especially with Steve's back issues (surgery, lost mobility, pinched nerves).

SAM took most of these next photos...



Debris the group gathered up and stacked for pickup



Some of the debris from the houses landed in the trees

  

Damaged house on the property the Church was helping with



Fireplace on ground floor and part of the basement --
all that remained



Just the basement was left...





Three women hid in this basement shower clinging to pillows
that were ripped from their arms during the tornado



Debris & tools from the shed on the property

You see the wooden porch -- the house is gone...


The Church had a very well-orchestrated plan to distribute manpower over a large area, and did a massive amount of debris removal and cleanup in a very short period. Everyone was given yellow T-shirts that said "Mormon Helping Hands."

As a group, they donated over 45,000 man hours and completed over 1,000 work orders for needed services in the area.


When some of our friends were picking up some supplies at a local Walmart, they said people kept coming up to them (seeing their t-shirts) and telling them THANK YOU, and expressing gratitude for our church's service in their area -- which was outside of Tuscaloosa, and they felt a bit 'neglected' because Tuscaloosa got all the immediate attention.



Moving an entire house wall with a front-loader

 



Sam loading a wheelbarrow with debris



Our group in action...(Grayson bent over in orange shorts)

One of the local men said he was sooo grateful, and if he "ever heard anybody runnin' down them Mormons anytime, he would certainly set them straight." And if any of us Mormons "ever needed any help from Alabama, let him know," and they'd be there to help us!

Sam sitting UNDER an uprooted tree

Group cleanup - Grayson in orange shorts

It was a wonderful opportunity for service, and I'm so glad the boys got to be a part of it. Steve has done this type of thing his whole life, but it was important that the boys be involved and get to see the power of the Church in action.


They found this Alabama flag, and hung it up on the shed they
were working on to build morale -- GO BAMA! :0)



Steven, Joe and Spencer Fiske with Ethan and Adam Seegmiller



Rob Jacobs, with sons Adam, Matt and Brett

By the end of the day on Sunday, they had all worked so hard, Steve's back and legs were in spasms...in fact, his hands "froze up" on the drive home until he almost had to stop and have someone else drive home because he couldn't move his hands like needed to to drive. SCARY! But some of the attendees from our Stake knew how to help massage his forearms, wrists and fingers, and he was finally able to make it home. It took a couple of days (and lots of anti-inflammatories) to get back to normal.

The guys were exhausted, filthy, sunburned, and happy when they got home.

Grayson said his favorite part was the feeling he had when people were coming up to them hugging them, and crying, and saying "Thank you, thank you so much for everything!" He said it "sort of brought a tear to your eyes."





Grateful

Yesterday and today my newly-merged company, Corizon, finished the "consolidation of corporate office positions" -- in other words, laid off the people whose jobs overlapped at each of the offices. We ended up losing like 35 people out of our 200 at the Brentwood office. It was about the same number at the St. Louis office.

We have all lived in fear over the past three months, as this merger has played out, knowing that after the June 3rd finalization the cuts would come.

I am GRATEFUL that my position has been retained -- there is nobody at the St. Louis office doing what I do. I am so thankful to still be employed, have benefits, work for Jon Walker (who is a great boss), and to (at least for now) have the security of a regular paycheck. I know that a lot of things are still changing, and my job duties may change. But for now, I HAVE a job! YAY!

And...I'm finally getting an assistant -- DOUBLE YAAAAY!!!

Blood Relatives

I am embarrassed to admit, but yes, I am related to these two women who are trying out for "The Cowardly Lion" in The Wizard of Oz or something...kids, kids, kids.

My sisters, Lori and Corinne

Waaaaaay too much time on their hands...!

Can you say "PINK?"

I can...and I feel this sudden urge to go shopping!!

Bounce

Loved a quote repeated by someone in their testimony at church yesterday:

"It doesn't matter how far you fall.
It only matters how high you bounce."

Great food for thought...

CORIZON

On March 7th, my company, PHS Correctional Healthcare announced a merger agreement with Correctional Medical Services (CMS) in St. Louis. PHS founded the industry in 1978, and CMS broke off from us and started their own company a couple of years later, and we have been fierce competitors for the past 30 years, the leading players in the industry. The announcement of the merger was something like an 'engagement,' and yesterday was the actual 'wedding,' when the merger became final. We now have over 11,000 employees, and serve appx. 400 jail/prison sites.

Over the past 3 months, we have worked around the clock to make all the behind-the-scenes marketing and communications preparations for this merger. We came up with a new name through an employee contest, choosing from over 2200 entries -- and we developed the logo below:

...the look/feel/message of the logo denotes ongoing journey, bringing two paths together, always moving, striving for success, looking to the horizon, etc. So far, we have created an interim website, internal employee communications processes, developed & printed letterhead & business cards, written press releases and policies, ordered branded shirts & other items for 11,000 employees that drop-shipped yesterday, and a host of other marketing-related aspects of the transition.

All of this had to be done behind closed doors due to the fact that PHS was a publicly traded company, and until the transaction was final, none of the information about a "joint" company could be public. So we were working under 'covert' circumstances with much tension about the word getting out.

It's been EXHAUSTING, very long days with too much to do -- and we still had to keep doing our "day job!" I am so glad we are now to the point where we are. Now the real work begins as we bring these two industry leaders together. We'll be developing a new marketing campaign, building new trade show and promotional materials, launching new internal and external marketing tools, and the list goes on...

Being such a huge company now brings many opportunities. I'm excited to learn what the future holds as we join together, and see what exactly my role will be (hopefully I'll still have one!) within the new company.

Go, CORIZON! (http://www.corizonhealth.com/)