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Christmas 2007
Dear Friends,
This has been a year overflowing with blessings for the Glanz family! The most important one on the personal side is a new little grandson, Simon George Gawlik, born to Gretchen and Randy on September 1, 7 pounds 10 ounces. Next, Erin will receive her second degree, a BA in Apparel Design, from the Portland Art Institute in June. Everyone else is healthy and happy, and I will share their lives with you as families later in this letter.
On the business side, I have never had such a wonderful year! In January I became the first speaker on record to speak on all 7 continents when I spoke at Neko Harbor on the shores of Antarctica. No, I did not just speak to the penguins, although they were all around me! ;-) Rather, I spoke to the other 49 people who took the zodiacs from the ship to land at the same time as I did. There is a worldwide treaty that only 50 people can ever be on land at one time in Antarctica to preserve the beauty and sanctity of the land. You can read about my entire journey on my blog, www.barbaraglanz.com/blog. Let me just say that it was the trip of a lifetime, and I hope everyone may have the chance to experience this amazing part of our world one day. I am truly committed now to conserving this precious land!
I had three new books published this year, The Simple Truths of Appreciation – How Each of Us Can Choose to Make a Difference (a beautiful gift book that contains both personal and business examples of ways to appreciate others as well as a teacher story you will never forget); CARE Packagesfor Your Customers –An Idea a Week for Customer Service (a book with creative, simple ideas for one year that managers or supervisors can use to keep the focus on service alive in their companies); and What Can I Do? Ideas to Help Those Who Have Experienced Loss ( my first book published by a Christian publisher and is really a book of the heart, sharing many, many ideas of things anyone can to help someone who is grieving). All of my books are doing well, and I was thrilled to learn that when Colleen Barrett retired this summer as CEO of Southwest Airlines, she used her personall money to buy 35,000 copies of The Simple Truths of Service Inspired By Johnny the Bagger, the book I co-authored with Ken Blanchard, to give as her retirement gift to every Southwest employee!
There have also been three movies based on my stories that have come out this year. Two of them are 3 minute flash movies based on the central stories in the Simple Truths books. They are available to be viewed on the internet and forwarded to friends and family, and I was told that since the Johnny movie came out in April, nearly 3 million people have watched it! “The Simple Truths of Appreciation” movie just came out in October, and the publisher thinks it will do equally as well. Then, a wonderful company in Des Moines, Iowa, made a 17 minute dramatization of the Johnny the Bagger story which is just precious. It includes the skeptic, the cynic, and the manager who does not know what is going on! They also took the posters my daughter, Erin, did for me to put up around the room when I speak and created a short meeting opener called “Service from the Heart.” You can preview all these movies on my website, www.barbaraglanz.com/products.
I have been busy speaking in many states and leave November 30 – December 15 to speak to the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo, Egypt. A friend is coming with me on this trip, and we will take a cruise down the Nile, climb Mt. Sinai, visit the Pyramids, and perhaps even do a Bedouin night in the desert where you ride out on camels and sleep in a tent! In February I am receiving an international HR award in Mumbai (Bombay), India, where I will be speaking. Another friend is coming on this trip, and we will see the Taj Mahal, spend a few days in Chaing Mai, Thailand, with my brother, Brian, who has an executive retreat center there, and then go on to Hanoi. I continue to be blessed with wonderful clients and friends all over the world! Just an idea for the month of February of my schedule: on the 5th and 6th I will be speaking in Baltimore for an Educational Travel Conference, the 7th in Minneapolis to Crystal Cabinets, the 9th in Chicago for an Arthur Anderson reunion, the 11th in Cancun, Mexico for LDL, a financial services company, and then leaving for Mumbai to speak there on the 13th and 14th. Please say a prayer for safety amidst all this travel.
Now, on the personal side. I will spend Thanksgiving with Garrett, Gavin, Ashley, and Kinsey in Seattle and Christmas with Gretchen, Randy, Owen, Simon, and Erin in Portland. When Simon was born, I was lucky enough to arrive on the very day he was born and then spent most of the next two weeks being a Grandma. Owen, the darling two year old (and he IS into the “terrible twos!”) , was my main charge as Gretchen was in labor 14 hours and then ended up having to have a C-section, so she has had a long recovery time. The baby is darling – the most wide-eyed, alert newborn I have ever seen. Owen was somewhat intrigued with him, but most of the time ignored him. Owen and I had wonderful fun making masks out of paper bags and scaring each other, playing “pretend”, going on Nature Walks and collecting, rocks, leaves, pods, and bugs, drawing on his easel and reading lots of stories. With his activitiy, keeping up with the laundry, cooking, and shopping, I decided that working is a LOT easier! I am so proud of what good parents Gretchen and Randy are.
Randy continues to be the webmaster at Boyds Coffee Company, and Gretchen, like Ashley, is a stay-at-home Mom. Randy also has a company where he makes custom skateboards, so if you have anyone who wants a really cool skateboard, call 503-283-8180. Owen loves his skateboard and carries miniature ones and his “baby”, a rag doll with long hair, around with him everywhere! Gretchen is finally getting into the groove of having two babies and takes them to the zoo, the park, swimming lessons, and the park. They are hoping to find a bigger house this spring.
Erin has had an amazingly successful experience with her new career! She has had straight A’s in school and this spring when the had a final project to design 4 fabric patterns and the were told that a manufacturer from Portland would be coming in to help evaluate their projects, Erin went on the internet, found their logo, and incorporated it into one of her patterns, They liked it so much, they are going to manufacture a whole line of clothing using it! She had two interesting internships this summer and was loved by both of the mentors. One was with a woman who started a very successful boutique several years ago to teach Erin the business side of having your own company. The other couple are reps for several designer lines of clothing, and they just had Erin run their show in San Francisco two weeks ago, so they have amazing confidence in her. She is healthy and happy, and her Mom will be even more happy when she is out there with a real job and earning some money! ;-)
Garrett continues to progress at Microsoft. Currently he manages 10 people and travels all over the country. Gavin and Kinsey go to a special gifted school, and Ashley is very involved in that as well as in the community. She has had to have two surgeries this year on a bad ankle, so she has spent many weeks on crutches. One of the “projects” Gavin and Kinsey and I always do when I am there is to go to the “Build a Bear” store. Last year when I babysat for a week, I bought them each a bear which they created, so now every time I come, Ty and Lucy must have a new outfit! This year I found sewing kits for each of them to make a monkey and a rabbit, so we will have fun doing that. Gavin loves soccer, X-box, and all kinds of science experiments. For Christmas I got him a “Make your Own Mummy” kit which he loved. Kinsey has become a “girly girl” and loves her dolls (much to Granna Barbara’s joy!) and pretty things for her hair. Last year she started her own “Bakery” company and made and sold bakery goods after school at Gavin’s school to make some spending money. I think she my carry on my entrpreneurship! ;-)
This summer a client of mine suggested a barter arrangement if I would speak at her conference. She has a wonderful Bed and Breakfast ranch in the mountains of Montana, so the whole family is going to gather there for a week in the middle of June.
Sarasota is finally feeling like home to me, so I invite you all for a visit. Just be sure I am in town first! I have made new friends and am dating, so although I work way too hard and too long, I am looking forward to more free time to enjoy my beach this spring. I have hired four parttime people to help me – Wendy, the bookkeeper, Erin, the computer whiz, Tara, the organized one, and Terrie, the sales and marketing person. I have been training all of them the last few weeks. It is exciting to have a whole team of support and idea persons around me!
I am grateful for each one of you who receives this letter, and I pray that 2008 will be overflowing with blessings in your life. I read recently of a grade school class that has the assignment of listing the 7 wonders of the world. They listed the Grand Canyon, the Pyramids, the Empire State Building, Niagara Falls, and several others. However, one little girl was having trouble coming up with her list. When the teacher asked her to read it, she said the 7 wonders of the world were:
To touch, To see, To hear, To speak, To taste, To laugh, and the last one was “To Love.” May this season be filled with God’s love and the love of family and friends.
To read Barbara's 2006 Christmas letter/family update, click here.
 
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