Let me tell you about my weekend.

Imagine the girl you thought would never be your friend in junior high school back in the 70’s. The “Freak.” The “Band Geek.” The “shy Baptist girl.” The “Brain.” That was us. Such an unlikely group to get together 39 years later for a girls’ weekend near Dallas. But we did. And we learned we were never the labels we wore. We were so much more and so much less and so much else. But we played our parts and survived high school with our label personas in tact. Then came life. And we were all changed. Delightfully so.

We’ve connected over Facebook in the past few years and as each of us has dared to reveal our many layers, we’ve come to be the best of friends.  We’re still very different. But we like it that way. The beauty of being four 51 year old women who attended the same junior high and high school and who witnessed the events of these last 39 years is the best glue for building real friendships.

We are atheist, baptist, presbyterian and confused. We are “traditional” parents, single parents and intentionally childless. Three of us love dogs (almost as much as people) and one of us works hard to overcome a childhood dog attack. We are survivors of rape and sexual abuse (not all of us, but we all cried for each other.) We are adopted kids and not adopted kids and kids who wish they’d been adopted. We are all married, but oh how very different each marriage looks. Two of us have at least one gay child, one of us has purely straight children, and one of us has canine children who haven’t informed us of their sexual identities. One of us doesn’t drink and the other three love wine. Three of us are Sooner fans and one of us is a Poke. We are Libertarian, Republican, and Democrat. One is an archaeologist, one a mathematician, one a broadcaster and one a psychologist by training. None of us works in the field of our training. Two of us are skinny and two of us wish we were. Some of us cook (wonderfully) and some of us order take-out (wonderfully.)  A couple of us are overbearing and outgoing and a couple of us are quiet and shy. And all of us are awesome.

My rear-view-significance-finder self would have given anything to have been able to realize what a spectacular event was unfolding as it unfolded last weekend. But I won’t be too hard on myself; I know it now.

(The photo here is of me enjoying some canine love. I still wish we'd taken a group photo.)

012814 EBytes LoreleiAndrea from BGCO Women on Vimeo.

I wish that is what I'd been doing all along this cancer journey. But instead, I ignored my own advice and since February 2012 have haphazardly posted content to Instagram, Pinterest, CaringBridge, Google+, Path, text messages, Google docs, LinkedIn, Jesus Calling bookmarks, YouTube, YouVersion bookmarks, blog comments, emails to myself, Facebook & Twitter. Now it's biting me in my behind. There's no single place to go to get the whole picture.

This picture is a screenshot of what Google returns as first page search results for "Lorelei Decker cancer." These search results go for many pages. And there's nothing chronological about them. The obsessive-compulsive part of my nature that wants to view the journey chronologically.  If, all along, I'd been following my own advice and posting first here to my blog I'd have exactly what I desire. 

Therefore, I repent.  Let's see if I can wrangle in my disorganized social media addiction into something that resembles a plan for communication going forward.

And then maybe I'll go backward to recreate the timeline in an organized fashion.  I wonder if this is what it feels like to begin writing a book. Kind of like a virtual scrapbook. Yes, a virtual cancer journey scrapbook is my new mission.

Just so it doesn't go to waste, here's what I wrote before I had to revise it:

On the morning of January 28, 2012 I kissed my healthy 17 year old daughter Lorelei on her forehead as she left for a busy Friday of her senior year of high school. And on February 9, 2012 I kissed this same sweet girl on the forehead as the nurse accessed the port in her chest to infuse her first dose of chemotherapy to kill the cancer that might otherwise kill her. Nothing can adequately describe the chaos and emotion of the eleven days between these.

• Saturday Jan 28: Annoying cough. Visit to the after hours medical clinic for some cough medicine.  Chest x-ray. Seeing the doctor’s concerned face as he says the words “large mass” and “tumor.” CT scan at the hospital emergency room. The words “11 centimeter conglomeration of lymph nodes that likely indicate lymphoma” and biopsy. A question from Lorelei “So, Lymphoma. Does that mean I have cancer?” Frantic request for prayer posted to facebook. Flood of responses from caring friends.
• Sunday: Church praying over Lorelei even before the biopsy and final diagnosis.
• Monday: Appointment with surgeon who said it would be better to see a thoracic surgeon for biopsy.
• Tuesday: Appointment with thoracic surgeon at 11:00am (arranged via a friend on facebook) who could see Lorelei was having a difficult time breathing so he scheduled her for immediate surgery (mediastinoscopy) at 4:00 that afternoon. Surgeon emerging from the OR late that night with the report of Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; “the kind of lymphoma one would want delivered to them on a plate” if one had to receive some kind of lymphoma on a plate. Relief. Then panic. Who to hire as an oncologist? How does a parent do that?  At 17, Lorelei is not a child but also not an adult. Who will address her future fertility questions? Will we have time to freeze her eggs?
• Wednesday: Lorelei asks first “Mom, am I going to lose my hair?” followed by “Mom, will I ever be able to have a baby?” Call Oncologists all day and get discouraged because the one we think we really want won’t take her cuz she’s under 18.  Finish the day feeling defeated without a plan. Fall asleep crying but afraid to let Lorelei see mom fall apart.
• Thursday Feb 2: Wake up and read Jesus Calling and feel like God is speaking directly to me. Spirits lifted energy renewed. Get a call from the thoracic surgeon that they’ve miraculously arranged for the oncologist we want to actually see Lorelei even though she’s too young. The oncologist’s nurse had already been praying for Lorelei (goes to our church) and didn’t know this young patient they had previously rejected was the same girl. When the surgeon shared her name the oncologist set an appointment to see her the next day!  
• Friday: Meet with oncologist. Learn both chemo and radiation are likely but we still need to stage the cancer. No matter what she will need ABVD treatment and she’s going to lose her hair. 80 to 85% odds to beat this. Resist thinking about the 15 to 20% who don’t.
• Saturday: Shop for wigs.
• Sunday: Worship a wonderful God who has reminded us that every detail of this journey is on His mind.
• Monday: Meet with fertility doctor to get script for putting Lorelei in to menopause since there’s no time to freeze eggs. Endure the financial pain of learning that insurance won’t cover the $900 medication she’ll need each month for the next year but decide to trust God to handle that detail. Prepare for battle with insurance company.
• Tuesday: Surgery again to implant port.  Pulmonary function tests.
• Wednesday: Echocardiogram and PET scan. Bone Marrow Biopsy.
• Thursday Feb 9: Meet with oncologist. Cancer has not spread to belly and is not in her bone marrow; Stage 2 officially. Start chemo!

Yes, indeed, her battle is indeed "Bigger than Basketball."  Thank you to the NBA for promoting the story of this truly inspiring 17 year old.   And thank you to Make-A-Wish of Oklahoma for making it all possible in the first place.

It's been such a blessing to watch how wonderful Coach Scott Brooks and his entire coaching staff have been with Lorelei.  They took her in and treated her like one of their own.  For this one day she was not just "Lorelei with Cancer" but "Lorelei, Coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder."  It was also quite fun to watch the Thunder as they quickly learned that Lorelei knew her stuff.

Today, after only five rounds of chemotherapy, she had a pulmonary function test and it revealed that she is operating at 135% of normal lung capacity!  Pretty good evidence that those tumors are shrinking.

Tell me that is not a miracle. 

And next week (on April 24) she gets to use those super-sized lungs to coach her Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team to victory over the Sacramento Kings which is what she wished for when Make-A-Wish asked her to wish for anything she wanted. She's likely the Thunder's biggest fan.

I like to think that God knew all along she'd need that extra lung capacity to yell at Perk.

  

Confession: I’ve been feeling a bit sad/jealous to be stuck in OKC during Lorelei's senior year Spring Break reading facebook posts of what feels like everyone else from afar having the time of their lives.

Then God puts this in my face:

Jesus Calling today: "I shower blessings on you daily, but sometimes you don’t perceive them. When your mind is stuck on a negative focus, you see neither Me nor My gifts."

I'm sorry God.

• Thank you Jesus for the cancer that you use to draw us to our knees and that gives us the opportunity to glorify You so others can know Your love too.
• Thank you for the availability of wonderful medical treatment.
• Thank you for providing financial means to pay for medical treatment.
• Thank you for my job.
• Thank you for that car with 165,000 miles on it that worked well enough to transport me safely to work today.
• Thank you for providing protection and refreshment for all of our friends and loved ones who are traveling right now.
• Thank you for rain.
• Thank you for fun memories of Spring Breaks from the past (The photo in this post is from a 1999 trip to Six Flags over Texas.)
• Thank you that we survived Y2K (and finally finished off the last can of tuna from the stash.)
• Thank you for people who write fun books like The Hunger Games and for those who make them into movies that we can look forward to seeing after a long day of chemo.
• Thank you for a husband who laughs at me when I hide under a blanket and scream at the TV during an episode of “Walking Dead.”
• Thank you that we have enough food to make it necessary to exert self control or diet or exercise.
• Thank you for allowing me to live in a country where true religious persecution is a foreign concept.
• Thank you that I don’t have a headache today.
• Thank you that Hannah can be here in between Baylor and WashU to help mother her baby sister.
• Thank you that Lorelei will be healed by the time our sons leave this year to serve in Afghanistan and that they will be here to support her through the journey.
• Thank you for reminding me that there is much more to this life than happiness; that Joy is possible even when happiness is fleeting.

One of the reasons I’ve been good at what I do is that I am so passionate about our work and the company. These guys I work with are amazing. I’ve always felt like what I did mattered (or would matter in 100 years.) But my passion bucket (at least for internet related things) has been drained lately.

I asked God to fill it back up.

Yesterday, after having been asleep for a few short hours, I was awakened at 2:00am. Wide awake. Tried to go back to sleep for 45 minutes before I gave up and decided to pursue what might be God trying to speak to me during the wee quiet hours. So, I opened up my iPhone (turning down the brightness hoping not to disturb Kevin) and went to my Jesus Calling app. I normally read this first thing in the morning and it usually feels like God is talking to me directly and specifically. (I don’t know how He does it, but I’m so glad He does.) So was the case yesterday morning. Here’s what I posted to facebook around 3:10am:

'Can't sleep. So much on my mind. So many voices. Decided to take an "early peek" at today's Jesus Calling entry:

"The voices of the world are a cacophony of chaos, pulling you this way and that. Don’t listen to those voices; challenge themwith My Word. Learn to take minibreaks from the world, finding a place to be still in My Presence and listen to My voice."

Okay Lord. I'm listening.'

It was Lorelei’s. Her very first. I’d given her authorship rights but she’d never used them. Until now.

Here’s what she said:

“Today I was still for a moment in prayer. I thought of those around me fighting many different battles and I quickly became overwhelmed. I cannot heal those around me. I cannot mend marriages and I have no power to bring peace in a time of loss. I become uneasy and anxious. But I'm beginning to realize that there is a beauty here. The Lord can heal those around me. He can mend marriages and He can bring peace. The beauty is that the Lord can do these things and DOES do these things so that I do not have to and so that I don't have to feel overwhelmed when I can't.

As I travel along in this journey, I daily learn to praise the Lord that my life is entirely and eternally in His hands; completely out of my control. Besides, how much greater are His plans than mine, than ours? Once we realize this, that this isn't something people say just to ease the blow of a cancer diagnosis or of a car wreck or a lost job, we receive peace, we receive joy.

Through realizing my weaknesses, I become stronger. Cliche. True. I realize my weakness, place complete trust in the Lord and breathe. I think that maybe all the while I remain in this human body my first instinct will be anxiety each time I re-realize how out of control I am. My prayer is that I, and those around me, will remember to praise God when we are out of control. Thank Him that He is in control, and decide to place our trust in the One who created us and loves each one of us so dearly.”

I don’t know if any of you has ever experienced the privilege of being ministered to by your own children. I know I have.

Lorelei reminded me that God is intimately acquainted with the tiny (and big) details of every one of our lives. And that when we feel out of control it is actually a blessing because we can more easily see that He indeed is in control. Any control I think I have is merely an illusion.  None of us can guarantee we even have one more hour on this earth.  Or that we'll have a job tomorrow.  Or that our spouse will remain faithful.  Or that our home will survive a tornado. Once we fully understand that we are powerless, we are finally able to see the big picture and fully let God work through us.  Likewise, I am powerless to fill my own passion bucket.

So, I’d have to trust God to fill it back up. I don’t have any real control over my life. Even my ability to do my job well comes from Him.

The alarm goes off at 5:30. I haven’t slept since 2:00am. I guzzle a few cups of coffee and head on in to work since I have a morning appointment.

The appointment was with a woman whose foundation needed a website in advance of a big event on April 26. And they are considering my company because we’ve built a website platform that allows a professional website to be created very quickly and includes e-commerce built right in to the CMS.

I think, “Big deal. You want to sell something on the internet. “

But then she told me more.

You’ve probably heard or seen something about Kony 2012. Who hasn’t? So tragic is the plight of the many young women who have been raped and mutilated by his godless regime. Once these women escape they have nowhere to go. Their families (what’s left of them) won’t take them back and they have no marketable job skills, no way to provide for themselves. So, Sister Rosemary takes them in. She teaches them a trade. One of the trades has been to make purses out of pop-tops. Here’s a link to an article on CNN about it.

The website we might build will provide more awareness and even an avenue to send additional funds to St. Monica's Girls' Tailoring Center in Uganda.

That matters.

And I can already feel my passion bucket filling up!

She has stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma and will undergo 6 months of chemotherapy and one month of radiation before she leaves for college in the fall.  

I've been in such a fog this past month that I've not made time to prepare a detailed blog but I plan to change that this week.  Likely I will create a CaringBridge account and post the details here.

Thank you for praying for Lorelei.

Anyway, this post is about my two Yorkies.  My kids think I love the dogs more than them.  Sometimes I let the kids think this is true.  Sometimes it might actually be true!  They are definitely a blessing in my life.  Which is crazy.  Because they are also one of my greatest annoyances.   Ironic.  Just like human babies.

Ellie and Georgie are sisters from the same litter.  They are four years old now and pretty set in their ways.   According to Cesar Millan WE ARE DOING EVERYTHING WRONG!  These dogs even have their own facebook pages.  Here's Georgie.  Here's Ellie.

Georgie is a diva who demands constant attention.  If you pet her, you better be prepared to keep doing it.  And if you leave the house for a minute, be prepared to be barked at as if you'd been gone for days.  Georgie is fat and pliable and wonderful to cuddle.  But if you are a 180 pound Mastiff beware.  Georgie has little dog syndrome and will attack you for no reason.  She also seems to think you don't exist when she can't see you.  (We say she's as few fries short of a happy meal.)  See video below to prove it.  

Ellie is wiry and lean.  She's always pacing.  She's super smart--learns tricks way easier than Georgie but she's afraid of everything.  Ellie is even afraid of the ripples that water makes when you lick it in the bowl--it's so scary to her that she'll go all day without drinking and then beg to drink from your human cup when you sit down at night.  Apparently the human cup shields her eyes so she can't see the scary ripples.  This not-drinking-water issue has recently caused her to have urological issues.  It was a recent visit to the animal hospital that led our veterinarian to prescribe Ellie Xanax for her anxieties.  (She simply cannot go all day without drinking.)  We filled the specially compounded beef flavored Xanax prescription at Flourish Pharmacy for $38.00 and are hoping it begins to work. 

But, unfortunately, Ellie has a new phobia we just discovered today.  We recently re-tiled one of our bathrooms.  Until now, all the floors in our home have been light colored.  But this is a deep chocolate brown.  And Ellie won't walk on it.  View the video below to see her phobia in action.  We have no idea why she refuses to enter this room.

I wanted to download the video playing on this page (http://icebrrg.com/public/video.aspx) so it could be included in a PowerPoint presentation that would not have web access.  Since the video was only available on the web I was unable to get a local copy of it...until...my dear Matt Sanders showed me this way.

• In Safari, paste or type the link to the page that displays the video you want to download. In this case you'd paste http://icebrrg.com/public/video.aspx

• Click Play (the triangle in the middle of the video...I know "duh", but I'm not assuming anything)

• Go up to your Safari menu in the top left corner and select "Window"Then under the Window tab select "Activity" like this:

• Clicking Activity will open a window that looks like this:

• In the list of files you'll look over on the right side for the biggest file you can find. Most are sized in KB but the one you want will probably be measured in MB. In this case the file is 3.0 MB. When you find it just double click on it and the file will automatically begin to download to your local computer.

We are gathering a crew of family and friends for a road trip to Lawton, Oklahoma to witness our very own PFC Dustin Decker graduate from U.S. Army Basic Combat Training.   Graduation ceremonies for the 1st Battalion - 79th Field Artillery (1-79 FA Charlie Battery), U.S. Army, Fort Sill, will be held Friday, September 24 at 1:00pm (that's 13:00 as Dustin would call it now) in the Sheridan Theatre. 

(See attached map)

Directions from Oklahoma City:
Route: Take I-44 to Lawton, OK and take the “Key Gate” exit. Go thru main gate traveling west on Sheridan Road.

Parking Pass: Place printed parking pass on dash and present your picture identification (driver’s license).

Cell Phone Use: **** Driver cannot use cell phone while driving on base unless using a hands free device*****

Continue west on Sheridan road after passing thru main gate. Sheridan road will curve and then go south. Sheridan Theatre will be on your right or West Side.

Each battalion should have a sign similar to this one to help direct you to the Sheridan Theatre.  Dustin is in - C Battery 1/79th FA

Doors open at 12:45 pm.   I would arrive early. There is no limit on the number of people who can come to the graduation so plan on fighting with the family and friends of 200 or so soldiers to get a seat. (When we went to Miles Holladay’s graduation there was standing room only.)

Photos: It is permissible to photograph and videotape activities, however this permission does not extend to the rest of Fort Sill. While photography is allowed of ceremonies and family or social events, unrestricted videotaping and photography by the public on the installation is prohibited. Photography is also allowed of historical exhibits at the Fort Sill Museum, including those which are outdoors, but not of nearby family quarters and office buildings. You are welcome to bring a camera to the graduation, but please exercise caution and do not point it in the direction of installation facilities, buildings, and military equipment which are not part of the graduation activities.

Leave us a note to let us know if you plan to attend so we'll be sure to look for you!  Since Putnam City Schools are out this day we hope several of Dustin's younger friends will join us.

Even though my Panthers didn't come out on top in the Battle of the Expressway last night, I was extremely proud of how well Bradley Ross played and gave his all for his team. This video can be accessed from his website at http://www.brad-ross.com/brad-ross-sacks-pco-qb-during-battle-of-the-expressway or you can view the video right here via youtube.

This is the first movie I ever made with iMovie so please don't judge me! In this movie I have compiled all the video and still photos we took at Miles Holladay's Army Basic Combat Training Graduation on August 19, 2010 at Fort Leonard Wood.

The slow motion clip in the middle was taken when Miles was marching in formation from the graduation hall to Dragoon Park--he was not supposed to divert his gaze or smile but he did both when he saw Lorelei Decker.

I used Metallica's "...And Justice For All" as the background soundtrack because it is Miles' favorite.  In some places it was a bit eerie how perfectly the music lined up with the images in the video.  (Notice the music during the display of the lovely woman with the bleached blond mullet--she is in the foreground of the shot where I was trying to picture Hannah, Gretchen and Lorelei standing against the wall for the ceremony.)

There were 266 Soldiers who graduated.  They were divided amongst four platoons.  Miles' platoon was the 2nd platoon.  Miles will begin AIT at Fort Leonard Wood next week.  His MOS is 88M (Transportation.)  He and Dustin joined the Army on the same day as battle buddies and had hoped to go through all of this together but Dustin's injury caused a delay for him.  Dustin is grateful for Miles who led the way through Basic Combat Training and shared invaluable advice with him.

Dustin and Miles will overlap for about 1.5 weeks at Fort Leonard Wood during their AIT.  Then, once both have returned to Oklahoma they will serve monthly Army National Guard Duty together.

The video was loaded to YouTube in two formats: HD and mobile.  Here's the HD link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-GodHgKgIQ. 

Here is the mobile version link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9E3q8oUot0

Here is the mobile version embedded:

Here is the HD version embedded:

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Family and Friends,

Attached is the week 4 newsletter. For those who thought they missed last week, there was no week 3 newsletter, due to me being on paternity leave. Therefore, this one includes week 3 and 4.

Sincerely,
CPT Brett Ketchum
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Dear Family Members and Friends,

Weeks three and four have come to a close and the Soldiers of Charlie Battery have completed their first phase in Basic Training. Red phase has come to an end and the Soldier move into White phase where they are extended a few more privileges. One of the changes is that the Drill Sergeants now implement student leadership. Soldiers are given the opportunity to develop their leadership skills by being placed in positions over their peers, which proves to be one of the more difficult leadership situation.
Most of the last two weeks have been spent in more in depth training on their individual rifles. After adjusting the sights to make sure they were aligned properly, the battery conducted ranges to enhance their shooting skills. The learned how to engage targets at different ranges, how to acquire a pop-up target and engage quickly, and how to transition from one target to the next when multiple targets appear.

With their skills acquired the Soldiers then had the opportunity to qualify with their rifle. The qualification range is a 300 meter long range with targets that pop-up between 50-300 meters. Soldiers must actively scan their lanes in order to acquire their targets, take proper aim, and accurately place a round into the target before it falls back behind it’s berm. In order to qualify Soldiers had to hit a minimum or 23 out of the 40 targets. For those who hit 30 or more they were given the honor of being Sharpshooters. For the very few who hit 36 or more they could proudly call themselves Experts with the M16/M4 rifle.

Along with shooting their rifles, the Soldiers were trained on how to use a rifle if the enemy got close enough to engage in hand to hand combat. After the basic moves were taught, the Soldiers were allowed to harness the true warrior spirit in bouts against one another using pugil sticks instead of actual rifles.

Following rifle marksmanship, the Battery conducted the first obstacle course during Basic Training. The Combat Conditioning Course is designed to allow the Soldiers to test the limits of their physical ability as they negotiate the 17 obstacles on the course. The obstacles include climbing ropes, a horizontal latter, climbing over walls, rope bridges, low crawls, and gate runs. The platoons were timed on the course and the fastest platoon time was awarded the CCC streamer.

The weeks ended with a brief introduction into Advanced Rifle Marksmanship, which will be the main focus next week. Now that the basics have been taught, the Soldier will truly learn what the M16/M4 rifle can do.

Sincerely,

Brett Ketchum
CPT, FA
Commanding

Download the PowerPoint for these weeks

Since I started posting these newsletters from Fort Sill, I will continue to post them each week for those of you who want to follow along and be praying for Dustin according to his current challenges.

In true "Unclassified" Army fashion I am unable to detect in any of these photos (in the attached powerpoint) if any of these soldiers is actually my Soldier Dustin Decker.

Here is what Captain Ketchum wrote:

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Family and Friends,

Greetings from Charlie Battery. The Soldiers have now completed their second week of training. This week we were able to get outside and conduct more realistic training. The schedule will really pick up from here on out, so you can expect the Soldiers to remain busy. Thank you for the support you have been giving them through this time. Attached is the Week 2 Newsletter.

Sincerely,
CPT Brett Ketchum

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Just got an email from CPT Brett Ketchum at Fort Sill.  This document was attached.  I guess the Army likes PowerPoint.  Click on the link above this picture to download it.

On Monday July 12 I released my baby boy into Uncle Sam's care.  He's one step closer to fulfilling what he believes is God's calling on his life to serve his country and fellow soldiers on the front lines in Afghanistan. 

Driving up to the gate at RTI is when it really began to hit me.  (Dustin was in driving his girlfriend's car in front of me.)

We were yet unaware of the change in his orders.  We thought he'd be shipping out to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri but instead he received orders to report to Fort Sill in Oklahoma.  (This is actually good news to us since it increases the likelihood we might be able to see him during brief visitation hours after he gets out of "Red Phase.")  He'll complete his AIT at Fort Leonard Wood and will hopefully get to see his best friend Miles Holladay some time during that overlap.
 
None of us was crying until Samantha lost it (and so did we as we watched Dustin tenderly console her.)  Every one of us had tears in our eyes--even Dustin.  (The last time I remember seeing Dustin with tears in his eyes was when I mercilessly beat him at Monopoly when he was only five years old.)

Dustin was able to pack every personal possession he could carry into this single back pack from which he would live over the next four months.

Everyone asks me if I'm "okay" with all of this (as his mother.)  I have to be.  God loaned this precious baby boy into our care for a while.  All along his father and I have prayed that we would be used by Him to prepare this young man for service in His Kingdom.  We trust God who holds our son in His loving hands--the very God in whom Dustin has placed his own trust.  We claim Psalm 91 for Dustin:

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the Lord, who is my refuge—

10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

I've always been a proponent of a website's utilizing breadcrumbs for clear navigation.  Drop down and Fly-out menus drive me crazy and frustrate me often as tests of manual dexterity (which I frequently fail.)  So when Site Reference recently cited that the use of breadcrumbs can actually help in SEO efforts, I was excited to read the article.   Here it is for your reference.

Here is the link to Scott's follow up article: http://blog.newsok.com/highschoolsports/2010/06/10/catching-up-with-pc-norths-dustin-decker/

I've always told my clients to take full advantage of the opportunity to provide a description with each page of their website within our CMS.  Usually I show them that this exact description is what Google will display as the middle two lines of a result on their search engine results page (SERP.)   For example, if one searches for "Content Management System" in Google one gets a SERP like this.

The third organic result listed for this search (under the wikipedia results) is LightCMS (which is a product of my company.)  The listing looks like this:

The middle two lines here are pulled from the description (which you can view if you select to view the page source.)

In this image I just did a partial screen capture.  The full description included all of this: 

meta name="description" content="LightCMS is a web based content management system for designers and ad agencies. 100% branded web 2.0 content management system. content management systems are also known as cms."

The fourth listing on the SERP was for Drupal.  It looked like this:

Those middle two lines don't communicate a complete thought to the potential visitor.  In viewing the source code for that page it is evident that there is no meta description to give Google a clue as to what text to display.  So Google just did it's best job in selecting text to display.

Okay, so that's how it works in Google.  How does facebook use the metatag description of a page when someone posts a link to their profile?

When there is no description metatag to reference on the hyperlinked page it appears facebook just displays the first paragraph text it runs across on that link.  But, if the hyperlinked page contains a description metatag then it appears that facebook will display that.  For example, I posted this link:

http://www.elementfusion.com/2010-giveaway-one-finalists

When I first posted this link to facebook the page did not have a description metatag.  So facebook just grabbed our "Complete the simple form to the right..." text and displayed it next to the only image they could find on the page. 

But that was certainly not a good description of what someone would find if they followed the link.  So, I added a description metatag to the page (because Element Fusion is kind enough to trust me with an administrator role in the CMS.) 

Then I deleted my previous post on facebook and posted the exact same link again.  This time the description text is what facebook displayed:

So, there you have it.  The moral of the story is to be sure to add a description metatag to any page you intend to promote on the web, especially if you plan to link to that page from facebook.

This article ran in the Oklahoman on October 9, 2009.  Here is a link: http://newsok.com/friday-night-lights-when-duty-calls-pc-norths-dustin-decker-ready-to-serve/article/3407449

Dustin plays football for the Putnam City North Panthers. He is starting left tackle. One of his dreams was to be elected as a captain of the team his senior year. The saturday these elections were held was a Guard drill weekend and he had to miss that practice. He may not have been elected even if he'd been there, but he was definitely not elected to the captain leadership role. He was disappointed but just considered it a small sacrifice to make for service to his country.

Here is Dustin's Twitter post about that: http://twitter.com/DustinDecker/status/4021350523

The photo was taken by Richard T. Clifton. (http://rtcdigitalimages.com/) and is posted on Richard's Facebook page here in full color.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=644665&id=1468927857&ref=nf

Richard T. Clifton (http://rtcdigitalimages.com/) took this photo.  Here's a link to the color photo on his facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=644666&id=1468927857&ref=nf#/photo.php?pid=644665&id=1468927857&ref=nf

Jenni Carlson wrote a story about Dustin that ran in the Sports section of the Oklahoman on October 9, 2009.  Here's the link: http://newsok.com/friday-night-lights-when-duty-calls-pc-norths-dustin-decker-ready-to-serve/article/3407449

      I would tune in and listen intently for that silver Tundra to pull into the garage and the strong framed man maneuver around his Harley on his way in. The creaks of the 1930's house got closer and closer until finally, my grandpa, beer belly and all, was home. I could never help but laugh seeing him with his full gray beard, looking like a mountain man, knowing he was a good looking boy in his prime. But that was years ago. The years when it wasn't so bad to have a stash of jack in the cabinet and a little vodka tucked away in the freezer, and they were long gone.

      I'll forever remember the little things about him. How he always sat in the same place at the little round dinner table. How he wanted just one slice of lime in his coke. How he breathed through his nose when he contemplated something. How we shared a love for Cheetos. I'll forever remember the rides he gave us on the back of his Kawasaki, so proud of his little grandchildren. My grandpa was the most brilliant man I knew. He knew things that others couldn't understand in a lifetime; little secrets between him and God. And the one thing I'll never understand is how someone so smart could do something so selfishly stupid.

      I remember the day like I'm still living it. It was a Sunday. That weekend my church had held a retreat and my faith was stronger than ever. Rachel, Nathan (my youth pastor) and I sang an amazing trio that morning, and after church I was innocently content. I remember looking for my parents, as someone grabbed my hand and said “Lorelei, I need you to come with me.” in a voice like a doctor, who knew something the patient didn't. Seconds later I found myself amongst a crowd of people, throwing me glances of pity. They knew. I saw my mom. She was crying, relying simply on the wall to hold her up. I thought to myself “God, no. Don't do this.” as she told me “Ponka killed himself..”

      I never knew. I never knew that my beloved grandpa wasn't who everyone let me think he was. I never knew that the joke was on me. Of course the bottles in the back of the fridge only really stayed in the back when I was there. How could I have been so naive?

      That moment, the moment by the wall, was mine. At that moment I felt like the world was personally attacking me, but I wasn't going to let that take me down. I was stronger than that. That was the moment when my faith became my own. Just me and God. That day was the day that I decided that no matter what anyone tells me, no matter what makes up my genes, that won't define me. So what, it runs in my genes to be an alcoholic, so does depression, bi-polar disorder, cancer and heart attacks, but that doesn't stop me. My God is bigger. My God is stronger, and I'm along for the ride.

I called ATT but the call dropped after I went through the million prompts entering my phone number, last 4 of my social, etc..

So, I called from a land line.  (Thank goodness I still have one.)  The ATT rep said it was a Device Problem and I should call Apple.

I called the Apple Store at Penn Square to make an appt but they were "booked solid" for four days and could not make an appt.  They suggested I walk in and wait on "stand by."  Yeah, I'm going to do that. 

I did a full system restore on my phone.  I re-seated the SIM card.  I turned the phone off for 30 seconds and then back on.  No luck.

I continued to tolerate the problem and relied on text and email instead of the phone as much as possible.

This morning I made a phone call to a VERY high profile person and the phone dropped the call (as always.)  I was so embarrassed but at least it sprang me into action.

I called the Penn Square Apple store  (405) 767-9393 and spoke with Lauren who said all of their staff has been having the same problem.  It is only here in Oklahoma.  She gave me the number to the ATT Tier 2 support 1-888-892-9760 option 1 and told me to call them.  She warned me that not all of the ATT support techs are aware of the issue and that I should insist they pay attention.

I called ATT and spoke with Jeannie Haney who was very nice and admitted that she had been telling people with this problem that it was a device problem for quite a while.  She said only yesterday did she become aware that it was an ATT problem and that the problem is actually only in OKC.

She called my iPhone and while we were speaking I ceased to be able to hear her.

Finally I have a valid support ticket.  She texted me to tell me that my case has been sent to Engineers.

If you are having the same problem please call ATT and don't let them tell you it is a device problem.

We have to get this fixed.

And I WILL get a refund.  If not, I will get out of my contract with ATT and jailbreak these phones to a new network.

The truth is, Dustin preached his first sermon 14 years ago tomorrow when he was 3 1/2.  That was the worst day in my life.  I had just been served divorce papers from my estranged husband and I was nothing more than a puddle of self pity on the floor of my living room watching the TV coverage of the Oklahoma City Bombing and wondering if I really wanted to live any more.

Dustin couldn't understand why I was such a mess.  And as much as I loved my four small children, I couldn't seem to pull myself up by my own bootstraps.  I was crying all the time.  Bubba (as we called Dustin back then) came up to me and put his fat little arms around me to console me and get my attention.  Then he asked the saddest question I've ever heard.  "Mommy, If I go to live with Grandma do you think Daddy might come home?"

That sweet little three year old future man thought that he was the reason his father had left.

And his words sank in deep.  It was as if Bubba had opened his mouth and God had spoken. There are reasons God hates divorce.  It is a lie from the pit of hell that a child can come through a divorce unharmed.  It rocks their worlds and forever affects their image of God.  And I knew 100% at that time that Kevin and I were gravely outside of the will of God.  The conviction hung heavy on my back.  A burden I could not carry.

I was exactly where God wanted me to be at that moment.  Broken.

Then the TV reporter announced a story that was not related to the Oklahoma City Bombing.  This was the first piece of non-bombing news I had heard in 4 days.  Three thirteen year old boys had been killed in Duncan, Oklahoma in an oilfield accident. 

It was like God tapped me on my shoulder.  "Andrea, get up.  Those moms have lost their sons.  You still have yours.  Get up and pray for those moms instead of feeling sorry for yoursef."

So I did.  I began praying.  And the very act of praying is what began to heal my broken heart and lift me out of that pit of self pity and despair.   Read the rest of that story: http://www.andreadecker.com/my-checkers-story

Three weeks later Kevin came home.  Dustin, with his chubby little limbs, his buzz cut blond hair, and his huge heart ran to his father.  "Daddy, I knew you'd come home, I knew you'd come home!" 

And I've pondered that in my heart for fourteen years.

Dustin believes he is preaching his first sermon tonight.  But I know the truth.

I've copied and pasted it here too:

Numb to the devastation, I lay on the couch in a self-absorbed pity party for three days while the news coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing hummed in the background. My children scrambled for my attention, but I was too consumed with my own grief. On the day that my hometown mourned a disaster, a bomb had exploded in my own world: My husband had just filed for divorce. It was the darkest day of my life.

It wasn’t until a gripping local story of another tragedy caught my attention that I even considered the needs of anyone else. Three thirteen year-old boys in Duncan, Oklahoma, were killed in an oil field explosion. As I listened to the newscast, I heard the Lord say, “Andrea, you still have your children, and these two mothers have lost theirs. They need your prayers, but that will never happen as long as you are fixated on your own misery.”

That reprimand was like a splash of cold water in my face. As ravaged as my own life was, I knew He was right. I made a decision to begin praying for these mothers. At first, all I could utter were short two-sentence prayers. “Lord, please bring these mothers peace. Heal their hearts.” But as I committed to lifting them up daily, I soon noticed something strange. The more I prayed for them, the more hope I was able to see for my own situation. Gradually, my depression lifted and my own heart began to heal. And then a miracle happened: My husband decided to come back home. I realized that there was a link between praying for others that actually met a need in my own life—and all for prayers on the behalf of women I never even met.

A couple of years after my husband and I reconciled, I went to a Women of Faith conference in Dallas, Texas. Several breakout sessions were offered and I chose to attend one on time management. Hoping for a revelation on how supermoms combine dinner, homework and baths into every evening, I found a seat on the front row. 

“This class will help you prepare your young adults for college,” announced the instructor as the attendees trickled in.

Oops, I’m in the wrong class, I thought. My oldest couldn’t even spell college. I eyed the door, contemplating my escape but by the time I had gathered my things, the session leader had shut the door. It was too late for a polite departure. Grudgingly, I decided to stay but as soon as the class was over, I was beyond ready to leave. As I scrambled for the door, I whispered under my breath, “Wow, that was a waste of time.”

The woman easing out the door next to me cast a curious glance my way.

Oh no. A lip reader.

Embarrassed that she had obviously heard my complaint, I tried to look away, but it was too late. With a look of gentle concern, she inquired, “Why was it a waste of your time?”

“Umm. Because. Well, my children are very young,” I stammered. “This class was really geared towards mothers of high school students.”

I was determined to get away, but the hallway was congested with a shoulder-to-shoulder sea of women, bobbing along like penguins to their next session. There was an opening just big enough for me to escape this uncomfortable interview, except that the lady in front of me had a purse bigger than a piece of Samsonite luggage. I pondered which was more humiliating: Continuing with this interrogation or tackling the Prada queen to allow for my get away.

“How many do you have?” she prodded further.

“How many?”

“Yes…children.”

“Oh, umm. I have four.”

Yes, the restroom is just ahead. I can dart in there.

“How old are they?”

Oh my gosh…Is that the line? I’ll never get away from her.

“Hannah is eight, Gretchen is seven, Dustin is five and Lorelei is three.”

“It must be wonderful to have a large family,” she gushed.

“It’s a lot of work,” I sighed, focusing on the escalator just ahead. I decided that if she veered toward the upside, I was going down.

“Which way are you going?” she inquired.

“Uh, I’m going…up,” I stammered.

“Oh, me too.”

A moment of awkward silence followed. I was at least committed to this conversation for the length of the escalator ride. “How many children do you have?” I asked in obligation.

“I have one who is thirteen,” she replied, pausing to adjust her load of conference books.

One child. I thought. Yeah that’s why you can buy all those books and still have the “time management” to read them all.

“And my son, David,” she said blinking away a tear, “he’ll always be thirteen.”

Suddenly, selfishness collided with compassion. We were now at the top of the escalator but the urge to run evaporated.

“I’m so sorry…what happened?”

"He was in an accident a couple of years ago.”

That’s when I noticed the top book in her arms…a book about overcoming grief. I started to feel a twinge of guilt for having four children. Many days I was stressed over all the responsibilities of raising four kids so close in age, and yet here was a mother who would love to trade places with me.

“A car accident?”

“No. A crazy freak accident. He and his friend were killed in an oil field explosion.”

A jolt of numbing electricity shot through my body. For a moment, time froze. "Is your name…Kathy?” I stammered in disbelief.

“Yeees,” she hesitated. “How did you know?”

“I heard about the accident on the news.”

“It aired here in Dallas?”

“No, I live in Oklahoma City.”

“And you remembered our names?” she asked in astonishment.

“Yes,” I began to explain. “I prayed for your families. It was kind of an assignment from the Lord. I wish I could say that I was because I was so spiritually mature, but in actuality, I was in a horrible state of depression at the time.” Noticing a table ahead I urged, “Do you want to set your stuff down for a minute?”

She nodded.

“My husband had just filed for divorce and I was a complete mess. The day I heard the newscast about your son’s accident I realized that I wasn’t the only one in the world suffering.”

Kathy set her books and purse down.

“Praying for you brought me through the darkest time in my life.”

For a moment we just stood speechless. Then almost in unison, sobbing, we fell into each other’s arms.

“I’m sorry I was so abrasive,” I apologized. “I was embarrassed.”

“That’s okay.”

“How did you get through David’s death?”

“It was hard,” Kathy admitted. “It’s still hard, but God’s grace is strong. Now I do a lot of memorializing.”

“Memorializing?”

“Yes, in every way that I can, I try to remember David’s life. I especially like to encourage mothers with young children. If I could do it all over again,” Kathy continued. “I’d play more checkers.”

“Checkers?”

“Yes. David was always asking me to play checkers with him. But I was always so busy. Oh, I would tell him, ‘Ok, honey, in just a minute…let me finish sweeping the floor.’ Or, ‘Ok darling…I will…just let me finish folding the laundry.’ Kids don’t care how clean your house is. When they get older, they won’t remember the dirt. They’ll remember the time you spent with them.”

I glanced at my watch. Ironically, it was time for the next session to begin. I searched through my purse for something to write my phone number on. We exchanged contact information and promised to keep in touch.

Through the years, we have stayed in contact. And every time we talk, I’m awed and humbled by a God that would go to such great lengths to get my attention—not only to pull me out of my pit of despair but also to help me realize how important it is to spend time with my children, no matter whether I’m tired, have chores to do or errands to run. So if you ever come to our house, don’t look at the dust on the floor or the piles of unfolded laundry. Plan to spend some time with us. And in honor of Kathy’s precious son, David, be prepared to stay for a game of checkers.

Prayer:  Dear Lord, the way that you connect the dots in our lives and weave a thread of fellowship with others is undeniably divine. Thank you for your faithfulness to not only direct our prayers, but to answer our prayers. Help me to always remember the importance of spending time with my family and the relationships you have blessed me with. May I always nurture and protect those relationships and not let unimportant tasks and daily duties interfere with our fellowship. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Scriptures to ponder:

• He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. Psalm 102:17
• If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered. Proverbs 21:13
• In my distress I called to the LORD; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. 2 Samuel 22:7 
• Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. Psalm 126:5 
• I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me. Psalm 120:1 

Thoughts to Ponder:

• Galatians 6:7 says that a man reaps what he sows. Do you think prayers sown on the behalf of others can benefit us as well? If so, how? 
• Have you ever experienced a divine introduction like Andrea? If so, describe what happened. 
• Have you ever felt led to pray for someone you didn’t know, either through a story you heard from a friend, on TV, the newspaper, Facebook or the internet? Share how praying for that person made you feel.

Kevin Decker: http://www.twitter.com/OKRtek (he's a brilliant architect who can write specs like no other)

Hannah Decker:  http://www.twitter.com/HannahDecker (a University Scholar at Baylor)

Gretchen Decker:  http://www.twitter.com/Gretch_D (a person refusing to be summed up in one sentence)

Dustin Decker: http://www.twitter.com/DustinDecker (a 17 year old with shoulders disproportionately wide compared to his waist--with an eye on military service)

Lorelei Decker:  http://www.twitter.com/LoreleiDecker (our Jesus loving, must-change-picture-on-Facebook-once-per-day, social butterfly)

And of course there's me:  Andrea Decker: http://www.twitter.com/KermitRocks (because who doesn't love Kermit?)

This obituary was first published by Countryside Funeral Home.  (http://www.countrysidefh.com/obits.php?ID=0000000467)   I have simply copied and pasted it here.

Robert Clifford Webb Garman age 68 was born June 3, 1940 to Martha Ellen (Raedeker) Garman and Clare Allan Garman in Cushing Oklahoma. He left this life February 22, 2009. He is survived by his wife Connie (Jones) Garman of the home in Moline, Kansas, and his son Scott Garman of Oklahoma City and daughter and son-in-law Andrea and Kevin Decker of Oklahoma City. He left behind four grandchildren, Hannah, Gretchen, Dustin and Lorelei Decker of Oklahoma City, many aunts and cousins, sister-in-law (and brother-in-law) Judy and Van VanCleave of Moline, Kansas and brother-in-law (and sister-in-law) Bob and Joyce Jones of Wichita, Kansas as well as many beloved nieces and nephews.

I've been so busy micro-blogging (via Twitter) that I have completely neglected my "real" blog here.  I was reminded of this today when I found a link to my blog on the Oklahoma Women's Network Blog.  I didn't even know they knew I existed!

I hereby resolve to apply more effort to balance my personal Blog/Micro-Blog scale.

Here is the screenshot.

http://babyproducts.about.com/b/2008/11/16/motrin-moms-angry-over-babywearing-advertisement.htm

http://smalldots.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/motrin-moms-react/
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/11/motrin-faces-twitter-headache-over-new-video-campaign.html

http://jessicagottlieb.com/2008/11/16/blame-me-for-motrin-moms/

http://www.drumsnwhistles.com/2008/11/16/twitter-swarm-motrin-v-moms/

The presentation by Jeremy Fuksa of Barkley at OKC AdClub's Career Day was very inspiring.  I just couldn't help myself.

The presentation was called "From Cowboy to Astronaut: Lessons From the Trail, New Worlds on the Horizon"  Jeremy let us know how the creative process works at Barkley and told us about many cutting-edge things.  He doled out some amazingly valuable advice, based on his 15 years in the biz. 

This is a link to Jeremy's intro video.

If you have any interest in learning about online reputation management, I highly recommend these two articles by Justin Boeckman:

Online Reputation Management

Online Reputation Management Part 2: Responding to Negative Remarks

10 Secrets to Driving Sales Via Email

This is a PDF of that article.

This is a Word document list of a few resources I found.

And below is that list:

Election Day 2008 was a fun filled day.  Even more fun for one using Twitter and Brightkite.  No matter where I went I was always connected to a community of people I respect and trust.  I learned about the length of voting lines, who was where for lunch, the latest exit poll results, and where to go with my "I voted sticker" so I could get free coffee, or a doughnut or a Chick-Fil-A sandwich.  I was even able to torture my 18 year old daughter by posting a photo of her as she left the middle school after voting for her very first time.

 I FINALLY decided to update my website since it had been using the same design for over two years.  I really started grooving around midnight (since the trick or treaters were no longer coming around.)  Now it is 3:11am!  I can't believe how the time flew.  But I got a bunch done.  Much more productive when nobody else is up to interrupt me!

Silly Cuisinart; they should know better than to vend a defective coffee pot to a woman who loves her coffee!

Recently as part of Element Fusion's hot Summer 2008 Heatwave, we rolled out some very "cool" new features.  One of these allows you to accept payments through the form element.  Check out Chad's tutorial on how to use this to create a mini shopping cart. 

http://www.okcbusiness.com/section.asp?secID=15

Results will be displayed in the June 23 issue of OKC Business

I fell for it.

Then I clicked "I'm Feeling Lucky" when creating an event in my Google Calendar and got a date with Johnny Depp.

So, I forgave Google.

Here's the text of the email they sent me after I signed up for my free test account:

 THE FOXYCART STORY ==============================

Two long years ago, we'd had enough.  Enough of monster ecommerce

platforms that had HTML from 1999.  Enough of "all-in-one" systems

that did nothing well.  Enough of trying to customize a system with 60

+ template files with some new templating language.


Enough of crappy ecommerce.


We knew what we wanted.  Something that worked *with* us to build

modern ecommerce sites using CSS and valid XHTML.  Something that

integrated *with* other apps (like PHP List).  Something that could

handle shipping automatically.


Something that didn't suck.


FoxyCart was born.  We're excited to be launching almost two years

later.  Please let us know what you think.  We'd love to be your cart

of choice.


-The FoxyCart.com Team

I've been given the opportunity to assist Wes in building the new website for his foundation--the 83 Foundation.  Wes has overcome many obstacles on the road to his success and hopes that the 83 Foundation can play a part in providing resources and role models for encouraging at-risk youth to achieve their full potential.

As a woman I have always found watching football to be way more fun if I know something personally about one or more of the players.  Please take the opportunity to learn more about Wes Welker so you too can have more reason to watch the Super Bowl this year than just seeing the commercials!

So, now you know what I'll be doing Sunday after church!

Boeckman thinks the traditional email newsletter is preferred by owners because it is delivered within an html design that the sender can control.  Plus, most email newsletter solutions (even like Breeze which is offered by Element Fusion) offer sophisticated reporting for tracking purposes.  So, he’s probably right in thinking that this method of communication will be with us for a while.  But in my experience, many email services block the html design elements from going through anyway.  So why not let people come to your website to read your news if they want to see it all “pretty” or simply read the guts that get sent to them in their email program using Feedburner and the blog?

I am inclined to think that many business owners (especially those using a content management system like Water or Sky that includes an integrated blog) will love being able to communicate news out to interested parties in this new manner.

Another reason I like the idea of using email fed blog subscriptions better (and think the users of the worldwide web will to) is that it allows for a steady trickle of information in bite sized chunks rather than a once-a-month delivery of a newsletter that is too big to read all at once.  I don’t know about you, but I just archive the newsletters that come my way and promise myself I’ll read them later.  But I never do.  However, I think I’ll actually read a quick blog post on a single subject when it is delivered to me. 

Please let me know your thoughts.  I’m trying to blog as soon as I think of something rather than waiting till I think I’ve got it all figured out.  So, if I’m way off base here, please let me know.

Website Analytics Software

1. The user interface is awesome. I enjoy how easy it is to get information about the site visitors and where they are going on your site.
2. The Visitors section gives you a cool view of where each site visitor is from, how they got to your site, as well as the Operating System and Browser they are using. If you click on a visitor you get more in depth information about them as well as a Google map that shows you where they are located.
   
3. The Actions tab allows you to view the what people are doing on your site. Neat, but I am not 100% sold on this as being a "Must Have" feature without being able to target some actions as goals.
4. A Content section that lets you see the most popular pages, entrance/exit pages and downloads.
   
5. The Links section shows the top incoming links, Outgoing links (Another Cool Feature) and the overall top referrers.
6. Searches allows you to see the keyword phrase and what search engine a visitor used to get to your site.
   
7. Another cool, totally useless, feature is the Spy tool. This allows you to view people that are on your site and watch the path they take as they navigate through the site. Totally cool yet I have yet to find a practical use for it.
   
8. One of the coolest things it offers is the ability to White Label the app so it looks like it is your application. Very Cool!

My presentation (scheduled for 3:30 as part of the eMarketing Summit) is entitled:

Web Analytics: Nothing to Fear, Everything to Gain

The Web is the most measurable marketing medium, providing unique insight into prospects' profiles and behavior and serving up actionable data to help marketers get smarter about their activities. But it can be a challenge to understand the information you're looking at, and how to set goals and expectations for improvement.

In this session, Andrea will discuss various analytic tools and show you how to determine key metrics, identify acceptable benchmarks, establish processes for collecting and analyzing online data, and use the knowledge you gain. She will give you the tools to improve future marketing and prove the value of your efforts to your boss.

This is the article that ensued.

Keep in mind that some say 3/4 of what is reported in the newspaper is inaccurate.  There were some inaccuracies in the article as it was first released, but the needed corrections and clarifications have since been made thanks to the reporter's willingness to take our phone calls.  It is actually pretty accurate now.  The only thing I would have done would be to have made live links out of the sites she referenced.  So, if you want to follow those links, here they are:

www.mikegundyismadatyou.com (the site where you can send a funny ecard to a friend featuring one of the Gundy'isms)

www.godaddy.com (to register and manage a domain)

www.EmbraceWater.com (to use Element Fusion's CMS to quickly and easily build a website)

www.youtube.com (to grab the code for the video of Mike's original rant)

www.facebook.com (the social network where I created the "I'm Glad Mike Gundy is Not Mad at Me" Group)

Viral Marketing zero to thousands in a day

1. Look for or create a buzz.  If you are attempting to market something make sure it is something people will look for. You don’t want to waste time and money marketing something that only one person will see. The buzz doesn’t have to be on the scale of our experiment as long as it reaches the audience who uses your services.
   
   
2. Act Fast. You are dealing with something hot and time sensitive so you better act fast. He who gets his/her site out first usually wins. I knew as soon as the idea was brought up that in order to get anyone to the site we needed to act immediately, so we found a program to create E-Cards and a web template and launched the site in about an hour.
   
   
3. Spread the word. People won’t come to your site just because you put it online. It takes time and effort to start the buzz but I say why waste my time and effort. I piggy backed my efforts off of those posting about the original story, sent emails and commented on their blog about the site we created. Since what I was trying to sell wasn’t in direct competition with their article/site it worked.
   
   Start by telling your friends and family via myspace, facebook or your favorite social networking site. Visit blogs about your topic and post something intelligent on them with a link back to your site (remember if you don’t post something intelligent then they will probably delete your comment). Also look for additional attention offline I called in to a couple of morning radio stations on my way to work just to spread the word.
   

 Mike Gundy is my new hero.  Mike might regret the exact execution of his unplanned outburst, but if you ask me, I appreciate the display of raw passion. 

www.elementfusion.com

www.embracewater.com

 PowerPoint Presentation

Do you have loads of clients fighting with each other for the chance to hire you? If so, you can skip this article. If not, you likely spend some time selling yourself to potential clients. So read on, because we’re going to talk about the dos and don’ts of selling.

I wanted to get the scoop on selling from one of the best, so I went to Andrea Decker. Andrea is the Consulting Director here at our company, Element Fusion. Our consulting team spends all of their time drumming up business and Andrea is the most experienced and most prolific sales consultant we have.

So here they are – the dos and don’ts of selling – each summarized in a sentence with quotes from Andrea to further clarify.

DO

1) Listen to your client.
The single most important thing you can do to make a successful sale is listen to your client. Understand how his business works. Understand what pays his bills. Then simply present a solution that makes it easier for him to keep doing what he does best.

2) Build a relationship and demonstrate your expertise.
Business owners don’t usually want to become experts. They just want to know an expert they can trust – one who really understands their business and is interested in building a long term relationship.

3) Present solutions to your clients’ problems.
I don’t make sales. I do my clients a favor by introducing them to solutions that will help them harness the power of the web for their business/organization. If I can present a solution to my client he will be grateful and it is less like making a sale and more like entering into a partnership.

4) Recognize the point when you’ve won them over.
You’ve won them over when they start asking questions about the solution instead of asking questions about you or your work. You’ve moved from mistrust to trust. At this point, the rest is easy.

5) Communicate in the way (email, phone, in person) your client prefers, not the way you prefer.
Each method of communication is only as strong as the preference of the recipient. If you know a guy is too busy to meet but he is a telephone person then you should call him.

6) Appeal to both emotion and reason.
People buy on emotion but justify their decision with reason. Both are significant. You must inspire their emotions but also give them solid evidence that you are the right choice. You only hurt yourself if you don’t deal with both sides of the decision making process.

DON’T

1) Don’t try to make a sale without first building trust.
The worst thing you can do is try to make a sale or push someone into a decision without building trust. Build relationships instead. (see #1 and #2 on the “do” list)

2) Don’t waste your time with clients who don’t fit you.
Another bad thing to do is to waste your time on someone who doesn’t fit you well. You may need the business really badly and so you go after everyone no matter what, but the truth is that taking clients who don’t fit you will be worse in the long run because they will drain your time and keep you from finding the ones that fit.

3) Don’t waste money (and paper) on marketing materials.
All I need is a net meeting tool and a demonstration website. That’s about it. There’s no sense in killing any trees for marketing because as soon as you put ink on paper you’ll want to change it up. I like to stay as paperless as possible. Naturally, there are some types of businesses that might require printed materials but if you can avoid them, I would.

4) Don’t set unrealistic expectations.
Your goal is to have happy clients who pay your invoices. It’s extremely important to set honest expectations up front. To do this, you have to get very specific in defining the scope of your proposal. This will take more time at the beginning but will save you five times the effort on the back end trying to defend an invoice or correct a misunderstanding. Plus, it will protect your reputation.

5) Don’t nag, but don’t give up too early either.
Sometimes clients really are too busy to focus on your solution. So a ‘no’ might just be a ‘not right now.’ You don’t want to nag them by calling too often. So instead, find out when it would be ok to contact them again. Then, get a good reminder system and use it faithfully. Don’t get behind. Don’t end your day until everyone you were supposed to contact that day has been contacted.

Tim Wall is Director of Product Marketing and Andrea Decker is Consulting Director for Element Fusion, a leading web company and creator of several web-based software products including Light, the content management system for freelance designers.

http://www.okcbusiness.com/industry_article.asp?cID=G&aID=5938777.1148025.573235.8046824.2686732.713&aID2=44086.

It makes me sound like I know what I'm talking about.  I guess reporters are easy to fool!  (Just kidding Mallery.)

This also provides me with an opportunity to explain a great benefit to blog using Element Fusion's CMS:  The link listed above is certainly not user friendly.  Whereas, every article posted to a blog (or press release) in Water gets it's own user friendly URL (or "shortcut.")  Look at the title of this post I'm writing right now.  There are no funny question marks or numbers and equals signs--nothing like the crazy query string above.  Instead, it is simply the title of the article.  In PLAIN HUMAN ENGLISH!

Here is Mimi on the beach in Guam at 36 weeks:

And here is an ultrasound picture of the perfect little baby girl.  Mimi asked her doctor if the baby looked Asian or Caucasian.  Mimi hopes the baby looks more like her daddy, but we hope she looks just like her mom.  We think her mommy is beautiful.

Plus, here's another article that might be helpful for those of you who are interested in search engine personalization and SEO.

So, I asked one of the smart guys at Element Fusion if he had ever heard of such a thing. 

In his very intelligent tone he replied: 

"There are services (although they're hard to find) that let you subscribe to RSS feeds through email.  They'll email you when the RSS feed is updated. A lot of services have come and gone that do this, but here's one that's working: www.rssfwd.com."

Interestingly, they tag the service this way:

Reading RSS the way you are already reading your emails

So I signed up.  Very easy to do.  I've added my own blog (the one you are reading right now) to it so now I will receive an email every time I make a new post to my blog.  That way I can see myself coming and going!  Let's see if it works the way I hoped.

Once you start getting buzz amongst the web gurus on collge campuses, you know you are well on your way to going viral--at least we hope so! 

Check this out; Icebrrg was recently featured in a University of Central Florida Digital Media Podcast.  Apparently Melissa and Joey agree that Element Fusion has created a product that makes creating web forms chillingly simple.   

Check out The Web Corner's podcast episode 29.  Play the podcast at the bottom of the page--if you fast forward to about 8:30 you will hear them talk about Icebrrg for three minutes. 

They liked the way it was so easy to set up and how you can actually drag and drop the fields you want to include in the contact/feedback form.  They also like that it is possible to place the form directly on the website so that it takes on the look and feel of your website instead of taking a visitor off to another site where they are subjected to advertising.  They especially liked the way Icebrrg helps you organize all of your form entries into one excel spreadsheet that you can download and analyze later.

Jason and Holly Zimdars, Dustin and Kandi Evans, Justin and Vanessa Boeckman, and Andrea and Kevin Decker represented Element Fusion at the 41st Annual Oklahoma City Addy Awards held Saturday, Feb. 24, 2007.  

It was a little like being back in high school and going to the prom--getting all dressed up and eating fancy.  Dustin even wore a pinstriped suit! (although he threatened to return it to the store the next day.)  Even though we felt like the new kids trying to gain acceptance by the popular kids, we had a blast and were very proud of winning our first Addy award for Icebrrg, our cutting edge "Web 2.0" solution that makes creating web forms chillingly easy.  This award was not the first time Icebrrg had been recognized for its design--even Yahoo's Publisher Network blogged about it:  The Web 2.0 Style.

More information about the Oklahoma City Ad Club which put on the event can be found at www.okcadclub.com (which, by the way, is a website that is powered by Water, one of Element Fusion's premier website content management systems.)

Being outside is a

new wonder we get to enjoy;

But we get all grassie.

You humans can step right over

that monkey grass, but from down

here it is taller than my ears!

Maybe if we stand still

and look really cute

they won't notice

we need a bath!

Now you know where I got the

name--Curious Georgie.

I may be only 9 weeks old

but I, too, value

a little bit of dignity.

 I'm still mad at you.

My favorite one is "The Bath."

I'm working on making some "DogBlogTV.com" styled videos of my own Ellie and Georgie, but for now, a static picture will have to suffice.

You might as well ask me how much surgery costs. Well, do you need a mole removed, or do you need a heart transplant? Do you want me to quote you just the surgeon’s fee or do you want to know the whole package price which might include: the surgeon’s fee, the anesthesiologist’s fee, the facility/hospital fee, lab work, post op care, durable medical equipment, prescriptions, and even physical therapy.

Just like a person, a website should be viewed as a living and changing organism.

• It needs to be fed. (updating content)
• It needs to be clothed. (design)
• It needs to be understood. (good navigation)
• It needs activity and exercise. (it needs to DO something—programming)
• It needs to visit the doctor once in a while. (maintenance)
• It needs a place to live. (hosting)
• It needs friends. (other sites to link to it—vertical marketing)
• It needs to be found and known. (search engine optimization)

So the next time an Element Fusion Internet Consultant asks you for more information when you ask him how much a website costs, please be patient—he really needs to know in order to give you an accurate quote!