Steve & Jodi

Talking to Zak on his Dad’s cell phone about everything he is learning in school is always a special treat. He was excited to tell me about it while he was riding with his family to the theater to see American Treasure on a Saturday afternoon. He also called later in the month to report with appropriate great pride that he lost two teeth.

Building Pinewood Derby race cars with the Barber boys is a grand father’s dream come true. Thanks to Jenica and Joel, we all got the cars as Christmas gifts. Jenica even bought a book with secrets about making extra fast racers. When the cars are finished we’ll send everyone photos.

Meri’s Pilates coaching continues to be a blessing. A stronger core makes everything better. It was neat to listen as she described her Pilates’ business plans for 2008-09 and her “A” grade success in a very difficult kinesiology class last semester.

David and I enjoyed the drive to Springville to pick up his “sweet” Ford F-150 truck. David searched the classifieds until he found a great deal. Its “sweet” because it’s a 2000 in excellent shape with only 59,000 miles and Doug, the mechanic who you all remember in Orem, proclaimed it “sweet.” I’ll let David tell you the rest of the details.

It was great to listen to Karalee’s account of her successful presentation to a local citizen’s group about the “sustainable” Charleston version of Taco Boy. I’ve been telling people about its 100 ft. high wind turbine. Later in the month, I was moved by Karalee’s sharing the awe, gratitude and patriotism she felt at Tim’s father’s honor guard service at Arlington Cemetery. I remember the feeling I had when I read the sign at the entrance which rightly proclaimed it to be “hallowed ground.”

Many thanks to Joel and Jenica who helped me unravel my email service. It was all likely my fault. I managed to get tangled up while trying to installing the Qwest bundled high-speed internet service. At one point Joel and I had three other technicians on a conference call.

Also, thanks to Hillary for her Essig family history work. As a result I experienced the special sense of connection as I did the temple work for my grand father, Albert Carl Essig. He truly was, is, a wonderful person. His successes in business are still an inspiration to me and I think of him often in my own pursuits. My father said of him, “Everyone likes Al, I’ve never heard him say anything bad about anyone.”

Jared helped me provide much needed advice to one of my clients. The client couldn’t afford to continue his injections for treatment of Age-related Macular Degeneration. The patient had already lost sight in one eye. Jared helped me locate a foundation that is providing financial support for patients in this situation.

Jodi’s father, Joe T. Covington, has been visiting with us off and on for the past few weeks. His many successful ventures as a cattle breeder rewarded him with interesting experiences as well as industry acclaim. We’ve enjoyed retracing events that have taken him to many parts of the world.

I had the special opportunity to attend Sacrament meeting in the Manti Tabernacle. It was dedicated in the 1870’s. I was moved as I observed the building’s evidence of the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many courageous and noble persons. While singing the opening hymn I was impressed by the tremendous amount of service that has been rendered to people all around the world by the saints who have worshiped in that building over the years since it was dedicated.

I’ll close by saying that My Medical Home project continues to be exciting, even though the rate of progress is glacial. As you all know I have been studying about innovation for the past year. In the last two months I’ve read three particularly good books that some of you may find interesting. Innovation – The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want by Carlson & Wilmot; Made To Stick – Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Heath & Heath and The Art of Woo – Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas by Shell & Moussa. They were all available from the library even though they’re relatively recent publications.

Please pardon the length of this edition. There’s just so many good things to share.
Steve & Jodi