make a family website

Several have started posting, & so far 11 of us have signed up as contributors, so more should be adding their two cents soon. So far it has been a great way to keep up with my two sisters in California, who are entertaining some relatives from Germany right now. I hope for a proliferation of photos, comments, podcasts (of which we already have one!), & general activity so that it becomes a communication hub for us. Of course it can’t happen all at once, but we’re off to a good start! Yay!

since we decided not to go to the art-show reception we’d planned to attend. Based on D.’s recommendation, I started setting up our blog, wrote the first post, chose privacy settings, & sent invitations to family members to read & post!

There’s quite a bit to do yet, but it’s a great beginning. Yay!

has interposed itself to slow us down on this: a close relative is coming from Colombia to live with us for a while! So instead of working on the website in the last month, we have spent a lot of time making sure paperwork was in hand for the visa interview; discussing, buying, & (soon) assembling a couple of needed furniture items; & talking through the timing of the trip & buying tickets.

We’re excited about the whole thing. I don’t feel at all bad that it has had to take priority over the family website. We’ll get to that too, soon. :-)

I started getting inspired to start a family website. I have 7 siblings, & we all have kids, most of whom are teens or young adults. Let’s see, my father’s grandkids now number 19, plus 1 great-granddaughter & 3 step-great-granddaughters. We are scattered among 5 metro areas in the Midwest, Texas, & California.

We have so many stories to tell (of the long-ago past, the recent past, & the present) & photos to show each other. We could record events & stories & post podcasts; we could post short videos. The site would be a private hub of communication in various modes. I think it would be a great way for the various cousins to stay in touch with each other AND bridge the generations with their aunts/uncles/grandfather.

Fortunately I’m married to a very savvy geek, & he has expressed willingness to help with this. I would guess my part of the work will mostly involve communications with the extended clan to encourage participation, plus consulting with the Guru Geek about design & features. And then contributing to the content, of course. Hopefully we can start working on it in the latter half of February, when my freelance workload diminishes to a more livable level. I’m so excited!