Cade Solomon Finseth October 20, 2007
Cade was born on Friday, October 19th 2007! Travis, Jaime, Reed and Marianna were happy to finally see their new family member. He was born at 5:02pm 21in. long and 8lbs 10oz.
Elephants Are Smart September 25, 2007
In 1986, Travis Finseth was on holiday in Fiji after graduating from Belhaven College.
On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed so Travis approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant’s foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Travis worked the wood out with his hunting knife after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man and, with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Travis stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.
Travis never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.
Twenty years later, Travis was walking through the Jackson, Mississippi Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Travis and his son Tristan Reed were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Travis, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly all the while staring at the man. Remembering the encounter in 1986, Travis couldn’t help wondering if this was the same elephant. Travis summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Travis’s legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.
Probably wasn’t the same elephant.
Marianna Mae Finseth Born March 21 2006 March 21, 2006
Marianna Mae (Mari) was born at 2.48pm on the 21st. She weighed 7lbs 5oz and is a tall 21 inches! ( Reed was 20&1/4 )
The Pics Are In!!!
Update: We are now Home! [Video - 17mb BIG!]
Christian Leadership March 16, 2006
Leadership is a critical element for success in business. The leader of the organization will make the necessary ethical and moral decisions to impact the rest of the company. The leader must lead by example and implement a Biblically based organizational structure. Servant leadership in a flat organization will pass the moral principles to the rest of the organization in an effective manner. Employees must be empowered and allowed to communicate their concerns to top management. Communication must be similar to the way Jesus taught His disciples.
The company as a whole must be involved in major decisions. The decisions must be made from a Christian point of view. Moral and ethical implications must be measured in all decision making process’. It is important to ask the question, “What would God do?”
A Christian organization will outperform secular competitors because of the trust within the organization. The customers will be loyal. Decisions will be made with the best interest of all the parties involved and the company will earn respect as a fair competitor.
Leading by example gave Christ the ability to control the outcome of any situation. Secular leaders often believe that dictatorship is the best way to get results. They think that their position gives them the authority to lead in the manner that they see fit. Christ disproved this method by becoming a servant leader and leader by example. He proved that the best way to lead is to humble one’s self and to live on the same level as the followers. Christ did not succumb to the inherent self-indulgence that man is accustomed.
Throughout his ministry Jesus sought to transfer knowledge to the people. He wanted all to accept God into their hearts and become saved. Christ kept the big picture at the forefront of His motivation. He knew that God had sent Him to earth with a mission. By communicating effectively, He accomplished more than any other mortal ever has.
I Timothy Chapter 4 verses 4-7:
“For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales.”
God has given us the ability to be creative with our minds. He created us, as we are told by Genesis, and He saw that we were good. We must use our talents and abilities to create things that glorify him. This is an important fact that must not be forgotten as we live our day-to-day lives. Even though our specific job may not seem to fit this ideal, our ultimate goal in life must be to minister the truths of the faith. People that have the ability to become great leaders have been given a special opportunity to have a lot of influence over other people. They can choose to serve their own purpose, by trying to get ahead, or by leading in a humanistic manner. They can also choose to manage the creativity of the people in their organization to achieve only company objectives. Or they can allow their peers to be actively creative in the organization, giving them guidance from the Christian perspective that will allow them to achieve greatness within and also outside the organization.
Christian leadership does not involve shoving religion down people’s throats, but can be used as an underlying force for decision-making. Because we’re made in God’s image, everything we create can be good. It is up to us, however, to actively pursue Christian standards within our circle of influence. By doing this we become good ministers and our creativity will teach the truths of the Christian faith.
Note: From time to time we will post some of our personal writing if it is deemed adeqate!
This short essay was written for Communications class MBA608 at Belhaven.
Hurricane Katrina August 30, 2005
News from the front. We (Malia and Will) spoke with Travis, Jamie, and Reed ealier today (August 29th). They report that Katrina has been downgraded to a Tropical Depression, which leaves them with no power and a heck of a mess. Travis will post pictures once the Internet is back up.
Update:
Friends and Family,
We were surprized by the severity of this storm so far inland. It’s hard to imagine what it was like on the coast.
We came through without damage to the house or vehicles. We were without power for about 30 hours. Our power came back up quickly compared to much of the city. About 50% are still without electricity. Thankfully our Internet just came back up.
Approx 30 houses in our neighborhood have falling tree damage. The new big issue is gas. Lines are often 100 cars long.
We took a couple of pics and vids during and after the hurricane. See the Hurricane Album
Thanks for your prayers. Please keep praying for those less fortunate. Also pray for our cousin Jeff who broke both of his arms in a fall at work in Colorado.
Update 3:
Had a little trouble adding Hurricane Pics and Vids
Travis Finseth Finishes His Masters May 20, 2005
Travis completed the masters program. Assuming that his paper passes inspection, he will graduate with a management degree: Masters of Science in Management, MSM. He worked on his thesis (Nuzu Net Media Business Plan) for three months, with a big final push at the end. He was fairly exhausted after presenting his plan on Monday night, having worked 12-14 hours for five days straight. Copies of the plan can be requested, but will not be posted for everyones browsing pleasure!
Original celebration plans were to finally go back to Fiji for a visit, however the new job put a stop to that. The beach in Destin will have to do for now!
Travis has been entertaining ideas about what to do next… He is interested in getting some Internet specific education in programming and design. He is also considering a new writing venture. The basic premise will be writing basketball shoe reviews. The web provides a simple free publisher!
Jaime Finseth’s First Mississippi State Audit Document - SCHIP April 7, 2005
We are proud to announce Jaime’s first published audit for the Mississippi State Auditor - Phil Bryant. This is “A Limited Review of the Children’s Health Insurance Program”
You can download the document from this link. [PDF]-(warning this is a big document-right click and save to your computer).
Jaime Finseth wrote, developed all of the recommendations and formatted the full document.
Travis Finseth’s New Job January 27, 2005
Travis Finseth has accepted a new position at USLegalForms.com.
He will be starting work on Feb 2 2004. The position entails graphic design, web development and programming for a new department. One of the first websites he will be re-building is Divorce.com .
UsLegalForms.com is privately held and is located in Flowood, Mississippi. The office is only ten minutes from the house!
Travis’ company - Nuzu Net Media will merge with UsLegalForms.com. The company will be offering services like - website development, hosting, web application development, Logo and graphic design and search engine optimization.
Christmas 2004 December 23, 2004
To all of our family and friends
“Happy Holidays”!
We have had a great year filled with lots of travel and fun watching our little Reed grow up so fast!
We celebrated Reed’s first birthday in April with a luau! Tutu and Auntie Deb were able to fly out for the celebration and spend time with us for a few days. And earlier in the year Grandma Betty came to visit us and we showed her around the South a little bit. The highlight in our memories was going on a carriage ride in the French Quarter and having beignets and coffee at Café Du Monde in New Orleans before her departure back home! It was such a treat to have family come and visit us!
Reed is really becoming our little boy now. He is 19 months and talking up a storm. He started day care in September and took some time adjusting to being away from “momma”, but now he loves “school”. I went back to work in September with the Office of the State Auditor as a Performance Auditor and am enjoying it so far. Although I miss being at home with Reed! I think it has taken me longer to adjust to our being separated than it has Reed.
Travis is still with MCI as unbelievable as that may be. He is also running his web development business “Nuzu Net Media” on the side and business has been good for him this year. He is also still in school working to obtain his Masters in Business Management, he should graduate in May of this coming year. We are all looking forward to that! He is ready to take a much needed break from all of his commitments!
We were able to travel a good bit this year. In May Mom and Mike took all of the kids and grandkids to Walt Disney World in Florida. We had a great time, and Reed loved seeing his “Pappy”, Grandma, auntie, and cousins! He also LOVED Pluto! Amazingly he really had no fear of the characters, although his cousin Kylee felt the opposite and would cling to the closest family member if one came near! It was also special to celebrate Anthony’s 7th birthday there as well – we had dinner with Mickey Mouse and gang! It was a great time had by us all!
In August we met Travis’ parents, Terry and Michele, in Istanbul Turkey. We spent a few days in Istanbul then traveled by car to Troy, Canakkale, Ephesus, Bergama, Izmir, Pammukkale, and Antalya. It was so neat to see a few of the seven churches of Revelation and to be able to visualize places where Jesus and others like Paul traveled. Ephesus is truly amazing, at 5,000 years old it is still in very good condition – there are still mosaic tile floors throughout the city! Turkey was a great experience for us, and the Turkish people are really very nice and LOVE children! Reed was kissed, held, hugged, and had his cheeks pinched more times than we could count! Our time in Turkey was wonderful and I know Reed enjoyed being with his Nonno and Nonna during that time!
From Antalya we left Terry and Michele and headed by ferry to Greece. We spent a few days on the island of Rhodes where we spent most of our time taking in the ancient ruins and the fully intact medieval city. From there we traveled to Athens and watched the opening ceremonies for the Paralympics, and toured the Parthenon, the Temple of Zeus, and more ancient ruins (we have seen enough ruins to last us a few decades). It was a once in a lifetime trip and we loved every minute of it!
In October, just on the heels of Hurricane Ivan, we met Mom and Mike in Pensacola, FL where we traveled to Destin for some fun in the sun! We stayed in a beautiful condo close to the beach, and enjoyed great food! We began to worry about the damage to Destin as we drove through Mobile, AL and into Pensacola, FL! The damage was terrifying! It affirmed God’s words of “the foolish man builds his house upon the sand”! But when we arrived in Destin it was as beautiful as always and the water was even as clear and calm as I’ve ever seen it! We had a wonderful time relaxing and spending time with family!
This Christmas we will be here in Mississippi and Terry, Michele, Will, and Malia will be joining us! We are so excited to spend time together for the holidays! To all of our family and friends we will miss this year we love you and wish you all a very Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year!
God’s Love and Peace to you! Travis, Jaime & Reed
