Values Parenting Blog

Valuesparenting in Iraq!

2009-10-22T16:07:00.001-06:00

We had a fascinating evening last night in our home with eight wonderful women from Iraq. They have formed a non-profit organization called F.U.T.U.R.E (Families United toward Universal Respect). They included the former minister of state for women’s affairs in Iraq, University professors, brilliant, well-educated women who are working with gender violence, mothers who have lost children in the war, and are looking for ways to best deal with the 2 million orphans and 3 million widows as a result of the turmoil in Iraq. Through amazing dedication and personal sacrifice, these women are making enormous strides as they work on reconciliation in their war-torn country. They have realized that the best way to do this is to teach the next generation about forgiveness, to find ways to bring peace to individual neighborhoods and homes, to stress reconciliation and to model love.

They were organized by Fareed and Joan Betros (far right) who have lived and worked in Iraq for many years. Fareed was a senior Middle East adviser to U.S. reconstruction efforts and Joan was the director of family television programming for the Iraqi Media Network.

About two years ago, Joan helped them to create Women for Future—Iraq which has now organized women (patterned after a system to create strong families and neighborhoods in our church) who, two or three at a time, visit families in their neighborhoods with a spiritual message, access needs and teach them how to hold regular family meetings to discuss values and goals for going forward together as a family. These women report to a supervisor who then organizes help for special needs.

The delegation will be in Utah for two weeks to thank Operation Give which has provided enormous amounts of aid to Iraq as well as to be trained in how to be successful in advocating family meetings and teaching values.

We were delighted to have them be a part of our vaulesparenting family where they will have access to FamilyNightLessons.com for their family meetings.

We had the opportunity to train them (through an interperter) in how to

teach their children about a “Secret Code” illustrated by animals (for more info go to the “Nurturing” button on our home page) which will help them to improve communication, awareness, ability to praise, consistency, family security and four other family values.

It was also fun to meet the Utah-based women who have been helping with this project for several years:

We even loved meeting their security entourage!

What a privilege it is to be associated with these incredible women. They could very well be the best hope that Iraq has to change its future and produce a new generation of peaceful families.

A Journey Through American History!

2009-10-18T21:58:00.001-06:00

The past couple of weeks we have loved meeting parents who are doing a great job with their kids but are looking for some new ideas!

Before I tell you about American History, we must say that we went through a little personal history in Idaho Falls, Idaho before we took off for the East Coast. Going back to Idaho Falls was a trip back in time for me, as I grew up in Southeast Idaho and going to Idaho Falls was a visit to the greatly anticipated “BIG” city. It was so great to scoot back into time for a couple of days!

What fun to be with James Drake (left) there where with the help of some friends he organized something called University for Parents at the Civic Center in downtown Idaho Falls.

Shortly after, we traveled to Philadelphia where we enjoyed a lovely evening with the Young Presidents’ chapter there, learning as we taught about what great parents there are in the world! Our “day chairs” were outstanding!

We also loved revisiting American history with the Liberty Bell, which still has the crack:

It was pouring with rain but we survived, soggy feet and all and loved reveling in the history of the birth of our country here at the site of the first Continental Congress:

From there we traveled down to Washington D.C. where our youngest son Eli and his wife Julie have just moved. They have found a cute apartment that is just their cup of tea, just southeast of Capitol Hill.

Because Richard was immersed in the new Dan Brown novel which all takes place in D.C. we visited the Capitol and were amazed at all the new exhibits and Visitor’s Center that has been built in the last four years since Eli was an Intern there.

Of special interest, for those of you who have read the book, is the inside of the Capitol Dome!

The plaster cast of “Freedom” that stands atop the Capitol building in bronze now stands in the Visitor’s Center. Ironically this personification of Freedom was originally hoisted to the top of that magnificent building by slaves!

The new Ronald Reagan statue has a small layer of the Berlin Wall “underfoot”. Very nice touch (sorry can’t find the picture). The also have a new statue of Helen Keller which is lovely!(see below)

Then it was on to the most magnificent architecture in all of Washington D.C., the Library of Congress, with it’s beautiful colors, columns and vaults!

It was a fascinating weekend and a great journey to the past!

Seventh Wedding!

2009-09-13T22:51:00.001-06:00

What could be more fun than having a wedding in the Big Apple? Our son Talmadge found a perfect partner in Anita Joos. They have been dating for a year and are so thrilled to be married!

Anita has been working in Manhattan as an international media buyer for first Prada then Donna Karan and DKNY for ten years. She was born and raised in Switzerland but since she has been working in NYC for such a long time and Talmadge has also been working there for over two years, that was where they decided to be married.

Anita’s wonderful parents, brother and sister flew from Switzerland and we met for an amazing few days together in NYC! Tal and Anita were married in a beautiful ceremony in the Manhattan LDS Temple on September 8th which was followed by a ring ceremony and gourmet four course dinner in Brooklyn.

All of our married children and their splendid spouses as well as our two single kids were there for the celebration and we really tore up the town!

Although we adore our grandchildren, it was such a delight to enjoy uninterrupted dinners and to have time to really talk! This was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to enjoy all our children as adults in this wondrous city!

Some went to time square.

Some went to the Yankees Game

Some went to the US Open

Some went to a Broadway Play

Some went to the USS Intrepid

Some went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the roof sported a fantastic new sculpture. Note the hair on the guy in the back!

The girls walked the Skyline Boardwalk

And we all went to church!

But the best part was the wedding! SO exciting!

It took more than thirty years for them to find each other…but so well worth the wait!

EVERYONE WAS JUMPING FOR JOY IN CENTRAL PARK!

An inspiring ring ceremony and a spectacular dinner and media presentation followed that night in Brooklyn!

It was an day and evening that we’ll never forget! Words can’t describe the joy that comes from having your children find their perfect partner! You parents with Joy School children, just seize every day because trust me, it won’t be long until those little ones will be getting married too!

It's JOY SCHOOL TIME!

2009-08-19T14:17:00.003-06:00

This week we had the wonderful opportunity to see hundreds of Joy School Moms! Some had done Joy School at the very beginning 30 years ago when we started the first Joy Schools and MANY were second generation Joy Schoolers who were doing Joy School with their own children. How fun it was to talk about those great days with those whose Joy School moms whose children have now grown up and so delightful to talk about those grown-up mothers who were "overjoyed" about their upcoming year of Joy School with their own children! What a remarkable thing it is to see teenagers, young adults and now young mothers still remembering their great times in Joy School and still able to SING, "Oh Boy, I've Got Joy", still remembering the fun times they had with "Gunny Bag" and still remembering their "I AM UNIQUE" books!

The Joy of Imagination and Creativty (above)

Richard and I really can't take credit for the amazing things that have happened since we wrote the first edition of Teaching Children Joy! Richard estimates that over 200,000 parents and children have now had a Joy School experience. Richard's mother Ruth, an early childhood development major, wrote the first lesson plans, Wendy Murdock, a gifted musician, offered to write much of the music. Andrea Burgeon did much of the artwork and Joy School was born!

The Joy School Cheer (above)

This year, because of our economic woes, we feel that Joy School is a perfect alternative to an expensive pre-school. Besides that, both kids AND moms have learned a lot about having a joyful childhood...a once in a lifetime event! If any of you would like to send in an endorsement for Joy Schools we would love to hear from you as we share it with our Valuesparenting family.

I'm including a few pictures from our daughters' Joy Schools. If you also have pictures that you would like to send we would love to share them as well! I always say, "It takes a very special mom to do Joy School! It takes extra time and effort (even though the picture are downloaded...already colored!). It does take extra time and effort...but the rewards are...priceless!

So if you or anyone you know needs a pre-school experience that you'll never forget that is also financially vastly cheaper than anything else, it's time to think about Joy School! Just click on the Joy School icon on the Valuesparenting website. We hope to see you there!

RICHARD AND LINDA SPEAKING AT BYU EDUCATION WEEK ON AUGUST 17

2009-08-12T17:59:00.001-06:00

So many of our Valuesparenting family have asked to be informed when the Eyres will be speaking in the Intermountain West. Next week they will be giving 4 speeches at BYU Education week in Provo, Utah.

Here is the schedule for Monday August 17:

8:30-9:25

Richard and Linda Eyre

Parenting Pre-Schoolers and Teaching Children Joy

Wilkinson Student Center 3280-3290

9:50-10:45

Richard and Linda Eyre

Empty nest Parenting and Extended Families

Wilkinson Student Center 3280-3290

11:10-12:05

Richard Eyre

True Balance: Balancing Work, Family, Church and Personal Needs

Wilkinson Student Center 3280-3290

12:30- 1:25

Linda Eyre

A Joyful Mother of Children

Wilkinson Student Center 3280-3290

The Eyres would love to see you there! Come up after any session and say hello!

The Old Faithfuls

2009-08-12T00:42:00.002-06:00

We hope our Valuesparenting family has had a wonderful summer as it is quickly drawing to a close. Please forgive our absence from the blog as we have spent all of July at Bear Lake where our daughters and daughter-in-law join us for much of the month since their places of abode are not pleasant places to be in the summer! We have had from 18-36 people at our Bear Lake House to feed and bed down for almost every day of July! What fun we’ve had! The following is a make-up call and maybe more than you want to know about a fun trip we had with our oldest three granchildren.

With eighteen grandchildren 12 and under, we’ve realized that it’s essential to divide them into groups by age so that we can spend quality time with small numbers as well as enjoy “the mob”! When our oldest grandchild turned twelve we had promised to take our oldest three grandchildren on a motor home trip.

Since our oldest grandchild Max turned twelve on June 3rd, we borrowed my sister’s motor home and were set to take that first ever trip with he and sister Elle 11 and cousin Ashton 9 on July 12th…They have become better known at our reunions as “Group One”.

Taking a look at what we could see out of enormous windshield will give you an idea of the size of this moving house:

What a fun and crazy trio!

We had a wonderful time wending our way through Star Valley, complete with stories of multiple ancestors who settled that valley, then Jackson Hole where we spent so much time with our kids when they were little, especially during the UEA school holidays.

That night we parked in the parking lot of Teton Shadows, the place where we owned a condo for 30 years, which brought back so many fond memories.

The next day we saw fabulous scenery

and the kids entertained themselves on the long drives with taking pictures of themselves in the RV, loving looking like something from transformers? star wars? iron man?

and playing the guitar

and learning a song from Grandfather about the things they were going to learn on that trip. To the tune of "I Love to Go a Wondering" except the words were, “I Love to Go a Motoring with Grandfather and Gram. And as we go we laugh and sing, into my head they cram Religion, Politics, Ancestors, Fama la ha, ha ha ha ha, Family, Religion, Ancestors, Politics" (try singing that in your head). Needless to say many interesting conversations followed!

The kids loved the frequent stops along the way to explore the beauties of nature:

Photos by Elle:

After a ridiculous amount of construction on the roads, we arrived at one of the great wonders of the world: Old Faithful. We ran to buy sweat shirts for souvenirs and also because the kids were freezing and saw Old Faithful blow off once before we had dinner at the Grand Old Faithful Inn. We tasted buffalo and had so much fun in that historic old building, the scene of one of the most poignant moments in The Awakening, Grandfather’s novel from long ago.

After another shooting off of Old Faithful and some mighty good ice cream at the ice cream parlor, we settled into our “house” parked on an outer parking lot where we settled down to read a book we had bought from the author in the lobby of the hotel…a children’s story about Yellowstone Park called, The Eye of the Grizzly, when we looked out the window at the meadow beside us to see two enormous mama buffalos with their babies just outside our window:

We immediately decided that this was the place to stay and had just settled down for a well-deserved night’s sleep when someone banged on the side of the RV AT 11 p.m.. It was a Park Ranger who informed us in no uncertain terms that we could NOT park there for the night. When Grandfather asked politely where we should park, he said that RV’s were not allowed to park anywhere in Yellowstone Park except for a few isolated places that had been already fully reserved months in advance. Oops!

We had planned NOT to go back through all the construction and delays we had experienced during the day but to go home another way. But in looking over the map and our timetable, we decided that back the way we came was the best way…and that it would probably be much faster in the middle of the night without the long lines of cars and constructions workers out with their signs to stop us.

Were we ever wrong! In the middle of the night was the very time that these guys DO their heavy construction. So with that along with a crazy driver full of road rage who stopped right in front of us after passing us in anger because we had been going so slow through the mountain pass, watching for animals to jump out of us in the middle of the night and nearly killing us all, we arrived safely back at our usual parking lot at Teton Shadows at about 2 a.m.

The next day we journeyed on to Jenny Lake, where we had a fun boat ride across the lake

and a hike up to Hidden Falls

Complete with a few teaching moments by Grandfather

Especially with Ashton who somehow got lost during our ascent.

It was a gorgeous hike and a most memorable day:

That night the kids were lamenting the fact that we had to go back to Star Valley for the night so that we would be closer to home the next day. The water pump had gone out at the Bear Lake house, and the “fixers” were coming at noon the next day. The reason they wanted to stay in Jackson was that as luck would have it, the new Harry Potter movie was coming out that very next day with the first showing at midnight! People were already lining up at the Jackson Theatre at 2 p.m. We slummed around Jackson for a while and of course, went to our beloved Billy Burgers for giant burgers before heading for Star Valley.

As much as the kids wanted to see that movie they were good about seeing the necessity of being back to the lake. I was quite sure that there wasn’t a movie theater in Afton, where we planned to spend the night.

When we got to Afton, we parked the RV on Main street and when Grandfather went into a store to ask if there were any theaters in town we looked across the street and what should we see but this….

The kids threw their arms in the air as if it was D Day and were over the moon as Grandfather went across the street and bought the tickets. We tried to get them to take a little nap before wewent, but they were just too excited!

We started lining up at 11 p.m. and it was SUCH fun to be there with a packed house of men, women and children, all hysterical about Harry Potter. Sadly, Ashton just couldn’t stay awake! Max and Elle did all they could to keep him awake but after about the first 45 minutes, he just couldn’t be aroused.

We sleep-walked him back across the street to the RV afterward:

Was he ever mad when he woke up and realized that he’d missed it!!! It was pretty funny…and fun because we know he’ll get to see the rest at a later date! What a lot of fun that kids is…as are magnificent Max and elegant Elle!

We arrived home the next day just in time to meet the plumbers having had an adventure that none of us will ever forget! We decided that the official name of Group 1 is now THE OLD FAITHFULS because these three are not only the oldest of all the grandchildren but are going to be an example of faith and strength to all the other kids of Eyrealm. We are so blessed to have these three stalwart examples of goodness and creativity to show the way to so many other cousins of Eyrealm who will be looking up to them and following in their footsteps!

“THE OLD FAITHFULS”

European Adventure

2009-06-23T05:52:00.002-06:00

What a grand anniversary trip we’ve had in Europe! After Switzerland, we flew back to England where we lived for three years from 1976-79. We served as volunteers for our church

there and had so much fun finding old friends and greeting former missionaries after 30 years!

Our favorite little castle is at Hever. It was the home of Thomas Boelyn, father of Ann Boelyn and was often visited by Henry VIII. The grounds are simply fabulous with an enormous man-made lake and moats to die for!

So much history!

How great it was to see our friends from so many years ago with kids all grown up and even sometimes grandparents!

From there we popped to Paddington Station and chatted with a couple of jolley English Bobbys as we headed for Scotland.

It was such fun to speak at this fabulous old Hotel, a house first mentioned in history in 1213! Here we did a three hour seminar with such lovely parents..

With very nice cars!

From there we rented a car and drove down through the gorgeous countryside of Scotland and England to the Lake District.

Here we visited the birthplace and other homes of one of our favorite people….William Wordsworth. Here is Dove Cottage where he did most of his best writing!

By Lake Grasmere

Next it was on to York, where we had never been before. We were delighted to find the oldest Cathedral in England…The Minster:

And The Shambles, the street that inspired J.K. Rowling to create Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.

Next on to Richard’s ancesteral ground in a little village in Lincolnshire called Dowsby..

That night we stayed at one of the most exciting spots in all of England….Cambrige University. How amazing it was to see the spires of the colleges and the devotion to God as well as learning that was expressed in the architecture of that amazing place!

St. Johns College where the famous opening race scene from Chariots of Fire was filmed. Richard tried to “beat the clock” but failed!

Here is the gorgeous River of Sighs:

The Landscaping was also breathtaking! What a parade of fascinating thoughts and minds have passed through this incredible place!

Old Relatives and New Relatives in Switzerland!

2009-06-15T03:11:00.001-06:00

What fun we’ve had exploring the stomping ground of our my (Linda’s) ancestors in Switzerland. My grandmother was born in Schiedrued, Aargau, Switzerland and though we’d been there 20 years ago, it was delightful to see that gorgeous place on earth and even find some long lost cousins! There can’t be a more spectacular country with kinder more welcoming people!

My Grandparents were Samuel and Verena Goldenberger and we found their little village still full of Goldenbergers! Many were in the graveyard of the church

but many were alive and well! One was the town electrician with a beautiful home and family. Here is Christian Goldenberger with his wife and mother:

Another was the Bergermeister (mayor) of the village…also with a lovely family. This is Martin and Marianne Goldenberger and their terrific kids:

The town museum was filled with things from my great grandparents’ era and a delightful 86 year old guide who was the director of the museum, Herr Steppen:

Our next exciting spot was to meet the parents of a darling girl to whom one of our sons has just become engaged. They are set to be married on September 8th and we had a delightful time in her wonderful village meeting her amazing parents who speak 5 languages fluently!

Here we are excited to meet our new in-laws-to-be!

What a view from their front entry!

BEAUTY everywhere!

There is no way to tell that this is a tourist train wending beside the Rhine River about 3000 feet below the platform we were standing on!

After days filled with the grandeur of mountain passes and overnight stay at Lake Como in Italy we ended our Swiss journey in Interlaken, Grindelwald and Zurich!

WHAT A COUNTRY!

We Love Paris in the Springtime!

2009-06-07T04:33:00.001-06:00

Can you believe that on July 30th, Richard and i will have been married for exactly forty year?

I know, I know this really dates us, and I have to pinch myself as I wonder how could that be possible! It seems like just a few years ago, that Richard put that diamond ring on my finger at the top of Old Main Tower at Utah State University, where we both graduated. But here we are 480 months later, ready to celebrate with a long journey through Europe.

We began in Paris at one of our favorite venues on earth: Roland Garros! It was the year of the early defeat of Rafa Nadal and three days of watching great matches even including seeing John McEnroe play in a senior’s match!

Of course Paris is one of the most magnificent places to visit and after long days of tennis, and since it didn’t get really dark until midnight, we loved visiting those most historic places:

Notre Dame always conjures “hunchbacks” towers, stained glass and flying buttresses!

Though we have been to Paris several times, I had never seen Sacre Coeur, which is magnificent and is a spectacular place to see the city at sunset.

The Arc d’’Triumph is always an inspiration

But my favorite day in Paris was the day we rented bikes and saw EVERYTHING! It was a spectacularly sunny day and we just biked along the Seine and saw Paris from a new viewpoint!

Our hotel was near the Eiffel Tower and we had seen it “twinkle” on the hour twice, but we had never seen it from UNDER before:

Since we’d already seen the Mona Lisa and the miles of artwork at the Louvre and the fabulous artwork of the Muse’ de Orsay several times, seeing them from the outside on the bikes was great fun! Plus the bike paths made us feel as though we were the king of the roads!

Something neither of us had seen was the Grand Palace which was built especially for the World’s Fair of 1900.

Sadly it was closed for renovation and all we could do is peer through the giant doors at the stained glass entry that filled that gigantic clear glass building with color!

Luckily directly across the street was The Petit Palace, a fabulous building with more of the unending supply of gorgeous fine art in Paris! One of my favorites was this Mary Cassatt, who was a contemporary of Monet and loved painting Mothers and Children!

We turned in the bikes and took a train to one of the wonders of the world….Versailles! “What the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve” always makes me wonder how anyone could conceive of such a gargantuous place both in terms of buildings and gardens.

My arms below give you an idea of the scope of those backlit gates!

Tomorrow we get to drive through the French country side, through Dijon and on to the homeland of my mother’s side of our family: Switzerland!

Joy School Graduations!

2009-05-20T09:24:00.001-06:00

Since there are Joy School graduations going on all over the world, I thought it would be fun to post our daughter Saydi's thoughts and some pictures of her own Joy School Graduation! This is a little Boston crew:

"We had Joy School graduation last week, and boy, somehow over the past year these little girls have really grown up and got JOY. I love these girls (and luckily Charlie, our honorary member, has learned to behave himself more gentlemanly around them)."

"To her credit, I think Hazel really got the joy school concepts, and I love the Joy School concepts. I love the idea that kids should learn these important emotional skills before being pushed into the academic world of school. Joy School has given us a common language to talk about important things, things that she’ll hopefully draw on her entire life. I also love that Joy School has given Hazel a relationship with some amazing women. The other mom’s who taught with me have taught both of us so much. And I love that Joy School has taught me that I can do cool, crafty things with my kids. The lessons forced me to do things that I wouldn’t muster up the creativity or energy to do if I didn’t have it pushing me along."

Joy School does rock. (But I’m glad it’s over for now.)

Fun on the Road

2009-05-18T10:32:00.001-06:00

Two weeks ago we hit the road again and had a wonderful time with parents in Fort Worth on my birthday!

Next it was on to Washington D.C. where we had so much fun seeing our Ukrainian Family and our dear friends from our neighborhood who have accepted a volunteer position there to take care of the Visitor's Center for the Temple there. It was so fun to speak with a large audience bustling with enthusiasm about raising their families!

We were inspired by a beautiful song from these magnificent singers to start the evening off. This young man is our daughter's age. His mother and I used play in a string quartet together when we lived in D.C. and this guy was one of the babies crawling through our music stands which we were holding steady with our feet while trying to concentrate on playing! Where did that time go???

On to Toronto...where Costco sells milk in plastic bags!

Richard's brother lives there with his wife. They are there on a volunteer assignment for our church. We had such fun talking to local ecclesiastical leaders and two large seminars, giving tips on raising responsible children! This group was especially interested in helping teenagers navigate a chaotic world!

What a great time we had speaking at the marvelous science center in Toronto! YPO Families brought their kids from 5-12 and we had so much fun teaching them about a secret family code!

And how to teach kids to make "Decisions in Advance"

Again we found wonderful , committed parents!

Well, somebody had to do it so we just went ahead and did a Couple's Seminar on a Pink Sand Beach on Harbor Island in the Bahamas!

In our committed couples was the owner of the Pink Sands Resort with his darling wife, both of whom are creative, totally committed parents!

There's nothing quite like the aqua waters of the Caribbean. What a refreshing treat. Now we are back to "barely spring" of our mountain home in Park City!

New Links to Media Appearances

2009-05-08T09:16:00.001-06:00

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO OUR AMAZING VALUESPARENTING MOMS! The launch of this our new book has been so fun. Maybe the only thing more fun that have kids is to write a book with one of those kids about your dearest passion...MOTHERING!

Richard and I have been on a two week speaking tour, which will show up in the blog next week, but for now, I thought you might like to have these links posted on our daughters' blog about the media things that have been going out this last week before Mother's Day.

If there is anything I am truly uncomfortable with, it's self-promotion, but because we feel that this has become a great cause to help donate to research for Lucy's needs with this newly diagnosed Bardet-Biedl Syndrome, Shawni and I are unashamedly letting it all hang out! Here is the information posted by Shawni. Thanks for all your support and love through this difficult time for the Pothier Family:

book links

I don't know why I'm actually putting these links on this blog because of two things:
1) my mouth is still crooked and I mumble
2) I have a bad haircut
BUT who cares...I still want to get the word out about this book and my cause.
So here you go:
Click here for the Studio 5 clip. (photography tips to capture kids)
Click here for more at Meridian Magazine
Click here for a Deseret News article
And click here for a podcast with my great friend Paige and her friend Gretchen who started this big deal "Mommycast" thing. Thanks so much for that you guys!
And click here to buy this book for your Mom or sister or friend or daughter for Mother's Day!
I also just want to thank from the bottom of my heart those who have posted this info. on their blogs and sent e-mails to spread the word. I can't thank you enough. All your help has helped this book get up to #4 on the top selling books which is so great. I'm feeling so empowered with helping our "cause" and trying to help empower mothers in the greatest "career" we will ever have.

Free and Fabulous New Website for Moms Just in Time for Mother's Day!

2009-05-05T11:57:00.001-06:00

Happy Mother's Day to Our Valuesparenting Family!
One of the most unique components of the new book that our daughter Shawni and I (Linda) just released (A Mother's Book of Secrets, Keys to Making Motherhood More Manageable, Meaningful and Magnificent) is a wonderful new website, just lauched for Mother's Day by our oldest daughter Saren who is a passionate banner-carrier for Mothers in need of some inspiration and mental stimulation to BE the best they can. With a click to PowerofMoms.com, mothers who have read the book and have realized that they have a secret or two of their own they would like to share, can add to the pool of useful and inspirational secrets by just clicking on the picture of the cover of the book.

Saren and several wonderful, resourceful and insightful friends who are accomplished women and outstanding Mothers have organized and are "manning" this unique new website that will help you become the mom you've always wanted to be. The Power of Moms is designed to uplift and empower moms and offer them a new level of purpose and joy in motherhood and womanhood.
The Mission of The Power of Moms:

Developing YOU - the person inside the mom (through interactive articles, podcasts, webinars, etc.)
Providing effective resources to use with YOUR FAMILY
Helping you reach BEYOND your own home to learn and share with other mothers (through contributing your own writing and ideas, setting up mothers' groups, etc.)

Please check out the site by clicking HERE and SIGN UP for the free monthly email. If you want to send an easy, free and meaningful Mother's Day gift to your friends, send this information on to them or make up your own email and send them a link to the website.

Interviews on A Mother's Book of Secrets

2009-04-28T08:36:00.001-06:00

Here are a couple of our radio interviews have aired since we did our media blitz a couple of weeks ago on our new book, A Mother's Book of Secrets, in case you'd like to check them out:
Click here for the one with Steven Kapp Perry. (This is actually a page about his stuff, but there's a place where you can click to listen to our interview.) Man, he is a great guy.
Click here for the one with Carol Makita. (You have to get past a couple ads before you get to us.) I really liked her too...and I want to start listening to her show "People of Faith." Very interesting.
And click here for a nice write-up about the book from Meridian Magazine.
If anyone out there has read the book we could really use some good reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Deseret Book websites. (Click on the names of the sites to go straight to them.) We're so excited about this book and the good it can do to help with research and support for our little granddaughter Lucy (Shawni's two year old).

Here is the information on her:

Shawni’s youngest daughter, two-year-old Lucy pictured on the cover of this book was recently diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome called Bardet-Biedl. This means that, among other things Lucy will likely be legally blind sometime between her 9^th and 15^th year. This heartbreaking news has prompted us to donate a portion of the proceeds for this book to the Foundation Fighting Blindness, a National Organization for Rare Disorders, a wonderful organization doing research to discover ways to intervene.

Passing this message on to other mothers (sisters, neighbors, married daughters or daughter-in-laws) will not only help us give more to this cause but with the power of the Internet, may also help us to get connected with moms dealing with similar issues. By clicking on http://deseretbook.com/store/product/5014296 you will go directly to the book where you can order at a 10% discount without having to go to the store.

Life is so fragile. How we appreciate your support!

Westridge Academy Gala

2009-04-23T08:10:00.002-06:00

What fun we have once a year to be with the kids and excellent humanitarians at Westridge Acadamy. We have the opportunity to host their gala dinner to raise funds for teenagers who have lost their way! Many are addicted to drugs and alcohol and hate themselves coming into the academy. With the loving care of therapists, very fine teachers, loving board members (including my sister) and volunteers many of them turn their lives around and resume a life of contribution and love. Parents mortgage their homes to keep their kids there and literally "save their lives"!

It was profoundly moving to hear the stories of some of the graduates and to see the kids performing extraordinary original music with profound lyrics from their hearts! Hooray for Westridge Academy and those great friends who are supporting them!

Another Insight to Mother's Day!

2009-04-21T11:04:00.001-06:00

A friend, Lori Radin, who is also in the business of celebrating motherhood has also published a book for Mother's Day. We thought you might like to see this information on her excellent new book:

It’s no secret that moms are the heartbeat of the family. What would we do without moms? On one special day, Mother’s Day, you are given permission to relax and let others take care of you. But one day out of 365 is simply not enough if you are going to be your best as a mom.

Managing your home, developing the character of your children, and being a successful leader of your own life is a big job, but you can do it well by making positive, healthy and balanced choices for yourself. www.momnificent.com/celebrating_moms.php

In response to a desire to support moms on their journey through motherhood, Lori Radun, certified life coach and founder of Momnificent!Ô has authored a brand new book for moms – The Momnificent!Ô Life ~ Healthy and Balanced Living for Busy Moms. The Momnificent!Ô Life is a self-help book that guides mothers in evaluating their personal goals and habits in eight areas of their lives and gives practical tips to women of all ages on how to improve their quality of life.

Examples, case studies and action items in each chapter make it an invaluable guide for today’s moms. Lori’s openness and conversational style gives readers the feeling they’re sharing “Aha!” moments with a friend while they’re learning how to live more fulfilling lives.

Follow this link www.momnificent.com/celebrating_moms.php to get lots of free gifts if you buy the book between now and the end of May. Top authors, teachers and thought leaders will be giving away their expertise for free – all to help celebrate moms and make your job a little bit easier.

Forward this email to all the moms you know, and don’t forget to get gifts for all the special moms in your life. You and they deserve to be appreciated!

Have a Momnificent!Ô Day!

Media Fun!

2009-04-14T23:54:00.004-06:00

Shawni and I have had so much fun the past two days doing media for our new book for Mother's Day, A Mother's Book of Secrets. It was great to be with the great women at Good Things Utah! Shawni's sisters-in-law Julie and Laurel showed up to support us! To see our "Four Minutes of Fame" go to

http://www.abc4.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=91681@video.ktvx.com&navCatId=462

We loved our radio interview with Steve Kapp Perry. He's is multi-talented, including doing much of the music for Alexander's Amazing Adventures as well as being The Erodian!

A one hour interview with gracious Carol Makita will air on Sunday morning April 19th at 8 a.m.on KSL radio if any of you local Utahns happen to be up at that time!

We loved being with Doug Wright but forgot to take a picture! He has been such a good friend through the years! That show will air on KSL radio Sunday morning May 3rd.

Loyal friend forever...Maureen Matsen!

What could be more fun than signing books that you've written with your daughter at a book store? True, you don't see throngs around us but so many beautiful friends and fans of Shawni's blog (71toes.blogspot.com) came to buy books for every Mother they knew for Mother's Day. How we appreciate the support we've been given on this fun book! We're hoping that 20 secrets from a "seasoned mom", along with20 secrets from the "Mom in the trenches" as well as 50 fabulous photographs by Shawni will be able to help some moms with the world's most important job. They will also have a chance to add their own secrets at powerofmoms.com.

For further information or to order a book that you'd like to have delivered go to: http://deseretbook.com/store/product/5014296

Thought Replacement Therapy

2009-04-06T19:02:00.003-06:00

Thoughts from Linda Eyre and Saren Eyre Loosli

I have been worried lately about a relative who has most everything one could want in life but who has a stressful job (at least he has a job) and always seems to be carrying an enormous burden. He claims that he just can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It seems that not only unhappy feelings, but addiction and depression is at epidemic status! But, with all the bad news we have thrown at us every day, there is also some good news: you can change your mind! I am no therapist (except sometimes to my own children and I do what I can to help floundering parents) and certainly there are some people who have clinical depression and addictions that need professional help, but I’m just talking about dealing with the everyday, hard things that Mothers encounter.

A few years ago, when all our nine children were at home, I wrote a book called I Didn’t Plan to be a Witch, Although I meant it “with tongue in cheek,” it was certainly a true statement! I often did become a witch when all those “down and dirty” things that every mom deals with came at me all at once! I loved my children and my idiosyncratic, hyperactive husband. I was living the life I had pleaded for but I can clearly remember thinking, “Life is not intended to be lived this way! How can I survive dealing with a new crisis every hour?”

Last night, as I was thinking about this I stumbled on to a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson (I must admit that I haven’t read his works since high school) that expresses those same feelings. It is called “The Two Voices”. It starts out by saying:

A still small voice spake unto me,

“Thou art so full of misery,

Were it not better not to be?

Then to the still small voice I said;

“Let me not cast in endless shade

What is so wonderfully made.”

The poem goes on for about twenty five pages pointing out the two voices that are always in our minds…one is full of wonder, the other full of misery….often there was more misery than wonder!

Interestingly, this morning I read a new blog entry from our oldest daughter Saren, who has been thinking along those very same lines. Her thoughts exactly portray the feelings that so many of us have, as we let our thoughts carry us away to a place we don’t want to be: (where was this child when I needed her?)

She says, “Just like many women need ‘hormone replacement therapy" to help them feel more "even" as they age, most people (especially women, it seems) need to adopt some "thought-replacement therapy" to feel not just more "even" but more happy. I should be happy. I have every wonderful thing I ever dreamed of in so many ways - a handsome, good, kind, smart, patient husband, 5 beautiful, fun, sweet kids, a lovely home, opportunities to use my talents in many directions, a great extended family... But I feel unhappy a lot of the time. And I feel like I've finally more fully put my finger on why. It's my thoughts. And I have the power to change them.”

“I often feel frustrated and angry and down. I don't need to feel these things nearly as much as I feel them. I can control these feelings. We live in this world where people are always blaming all the problems they have on how they were brought up or what their nature is or what has happened to them in their lives. But really, our happiness or sadness comes from the way we THINK about what happens more than from the actual happenings in our lives. We cannot choose what happens to us in some instances, but we can always choose what we THINK about things - if we learn to control our thoughts, that is.”

“I recently read an article that pointed out that you can't just try to NOT think about something - you can't replace something with nothing in your head. To really get rid of a negative thought, you have to replace it with a new thought - and you have do that again and again until your thought processes become permanently altered - until your negative rut is replaced by a new, positive rut.”

“So this week, I wrote down a list of the negative thoughts that pop up in my head way too often - and came up with new thoughts that I'm going to use to replace those negative thoughts with. So far, it's working pretty well. When the thought "wow, these kids are driving me crazy" pops into my mind, I replace that with "this moment will pass and I have great kids." When the thought "what in the world is my husband doing?" pops into my head, I replace it with "I'm sure he is doing his best as always." When the thought "I feel so overwhelmed" comes into my mind, I replace it with "OK, what's the next small thing on my list that I need to do - I'll just do that one thing for now." And you know what? It's really helping. I'm getting better at replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts. And I'm realizing how often I do think negative thoughts and how poisonous that is to my happiness.”
“I want to be happy. I should be happy. But to be happy, I have to CHOOSE it, with my thoughts as well as with my actions. This will be a long battle in my mind between the negative and the positive thoughts. But the positive ones will triumph!”

I thought what she said was truly profound! Don’t we all entertain negative thoughts that we can turn to the positive if we just are ready with a replacement? The challenge this month as the earth is “reborn” to change ourselves as well by using “thought replacement therapy” when those negative thoughts creep in!

Tennyson ends his poem as he walks through the wonders of nature in a forest:

I wonder’d while I paced along:

The woods were fill’d so full with song,

There seem’d no room for sense of wrong

So variously seem’d all things wrought,

I marvell’d how the mind was brought

To anchor by one gloomy thought;

And wherefore rather I made choice

To commune not with that barren voice,

Thank him that said, “Rejoice, rejoice!”

New Book from Linda Eyre and Shawni Eyre Pothier

2009-03-31T18:25:00.002-06:00

Wow are we excited!!! I (Linda) had the rare opportunity this year of writing a book with my darling daughter Shawni released on April 1 (this is no April Fool's joke)! Shawni is the Mother of five including this little cherub on the cover of the book. In addition to being a remarkable Mother, she is a fabulous photographer! About 50 of her gorgeous photos of moms, kids and families that will make you laugh and cry are found in these pages. It has 40 short, easy to read "secrets" that we've discovered on our path along the way. I have the advantage of perspective having raised nine strong-willed children and she, who is in the trenches with the day to day refiner's fire writes what she has learned about the real life fun of being a mom as well as the crazy, "down and dirty" nobody-is-going-to-believe-this moments that every mother experiences.

There are five sections of secrets what include "Look for Light in the Trenches", "Have an Organized Offense", "Analyze", "Kids are Like Puzzles" and "Give Ownership". Hopefully it will inspire moms to share their own mothering secrets on a new web site for mothers at www.PowerOfMoms.com. This new book has been published just in time for Mother's Day, but since Motherhood involves every minute, every day, every year, we hope it will be timeless!

To save yourself a trip to the store go to http://deseretbook.com/store/product/5014296 to order. It is 10% off for a limited time. We'd love to hear your feedback at the "contact us" button on the Valuesparenting website.

Fish, Flour and FUN

2009-03-25T12:24:00.001-06:00

Deep sea fishing in Florida..pelicans waiting for fish too!

Fun

Didn't catch a thing...in fact this is the biggest fish anyone caught!

Back home on the weekend, we had fun with our grandchildren from Gilbert, AZ and the ones from St. George Utah this week. "Grandfather" has a "treasure chest" from which immerges all kinds of exciting surprises, IF the eyes are all closed!

Treasure Chest Time!

Sweet Claire sitting on our new Balinese Dog. Explanation and pictures later!

Of course, no visit to Grammie and Grandfather is complete without a visit to the zoo

The Pothiers are always coming up with new games! We can't wait to try this "get the penny out of the flour without hands" game at our family reunion this summer!

Cool 11 year old Max is doing a great job of taking care of all these girls! He's 5'5", taller at his age than our son who is now 6'9" was by quite a bit!

Florida Week

2009-03-25T11:53:00.004-06:00

We had so much fun in Florida! We went to the YPO GLC (Global Leadership Conference) so we found friends from all over the world there. Here is an email home with a synopsis of what we did. Pictures follow in the next blog entry.

We've finished our three days of hard work and "appearances" and "moving around" amongst 2000 YPOers at the GLC (Global Leadership Conference) which was fun and interesting. We did meet lots of old friends from previous YPO events which is almost like seeing family!

We did get to visit with the wife of the guy who wrote "The Last Lecture", Randy Pausch before he died. Oprah and Diane Sawyer had begged for interviews but she felt more comfortable in this setting and was interviewed by a darling woman with whom she really hit it off. She is a brave soul, going on without him with her three little children but is doing so will grace and courage.

The former President of Mexico, President Fox came for a little "chat" as well. Also we heard both in word and song from a famous ragae singer from Haiti, saying that he ate dirt paddies for dinner sometimes and is now working on a foundation for kids in Haiti. Lots of good people with great ambitions.

The final speaker was the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and he was animated and taught us a lot, not only about music but about leadership. He said, "You cannot appreciate great music until your hear has been broken."

My favorite speaker was a gorgeous woman who was born without bones in her lower legs so they had to be amputated just below the knee. She then became a champion in the para-olympics with fiberglass legs to help her run. A truly remarkable story! She's about 32 and forging her way forward even though she's not racing anymore. She came out and walked around the stage on perfectly beautiful wooden legs and high heels. Except for the ankle not bending, you would never know that they weren't real. I loved the advice she gave us about adversity: "Adversity is just change that you haven't adjusted to yet." "Never stop thinking like a child." "Adapting to change helps us see possibilities where others can't" "Value challenge. Value Change. Value what makes you different." So true!

So many interesting people to meet and fascinating things to learn!

There are Trials and There are TRIALS!

2009-03-03T12:17:00.004-07:00

We, along with you, are horrified at the crazy condition of our economy! How did we get here and how do we get out? How long will this last and what should we do to survive until we “turn the corner”? One thing is sure amidst all these trials…things will change! How soon and which direction it will go remains to be seen. In all our fussing about what to spend, how to save, how long a job will last and what to do if it doesn’t looms large in the lives of so many!

Still we’ve had a wake up call this month with our darling two year old granddaughter Lucy. In the delivery room, we were elated to see this healthy baby emerge into her grand new adventure. Within minutes we realized that she had all her fingers and and toes…plus one! We all loved that extra toe, but before she started to walk, a doctor removed it so she could wear shoes. Still, we worried about Lucy because she didn’t respond as her four older siblings had. She seemed to have trouble seeing and then didn’t walk until she was almost 18 months. Her learning abilities were slow and therapists came in to help her “catch up”. Still we loved every chubby inch of that little cherub and even through frequent tantrums because she couldn’t communicate her wishes through speech, we loved watching her grow and being cared for by her adoring parents and siblings.

At Christmastime, a geneticist followed a hunch and thought they should run $4200 blood test on her to determine what her issues may be. The following story from our daughter Shawni (Lucy’s mother) chronicles the results:

“Nothing can really prepare you to get a phone call from the geneticist telling you that your child has a really rare syndrome that will change her life, and that of your family's forever...even if you and your husband already knew it in your hearts.

And as much as we kind of knew it was coming, I do wish the geneticist would have at least told me to sit down, or find a quiet place...I mean, she MUST have been able to hear the chaos going on around me on a Friday afternoon when my house was filled with the whole neighborhood.

I'll never quite forget standing there folding laundry trying to squelch the tears that were burning to come out amidst my kids and their friends asking intermittently for a snack, help with their roller blades, wanting a drink, etc. I know kids have an automatic button that tells them they need to start talking to an adult the second she gets on the phone and not give up (at least mine do), and usually I can multi-task. But not that Friday. Not while I felt like my whole world was suddenly swimming around me.

Lucy has a syndrome called "Bardet-Biedl." It's extremely rare, and we are just coming to grips with the fact that we can't go in and sit down with the geneticist and get a concrete run-down of all the things that will change in life. It's different for every child. But most of the children diagnosed have health problems, are overweight all their lives, and the most heartbreaking thing for us is that the majority of these kids lose their vision. Most of them become legally blind by the time they are teenagers, sometimes as early as age eight or nine.

The geneticist has brought up a few different possibilities for various syndromes since we met with her for the first time over a year ago. Each one she mentioned before I mentally checked it off my list right after I heard the symptoms. I knew Lucy didn't' have them. But when she mentioned this Bardet-Biedl Syndrome right before Christmas, Dave looked it up and started to worry. Symptoms include slower learning, weight issues, and extra digits. I never looked it up. I felt that the more I pushed it away, the more likely it would be that it would just disappear. I didn't want to know the symptoms. I didn't want to start to worry. To me it felt like it just couldn't happen to Lucy if we didn't know anything about it.

But Dave knew we definitely needed to test her for it. He had a bad feeling about it right from the start. And as much as I tried to bounce that bad feeling off of me, it gradually seeped in, little by little.

So we took her in for yet another blood test right after Christmas. Just a precaution. Just to quiet our fears. The way I played it out in my mind was that it would come back negative and I could go back to my own diagnosis I had made: Lucy was just a little bit slower than our other kids. She'd catch up eventually as long as we all work with her and keep going with her therapists. All would be well.

But gradually I started to realize this syndrome was a big possibility. Lucy fit into what this syndrome outlined. Now we just had to wait for the geneticist to tell us what we already knew.

Though we don't know so much of what we will eventually learn about this syndrome, we do know with all our hearts that we adore this child. Each of us in our family could absolutely eat her up. She is so endearing and her smile melts our hearts every time she throws it at us...which is a lot. And we're so grateful for that. We're so grateful that although she may learn things a little slowly, she'll still have her mental capacities. We're so grateful she can walk and she can breathe easily and she can throw out hugs and kisses like nobody's business. We are so thankful that only one in five of our kids has to deal with this (apparently each of them had a 30% chance to have this syndrome with us as their parents). Although this has hit us hard, we know it could be something so much worse, and we are so thankful.

Dave and I are determined to become experts on Bardet-Biedl and to learn everything we possibly can and to help Lucy progress in every way she can. I have loved watching Dave come home each night and work with her on various things. I have loved watching the kids work with her, hearing them pray for her (their bowed heads sometimes coming up with teary eyes), listening to them talk about her.

One thing's for sure: we couldn't be more thankful to have this little girl in our family. We feel like we have been blessed and prepared each step of the way. And we feel like she makes our family whole in so many ways.”

So there are trials and then there are TRIALS! Some things will pass and some will not. “Turning the corner” is not an option here. Yet, there is hopeful research on genes, chromosomes and retinal transplants somewhere down the road. Still, life will never be the same for this family! As we, as a society struggle with our physical needs during this raucous recession and realize that many other lives will also never be the same, we must also realize how much we learn from adversity! Lucy’s adventure will be different than the one we expected in that delivery room. But “Oh the Places We’ll Go” as we work through our trials! Some places will be harder than we could have imagined but many places will be better than we could have ever dreamed!

We love our daughter and her great husband and delightful children so much! Shawni’s blog has a huge following and has been an enormous support group. Anyone who would like to comment can go to www.71toes.blogspot.com. Many of her blog friends, most of whom she has never met, are part of a “Lucy Fan Club” and one even said she was going to be wearing an “I Love Lucy” T shirt. What great support they are receiving in this life-changing trial! What is really important in life is taking the storms along with the sunshine because they produce such beautiful clouds with silver linings!

Love you Lu.

They Really Do Grow Up!

2009-01-25T17:33:00.003-07:00

Here's a fun and insightful posting from our oldest daughter Saren, who had five kids in five years, thanks to these adorable twins. The learning curve has been pretty steep the past four years but we are so proud of her amazing insights and accomplishments!

Silas and Oliver 4 years ago getting ready to go home from the hospital

Oliver and Silas today - wow do those little preemie outfits look small now!

But as this picture shows, the same outfits were pretty big on the little guys at first!

“They'll be gone before you know it. The fingerprints on the wall appear higher and higher. Then suddenly they disappear.”

- Dorothy Evslin

I remember first reading this quote long ago when Oliver and Silas were newborns and I was overwhelmed with five preschoolers. It seemed like the fingerprints and messes and crying and feeding and spit-up and stinky diapers and constant demands on my attention from several sources simultaneously would be with me forever. But tomorrow my last babies, my twin boys, will turn four. I'm done with diapers and spit up and getting up in the night with babies. The strollers and high chairs and baby swings are sold or given away. The fingerprints are moving higher on the walls (and some of my kids are actually learning to wash their hands so there's not so much grime on everything!). My kids really are growing up!

I'm so happy to be done with the baby paraphernalia all over the house. I'm so grateful to be able to run out the door without having to grab diapers and wipes and bottles – I've been diaper bag free for over a year now! I love being able to talk to and reason with all my kids (at least most of the time). I love seeing them read and bike and dance and play basketball and do so many fun and exciting things. It's so great to be able to take them all on a bike ride or bowling or to a museum or on a road trip and have it actually be a fun experience for everyone including the parents.

But I'm sad too. No more wonder of feeling a baby move inside me for the first time. No more amazing excitement of childbirth. No more snuggling a sleeping baby and smelling that sweet newborn smell. No more seeing those first smiles. No more watching those first wobbly steps. No more hearing that first “mama.” No more watching a big brother or sister marvel over a new baby brother or sister. Oh, I miss my babies!

One era is gone and it was a great one – one I probably didn't appreciate enough at the time. It can be hard to really enjoy the “now” when you're getting slammed by so many hard things all the time. It can be easier to see the beauty in things that are past than in things that are present. As I look back, I realize the need to appreciate the beauty in the present more – to cherish the chances to snuggle my kids, to see them get so excited when I come help in their classrooms, to hear them beg for me to read them the next chapter in our book at bedtime, to have them clamor to tell me about something that happened at school that day. These are the beautiful things that are part of my normal days now – things that will be bright warm memories some day as those fingerprints move up the walls. I need to enjoy and appreciate the “now” a lot more so that I can crystallize these memories and keep them with me always while I find more joy in my daily life.

I hope that I'll never feel the way Anna Quindlen felt in looking back: “ The biggest mistake I made [as a mother] is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough.”

Kids really do grow up. Hard things really do get better – and then new hard things come along. Beauty really can be found every day. I'm recommitting myself to enjoying and cherishing the present. I do a pretty good job capturing it in pictures and writing but I need to do a better job really enjoying it when it happens and capturing it in my heart. I need to do a better job of pausing in the midst of the mayhem to really enjoy and reciprocate the spontaneous hug from Isaac or to really listen as Ashton tells me another rather long and somewhat disjointed story about something he heard or really look at the 1000th picture Eliza has drawn for me or take the time to really watch Si and Ollie as they imagine and play together or to really praise the great little things the kids do every day. Oh, there's so much to enjoy if I can just get my mind set to slow down and enjoy it!

Isaac and Ashton first meeting Oliver and Silas 4 years ago

2009-01-08T13:06:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year!

May it be one of parenting progress, family fortification, and marvelous marriage!

We have spent most of 2008 on the road, speaking to and with parents all around the world, and loving the chance to engage them about their first priority of family. We don't guilt-trip anyone (that is too easy to do when it comes to parenting), rather, we try to popularize parenting to a point where people realize how much they are missing and how much joy they are giving up if they do not prioritize their kids!

This year, we are going to try to stay a little closer to home and work more on our writing and confine our speaking a little more to local (or at least U. S.) audiences.

We long for more time with you valuesparenting members. Many of you write to us somewhat regularly on e mail, and that is great, but we would love more face to face contact.

There are a couple of opportunities for that this month if you happen to live in the Utah area. (See our broader speaking schedule at http://www.theeyres.com/speaking_schedule.html) We will be speaking at the Crestview LDS Chapel, 2795 E. Crestview Drive, Salt Lake City on Jan. 25, Sunday Night at 7:30, on Teaching Children Values. This will be a non-denominational discusion about Teaching Children Values in an unstable and scary world. A more spiritually oriented talk will be given on Saturday morning, Jan. 31 in Centerville, Utah at the Stake Center at 1451 N. Main St at 9 am. If you are able to come to either, we would love to see you.

One of our resolutions for 2009 is to work a little more on the more obscure programs of valuesparenting.com. As you might guess, about 90% of our members are doing either Joy School or Alexander's Amazing Adventures, but there are also other great programs available including Teaching Children Responsibility, Lifebalance (for all of us overworked, over committed parents), Turning Teen Mirrors into Windows, and even an Empty Nest Parenting program that may be great for your parents! Check out these "other programs" on the website if you haven't already.

Have a great new year, and keep on putting family first!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T00:01:00.001-07:00

We hope our Valuesparenting Family had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season as we dive into 2009! We hope those bright sparkling eyes of your children are ready to go back to school to begin a new year of learning and feeling the joy that childhood holds! As we mentioned in our last post, we know that the economy is effecting everyone. What an interesting year this will be as we realize that all the "stuff" that we thought was so important is not nearly as important as our love for our families and friends.

In 2009, there will probably be a continuation (for who knows how long) of the hard economic times that punctuated 2008 as well as those hard times that come every January with trying to figure out how to get rid of those extra pounds due to an overindulgence of holiday treats.

But maybe our biggest challenge this January is getting those New Year's Resolutions down on paper where you can measure them and really do something about bringing them to pass. This week a friend said that she just couldn't get herself to write down her list of New Year's Resolutions and she had just discovered why: she hadn't spent enough time counting her blessings for the year just gone by. This struck me as very important especially in a year when the disappointments may be so "in your face" that we haven't taken the time to realized that there have been more blessings than hardships. Reflecting on the great boons and the bounties, the gifts and good fortune that have come your way this year will help you know what your goals for the coming year will be more surely than anything else you can do. If you have a hard time coming up with much, think about this, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain." (anonymous).

After you have contemplated your blessings, write some goals and resolutions for the coming year that make you stretch but aren't impossible (although sometimes the impossible is possible). Keep it simple. Write just one goal for each of the five facets of your life...physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual, that will help you to keep going forward. Let it feel like a challenge to yourself instead of a burden. Post it somewhere where you can see it. Make your goals measurable. Have a deadline and if you really want to accomplish them, have someone check on you to see if it gets done.

There was a survey in a magazine many years ago that was fascinating. The numbers, I think are still pretty accurate. Here are the percentages of success that they projected for the various steps in setting and accomplishing a goal:

Determining that you want to accomplish a goal.....10%

Writing the goal down in a place where you can be reminded.....45%

Setting a deadline to accomplish a goal.....65%

Asking someone to check on you to see if you accomplished your goal....90%

Again, keeping your goals for yourself simple is the key, especially for parents who already have a long list of goals for the success of their children. Count your blessings, make that list and you'll find that 2009, no matter what it brings, will be more meaningful than you may have anticipated.

Please be assured that I am preaching to myself as I write these suggestions to you. May we all have a wonderful 2009, full of lessons learned and even if just in baby steps...progress!