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Making Room for Abundance (Part 4 – Choosing Your Input)

July 8th, 2010 by Val Haderlie

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I laughed right out loud when I opened a recent magazine to an article entitled “May I Have My Attention, Please?” As I skimmed the text, I realized that in some respects author Katy Read’s description of “information overload” and its resulting loss of focus has probably applied to most of us at times, no matter what our age.

In today’s technological world, there are stimuli coming at us from all directions, Undoubtedly, the biggest culprit is the internet which is now with us every place we have our Blackberry. To be “with it” as far as technology is concerned, there is so much to learn, so much to do, so much to absorb that we multi-task but never quite finish any of our projects. (Now how many browser tabs open at once on your computer is too many?) When we are rushing around, hour after hour, day after day, paying only partial attention, the parts of our brains required for focusing actually begin to atrophy and our working memory lessens.

No matter what you may have thought before, here’s a news flash for those of you who insist on intellectual multi-tasking: The brain can only think of one thing at a time! Think of the inefficiency of asking your brain to flit from project to project without giving it the opportunity to center, focus, and concentrate on the task of creating what you have asked it to create or solving the problem you have put in front of it! No wonder the incidence of adult attention deficit disorder is on the rise! And we’re causing the epidemic ourselves!

The good news is that the ability to focus our thoughts is a faculty that can be stimulated, increased, and enhanced through exercising, (especially exercising our willpower to unplug from the TV and the internet.) Other beneficial brain exercises include reading, meditating, playing a musical instrument, engaging in a game of chess, or solving math story problems.

Our brain was designed with the capability to choose our thoughts. Thousands of thoughts pop onto the stage of our mind every day, but we can decide which thoughts we dwell on. The choice however is severely complicated when we split our attention between more than one idea; our thoughts then begin to behave like ping pong balls bouncing around without resting on a specific thought. Honing in on one task, one thought, one idea allows the brain to dismiss the thousands of others vying for our attention.

And what about listening? Have you ever been guilty of “half-listening,” acting like your listening while you are thinking of something totally different than the thoughts behind what the speaker is saying? Focused listening is one of the most valued gifts you can offer to those around you. Looking at the person who is speaking to you, thinking ONLY about the thoughts being verbalized by that person, and reflecting back to the speaker what you have heard are components of the talent of focused listening.

An extremely pleasurable exercise to improve your ability to concentrate is to go into your yard, a park, or a forest, sit down and close your eyes, and listen. Just listen. Hear the cars whizzing by, hear the children playing next door, hear the birds singing or the crickets chirping, hear the airplane flying above you, hear the carpenter’s hammer down the street, hear the gurgling of your neighbor’s fountain. Listen intensely for every sound that surrounds you; don’t miss identifying a single one. Allowing ourselves to be constantly pummeled by information reduces our ability to choose to focus on our priorities, our passions and the significant people in our lives. We actually begin to lose the skills required to concentrate and we begin forfeiting our chances to invest our attention, energy and focus in the things that matter most to us.   Selecting which sources of input we accept into our lives is our choice. We must choose wisely.

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Make yours an abundant day!

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Making Room for Abundance (Part 3 – Wishing Others Well)

June 30th, 2010 by Val Haderlie

I have been intrigued for a long time by a simple word which I first ran across in the New Testament of the Holy Bible: lovingkindness. According to various religions including Buddhaism, the Bah’ai faith, Christianity, and Hinduism the definition of the word combines actions and emotions encouraged by the spiritual teachers of the ages such as charity, compassion, understanding, gentleness, brotherhood, friendliness, esteem and Godly love.   Lovingkindness embodies the altruistic desire of wanting for others what we want for ourselves.

I recently listened to an interview with best-selling author, Marci Shimoff, a featured teacher in the movie “The Secret,” who is known for several “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books for women. Her book, “Happy for No Reason” is rocking the personal development world. One basic premise in her book is that “happy people let love lead in their lives.” During the interview, I was particularly impacted by a specific “happiness habit” referred to by Shimoff which she calls “lovingkindness.” Shimoff has taken this age-old word and applied it to one of the oldest stewardships in the world,  the practice of silently sending a blessing of happiness, ease, comfort, and peace to everyone around you.

 Through the ages, many religions and cultures have employed the practice of sending silent blessings to friends and enemies alike. In ancient Hawaii, the practice of Ho’oponopono carried with it this benediction:  “ I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.”  Far Eastern practices include giving a gift to everyone we meet, a gift that may be as small as a flower, a compliment, or a prayer.   A silent blessing of Western culture  quoted by Shimoff is: “May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.” 

It goes without saying that when we act with kindness, generosity, unselfishness, tenderness or forbearance, a change takes place in our own hearts. These actions expand our ability to understand another person’s feelings or desires and to empathize with their needs. In general, however, we reserve these responses for those we love or admire. 

It is when we expand our vision and become more confident of our own self-worth that we see the value of others and begin to desire their welfare and happiness. The practice of wishing well-being to ourselves and to others not only increases our own feelings of deservability but it also allows us to acknowledge goodness in those around us, even those we don’t know. This acknowledgement of goodness then leads to the reciprocation of compassion and our wish for others literally comes back to bless us. The sending of silent blessings becomes a catalyst for the cycle of appreciation, abundance, and joy among people and opens doors for positive interactions and relationships.

There is a link between wishing others well and creating miracles in our lives. Once in a while, there is a co-worker, a family member, a school teacher, or a neighbor whose actions or words hurt or offend us. Sometimes, we come in contact during the course of our daily activities with a person whose attitude is negative or whose demeanor is repulsive. There are lots of ways we can avoid interaction with these people, but the result of avoidance is continued rancor. Silently sending a blessing or extending a courtesy changes the complexion of the relationship in subtle ways. Acts of compassion no matter how small bring joy to both the giver and the receiver. Ironically, and even miraculously, the one who was earlier offended but who blesses his foe often receives the most benefit.

Happiness is the byproduct of right action and, as noted in the Bible, lovingkindness expressed without reservation is definitive right action. Such happiness opens the way for a myriad of miracles in our lives, not the least of which are the miracles of forgiveness, connection, relationships, and belonging.

 

 

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Making Room for Abundance (Part 2 – Limiting Distractions)

June 22nd, 2010 by Val Haderlie

In his notable book, Law of Attraction, author Michael Losier makes a significant point that in order to manifest into our lives the people, circumstances, and things we want, we must “allow” them into our lives.  I have met Mr. Losier, listened to him speak several times, and read his book often and he and I agree that allowing miracles is definitely the hardest part of the attraction regimen.  The difficulty is that we think we don’t know HOW to allow or that we’re already doing everything we can to let the miracles in.

When we want to learn to do something, it is best to ask one who does that thing well to teach us.  In our process of learning, that professional will watch us, note what could be done differently to improve our performance, and coach us as to what to change to improve the outcome.  If we want to learn to live abundantly, manifest what we want, and allow miracles, what is it that our professional would observe in our daily actions that we might be coached to change?  What would he tell us to do differently to improve our ability to allow the law of attraction to work in our favor?

He would remind us that the biggest eliminators of miracles are distractions.  Distractions generally result in us leaving vital activities undone in order to accomplish less important tasks.  Succumbing to distraction has been referred to as “being caught up in the thick of thin things.”  You’ve had colleagues tell you that they didn’t get anything done because they spent the whole day “putting out fires.”   In other words, they put all of their energy and attention into activities other that those that would contribute to the accomplishment of what is most important to them.

In assisting us to make adjustments toward success, our professional might ask, “What is the word you most often hear linked to distraction?”  You guessed it.  It’s the word “allow” as in, “She allowed herself to be distracted.”   Do you see what our coach is saying here?   We can either choose to allow distractions into our every day experience or we can choose to allow miracles into our daily lives.  There is a choice to be made between allowing distractions or allowing miracles to dominate our time and attention?  It is a choice, OUR choice, and we must choose between these mutually exclusive actions. 

Our professional who is teaching us to live abundantly and to allow what we want into our lives would watch us for a day, carefully note how many times we diverge from what we claim we want to accomplish, and then he would coach us in a way that will help us see that a tweak or two will dramatically change our results as we choose to limit distractions.  Hel’ll assist us to realize that we’ve known all along how to allow.  It’s a matter of choosing what we allow into our lives.

We must never mistake activity for productivity and we cannot afford for distractions to derail us from taking the actions that will further our goals.  We have the ability to consciously make room for wonderful opportunities, people, and circumstances to manifest in our daily experience by choosing to ignore the distractions of urgent matters and focus on the vital activities that will allow these miracles. 

I always love hearing your feedback, so please leave me a comment down below with questions, thoughts, or feedback.  And I hope you’ll  share this post with your Twitter and FB friends by clicking on the share buttons up by the title of this post.  Thanks for spending time with me today.

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Making Room for Abundance (Part 1 – Letting Go)

May 19th, 2010 by Val Haderlie

What if I had not made the choices that brought me to a point in my life where I now have the time and means to travel to be with my grandchildren on their birthdays and holidays? What if I was still tied to a job that paid me only enough to survive, but definitely not enough to thrive as I am today?

As you watch this brief slide show, think about my question, “Can you imagine what a shame it would be if I did NOT having this collage in my memory?”  Please click here to watch A Day with Preslee and Bridger.

I’m sure you would agree that it would truly be a travesty if I had not been able to document this glorious day with these precious grandchildren.  So was it luck that brought me to this place in my journey?  Absolutely!  That is, of course, if your definition of luck is the same as mine:  “Preparation plus opportunity equals luck.”

I think back on my journey of the past six years and, oh, what a journey it has been over a path strewn with joys and sorrows; the births of long-awaited little ones and the untimely deaths of Alan’s mother and our oldest son; times of calm, contentment, and peace punctuated by periods of upheaval and challenge with a daughter’s divorce and the transition of our son who has Down syndrome from the security of public school to a new life as an adult.

 My journey may not be too different from yours.  My hope is that you have made room for the miracles that will always come when there is space in our existence for them to occur and awareness in our minds to acknowledge them.  Let me share with you how I cleared the way for amazing things to happen in my life.

As I stepped away from the security of a teaching contract into the unknown of a new home-based enterprise, I realize now that I was opening myself to miracles simply by choosing a different way to live my life.   I had always been extremely active in my children’s schools, in the community, in my church, in local non-profit organizations, and, as well as eliminating the J.O.B., I began letting go of commitments which were no longer fun or productive for me.  (That was an interesting experience.  I had thought of myself as somewhat indispensable in various positions and what I found was that, once you’re gone, it’s like pulling a stick out of the mud – the hole is quickly filled and few remember you were ever there.

My “housecleaning” continued as I began clearing away habits that were slowing me down.  One of these habits was multi-tasking.  Another habit was spending too much time on the telephone.  A third habit was answering the phone when I was having a face-to-face conversation with someone in my home.

I also began a media fast and, although I had been a news junkie for years, I stopped watching or listening to the news and I quit reading newspapers and news magazines.  It was so wonderful to live each day without the depressing stories of death, destruction, deprivation, devastation, and depravity.  My world could then be centered on the uplifting and the positive.

With the relinquishing of all this, my life slowed down.  I began to breathe deeply.  I started to look around at the abundance that surrounds me everywhere.  I initiated a goal of speaking less and really listening to people when they spoke to me.   I embarked on a project of daily personal development.  The void created by abandoning activities, habits, responsibilities, commitments that no longer served me began to be filled with the miracles of the awareness that comes with introspection, the confidence that results from living peacefully, the prosperity that shows up through service and appreciation.

I always love hearing your feedback, so please leave me a comment down below with questions, thoughts, or feedback.  And I hope you’ll  share this post with your Twitter and FB friends by clicking on the share buttons up by the title of this post.  Thanks for spending time with me today.

Make yours an abundant day!

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Home Business Nana

May 7th, 2010 by Val Haderlie

All my adult life, my focus has been nurturing, supporting, and enjoying my six children.  Now, four of my children are married and are rearing their own little ones.  That puts me in the most glorious of all callings – that of being Nana to my eight grandchildren.  I spend a lot of time with each of them, but that hasn’t always been the case.  When I was first a Nana, I was working three jobs.

My husband and I live in a beautiful but remote valley, high in the mountains of western Wyoming.  We decided early in our marriage that I would be an at-home mom and the primary influence in the lives of our children.  At first, I taught piano lessons for a little extra spending money.  Then, I created a children’s performance group and I taught classes in our family room three afternoons a week after school.  This all worked great for about 15 years, but then my husband’s employment changed dramatically.  It became necessary for me to begin working away from home.  I was emotionally compromised as I left each day to be a bread winner, but I had no way of providing from home the kind of income we needed.  I had a college degree and teaching certification, and because being a school district employee offered insurance benefits, soon I was teaching English to at-risk students at an alternative high school.  Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching and the work was sometimes very rewarding, but I continued to be conflicted leaving so many hours a day of mothering to someone else.  It would have been okay if I had been working only the hours my children were in school, but as any teacher knows, sixty hours is the average teacher workweek.

Teaching was challenging enough, but I was also managing a dog boarding kennel and I was the bookkeeper for my husband’s landscaping business.  Caring for a child with disabilities, supporting my husband, rearing my children, there was no time for my dreams. It seemed that I was running on empty most days and there wasn’t much chance of refueling.  When I did spend time with my family, I was so exhausted and grumpy, everyone wished that I would just go back to work!  Talk about feeling compromised.  I wanted to be a good mom and grandma, but how could I be available when so much of my time was consumed trying to make ends meet?

Then I was introduced to direct sales/network marketing and all that changed.  A co-worker at our high school told us at lunch one day that her son had just made thirty thousand dollars in his new business.  I listened intently and thought, “Here I am giving my best time to someone else’s kids when I all I really want is to be home with my grandbabies.”  The seed was planted and the more I pondered the possibilities, the more I became determined that if a punk twenty-two year old who had played football with my son in high school could make that kind of money from home, I certainly could do it, too.  I set aside my plans to finish my Masters degree and began assessing how I would purchase my new business.

It took me a few weeks to wrap my head around the direct selling model, but I soon got straight in my mind the idea that when I bought the entry level product, I could then sell the entry level product and I was off and running.  Because I had never been exposed to such a concept it definitely took a paradigm shift, but soon it made sense that if I was using that product and pleased with the results, I could then be a knowledgeable representative of that product.  If I purchased the more expensive products and became the “product” of those products, I could then represent those products appropriately.  I became enthralled with the ingenuity of direct sales.

I resigned my teaching position, I convinced my husband to hire a bookkeeper for his business (actually, I just told him, “I quit!”), I hired kennel assistants, and purchased my first direct sales business.  Now, six years later, I work from my home office (or the hammock in my back yard) about 25 hours a week.  And the whole key to me spending relaxed quality time with my grandchildren on a regular basis is the time freedom and financial independence that comes from making in a month what I used to make in a year teaching high school.   Because of the inspired direct sales model of my business, my dreams are in focus and I’m making them come true.



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What’s a Tribe?

April 29th, 2010 by Val Haderlie

Entrepreneurs are dead in the water unless they have people buying their products or services.  And unless people know that you are in business and what you have that will solve their problems, they simply aren’t your customers.  When you have a brick-and-mortar business, you may advertise with signage, newspaper flyers, radio or TV ads, but when you have an internet-based or network marketing business, getting the word out and establishing yourself as a reliable provider of solutions (products or services) is a completely different project. 

One of the greatest assets an entrepreneur can have is a content syndication alliance, more often called a “tribe.”  In such an alliance, you have the opportunity to promote the products and services of others as they promote you.  This is particularly important in today’s market environment because of the change in what potential customers require.  What I mean is that we are no longer in the “Information Age” – in fact, people around the world are drowning in information.  We are tired of being sold something.  Today, we are in the “Recommendation Age” – a time when potential customers or business partners are looking for an expert, someone that can point them in the right direction for a solution to their problem, someone who will recommend to them the best course of action to take in remedying their problem.  In other words, these experts have the chance to take their potential customer by the hand, so to speak, and lead them to what they are looking for

Social media marketing has opened the door to innumerable opportunities for entrepreneurial-minded souls who are “branding” themselves and their products and promoting their brands virally.  New products and innovative services are springing up as these folks focus their wares around their personal passions, whether they are avid golfers, expert cooks, personal development gurus, gifted artists, or writers who have discovered they like this new social media forum. 

The one thing these budding entrepreneurs require to succeed is traffic to their social media sites, traffic that responds to their opt-in box and leaves contact information that may at some point lead to a sale.  What develops in the meantime, though, is a relationship and a bond of trust begins to bud as more and more value passes from the entrepreneur to the customer.

The answer to this traffic requirement is networking.  This is what takes the place of the outdoor billboards, the neon signs and the TV ads of the brick-and-mortar businesses.  Global networking allows clients to purchase “how-to” e-books, audios, videos, and pdf files from business owners around the world, many of whom are working from a home office with an internet-connected laptop computer.

Tribal syndication is natural SEO in its purest form.  It’s the Golden Rule in action:  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  (As opposed to the hardcore salesmen of  former days whose motto appears to be “Do unto others before they do unto you.)   In syndicating, you do your tribe mates a favor by promoting their information and they return the favor by promoting yours.  In today’s internet-focused world, this reciprocal promotion increases exponentially and spreads in a viral manner until citizens of the entire globe have access to it.

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First and foremost, I am Nana Val

April 20th, 2010 by Val Haderlie

It is not hard for me to share my identity with you. Yes, I am a successful businesswoman, but first and foremost, I am Nana Val. I am deeply in love with a man named PapaDaddy.  Each of our eight grandchildren is a unique and special individual and one of our greatest pleasures is spending time with them.  You are invited to enjoy moments with little Carley, 20 months old, from this past weekend:   A Weekend with Carley

Now you know why being an entrepreneur is such a special opportunity for me.  As such, I have the time freedom and the financial independence to give my best time to my family.

Make yours an abundant life,

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Afraid of Success?

April 8th, 2010 by Val Haderlie

There was time early in my career as a professional marketer that I stalled out.  Like a 1960s high performance muscle car with its finely tuned (but not fuel injected) motor flooded, I was going nowhere. 

Actually, come to think of it, I felt more like the above mentioned dragster just spinning my slicks (tires with no tread, for those of you who are not race fans).  I was in motion but, like I said, going nowhere.

“What’s keeping me from reaching my goals?”  I asked myself. “How can I work any harder?  I’m in my office at least ten hours a day.  I hardly take a bathroom break during the day.  I’m taking two marketing classes online.  I’m putting my website together.  I’m talking to prospects and inviting them to conference calls explaining my business.  I’m killing myself here and I really thought I’d be seeing some big money by now.”

Consternated, I grabbed the courage to pose these same questions to a couple of my business associates who were top earners in my direct sales company.  The tiny fine hairs prickled the back of my neck when one of these well-meaning mentors suggested that I was afraid of success.  “Afraid of success? Success is what I’m after! (I wanted to add, “You idiot!”) Why would I be afraid of success?  I mean, I’m working my guts out here to get to my goals!  I don’t get what you’re saying.”  (Please understand that I was not particularly respectful in my refusal to accept what he had stated as a probable cause of my delayed success.)

I hung up the phone and thought aloud, “What part of success does he think I’m afraid of?  Let’s see.  The part where I have money left at the end of the month?  The part where I’m asked to serve as a company leader?  Or would it be the part where somebody actually asked ME what I say to people to get them to buy our product?”  (Another thing you should understand is that my face isn’t that pretty when there’s a furrow in my forehead that makes my eyebrows cover half my eyes and I scrunch my face up in a pout.)

With my shoulders slumped and the same frown on my face, I picked up the phone to call a friend I knew wouldn’t insult me when I asked her what she thought.   She answered and I blurted, “Have you got time to talk for a minute?  Can you help me?  I’m just not making the kind of money here . . . ”   She cut me off mid-sentence, “Stop!  Don’t even go there.  Let’s use some different words here. First of all, I’m getting that something’s keeping you from what you want?  Is that what you were going to say?”

I mumbled in the affirmative and she kept right on going, “Okay.  Let’s talk about that for a minute or two.”  I glowered.  I didn’t think a minute or two would do much good.  I had been giving it a good go for several months now, but whatever.

My mind came back to what she was saying, “So have you ever asked YOURSELF what’s blocking your progress?  What’s in your way?”   Of course my demure, “No” did not represent the remark that came to my mind.  (I didn’t really think my SELF was going to be able to answer that or any other question.)

Then, it was like someone pushed a speaker-phone button in my head.  She had said, “Stop.”  My brain registered the word loud and clear.  I felt myself literally stop and take a long, deep breath. Neither of us spoke.  The silence was like when the rain stops and you wonder where the sound went.   I heard myself whisper to her, “I’ll do that.  I’ve never thought of asking myself that, but I’ll do it.”

My friend who wanted as much for me to succeed as she wanted success for herself then instructed, “When you get in bed tonight, just lie there quietly for a few moments and ask yourself to reveal to you what barrier is keeping you from accomplishing what you have set out to do.  Really.  Just ask.  And if you want, ask if you’re afraid.  Be aware of what you dream or what you think about when you wake up.   If you’re listening, your inner self will make it plain to you what changes you should make, what to let go of and what you should start doing instead.  The answer is in you.  It really is.  But you have to ask and then you have to listen.”

We talked a few minutes more, but I honestly don’t remember the conversation.  I do however recall her words just before we hung up.  She asked me, “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”

Make yours an abundant day,

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Abundance is often spelled SYNCHRONICITY

March 17th, 2010 by Val Haderlie

I have been fascinated the past few days at the synchronicity in my life. Even though I have been teaching the Laws of Abundance for years, I still watch with awe as the results of these principles manifest. This week, I have been richly blessed by the timing and abundance of very specific ways to improve my business.

One of the truly great experiences of this week was an opportunity I had to learn from social media guru, Eric Goldstein. Eric is a leader in the syndication Tribe that I joined a few weeks ago. The idea of syndication had been introduced to me by a couple of my business associates and I was eager to participate in this relationship-based way of promoting my personal brand in social media. When I signed up, I did so decisively and quickly. I actually received several bonuses for being first to enroll in the eight week course called the 2.0 Tribe Mastermind Intensive. Long story short, one of my bonuses was an hour of free coaching. I was ecstatic when I learned that the coach I had been assigned was Eric Goldstein!

Another landmark synchronicity was the chance to get acquainted with another social media teacher, Jodie Thompson from Australia. Through a Tribe friend, I had received via email an invitation to attend a free webinar presented by Jodie and I really resonated with her. At the end of her presentation, Jodie surprised me by introducing my friend, Kimberly Castleberry, as the guest instructor for an upcoming class on blogging. I was jazzed because I already knew that Kim’s teaching style meshed perfectly with my learning style. Once again, I acted decisively and immediately enrolled in the class. And once again, received bonus gifts for being one of the first to sign up. One of those gifts was a professionally designed header for my blog!

And I’ve got to tell you, our Beyond Discovery call on Saturday proved to be transformational for me. I listened for an hour to efficiency expert, Michael Linenberger, author of the newly released book, Master Your Workday, explain an amazing system for eliminating the stress of overload in our business lives, including the “inbox.” His formula for outlining a day of Critical Now and Opportunity Now commitments truly allows one to “put the rocks in the bucket first,” to quote Patrick Combs.

Speaking of Patrick Combs, the icing on the cake of this week of synchronicity was the “Think and Grow Rich” mastermind call that he hosted on Monday night. Patrick, a founder of LifePath Unlimited, is a visionary in his own right. His expertise in the “millionaire mindset” is well-known in the world of personal and prosperity development and he really hit his stride on Monday evening. His reminder to use what he calls Golden Time to accomplish the absolutely MOST important activities of the day also proved to be transformational for me.

Being in flow for such synchronicity in my life prompts my heart-felt gratitude .

Make yours an abundant day,

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Darrin Haderlie earns Eagle rank in Boy Scouts of America

March 9th, 2010 by Val Haderlie

Darrin Gale Haderlie was born on January 21, 1989 in Afton, Wyoming.  He was a beautiful baby with dark hair and dark eyes and Down syndrome.  His first few days of life were very traumatic because of a life threatening condition called polycythemia (too many red blood cells resulting in not enough oxygen being circulated through his body).  He needed to be transferred to Primary Children’s Hospital immediately, but because of the 35 degree below zero temperatures and the heavy fog, the Life Flight helicopter could not get out of Salt Lake.  Darrin’s doctor, Allen D. Carter, the general practitioner who had delivered him, had only a few options.  In our rural hospital, Dr. Carter performed a procedure he had only done twice, both of which were in his residency years before.  He did an umbilical blood transfusion on this tiny little boy and saved Darrin’s life.  

After five years of instruction and encouragement from the Star Valley Child Development Center, Darrin started Kindergarten at Afton Elementary.  He was just a little pipsqueak and it was decided that he should take kindergarten a second time.  This proved to be a pivotal decision in Darrin’s life as he became friends with so many of the young men who are still Darrin’s pals.   

Two weeks after he turned eight, Darrin participated in his first Special Olympics competition.  He was the smallest and youngest athlete at those games, but he still took a gold medal.  Over the past 12 years, he has continued to compete in Special O track and field events, cross country skiing, and basketball.  Darrin received a special honor in the summer of 2005 when he traveled with his unified basketball team to represent Wyoming at the National Special Olympics in Ames, Iowa where they took gold!   

In seventh grade, Darrin began playing percussion in band with a very patient and loving teacher, Kurt Sand.  He has performed in several band concerts through his middle school and high school years, with a dedicated paraprofessional at his side.  He thoroughly enjoys playing the tenor drum in the Pep band for basketball games and now he “keeps the beat” with precision!    

Darrin absolutely LOVES football – Star Valley Braves football, BYU Cougars football, and New England Patriot football!   This past fall, he served for the sixth year as a coach’s assistant/ team manager for the Braves.  The past two years at the insistence of his beloved Coach Howell, he has even traveled with the team on the bus to the away games.  He is loved by many members of the team past and present and he proudly wears the letterman jacket which the 2006 team members presented to him.  Often at halftime, Coach invites Darrin to say something to the team before they return to the field.  Team members say that Darrin’s encouragement always helps them do a little better.

In January of 2008, after learning that his brother was an Eagle Scout, Darrin decided that he wanted to finish his requirements for that award.  Although, ordinarily, the Eagle rank must be earned by the time a Scout is 18 years old, a Scout with a disability can be older.  The past two years, he has been relentless in his determination to complete merit badges.  We greatly appreciate the many school teachers and paraprofessionals who have also worked hard to assist Darrin with his merit badges. We applied for alternative merit badges for a few of the required ones like swimming and environmental science, but for the most part, Darrin’s efforts were equal to or greater than those of any other Eagle.

He knew for two years that he wanted to do a landscaping project at the local group home for adults with disabilities.   With his dad (who owns a landscaping business), Darrin began to put together some plans and he was very definite in how the trees and bushes were to look in the rock garden around Oakwood, the group home.  He even had me help him with a colored pencil drawing of the project plan.  All the information in his Eagle project workbook is in his own handwriting.  He showed great leadership skills as he chose a project and then began involving his fellow scouts.  He made personal phone calls to each one inviting them to help and nearly every young man and all the leaders from his troop, team, and crew came to pitch in on the project.

Darrin has accomplished a lot of things in his 21 years. Back at the very beginning of his life, we know that Darrin wanted to live.  And that is one of the things we admire the most about him – he really lives every day.  He puts his best into every endeavor.  He is dedicated, dependable, trustworthy.  He is happy and funny and loyal.  Actually, Darrin Haderlie is everything a Boy Scout is supposed to be.

Make yours an abundant day,

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