Teaching Children About Service with Merrilee Boyack

Congrats to Brittany for winning the autographed copy of Merrilee Boyack's book

52 Weeks of Fun Family Service ! 

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway ! 

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Teaching Children To Serve With  A Happy Heart 

" As we extend our hands and hearts towards others in Christlike love , something wonderful happens to us, our own spirits become healed, more refined, and stronger. We become happier, more peaceful, and more receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. " ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf

How could we not want that for our children ? One of the most precious things we can teach our children is compassion for others and how to serve others. This was something that was so important to my sweet husband and I when we had our first child, and then when the other two children came along we added them right in to the different service projects we would do. It was not uncommon to see one of us with a baby strapped to our backs and one in the stroller while we worked together.

I was thrilled to see that Merrilee Boyack had written an entire book on how to have fun while doing service as a family ! I immediately contacted her and she emailed me right back ~ I felt like I had received the best Christmas present ! This incredible woman is not only an author, but also a speaker, life coach, Lawyer and community leader, wife, mom and grandma...... and she actually emailed little ole me back ? It was awesome ! Then as we sent a couple of emails back and forth I realized that she really truly is just the best gal ever ! I love that service is so important to her. What a wonderful thing to have a passion for ! The fact that she has written a book about service with your family.... it was the icing on the cake. She immediately agreed to send me an autographed copy of the book and I sent her some interview questions and this crazy woman had those questions write back to me , answered with phenomenal answers in like 20 minutes ! Can I be her when I grow up ??? ;)

( I love this quote on service so much ! ) 

One of my favorite quotes about service is from President Hinckley ( oh how I love that man and his sweet wife ). When President Hinckley was on his mission, he felt down and had despair. His father answered his letter with these wise words, " Forget yourself and go to work. " ( July 2000 New Era )


Preparing Your Family To Serve 

I would like to suggest that the first thing you do as a family, is to have a Family Home Evening on Service ( May I suggest this one HERE ?)  ~ and make a commitment to include the advice of this quote in your family prayers for the next few days :

" In your morning prayer each new day, ask Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an opportunity to serve one of His precious children. Then go throughout the day with your heart full of faith and love, looking for someone to help. " ~ M. Russell Ballard ( November 2012, Ensign )

As you do this each day as a family, I feel so strongly that Heavenly Father will place beautiful opportunities in your day and you will be able to begin to foster that beautiful spirit of service and love for one another, and it will be such a beautiful example for your children. Because my husband and I have always tried so hard to serve others ~ our children have grown up with that spirit of service and now that they are 16, 15 and 13 ( my babies are growing up ... so sad ! ) they are also very active in serving others and even serving each other which has been such a blessing for our family. Our home is much happier when we are serving each other instead of getting on to one another about silly things. I promise you that if you are a good example to your children and get them involved with serving others and loving others around you, that it will bring a sweet spirit into your home also !

I love the description of the book ' 52 Weeks of Fun Family Service ' that Merrilee has on her website, HERE.
" Tired of the ME-ME-ME syndrome ? Want your children to be LESS greedy and selfish MORE generous , charitable, and hard-working ? Then you will absolutely love this book ! " This was from her website, but I couldn't agree more !

I hope you enjoy the interview with Sister Boyack and look into her books and if you don't win the giveaway ~ seriously consider purchasing this book for your family ! ~ JL


Interview With Sister Merrilee Boyack 

1) Thank you so much Sister Boyack, for taking the time to answer some questions for us ! I know we will learn from you. First of all, tell us something fun or silly about yourself !

I have weirdly long toes. Seriously they're like fingers. My husband says I am the missing link. But it's super handy because I can pick up all kinds of things with my feet. So talented... it boggles the imagination.     ( note from JL ~ don't you just love her already ?? LOL !)

2) You have so many different things you are doing. You are a lawyer, author, speaker and community leader. How do you manage your time and make sure you are also spending time with your family ? We all could use some good time management tips !

I gave up cooking. I HATE cooking so I do as little as possible. The kids are grown and my husband helps so that works for us. But I am most comfortable with many projects going at once. I use one time-management tip ~

Everyone asks me how I accomplish so much. The answer is that first, I realized that my life consisted of my CHOICES. And this is the second :

ROGER JOHN BROWNE JR'S SURE-FIRE TIP TO MANAGING YOUR TIME AND BEING INCREDIBLY SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE:

DO YOUR "GOTTA-DO'S " FIRST
DO YOUR " SHOULD-DO'S " NEXT
SPRINKLE IN YOUR " COULD-DO'S" LAST TO MAKE IT FUN.

Every evening, I review my "Gotta-Do's" for the next day. Usually there are three or less. Then I go over my " Should-Do's" list. In the morning I review them. Then I begin.

#1 Gotta-do for me = STEP= Scriptures, Thanks, Exercise, Prayer

Do that first, do that first, do that first ! Take the first STEP then proceed. Now some days you will get all of your Gotta-do's done and plow on to your  Should-do list and you're cranking and to throw in some Could-do's like sit on your butt and watch Oprah. Other days you'll only get your first Gotta-do done.

I PROMISE YOU~ If you live your life this way, AMAZING RESULTS. Most people dink around and mix up their lists. They place the same importance on prayers as they do on emptying the dishwasher. THIS IS POWERFUL. Just every day, wake up and mentally make your list. Writing down is even better. And Gotta-do's SHOULD NOT BE LONG. STEP plus like one or two others. NO LAUNDRY LISTS because they're not real . Those priorities are NOT THE SAME.

A Passion for Service 

3) You have an entire section on your website that discusses service. What makes service such a passion for you ? Did you have a neat experience that really drove it home that you wanted to devote your life to doing service and teaching others on service ?

Virtually every person I've ever met who was deeply committed to service, had this transforming experience in their youth. And very often, these service experiences were experiences within their families. These transforming life experiences helped create amazing adults.

In my own life, it was making climbing toys as a family for a young handicapped boy in our community. I was about nine or ten and I will never forget how I felt when we dropped them off on his snow-covered porch and ran and hid. Those squeals of joy have rung in my ears for decades. I have loved community service from the time I was a child- mostly from the example of my father. I could never get enough of it ! I loved how it made me feel !

4) What are some of your favorite ways to serve, that would be easy for a family to do together ? You have written a whole book on it and we can't wait to hear more about that, but what is something off the top of your head, that would be one easy step for families to do together right now ?

An easy one is to have a service family home evening night - go OUT- get in the car and go somewhere and do something. It might be to a senior's home where you sing to them. You might bake goodies for a single mom and her family You might go rake leaves. You might take garbage bags and go along the local trail and clean up. just GO and DO.

52 Weeks of Fun Family Service by Merrilee Boyack 

5) Tell us a bit about your book, 52 Weeks of Fun Family Service. What prompted you to write it ?

We had raised our children with service and it has been the salvation for our boys. It taught them to be like Christ by DOING his works. There is something so deep, so profound that touches your very spirit when you serve. I wanted to share with others how important it was to do these things in our FAMILIES. I saw very, very few families living and practicing this. And I wanted to make it easy for them. So VIOLA! 52 ideas with family home evenings to boot. No more excuses :)

Author, Speaker, Lawyer, and Community Leader ~ A Woman with a Mission ! 

6) you have been blessed with many different opportunities to speak and to teach others. What is your favorite topic to talk about ?

Two really - I have one lecture called, " You're Stronger Than You Think You Are" where I share my experience with breast cancer and two years of unbelievable trials and the positive choices I decided to make and the other lecture is " Standing Up in a Sit-Down World" which talks about fighting evil in this world and doing good in our communities. Both are life-changing and both are my faves.

7) You are also a lawyer ! What a busy lady ! When did you choose to go into law ? How do you find time to run a law practice with all of the other wonderful things you are doing ?

I decided to be a lawyer when I was 7 years old which is weird because I never had met a lawyer in my life. I graduated a year early from college and the prompting came very strongly to go to law school. I have practiced in estate planning - working with families to prepare for death or disability- and families are actually happy when they leave which is rare in law :) Also I worked part-time during all the years of raising my kids and worked out of a home office. It was the perfect career for me ! It was also very flexible and I worked it around all my other projects.

8) you have been active in creating some great community programs for your community. What are some tips and advice for us, to bring programs to our own communities ?

1. Start with an idea- something that has been bugging you or inspiring you.
2. Talk to people who have experience - maybe city planners, maybe the school.
3. Put together a plan.
4. Invite other people to participate - this is HUGE. A MAJOR part of anything I do is to invite others and involve them. People are good and want to help- they just don't know what or how.
5. BE FEARLESS. That's the biggest one.

When you think " Somebody should do something about this ! " That somebody is YOU!

One of my favorite quotes from President Hinckley :
" The tide of evil flows. Today it has become a veritable flood. Most of us, living somewhat sheltered lives, have little idea of the vast dimensions of it....
God gives us the strength, the wisdom, the faith, the courage as citizens to stand in opposition to these and to let our voices be heard in defense of those virtues, which when practiced in the past, made men and nations strong, and which, when neglected, brought them to decay.
God lives. He is our strength and our helper. As we strive, we shall discover that legions of good men  and women will join with us. Let us begin now.  Are these perilous times ? They are. But there is no need to fear. We can have peace in our hearths and peace in our homes. We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us. Let our voices be heard. I think the Lord would say to us, 'Rise, and stand upon they feet, and speak up for truth and goodness and decency and virtue."
( ' In Opposition to Evil' Ensign September 2004 )

The power of one is immense ~
~ One person can change a home
~ One person can change a community
~One person can change the world

Parenting ~ What a Fun Ride ! 

9) Tell us about your family ! Your bio says you are the mother to four boys ! Could you share with us a fun parenting story ? Anything gross or hilarious that happened as you mothered your boys ?

So, I'm making grilled cheese sandwiches for the boys. I know, impressive that I was using something other than the microwave. They were pretty amazed as well. And as usual, I'm in a hurry cranking out those puppies. So I quickly grabbed the can with the green lid and sprayed the pan. Just as I'm about to slap on the sandwiches, Tanner cries out, MOM! You just sprayed the pan with RAID!!!! I stopped midair-shocked. Sure enough, I had used the bug spray , thinking it was the cooking spray ! All the boys began to squeal in horror, EWWW!!!

Fine, Fine. So I thoroughly washed the pan and continued to finish up the sandwiches. Tanner's prayer was especially sincere, " Heavenly Father, we ask thee to really, really, really, bless this food so, like, it won't kill us." And the brave souls ate their sandwiches and didn't die.

I just wasn't paying attention. It could've happened to anyone. Honestly.....

One day, one of the boys said, " Mom , theres a plant in the bathtub in our bathroom". I was in a hurry and said, " Yeah, yeah, whatever " I thought it was somebody's Scout project or something. A couple of week's go by " MOOOOM, there's a plant in the bathtub." I was in a hurry and said, " K. No problem. " Now you need to realize that my children clean their own bathroom. There were four boys using that bathroom. I wasn't going in there.
But finally one morning, I actually walked into the bathroom and looked in the bathtub. There was a plant growing out of the drain, and I do not exaggerate, that was over a FOOT TALL! I wasn't paying attention. But let's face it. Those boys were perfectly capable of uprooting the Little Shop of Horrors Alien Plant themselves. They weren't paying attention either. Actually, they said they were curious how big it would get. Right... just before it ate one of them.

10) Is there anything else that you would like to share with us ? Some words of wisdom for us ? :)

Parenting is a wild and wooly ride. But God sent you those kids for a reason - He knows that you will love them no matter what. Trust that. And know that your Savior is right by your side every inch of the way. Study, learn, pray, fast, and keep moving your little family to the Celestial Kingdom step by step.

And be fearless in standing for truth. Have your children MEMORIZE the Proclamation on the Family to arm them for the future they face. And be faithful and fearless. They need to see you standing strong as the storms swirl about us. Be their rock and you lean on your Rock.

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Giveaway 

ISN'T SHE AMAZING ????? Such a fun interview !! Now I have an autographed copy of her book, '52 Weeks of Fun Family Service' that she mailed to me to give to you !!! Please enter to win here on the rafflecopter !!! Love, JL~

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