American Mothers, Inc.

It is quiet at my house.   By tradition my husband is out with my oldest daughter doing their traditional Mother’s Day preparations.   It’s hard to believe a week ago we were all wearing our “prom” dresses and parading through the Waldorf.

I’m so excited to have Diane selected as our National Mother.   She is a dynamic woman yet exudes a quiet and calm that will serve us well.   The idea of having a blog is a great one!!  I am hoping to stay connected to all of you.  I talked with Diane on the phone and she asked me to write to you all (my Texas past) about getting it started.   We thought that it would be fun to start out with each of our reflections on our weekend of honor at the convention.   She will post them on the blog, we can all make comments and then later move on to bios, parenting (grad-parenting) tips, fun ideas for activities, and even more recipes!  We can share the things we are doing in our own states in the name of AMI.

I volunteered to go first so here goes:

It seems to be the small things that I remember most about our time at the Waldorf.   Not a surprise many of them involve you.

At dinner the first night Carolyn (Vermont) said she wished she had known of American Mothers while she was raising her children.   When she joined she felt like she had come home.   What a beautiful way to express what I too have felt in this organization.

Waiting for our grand entrance I was impressed at the subtle way Patrice (Nevada) whisked me off to the bathroom to tuck in a few things that shouldn’t have been showing.  Discretion is a wonderful trait for a mother.  I’m sure my children wish I had more.

When Erma got up to speak I couldn’t help but notice the remarkable difference between the frailness of her beautiful frame and the strength behind her voice and words.  Maybe that is the metaphor  for all of us as mothers, a humble title with powerful influence.

I thought a lot about Sherri’s comments about light.   When I came home my children were full of stories about the bomb that was set to explode in time square.   I couldn’t help but think of the story of Abraham and the city of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament. The Lord is ready to destroy the city but says he will forebear if he can find fifty righteous.  Abraham negotiates that number down to 10.  I certainly can’t claim that the bomb failed to detonate because of the many righteous mothers in the city but I did feel a powerful strength that came from the combined goodness of all of the women at the convention.  We can rely on that power and strength as we individually go back to our states and continue to make a difference in the lives of families.

I look forward to hearing more from all of you.

Valerie

With five sisters, Valerie Earnshaw understands the power of woman.  By high school graduation, Valerie had lived in 11 homes, 6 states and attended 8 different schools.  Talk about lessons in embracing diversity.  Valerie graduated from college with degrees in Business Finance and Humanities including 6 months spent in Vienna, Austria.  She then joined Electronic Data Systems in a management training program working in Dallas, Frankfurt, Germany and Washington DC.  There she met and married her husband, Scott when he whisked her off to Tokyo where they spent most of the next 12 years having and raising their four children in that fast paced, multi-cultural environment.  Seeking a quieter life, the Earnshaw's moved to New Hampshire where they currently reside with their family.