If It Weren't For You...

President's Message By
Frank L. VanderSloot
President/CEO

November 2004

I love to hear the stories about how Melaleuca Marketing Executives all over the world are enhancing lives. We are providing great products, improved health, and safer homes. For the small percentage of our customers who choose to be serious about building a Melaleuca business, we are also providing a way to get ahead financially. Of course, my family has also been very blessed by our company's success. I want to personally thank each of you for the blessings that you have brought to our lives.

Growing up, I had no dreams of being wealthy. The thought never occurred to me. I had watched my Dad struggle trying to make ends meet. No one worked harder than Dad. If he couldn't make it, I knew I wouldn't be able to. That was a fact of my life. I accepted it with no second thoughts. I was happy with that.

Growing up, I learned that happiness does not come from having things. We didn't have much and I was really happy growing up. We found things to do to entertain ourselves: fishing, swimming, hiking, horseback riding and just plain horsing around. We worked hard and we played hard. It was a great childhood!

Things have really changed since then. I have learned that helping people reach their goals has a way of coming back around to you. I find myself in a better financial situation than I ever could have dreamed. In some ways, I feel guilty. I can't imagine why I would have been chosen to receive these blessings. It's amazing to me.

I want you to know how grateful my family and I are that we can afford to do things that we could at one time never imagine.

There are many examples.

Mother passed away two months ago. She was 89. For the past several years she has gradually lost strength and was not able to care for herself. She finally progressed to where she needed 24-hour home care. She did not want to go into a nursing home or move to Idaho Falls to live with us. We were able to hire three full-time nurses to care for her around the clock. We are so grateful that we were able to be in a position to provide for her in this way. Her dream to die in her own home came true. She passed away August 2nd in the little log cabin that she loved so much.

When Mom fell and broke her hip and it was evident that she would not recover and would soon pass away, we were able to put our whole family, including grandkids (about 20 of us) on a plane to go see her. We were able to tell her how much we loved her and how much she meant to us. She died the next day. I am grateful that we were able to have that last day with her.

Ten years ago I found myself as a single dad with six children, with no mother in our home. Four years before that, my children and I moved into a little farm house in the country. It only had two bedrooms, but we built three more on to the corners of the house and remodeled the basement to add two more tiny bedrooms. We fixed up the inside, but really never finished it. For years we had light bulbs hanging from the ceiling by a wire, just like when I grew up. I joked with the kids that we had decorated in "early depression." We put on a new roof, but never got around to putting any siding on the new portions of the house. I figured someday I would get married and my wife might want to choose the siding. We lived for several years with no siding. The nearest neighbors were almost a mile away, so even they didn't care.

Then everything changed for our family. I met Belinda. Belinda had eight children and lived in Portland, Oregon. I fell in love with her and her children. After a six-month long-distance relationship, we decided to get married. Putting fourteen children into five bedrooms is a challenge! Belinda and I decided we would share a bedroom and everyone else would need to share, too. Some kids had to share their bedrooms with someone they had never met before. I promised them that someday they would all have a bedroom of their own. That was nine years ago. We did not want to incur debt, so we waited until we could afford it. Four years ago, we moved into a new home with a bedroom for each child. Even though some had gotten married and moved away before we were able to keep our promise, each of our children now has a place of their own ready for them whenever they come home. Which they often do. Belinda and I are so grateful for the blessings we have received to be able to keep that promise to our children. Our new house sits right next to our old house, which we use as a guest house. We have light fixtures in every room (thanks to Belinda) and even rock siding that we picked up off our own property. Belinda has decorated our home with knick-knacks and with what I call dead weeds. It is very warm and peaceful there.

We realize that none of this would have happened without our many Melaleuca friends who believed in us and in each other. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Frank

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