Meet Jamie and Jim Barnes, the owners of Home Sweet Home Smart Cookies Academy! Jamie grew up in Mapleton, and Jim grew up in Lehi. They’ve been married since 1992 and have four kids. Their first kids are twins, so they jumped into parenthood quickly!
Jamie took her first babysitting job at 11 years old. She watched four children and was paid with a bag of pennies! “I always knew it was my life calling. Kids are drawn to me, and I just love being around them.” She started her in-home childcare business in 1996, when her twins were 18 months old, and has been licensed by the state of Utah since 2005. In 2008, Jamie felt the call to expand her business to a childcare center. “Moms were coming to my door crying because they needed childcare and everywhere was full.” She prayed, “If you want me to do this, I will do this. You open the doors and I will walk through them.” And the doors just kept opening. Jim was working as a truck driver at the time, and work was slowing down. Jamie suggested he quit his job and join her as a partner at the center. She didn’t think he’d be for it, but he was! “We worked as a team—he did the cooking and cleaning, and I did most of the caretaking. To this day, we run into grown-up kids who rave about Jim’s pancakes and French toast.”
Now, Jamie and Jim have about 130 kids enrolled, with an average of 70 kids in attendance every day. Jamie’s goal for opening a center was to care for more children, while still providing a place that feels like home. “We welcome children with hugs and a family feel.” Home Sweet Home Smart Cookies Academy has a unique setup, with every ‘cookie’ class moves between rooms like math and science centers for child-led learning, an indoor gym, and playrooms. The environment shift helps kids stay engaged and active.
Gratitude has been a big game changer for Jamie’s life. “The more you practice it, the more it expands your heart. The more gratitude you have, the less things bother you. I try to live it by serving others—listening, giving hugs, lifting people when they need it.” Jamie has overcome a lot of adversity in her life through the practice of gratitude. The first couple of years of running the center were really hard for her. Through her Child Development Associate certification and her vast experience, she knew a lot about childcare and child development, but didn’t feel like she knew anything about running a business or carrying the weight of caring for 70-plus children. She grew up with a learning disability, battled depression and anxiety, has lived with Graves’ disease since she was a teen, survived breast cancer and lost her mom to breast cancer. “Through all of it, I feel blessed and grateful.”
Jamie says there’s only one way she’s overcome adversity—through the Savior. “I wake up every morning and just keep going. Family support is huge, too. My husband and I are business partners. He always believes in me and supports my ideas, no matter how crazy they sound.” Jamie continues to lead with love at Home Sweet Home Smart Cookies Academy, becoming a better business owner as time goes on, while dealing with the rest of her trials, through gratitude.
This month, practice bringing gratitude into your life to overcome the adversity in your life. Like Jamie, you can live gratitude by serving others, and practicing being thankful, expanding your heart and learning to let things go.
“Through all of it, I feel blessed and grateful.”