Thursday, June 16, 2011

Unexpected surprise!

Last night I was reading SurvivalBlog before I went to bed when unexpectedly I came across this letter someone had written in. It caught me totally by surprise. I blinked in shock and then read the letter out loud to Don, who hadn't seen it yet. I can't tell you how much this touched me! My thanks to Ron in Florida as well as to SurvivalBlog for posting this.
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Dear Mr. Rawles,

I am a regular reader of Survivalblog.com, and recently saw your recommendation of the book The Simplicity Primer by Patrice Lewis. I purchased the book on Amazon on Book Bomb day as you suggested, and the book arrived today. When I purchased the book, I thought this would be a great educational tool for my family, so tonight I started what will be a one-year ritual with my wife and two children. Immediately after dinner, I read the first tip out loud to my family. Tonight’s tip is on "Attitude". We talked about the advice, and each of us gave examples of where we have a good attitude and where we have an attitude we can improve. For myself, I told my kids that I feel it is my duty to talk to them and teach them things, but all too often I come home from work tired and spend time with myself rather than doing this, and allow them to go to their computer or television. I told them that what I am doing to correct this behavior is to spend the next year doing what we did tonight, along with some other things I have in mind. We then shared with each other something about the other’s attitude we thought was really great and how we felt it contributed to the family. At the end of the discussion, I summarized the importance of the tip and asked the kids if they liked doing this. Both of them said they enjoyed it and I think they are looking forward to it tomorrow.

It was nice spending this short time talking about an important topic with my wife and kids, I am looking forward to it too. I call this The Simplicity Challenge. Each evening after dinner, one member of the family reads a tip from the book and then the family discusses the tip for ten minutes. I think it promises to be a great new ritual added to our routine and will teach us all a lot, while bringing us closer together.

Warm Regards, - Ron in Florida

10 comments:

  1. Family devotions using your book! :D

    Actually, it's great that you are influencing people as was your goal. Actually, when I saw the book's format, I immediately thought of much the same thing, although not in a "family devotion" sense, more like one of those word-a-day or puzzle-a-day calendars.

    It's always great to stumble upon something of that sort out of the blue...but isn't "unexpected surprise" a redundancy? :)

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  2. That is so cool!! I also bought your book on 'book bomb day'. It came in 2 days! While I haven't read it yet, 'cause I'm in the middle of another one, I am glad I was able to add it to my library.

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  3. Congratulations, Patrice. Just goes to show that Idaho housewives can change the world one family at a time! :D

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  4. It is the best compliment when our writing reaches someone at that type of level! Bravo to you and well deserved.

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  5. Wonderful idea. I am thinking as I read it, that your book would be a good gift to a family memeber that might need a little guidance without "mom" interfereing-it always sounds better coming from someone else. LOL!

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  6. Patrice,

    What a wonderful idea! Just a housewife? Pshaw!

    It was such a treat to meet you and your family at Costco. You and the girls were exactly as I imagined you would be, and meeting your parents was icing on the cake! Just ask my hubby - I didn't stop raving about you for two days!

    Lisa

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  7. Patrice,
    I almost forgot to tell you how much I am enjoying your book! It's like sitting down with a friend who loves you and will tell you the truth - something that is almost completely missing in most people's lives. I recognized your friend from the booksigning in one of the stories, and the page with the jar of dirt now has tear stains. Please don't ever stop writing - more people need to hear your voice.
    Lisa

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  8. Lisa, I was so glad to have a chance to meet you. I appreciate you making the special trip!

    (And yeah, I **still** get teary-eyed whenever I see that jar of dirt.)

    - Patrice

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  9. Patrice, I think I know how you feel. I still feel uplifted when I think of those occasions when one of my audience would call the station to tell how they'd used information from a particular program or series I'd aired.

    It's a humbling experience, isn't it?

    And such a blessing!

    I'm so proud of you!

    A. McSp

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  10. That is wonderful! I bet you are inspiring more families to spend time together and are having more of a positive influence than you'll ever know! I have been enjoying your book immensely and even wrote about it on my blog...there are many people out there that need to read your book!

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