Sorry for the late post. . .yesterday I was in Brandon for a 2 day MRAC board meeting and the internet connection situation in my room was not feeling my chi. . .but here I am, late but enthusiastic:)
Sooooo I'm reviewing Amish Values For Your Family by Suzanne Woods Fisher. . .I stumbled upon this opportunity for bloggers from Litfuse Publicity Group. The deal is, they send out info. about books they are promoting, if you are interested you submit your name and if you get picked they send you the book for free on the condition that you review it on your blog. . . .. super cool. When this title first popped up I thought. .. what the? Amish? Chaaa. . .no. But then I got a little twig/poke/twitch in my gut. .. and I knew for some reason I needed to do this. Boy was I right. ..
The theme of my life this year has been the quest to control the stressy feeling in my brain, brought on by my unrealistic to-do list and rat race tendencies. I've been searching for the recipe for slow, but with a side order of go;) I know deep down there is a way. .it's small choices. .consistent small choices. .and a paradigm shift. The Amish have something going on. ..they've figured some key things out. . .and I'm sure I don't have to join a colony or don a kerchief to get a piece of Amish peace! Aside from the fact that 95% of Amish businesses DON'T FAIL. .and the lower disease statistics than our general population. . there is so much more. . .honestly, you'll have to read the book to get the full picture. .. it's a beauty, and the portraits of family life are nothing short of romantic. . .
But for today. . here are some of my favourite Amish proverbs and one of the values from their culture that really resonated with me. ..here we go. ..
We pass on our convictions to our children by the things we tolerate.
The more a child is valued, the better his values will be.
Keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them!
Peace is seeing a sunset and knowing whom to thank.
If God is not first in our thoughts in the morning, he will be last in our thoughts all day.
My job is to take care of the possible and trust God with the impossible.
Instead of putting others in their place, put yourself in their place.
If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished!!
I just love that last one:) One of the pleasant surprises I got from reading about the Amish was discovering the rich sense of humour that seems to be embedded in their way of life which also acts as the lens that they see every situation through. . for some reason it was unexpected and so fun to read about. . .
Amish principle I TOTALLY love:
CHILDREN ARE LOVED BUT NOT ADORED.
Now. .. I've blogged about this principle before right here. Some of you agreed with me. .others chose not to agree, and some of you sent me emails telling me how wrong I was. . .and I'm o.k. with that. . secretly I LOVE a good rip roaring debate:)
Of course the principle in no way diminishes the value of children in the Amish culture. I actually think it is respectful of them. My opinion is that our "modern" culture is quite disrespectful of children. (don't get me started on the shoe industry . . .stripper shoes for tots is a post for another day. . gag!) I say this because it's quite common to see us parents catering to our kids. . .arranging our lives around them, instead of including them in our lives. . .(I'm guilty of this. . no pot calling the kettle black in this joint. . ) Does that make sense? Then there is the purpose crisis in our society and in desperation to find purpose we stick our kids into the "purpose for living" shaped hole in our lives and they are stuck not only having to live up to our expectations. . but deal with the immense pressure of reflecting how well we preformed as parents. . .I can't help but think that's why some kids rebel. . .
One of my favourite stories told in the book is of an Amish father who gives his son two rabbits as a gift. They head to the feed store and buy all the supplies to build the rabbit hutch and get to work building. . .it takes them all day. At the end they invite their (non Amish) neighbours over to see the finished result. As the neighbours (Father and son) are admiring their handy-work the father asks why they didn't just buy a rabbit hutch at the hardware store, it would have been cheaper? The Amish man replies that they did consider that option but saw that they weren't built to last so decided to buy the lumber and do it themselves. The neighbour then suggests that they could have bought 2 cheap rabbit hutches and when the first one broke, just pull out the second one. The little neighbour boy looks up at his dad and says "Dad! Maybe we could build a hutch!", his dad replies "We can buy a hutch you mean, no reason to reinvent the wheel."
This is the Amish fathers reply:
"Unless you're trying to teach your son how to use a hammer and saw, unless you want to give your son skills he can use for a lifetime. And you're trying to teach him to build things that last. To take pleasure in his work. Unless you don't mind missing those good talks a father and son have while they're working together side by side. If you don't mind missing those things, then sure, you can just buy the hutch down at the feed store."
What a perfect snapshot of the problems at hand. . .our "disposable" culture of consumption. . and our rushed lives where we often opt to take the fast easy option instead of engage in the slow deliberate but higher value solutions to our problems. I often just "do" things for my kids because it's faster. . I'm often thinking of the next job that needs to be done and consumed with checking things off my to-do list instead of living in each moment and squeezing QUALITY out of each day. The ironic thing is that I stress about teaching my kids these amazing life lessons and wonder how on earth I'm going to do it. . .when really. .. if I just took the time to include them in my daily chores and projects. . .even though it's slower and requires patience. . I'd be accomplishing infinitely more than just the completion of a task. It's a simple story. . with a simple point. . but so relevant.
Immediately I thought about my to-do list. . I need to buy gym bags for the kids before school starts and I was already planning and musing about where the cheapest place would be to go and get them. It then occurred to me that I own a sewing machine and a gob load of fabric. . .how fun would it be to spend a day with the kids designing and sewing our own customized super cool gym bags? There's measuring, design, co-ordination with scissors, creative thought and the best part. . .the conversations and joking that will inevitably be taking place the whole time. .. . now why didn't I think of that??
. . .thanks Amish Values For Your Family. . .this is just one example and one principle that I eeked out of this book. . .I give it two thumbs up and a big high five. .. maybe with a bit of air guitar thrown in;)
If you want to be the lucky winner of my extra copy. . be the first to email me your address at colleen@gorpworld.com and it's yours:))))
Read below for some more opportunities to win the book on the Litfuse blog tour. . .
Enter 8/15 - 8/31!
Suzanne Woods Fisher is thrilled to announce the release of Amish Values for Your Family
To celebrate the release of Amish Values for Your Family, Suzanne has teamed up her publisher Revell Books to giveaway a Kindle, and with Bill Coleman (the amazing photographer used on Suzanne’s book covers) to give away a signed Bill Coleman original.
One Grand Prize winner will receive an Amish Values Prize Package (valued at over $200) and includes: * A brand new KINDLE * A Signed Bill Coleman original * Amish Values for Your Family (for KINDLE)
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Click on one of the icons to enter. Winner will be announced on 9/2 at Suzanne’s blog. Be sure to stop by the blogs on Suzanne’s blog tour – many have copies of Amish Values for Your Family to give away.
That's it that's all folks. . .I'm off to haul all my "gym bag making glory" out of the storage room!
be mighty. . with a slow go:)
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I must read this book. I emailed you and I hope I'm the first one :)
Posted by: Brandy | August 19, 2011 at 05:30 PM
Brandy!! I don't think your email went through for some reason?? But I'll take the comment in lieu of the email since you are still technically the first response!
The book is yours! Let me know how I can connect with you:)
Posted by: Colleen | August 19, 2011 at 07:17 PM
Hi Colleen! Loved your review of Amish Values--thank you so very much for taking the time to review it so thoughtfully. This is a keeper! Grateful you were part of the blog tour! Warmly, Suzanne
Posted by: Suzanne Woods Fisher | August 23, 2011 at 10:54 AM
Thanks Suzanne:) I'm so glad I read it. . thank you for writing such a wonderful book, I learned, laughed, and was reminded of what my priorities should/could be:)
Posted by: Colleen | August 30, 2011 at 08:43 PM