I Love It When Someone Really Gets It

I am so lucky to have been found by Dana Roc, who runs a beautiful website and newsletter devoted to helping people live fuller lives. She featured an interview with me this week in her Inspiring People series, and I have to say that I think she's the inspiring one.

Please check it out. Our talk really got to some of the key themes of the book that I have wanted to make sure people understood. The main one is about control. How we're not in control so much of what happens to us, but we are in control of our attitude toward what happens to us. Such a big lesson in life.

Read the whole interview.

I also want to tell you that we've made great progress collecting funds for October's beneficiary of the Seed Campaign, the John Dau Foundation. One of my readers issues a challenge to everyone who had already bought my book to donate $100 to the foundation and many of you have responded.

We're also trying to track down a used ambulance that can be donated to Dau's clinic in Sudan AND a way to get the ambulance delivered there. So we're working.

I tell you, I thought writing a book was rewarding. But I've decided that finding a way to help people is the most rewarding thing of all. Thanks for your help.

Sharing the Luck and the Love

Wow! What a difference some dedicated readers can make. I launched The Seed Campaign only four weeks ago, and so much has come from it already. As you remember, if you buy a copy of The Unlikely Lavender Queen via my website, www.jeannieralston.com, dear Amazon will give back a commission to The Seed Campaign. Every month I'll be donating these funds to a different cause.

I'm happy to report that through your efforts, I'll be able to give about $300 to St. Anthony's Alliance, which started and still supports the lavender co-op here in Mexico. $300 will go a long way in Mexico toward helping the lavender growers and soap makers in the pueblo expand their business and marketing. Thank you so much for your support of my book and this effort. What's more, by promoting The Seed Campaign, the lavender co-op has gotten more exposure. Several national media outlets are considering stories on the lavender co-op. Let's cross our fingers for that to happen. Also, several of you have written me with ideas on how to do even more with the lavender co-op. One very nice university professor has talked about having a class of hers plan a lavender festival here in the San Miguel area. I'll keep you posted on all of this.

Now that we're in October, The Seed Campaign will be moving on to another amazing organization doing wonderful work--this time in a very different part of the world. I'm sure many of you have heard of The Lost Boys of Sudan. These boys--from ages 5 to 14--walked 1,000 miles to find refuge after civil war broke out in Sudan in the 90s.

One of the Lost Boys is named John Bul Dau; he has written a memoir himself called God Grew Tired of Us and he's the subject of one of the most moving documentaries I've ever seen--also called God Grew Tired of Us. Robb and I watched the movie with the boys the other evening and I swear if everyone--especially children--in the U.S. saw that film I think we would have a different country. You just can't believe what the young men in the film have lived through and how they've come out of it with their spirits intact. John Dau and the other Lost Boys in the film have such gratitude for what they DO have and such commitment to give back to others who haven't been as "lucky." The movie truly blew me away.

I have the great honor of donating to the John Dau Sudan Foundation this month. I got hooked up with John and his work through a new dear friend named Laura Ponticello, who has arranged all kinds of events for me at the end of October in the Syracuse, New York, area. The funds earned through sales of my book via my website will go to a health clinic John has founded in Sudan. I've said before that I think the most important message of my book is making the most of the twists and turns life takes, and John Dau has done that in a way far beyond what I could ever dream of. Please visit the website, www.johndaufoundation.org to learn more about his truly inspiring cause. You can also see the attached video about the Seed Campaign effort.

I do hope you will tell your friends about this month's effort. My goal is to donate even more money from The Seed Campaign this month. If you've already bought my book, I thank you so much. If you haven't, please consider buying my book this month along with the film God Grew Tired of Us. Or just buy the film itself. But make sure you first go to my website and click on buy the book (you can go anywhere on Amazon from my book's home page). The Seed Campaign does not get a commission from Amazon unless you start the process on my website.

I also want to tell you about some upcoming events (details are on my website).

Oct. 10th--San Miguel de Allende; author's sala reading.
Oct. 23rd--Skaneateles, NY; keynote speaker at a cancer research fundraiser
Oct. 24th--Syracuse, NY; speaking at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Oct. 29th--Austin, TX; evening of rejuvenation at Soma Vida
Nov. 1 & 2--Austin, TX; Texas Book Festival, where I'll introduce November's effort to benefit Literacy Texas.
Jan. 15-17--East Texas; speaker, Pulpwood Queen Book Club Convention

Hope to see some of you along the way. Thank you.