Book Exchange

In the middle of May I received a letter from a dear college friend {and former roommate}.  Inside the envelope was a simple letter stating, "Welcome to the Book Exchange" and proceeded to instruct me to send a book to the first child listed on the letter {there were 2}, then send out 6 letters to fellow mom-friends who in turn would send a book to child #1 {who had been child #2 on my letter} and then send out 6 letters of their own with my child listed as #1 and their child listed as #2.  And so on and so forth.  It boasted that if everyone participated your child would end up with 36 books for the one that you originally had sent.

Honestly, when I first looked at it I thought, "no thanks!".  We're living on a budget, plus it takes effort to organize all of those copies, who to send it to, etc.  But the more I thought about it, the more I found I wanted to do it.  If Audrey didn't end up getting anything in return, that was okay.  Books are extremely important to me for Audrey to have.  Out of all the things she has, books are what I wished she had more of.  I buy them when I can and especially when I find good deals, but they can be super expensive.  So, if we were able to bless someone else's child with a new book that's all I needed for motivation!

Immediately I had about 4 people decline participating {totally okay}.  I think I ended up sending 3 make-ups, so a total of 5 people I never heard back from {and so assume they went ahead and participated}.  As of yesterday afternoon Audrey has received 5 new books in the mail.  I got so excited for her when the first one arrived and then they kept coming!  We've had deliveries from: Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas and Nevada!  The best part of it all is that we are getting books I wouldn't have necessarily picked out myself {i.e. I hadn't heard of it or the cover - yes I judge books by their covers - was eh to me, etc.}.  And of course, Audrey loves books and reading and exploring and turning the pages.  So fun!