Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein

This is one of my favorite quotes. So often in life, we judge ourselves by what we wish we could be and others by what we think they should be. Judging people not by what they are, but by what we want or expect them to be, sets us up for a society that screams, “You are not enough.”

I have fought this message my whole life.

I’ve fought it within myself, and I’ve even fought doing it to others. Because I know how painful it is to live in the shadow of your own dreams, or trying to “help” someone else catch their own dream (or the one you have for them), the message, “You are enough,” is one that matters a great deal to me. As a mother, I feel it is my constant mission to make sure my boys know they are loved just as they are. I need them to know that no matter what, they are always enough because they are exactly who God made them to be.

I believe the best way to teach our children is to lead by example. I am learning to believe that I am enough just as I am, but it’s taken me 29 years. I’d love to get a quicker start on this for my boys if at all possible. Kids are sponges. They pick up every single thing we put down. Even the bad stuff. So, as much as possible, I want to put down all the good I can muster.

Books with powerful messages is one great way to do this for our kids. Reading not only helps expand their minds and imaginations, it helps them learn to read, listen, and best of all, bond with their mommy! 🙂 (or whoever regularly reads to them.)

I was recently connected with a beautiful independent publishing company, Tree Swing Press. When the opportunity to review their book “Oh Sully!”and help promote a campaign that not only supports the power of literacy, value of reading, and message of “you are good enough as you are,” but also strives to spread the love of reading and writing all over the world, I was thrilled.

I read the book “Oh Sully!” and instantly fell in love. The book is about a whale who wants to be a bird, and ultimately learns that he is perfect just the way he is and should be happy with that rather than trying to be something else. It’s a wonderful message and an absolutely adorable book. One that I am so excited to share with my sons.

The author of the book, Kevin Gard, is passionate about helping those in need by providing books to children who may otherwise not be able to afford them. They have a book for book campaign that allows one book to be donated to a child in need for every book sold online. Kevin is also working on a second campaign called Border-to-Border where he will run from the Canada border to the Mexico border in order to spread literacy. (Whoa!)

The most pressing campaign they are currently working on, however, is a Kickstarter campaign for Kevin’s second book called “Sully and His Bike.” The goal is to raise a certain amount of money in a certain number of days in order to cover the costs of getting this book off and running.

Time is running out and they need your help! There are only 6 days left and they still need about $6,000 to meet their goal. If they do not reach the goal, all the money donated so far will be lost. This makes me so sad and I am really hoping I can help Kevin and his company reach their goal for this second book. A book that, just like “Oh Sully!” sends a positive, uplifting message to our children and the world. I think we can all agree we can’t ever have too much of that!

I am including the link to the Kickstarter campaign page where you can sponsor the book and donate money to the cause. I am not usually a fan of things promoting and asking people to spend their money; but this is a good reason to spend your dollars. Follow the link here to read more about the second book and how you can support them in their quest toward getting “Sully and His Bike” published.

This is a small company with big dreams and I am honored to be a part of their journey. I hope you will also take part in their journey. Support their dreams of getting this second book published so they can reach more children and touch more lives. Help Sully teach others that they too are enough, just because they are who they are; and remember, so are you! 🙂

You can also follow his wife Sommer’s blog here.

Hurry and head on over to the Kickstarter campaign page now!

Thanks for reading and as always, don’t forget to vote!