At 49, cartoonist Marian Henley hasn’t committed to marrying the man with whom she has been dating for seven years. But as the Big 5-0 looms, she realizes that above all else she wants a child. Her story follows the heartbreaking ups and downs of going through the international adoption process; deciding when it’s time to grow up and maybe even get married; and in the end, it’s the story of a daughter’s relationship with her father, and how becoming a mother finally led her to understand him. The Shiniest Jewel is a touching narrative, accompanied by Marian’s winsome drawings, that beautifully weaves together her realizations about the joy, and sometimes heartbreak, of building a family. About the Author: Marian Henley’s comic strips have appeared in More, Glamour, Ms., Heavy Metal, MAD, San Francisco Chronicle, LA Weekly, Dallas Morning News, Texas Monthly, Austin Chronicle, Utne Reader, and many other newspapers and magazines. Live-action video adaptations of her comic strip have aired on PBS and The Learning Channel. She is the author of Maxine!, a graphic novel, and Laughing Gas, a collection of comic strips. Marian lives in Los Angeles, with her husband Rick and their son William.

From the Back Cover: No joy may be as great as when a long-awaited child is adopted into a loving family. The decision to adopt, however, must not be hasty or uninformed. It involves many personal, legal, and emotional issues. As a former attorney and an adoptive parent, Christine Moriarty Field is well equipped to sort through the legal concerns and help you work through the myriad of questions you will have before embarking on the adoption journey.

From dealing with infertility to the actual adoption, Field explores, in the warm, approachable style of one who has been there, the joys and pitfalls of this process.

For those whose adoptions are completed, Should You Adopt? offers guidelines for adjusting to instant parenthood, helping siblings accept the new arrival, and making adoption a natural part of the child’s everyday life. Throughout, Field invites us to “celebrate adoption.”

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About the Author: Christine Moriarty Field, former criminal prosecutor and private attorney, is now a stay-at-home mom and author of Coming Home to Raise Your Children (Revell, 1995). She and her husband have three daughters and are in the process of adopting a fourth child. They live in Wheaton, Illinois.

From the Back Cover: Follow the author’s trips as a single Baha’i woman to Buryatia, a republic in Russian Siberia, to adopt three Buryat children growing up in orphanages there. Her journeys in 1998 and 2001 describe a little known post-Soviet country, the ancestral home of Genghis Khan, as it struggles with monumental change and poverty, but also experiences a resurgence of traditional Buryat culture needed to build new hope for the future. Join a modern day odyssey of the heart and spirit, mixed with a little luck and humor, and see how one family’s lives will never be the same.

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About the Author: Suzanne L. Popke lives with her husband and three young children in Whitewater, Wisconsin, where she works as a psychologist, author, and public lecturer on adoption issues and Buryat culture. She is also a mixed media visual artist and musician who has exhibited work and performed throughout Wisconsin.

The family enjoys horses, raising koi (Japanese pond fish), turtles, cats, dogs, gardening, fossil hunting, and teaching about Buryat culture. Suzanne is a member of the Baikal Region Adoptive Family Fund which works to improve conditions in Buryat orphanages and provide mentoring to families who have adopted children from Buryatia, Siberia.

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By the Same Author: The Buryat Journey Continues Overland: Siberian Pearls at Culture Camp (2009).

From the Dust Jacket: A fierce and provocative journey into the life of a young heart transplant patient, Sick Girl is extraordinary both for its gripping story of a medical miracle and for its unique and forceful narrator, Amy Silverstein.

At just twenty-four, Amy was a typical type-A law student: smart, driven, and highly competitive. With a budding romance and a heavy academic schedule, Amy did not have time for illness even one that caused her heart to pound violently and erratically in her chest, for her to blackout, lose her breath, and suffer temporary blindness. When her family doctor suggested that her symptoms were due to stress and diet, Amy was more than happy to drop a few classes, think calm thoughts, and eat fistfuls of salt. At such a young age, how could she have guessed that her heart was about to give out?

Amy Silverstein a surprisingly irreverent narrator chronicles with grace and force her harrowing medical journey from the first misdiagnosis to her astonishing and ongoing recovery post-transplant. Her memoir is made all the more dramatic by the deliriously romantic bedside courtship with her devoted boyfriend, Scott, and her uncompromising desire to become a mother.

Distrustful of her doctors and insistent in her refusal to be the “grateful heart patient” she is expected to be, Amy presents a patient’s perspective that is truly eye-opening and sometimes controversial. Amy’s shocking honesty and storytelling skills allow the reader to live her nightmare from the inside an unforgettable experience that is both unsettling and utterly compelling.

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About the Author: Despite a ten-year prognosis, Amy Silverstein’s new heart has been beating strong for nineteen years. After practicing law and performing music, Amy has discovered a new passion, writing. She lives with her husband and son in New York.

Words from Ms. Torres: “I take my FAS and turn it in to a teaching tool to help others learn what I go through every day of my life.” “If one person listens to what I have to say, then I have done my job. This is what I was born to do. I have won many awards for my work. The awards I’ve won have been great, but my biggest award is knowing that my message is being delivered and knowing that I might be helping so many people and unborn babies. If I can prevent one more child from this awful syndrome I will be happy. My ultimate goal is to get the word out there that FAS is 100% preventable. I want everyone to know about the effects of alcohol on the fetus. My advice, my plea, is that you PLEASE, PLEASE do not drink while you are pregnant, even if you plan on giving your baby up for adoption. Let your baby fulfil his or her dreams and live a normal life. For all the fathers to be, you play an important role in this too. You must be encouraging and supportive. Staying away from alcohol yourself would be helpful.”

From the Back Cover: “I don’t have any idea what we are doing, where we are going, or if what we are doing is the right thing. I’m just trusting that God will take care of things from this point on.”

With those words, Steve and Edwina Champion went to see their daughter for the first time on a cold, gray, winter day in Ukraine. They had never before flown on an airplane when they left their North Carolina home for a country where everything—the language, the food, even the toilet paper—was unfamiliar, and finding a simple can opener was nothing short of miraculous. After many frustrating days of being cooped up in a drab, soulless apartment, they were about to meet Lillyann, the little girl of their dreams.

This is the story of one couple’s experience of adopting a child from a foreign country—a child that not only had developmental delays but was deaf. Most of all, it is a story about God’s hand in the lives of everyday people. Adopting Lillyann led Steve and Edwina back to the Lord and made crystal-clear the importance of a loving church family.

Although they have since experienced numerous heartaches and trials, the Champions’ conviction that God always intended for Lillyann to be their daughter has never wavered, and their love for her has only deepened. Edwina’s letters to Lillyann capture the couple’s anticipation, anxiety, and joy with a freshness and poignancy that will touch your heart.

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About the Author: Edwina Holman Champion, her husband, Steve, and their daughter, Lillyann, live in a small town outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. They are active in their church, Unity Baptist. In addition to their daughter from Ukraine, they have three grown sons and two grandchildren, Morgan and Johnathon.

An American volunteer in a Chinese orphanage learns to pull from the hidden strength within her to improve conditions for the children. If you have ever wondered what day to day life is like in a Chinese orphanage, this will tell it. If you have ever wondered what it is like to love a child so deeply, even though they aren’t yours, this will tell it. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to move to a different country, this will tell it. About the Author: Kay Bratt was a recipient of the “2006 Pride of The City” award for her humanitarian efforts; one of ten winners chosen from a pool of over 2 million residents, she was the only foreigner to receive the 2006 award. Among eight other distinguished individuals, I.M. Pei, a Chinese American architect who was born in China and designed the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, was also a recipient of this award. As a part of the media coverage, Kay was included in an hour long segment shown on the top local television channel, telling the story of her work and accomplishments in China. In China, Kay served as editor and writer for the local expatriate newsletter for one term. She has also been published in On The Spot expatriate magazine. Her online journal entries from which her memoir was written has touched hearts locally and internationally, gaining her many supporters who all took a deep interest in the story she was sharing.

Part memoir, part parent advice and all inspiration, Lisa Graham Keegan describes the family life that led her to become one of the nation’s best known education reformers. While her education work has taken her from neighborhoods to the campaign trail to White House conference rooms; she describes that work as secondary to her true passion of ensuring that individuals can become exactly who they were created to be. With an engaging and personal style, Lisa shares her story of the family that inspires her, and of the happy and heart-splitting experiences common to many of us that only deepened her belief that we are here to serve each other by seeking the best that we can be. For anybody traveling a road with children, and wanting to embrace every aspect of their life—accepting and challenging children with mental impairment, thriving through adoption, creating new and strong families after divorce or gratefully celebrating a child’s LGBorT orientation—Lisa’s surprising experiences and advice will make you laugh and inspire you at the same time.

From the Publisher: Life was forever changed when Terry and Julie Garlock adopted their first daughter, Melanie, from China in 1998, then their second daughter, Kristen, from China in 2003. A new father at 50, he tells through stories of his daughters’ lives how he rediscovered what is important, like showing a child how to make alligator shadows against a sunlit wall. A father tells his daughters the lessons of life he learned as a helicopter gunship pilot in the Vietnam war. He tells them about John Synowsky and Graham Stevens, the two men who risked their lives to rescue him when he was shot down, and who received the Soldier’s Medal for heroism that day. “We learned that courage is not the absence of fear, courage is getting the job done while you’re so scared your hands shake.” “We learned that heroes are not larger-than-life and fearless, they are the ordinary people who do extraordinary things when their brothers are in danger.”

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About the Author: Terry L. Garlock is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Certified in Long Term Care (CLTC), Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) and Registered Investment Advisor. He helps business and individual clients preserve family wealth through financial planning. An advocate for adoption, he encourages and supports others as they seek to build a family through adoption. This book represents part of that support. He lives with his family in Peachtree City, GA. As a combat Cobra helicopter pilot in the Vietnam war in 1969, Terry received the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Distinguished Flying Cross. He is teaching his daughters that every man and woman in our armed forces deserve our gratitude for the freedom we enjoy.

From the Publisher: This inspirational book is written to promote hope in foster and adoptive parents contending with youngsters and youth. Small Feats describes the results achieved by the daily, one-step-at-a-time, challenges that face parents of difficult behavioral children. Also a testimony to the “Everyday Heroes” that commit themselves to love and nurture these special children.

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About the Author: Richard J. Delaney, Ph.D., is an internationally known trainer and consultant who has worked with troubled youth since 1970. He has consulted with foster and adoptive parents, caseworkers and child care agencies over the past twenty-five years. Dr. Delaney received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Loyola University of Chicago in 1973. But his real education began when he met foster and adoptive parents.

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By the Same Author: Fostering Changes: Treating Attachment-Disordered Foster Children (1991, WJ Corbett); Troubled Transplants: Unconventional Strategies for Helping Disturbed Foster and Adopted Children (with Frank R Kustal, Ed.D.) (1993, University of Southern Maine); The Long Journey Home (1994, Journey Press); The Healing Power of the Family: An Illustrated Overview of Life with the Disturbed Foster or Adopted Child (1997); Raising Cain: Caring for Troubled Youngsters/Repairing Our Troubled System (1998); The Permutations of Permanency: Making Sensitive Placement Decisions (1998); and Safe Passage: A Summary of the “Parent 2 Parent” Mentoring Program (2000).

From the Back Cover: God promised to bless the Stolz family if only they would obey and adopt a child from Russia. It all began with a simple prayer. “I began reading the book The Prayer of Jabez sometime early in 2001. That one little prayer that Jabez prayed changed his life ... and ours as well.” Angie’s testimony describes countless miracles bestowed upon them during their journey of love. Their faith will amaze and inspire you when their spiritual led adoption takes a turn for the worse in their heart wrenching adoption story. Small Miracles, a book about everyday people with extraordinary faith. About the Author: Angie Mosley Stolz of Ellijay, Georgia is a 39-year-old mother of five. She has been married to her husband Ed for 14 years. She attends Whitestone Baptist Church where she has been a member since she was 12 years old. Active in the church, Angie is presently Director of the Youth Program. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. Angie is an interior designer self-employed in the design industry since 1990.

From the Back Cover: Possum Trot, Texas, is an East Texas town so tiny you won’t find it on most maps. Yet in this small town, God chose the bishop of a church and his wife to begin a movement with one simple word: adopt.

Family by family, God challenged the members of Bennett Chapel to adopt seventy-two of the toughest kids in the foster care system. It was the hardest challenge this community ever faced. But they were determined to give the kids something they had never experienced—the power of redemptive love.

This heart-affirming story is so inspirational it has attracted the attention of the national news, has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and on all major networks, and has appeared in articles in Reader’s Digest, People, and Family Circle.

This is their story. This is their miracle.

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About the Author: For more than twenty years Bishop W.C. Martin has served the community of Possum Trot, Texas, as pastor of Bennett Chapel. In 1997, he and his wife, Donna, adopted two children and began a miraculous adventure that has become one of the premier adoption stories in America. Bishop Martin and Donna have appeared on such programs as Oprah, Dateline NBC, and Good Morning America to tell this miraculous story. Martin’s vision for the church in America is to encourage Christians toward caring for orphans so that no child will be left without a loving home.

From the Back Cover: For twenty years, readers of The Christian Science Monitor have enjoyed the musings of a singular writer who has brought his talent to bear on a wide range of human interest subjects. Robert Klose has attracted fans from all walks of life, from physicians to farmers to teachers, and his unique insights on life are seasoned with gentle, often laugh-out-loud humor.

The cream of Klose’s columns has now been gathered in this delightful book culled largely from the more than 250 pieces written for the Monitor. Small Worlds captures his graceful prose and engaging voice in brief essays whose subjects range from the joys of small town hardware stores and Converse sneakers to the challenges of learning a foreign language or traveling abroad.

In these pieces, readers will find themselves in the company of a wordsmith who is warm, funny, and smart a man passionate about many subjects. Within these pages are memorable stories about Klose’s life: his childhood pet piranha, his love of the clarinet, his attempts to learn Polish. He shares touching moments of his experience raising adoptive sons, from his first encounter with Alyosha in a Russian orphanage—a bond sealed with a Pez dispenser to learning to counsel six-year-old Anton about puppy love. Klose also depicts his life in Maine, where pursuit of warmth is a prime occupation and culture is best defined by a deserted Downeast beach or a pick-your-own strawberry farm. In addition to this breadth of subject matter, the wide range of forms in which Klose writes—social and cultural commentary, travel writing, humor, and more—makes these essays excellent examples for fledgling writers.

Whether poignantly reflecting on the parent-child relationship or nostalgically recollecting the old-fashioned ice cream soda, Robert Klose is a writer whose voice rings true and is sure to appeal to fans of other humorists like Garrison Keillor or Jean Shepherd. Small Worlds is a deft blending of wisdom and whimsy, a celebration of the art of the essay that lovers of fine writing will take to their hearts.

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About the Author: Robert Klose is a native of New Jersey but has been living in Maine since 1981. He teaches biology at University College of Bangor. He is the single father of two adoptive sons, from Russia and Ukraine, and a regular contributor of essays to The Christian Science Monitor. His work has also appeared in Newsweek, The Boston Globe, Reader’s Digest, Exquisite Corpse, and elsewhere. He is a four-time winner of the Maine Press Association’s annual award for opinion writing.

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By the Same Author: Adopting Alyosha: A Single Man Finds a Son in Russia (1999, University Press of Mississippi).

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Compiler’s Note: Although not exclusively about his experiences as a single man who adopted two sons, the book includes relevant stories and observations; see, particularly, “A Son from Russia” and “A Son from Ukraine” (pp. 49-91).

For over a decade, we’ve coached thousands of women through various transitions (business and personal) and discovered that many people struggle a great deal when it comes time to grow-to transition into the new person they are meant to become. For many, it is absolutely painful. They avoid various types of transitions no matter the cost to themselves and the ones they love. Our hope at the Smart Women’s Institute is that by learning how to “lean” into transitions, you will no longer try to force yourself to just be happy but instead you will move forward and do the work to get to the magical life you can have on the other side of the transition. Includes Section called “Adoption Transitions.”

Three years ago, adopting a child from China was the furthest thing from our minds since we had enough trouble parenting our own three biological children. We were moved to adopt a fourth child because of the incredibly high percentage of small girls in China that needed homes. This book is a simple attempt to record what it was that our one-year-old daughter must have thought, and how difficult this must have been for her (at the time), even though she would likely never remember anything of her Chinese past. About the Author: The author and his wife are caretakers of four really great people ranging from 2 to 9 years old. Dana was their 4th miracle. He is a Professor in a small university town and has extensive living and working experience in Central America and Mexico. His wife is an attorney who also lived and worked abroad in the Philippines.

From the Back Cover: Before You Adopt...

Are you considering adoption? Read this first! Let Sara Dormon and Ruth Graham help you navigate the tempestuous roller-coaster ride of the adoption journey. Step by step, they will guide you through the legal, financial and practical aspects of the adoption process. You’ll gain a realistic picture of what adoption means—the joys, the fears, the stresses, the disappointments and the happy moment when a child is put in your arms. Graham and Dormon will prepare you for the spiritual, emotional and mental aspects of adoption with practical tips and the wisdom of their experiences. They also share personal, heartfelt stories from the viewpoints of the birth mother, adoptive parents and others involved in the process that lend helpful perspective.

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About the Author: Sara Dormon, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist specializing in women’s issues and crisis pregnancies. For the past 25 years, she has worked with young women and their families as they deal with unplanned pregnancies. Sara has been interviewed on television and radio, covering the issues of teen pregnancy, abortion and adoption.

Ruth Graham, the daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, is an author and national speaker on unplanned pregnancy. Because of her daughter’s two teenaged pregnancies, Ruth has traveled extensively, sharing about her daughter’s and her experiences in order to help young women and their families through similar hardships. Ruth is currently on the board of Birthmothers®, a non-profit, para-church organization that provides confidential, non-judgmental assistance to any woman facing an unplanned pregnancy.

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By the Same Author: I’m Pregnant... Now What?: Heartfelt Advice on Getting Through an Unplanned Pregnancy (2004).

From the Publisher: Guidance from one foster parent to another: navigating the system to provide a caring and protective environment for the children you will grow to love. 20% of the sale of each book will be donated to the Daisy’s Eye Cancer Fund to help families access essential life and sight saving treatment for their children who are affected by retinoblastoma eye cancer.

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About the Author: Tom and Suzanne Grummell have been foster parents since 1983, have two adult sons, and have adopted two little girls. They continue to be involved in advocating for life-skills programs in their city and speak to the importance of transition and continuity for our children as they move from one home to another.

Come into my heart and journey with me as I share the story of Emma. It is an amazing tale of faith, hope, and love interwoven into the lives of two families and one very special child. This story is a touching illustration of the miraculous work of God, the great choreographer. I am GG, which stands for Grandma Grace. It’s a name I dearly treasure because it was given to me by a family whom I have grown to love as my own. Besides being mother to four beautiful daughters, I am GG to Emma and the parents God chose for her. If anyone had told me that my dream of being a grandmother would have followed this path, I’m not sure I would have believed it. It’s not a path I would have chosen on my own, to be sure, for it was not always an easy path. Yet it was a journey that was unimaginably rich, for God was present every step of the way. There were many blessings on this path, and the gift at the end of the journey was priceless. This is my story ...

From the Back Cover: Sue and Greg Hibbs were lucky to have been able to have a perfect little boy, but Sue desperately wanted to have a large family, since she had been an only and lonely child. After several years of running from doctor to doctor with no answers or solutions, they were advised to adopt from an unwed mothers’ home.

They felt so blessed when they picked up their newborn baby girl, realizing that God had finally answered their prayers for another child. They raised both children with unlimited love, attention, and Christian guidance, giving them every opportunity they could afford.

To their surprise, their beautiful daughter began to change into a different person with a value system, inconsistent with her Christian upbringing. After marrying a possessive husband, she chose to end the relationship with her parents, shutting them out of her life for twenty-five years. After a tragedy in her life, she returned, but only for a short time. Their lives became a roller-coaster journey, taking its toll on their marriage and health, as they struggled with the blessings and curses of adoption.

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About the Author: Born in a shotgun two-room shack in rural Oklahoma as the only child of a cattleman, Anna Kent’s only escape from the loneliness and boredom was in the books she read. In her yearning for the companionship of young people her age, she lived through the exciting and interesting lives of the characters in the books. For years, she corresponded with a pen pal from Great Britain, who sent her wonderful mystery books, and that was when she discovered the joy of sharing her life and her deepest feelings through writing. This passion for reading and writing, as well as her love for children, played a big role in her decision to become an English teacher and school counselor.

Anna resides with her husband in a small Oklahoma town, where she enjoys growing flowers, reading, and being with her grandchildren.

Something Happened was written by the legendary missionaries Mildred Cable and Francesca French, who travelled throughout China and Central Asia in the first half of the 20th century and who established themselves as explorers in their own right. These travels, usually taken along with Francesca’s sister Evangeline (collectively known as The Trio), produced numerous books including the ground-breaking works Through Jade Gate and The Gobi Desert.

In Something Happened, Mildred Cable and Francesca French explain why they–along with Evangeline–decided to dedicate their lives to China and Central Asia. The book begins with an individual account of each of their early lives, and moves on to describe how they met and their discovery of the old trade networks along the Silk Road. Their journey proper begins at the North-Western outpost of the China Inland Mission (Gansu), and from there, the explore Tibet and other parts of Central Asia. In this book they encounter beggars, bandits, Turks, lamas, and other colourful characters.

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By the Same Author: The Story of Topsy (1937, Hodder & Stoughton).

Set against the backdrop of the social and economic turbulence of the 1970s and ‘80s, Fels paints an unforgettable portrait of a young couple striving to create meaningful, adventurous lives for their quickly expanding family while coping with a daughter’s evolving and seemingly untreatable, mental illness. From her birth, her attempted suicide at age eight, a succession of mysterious illnesses, disappearances, estrangements, and, ultimately, her death at age twenty-four from astrocytoma, Fels offers an intimate and poignant examination of the life of a family: one that is at once unique and illustrative of American families in the final third of the twentieth century. Far from depressing, Fels blends the richness, humor, joy and sorrow of contemporary family life, “... the whole catastrophe!” into this memoir.

Have you ever been publicly humiliated, called hate-filled names, bullied in school, endured rude insults, or told you’d never amount to anything? Son of A Soldier gives you real hope to overcome obstacles and face adversity, while achieving your own personal potential. Eddie Williams is a West Pointer, U.S. Army Officer, Airborne Ranger, and Green Beret. He grippingly shares shocking family secrets discovered after his parents died. His story will encourage every reader.

A friend asks Carol, “Why join the convent?” Thoughtfully, she responds, “Adventure. Mystery. Call.” Carol Sisterman recalls memories of her life in the Convent for nineteen years. After living with Sisters of every age in numerous locations, she faces subsequent adventures and insecurities when she makes the difficult decision to leave her community of beloved Sisters. Discover how she spends her later years. What is in store for her as she retires? After reading her book another friend writes, “I enjoyed the intimate story of her life, so God-loving that I couldn’t lay it down.” Christian values of love, faith, courage, hope, restoration, honesty, and risk-taking embodied in this work make it an inspirational read. About the Author Carol grew up on a farm in Owatonna, Minnesota, in 1940s-50s. She joined the Convent of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN, in 1959. Subsequently as a wife and mother to two adopted children, this woman relies on God to take her through life’s pains and disappointments, joys and triumphs, anticipating He will continue to be with her when the book is printed and beyond.

Most of us assume that things will go according to our plans. If we put our minds to a purpose and carry out the necessary steps, we’ll land that job or take that trip—or get pregnant pretty much on our pre-determined schedule. It’s a jolt to discover you were the exception to the rule; that the plans you’d made took a different course, not at all what you’d expected or wanted. Yet, as is so often the case in looking back from the distance of time, or place, or circumstance, something in that change brings a different insight and a new promise...perhaps completely unlike the original blueprint, but extraordinary in its own right. This was our journey toward parenthood. However, lest you get the mistaken impression that the pitfalls were not devastating or the losses not profound, I ask you to walk the miles with us. From there, you can draw your own conclusions. About the Author: Jayne H. Easley is a school psychologist and has dealt with a variety of grief issues in her profession. Her own journey to parenthood spanned a range of emotions from wrenching loss to immeasurable joy. Easley is the mother of two sons and lives in Virginia with her husband, Bruce.

All areas of society include people crippled by loneliness, dejection, and fear. Those individuals are often caught in their own crises and unable to fulfill God’s will to successfully father or mother. Consequently, they leave cold and orphaned hearts to take their place as adults, and the cycle of hurt continues. Scripture uncovers the spirit of adoption as the answer to society’s brokenness. Heaven intends for it to permeate all of culture in every generation so that it may redeem every life. The One True Father is calling his people to operate in the same spirit of adoption he loves us with. It beckons us to parent the lost sons and daughters of this generation.

From the Back Cover: Mike and Sara were an older, college-educated, small-town Midwestern couple, and devoutly Christian. Dealt simultaneous life-changing blows, he faced the end of his world or a commitment to create a new life. She felt a calling from above, but time would pass until the morning two radio disc jockeys discussed adoption. That day changed their lives and those of three children—the first, abandoned in Vietnam, the second, in foster care, the third, relinquished in another state—all with medical issues and turned away by other prospective adoptive parents. New to the intricacies and bureaucracies of adoption, this family’s unshakeable faith in God led them through multiple adoption processes; issues they faced as an older couple with the support of grown children and extended families; a harrowing battle against Tuberous Sclerosis Complex; and a calling to advocate for other special needs children and their families. For both older and younger Americans, this memoir provides both “how to” information about the different forms of adoption from one family’s perspective, and a testament of faith in God’s plan both for adoptive parents and children.

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About the Author: Michael F. Deaterla formerly a small-town journalist, is an adjunct English instructor. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Ohio University and his Master of Arts degree from Union Institute & University.

The amount of international adoptions in Western countries is rising year by year. This book tries to answer the question: what kind of special skills these international adoptive parents feel they need in international adoptive parenting? This case study looks closely to the views and experiences of five Finnish international adoptive parents. It also presents many practical examples of the challenges these families have faced in their everyday life. The writer has combined Lee’s (2003) cultural socialization theory that Lee has modulated particularly to international adoptive families, and Vonk’s (2001) model she has developed from the basis of earlier adoption studies. This model presents the areas international adoptive parents need to focus and gain skills, knowledge and awareness in, so that they can develop their own cultural competence. The most significant results presented in this book are the four special skills the interviewed parents feel they need most in international adoptive parenting. This book also presents recommendations that are named Special Skills in International Adoptive Parenting. About the Author: Nina J. Talmén, M.A., studied Intercultural Communication at University of Jyväskylä. She is a Professional journalist at Iltalehti newspaper, Finland. Compiler’s Note: See, Wikipedia entry for VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.

A mother learns the true promise of a living a natural life when she moves her family into the woods and gets pregnant: tripping over goats and myths and inevitable losses. A story of fertility, humility, and the truly messy business of an organic life.

Here I am starting this journal about possibly adopting and I can’t even put “Adoption” as the file name. What am I afraid of? That someone might look in my computer and think I want a child to love? So begins the author’s personal story of adoption and motherhood. A forty-three-year-old woman living in a small university town in the Midwest, she had more than enough to do with a teaching career, travel, art, house and garden, and a somewhat demanding cat. When a close friend sends her an article about a couple bringing home a little girl from China, she realizes she must rethink the possibility of having children, a dream she thought she’d left behind. Through journal entries, letters, emails, and poems spanning 15 years, she recounts the ups and downs of her decision making, the adoption process, and single parenting. Told with wit, sensitivity, and compelling honesty, Spiders from Heaven immediately brings the reader into her journey, a journey full of doubts and setbacks, but always with the underlying belief that, in the end, one must follow one’s heart.