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.

From the Back Cover: 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.

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About the Author: Denise Buckbinder Ganucheau is a speaker and visionary for the American church adoption movement. She graduated from Dallas Baptist University with a bachelor’s in sociology and worked several years in the Dallas/Fort Worth prayer room network. Denise and her family reside in the Dallas area.

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.

From the Publisher: In this heart-felt theology of adoption, Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner argues that while the church has long understood the grounding self-concept of a Christian as a “child of God,” it has failed to underscore that we all come into the family of faith by adoption. She explores adoption as a central theme in Scripture, as a doctrine of faith, and as a theological metaphor. Further, in using her own experience of adoption to inform her scholarship, Stevenson-Moessner offers help to all those touched by adoption, including adoptive parents. By beginning with chapters on barrenness, conception, and expectant waiting, and moving to discussions of the developing years, the search for identity, and challenges in the adoptive family, her writing begs a wide audience. Including case studies and interviews with adoptive parents, The Spirit of Adoption will be embraced by scholars, counselors, adoptive parents, and adopted children alike.

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About the Arthur: Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Christian Formation at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa.

From the Dust Jacket: I keep trying to think of the reason my mother and father die. Phat Mohm was six years old when her comfortable urban world was turned upside down with the takeover of Cambodia by Pol Pot. She and her family joined millions of others forced from their Phnom Penh homes into a countryside wrecked by the spillover of the war in Vietnam. Four years later Mohm emerged, alone, to run barefoot for months under Vietnamese bombs and cross the border, only to be confined in another sort of limbo—refugee camps—where she stopped trying to remember why her parents died.

Halfway around the world, Gail Sheehy, a successful journalist and bestselling author, found her life going through a passage she had written about but could not control. Her daughter, Maura, was leaving for college. Her long-standing romantic relationship was deadlocked, and she felt as though everything around her were drying up or losing color or breaking down. Then, on a journalistic assignment to do a story on child refugees, Gail Sheehy met Phat Mohm. Nine months later, Mohm undertook yet another journey—this time landing on a terrace overlooking Fifth Avenue and stepping right in the middle of Gail’s fast-paced life. But as Gail realized, it was not enough to create a home and a safe present for Mohm; together they had to re-create her tragic past to discover who she really was—and what price the survivor had paid.

Combining solid historical research with an intensely felt personal record, this story of one woman and one child illuminates larger questions of history and human nature: How could a few thousand revolutionaries grow into the grotesque butchers who beat, axed, starved, or worked to death two million of their own people? How do Americans look to others? How, after surviving, does one go about repairing the wounds of shame and loss, to dare again the trust and love one knew in more innocent times?

Finally, how does a survivor move beyond guilt? Following Mohm, the author arrives at a new concept—survival merit—and explores the nature of evil and the qualities of those who transcend trauma and tragedy to become among the most successful and resilient adults.

The answers, exemplified in this book, will inspire all who read it. It is an unforgettable story beautifully written: strong, sensitive, intimate, and graced by humor. But Spirit of Survival is more than a story, it is one of those rare books that changes the way we look at ourselves.

From the Dust Jacket: Barbara Stanwyck thrilled millions in scene after scene, picture after picture, over a six-decade career that took her from an impoverished childhood in the streets of Brooklyn to the pinnacle of Golden Age Hollywood. At once tough and vulnerable, straight-talking but emotionally elusive, she electrified every production in which she appeared, from Hollywood B-flicks to such classics as Stella Dallas, Double Indemnity, and television’s The Thorn Birds. She was an early role model for women dissatisfied with the standard Hollywood heroine, and a tantalizing challenge to men who wanted more. Her honesty and authenticity resonate even more powerfully today—but her complete story has never before been told.

Axel Madsen’s Stanwyck is the first authoritative life of this fascinating and notoriously private star, who until now has eluded biographers. Madsen first interviewed Stanwyck in 1969 and over the years has exhaustively researched her life and career and interviewed scores of important sources, many of whom felt free to talk candidly only after her death in 1990.

In this penetrating, sensitive portrait, Madsen traces the orphaned Stanwyck from her childhood in a succession of foster homes and her gritty days as a Ziegfeld chorus girl, to triumph in Hollywood at its zenith, through her lonely final years. He examines Stanwyck’s two famous marriages—the divergent career trajectories and violence that destroyed the first, to Broadway star Frank Fay, and the troubled sexual dynamics at the heart of her celebrated union with Robert Taylor, probing for the first time rumors of Taylor’s homosexuality and the widespread belief that Stanwyck was bisexual. And with sympathy and insight he explores the depths of Stanwyck’s obsession with Taylor years after their devastating breakup, and her decades-long estrangement from her [adopted] son.

Barbara Stanwyck is one of America’s most riveting screen icons, an endlessly intriguing enigma. Now, at last, with Stanwyck, Axel Madsen takes fans to the heart of the mystery, to reveal the complex, indomitable woman beneath the façade.

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About the Author: Axel Madsen’s many books range from critically acclaimed biographies of André Malraux, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir to popular successes like Chanel and Gloria and Joe [“The Star-Crossed Love Affair of Gloria Swanson and Joe Kennedy”]. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Hollywood.

From the Back Cover: Join the Steeles on the never ending roller coaster ride of their family life as they share the ups, twists and turns of an ever-changing family which now numbers nineteen, with more anticipated. Dana Wynn Steele shares the stories of their special needs children and their adoptions, including one during her battle with breast cancer.

As a speaker on domestic, trans-racial, and open adoption, Dana leads us through the challenging maze that sometimes seems insurmountable when adopting through foster care. You’ll see the difficulties and share the joys of parenting children who have never experienced “normal” home life. From the adopted rescue animals to the adopted children, life is always surprising at Homestead Ranch, the Steele home.

Parents, pastors, teachers, social workers, and anyone who has a heart for vulnerable children will glean from the spiritual truths, blessings, and lessons Dana imparts as she shares their journey with the family God has uniquely given them.

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About the Author: Dana Wynn Steele is an attorney, former judge, author and speaker on adoption-related issues. She and husband Alan have an ever growing family to include seventeen children, and five grandchildren, having fostered an additional 21 children over the last 20 years.

Growing up in a dusty, West Texas town, Claire Noble craved a life of fun and adventure. A decade after college however, Claire decided it was time to impose some discipline upon her turbulent life. But just as she landed the job of her dreams, she met the man of her dreams—online. Claire married her online boyfriend and moved with him to Hong Kong a week after the wedding. Now the real adventure began. From a government-operated Shanghai sex-toy store to a quirky Shanghai DMV, from a time-warped expat neighborhood to a luxury Hong Kong high rise, Claire charted a course through an inadvertent decade in Asia with new discoveries around every corner. She ate maggots and smuggled parasites. She had near misses with Kim Jong-Il but really met Erica Jong. She suffered through tortuous massages, mammograms and colonoscopies and lived to laugh about it. She began her journey as a newlywed but grew her family with the addition of four cats, two kids [one adopted in China] and an assortment of houseplants—most of which suffered slow, agonizing deaths (the plants, not the kids or the cats). Join Claire on her journey of the unexpected, both new cultures and new life roles. Along the way Claire learns plans are often nothing more then good intentions and a sense of humor is indispensable for surviving all that comes life’s way.

From the Back Cover: The stories in this book search beyond the glossy yummy-mummy images that bombard us every day, illustrating the real-life complexities of motherhood.

They help every reader to understand their own journey, both as a child and as a mother, and help them investigate the single relationship that affects us most throughout our lives, whether it has been a positive or a negative experience.

This book is essential reading for anyone not only working in Early Years Development, Social Work or Education, but also for those simply trying to understand this profound relationship.

Most importantly, from both a personal and professional perspective, Steering the Mothership will help every reader to develop compassion, for themselves and for others.

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About the Author: Lisa Cherry was born in 1970 in a home for unmarried mothers in Wrexham, UK. A turbulent adolescence of foster homes, children’s homes and the “obligatory care leaver experience” circa 1980s of two years of homelessness, culminated in an eventual arrival at an AA meeting at the age of 20. At the same time as sobriety took hold, Lisa was housed which coincided with being financially supported by a national charity to go on to University where she studied Sociology and her life long passion for people, society and transformation took hold. Lisa has been sober since her first AA meeting back in 1990.

Lisa has spent over twenty years working with children and families in Social Work, Education and Social Inclusion working with families, young people and individuals in distress. Nearly four years ago, Lisa embarked upon a new direction of working with individuals with a sharp focus on awareness, transformation, personal responsibility and healing. Through all her learning, she has developed a way of working that reflects a unique skill set that was further developed by continued training in the areas of Holistic Health, Reiki and Counselling and Life Coaching.

She has a personal journey in Sobriety and in Recovery of over 20 years and has now written and published two books; Soul Journey, which focuses on overcoming adversity and The Brightness of Stars, which charts adult voices of those who have been children in the UK care system and has become widely read by student Social Workers alongside anyone working with children or wishing to understand children in care on a deeper level.

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By the Same Author: The Brightness of Stars: Stories of Adults Who Came through the British Care System (2013, Wilson King Publishing), among others.

From the Back Cover: Author Maureen Linse-Adras has pioneered the global issues of endometriosis, infertility, and adoption. Go with her on her journey for a candid, and often humorous, discussion of a medical experience resembling a strange carnival world. Linse-Adras shares her personal journal, and her amazing adoption story, as well as valuable information and insights that can only come from someone who has endured such chance.

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About the Author: Maureen Linse-Adras received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Education at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, and her Master of Arts in Creative Writing at Northern Arizona University. She has been married to Michael Adras since 1988. They are blessed with an incredible daughter, Rachel, whom they adopted in 1997 when she was just three days old.

Includes procedures for B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.

Stepparent adoptions can be the simplest type of adoption in Colorado—when the birth parents consent. This booklet explains in detail how the process works, the legal forms that must be filed, and what happens at the court hearing. Most of the information also applies to relative, kinship, or custodial adoption procedures. This guide answers legal questions about who can adopt in Colorado, whether a child is available for adoption, and what to do if the adoption is contested. Several examples and excerpts from Colorado case law are included.

From the Inside Front Cover: Kiara Bentley is a singular girl. Slight and doll-like, she looks and sounds younger than her 12 years, yet she has a “knowing” expression that seems at odds with the rest of her, and which has Casey’s antennae quivering right away.

Kiara also has a tic—she pulls out strands of her own hair—and seems chronically tired, often dozing off in lessons. She also seems to be entirely without friends. And it’s not long before a worrying past begins to be uncovered: only a year earlier she was reported to have been discovered self-harming. How could a child like this have remained under the radar?

Kiara’s mum, who works nights as a carer, has no idea why her daughter’s so troubled, and promises to try to cut down her hours. But a visit to their home and a couple of unguarded comments cause alarm bells to clang ever more loudly in Casey’s head.

Is Kiara’s mum really a carer? Does she really love her daughter? Though Kiara’s guarded in what she says, a different picture starts to emerge—one that will be re-drawn several times before the horrible, shocking truth is finally found ...

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About the Author: Casey Watson, who writes under a pseudonym, is a specialist foster carer. She and her husband Mike look after children who are particularly troubled or damaged by their past. While in their care, Casey and Mike guide the foster children through a specially designed behavioural programme, enabling the children to be moved on, either back to their parents or into mainstream foster care.

Before becoming a foster carer Casey was a behaviour manager for her local comprehensive school. It was through working with “difficult” children—removed from mainstream classes for various reasons—that the idea for her future career was born. This book tells the story of some of her experiences as a foster carer.

Casey is married with two children and three grandchildren.

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By the Same Author: The Boy No One Loved (2011); Crying for Help (2012); Little Prisoners (2012); Too Hurt to Stay (2012); Mummy’s Little Helper (2013); Breaking the Silence (2013); A Last Kiss for Mummy (2013); The Girl Without a Voice (2014); Nowhere to Go (2014); Skin Deep (2015); Mummy’s Little Soldier (2016); Runaway Girl (2016); Groomed (2017); and The Silent Witness (2017), among others.

From the Publisher: This book reveals compelling personal stories by adoptees, birth mothers and fathers, and adoptive parents who experience reunions. The individuals in this book are of varying ages, backgrounds, and lifestyles, but they share similar emotional mazes characteristic of the adoption triangle. these are stories of profound loss, as well as joyful reunions and resolution. Stories of Adoption acknowledges that there are no easy answers to this complex situation and honors the diversity of experience for each individual in the adoption triangle.

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About the Author: Eric Blau, M.D., who combines his skills and sensitivities as a professional photographer and a physician, spent three years interviewing and photographing individuals for this book. Blau was drawn to a book on adoption because he feels adoptees are “...one of the last groups in mainstream society whose needs and desires are not being recognized.” Blau’s previous work includes Common Heroes: Facing a Life Threatening Illness (New Sage Press, 1989). The son of a professional photographer, Blau has been making photographs since he was a child. His photographs have been exhibited nationally. Blau also practices internal medicine and is an associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of California School of Medicine, San Diego.

Annette Baran, M.S.W. is regarded as one of the foremost experts in the field of adoption and child welfare. Her work on adoption has brought her international attention, and she has been an expert witness in national cases on issues ranging from surrogate motherhood to adoption and child abuse, among others. Baran’s books include The Adoption Triangle (1978) and Lethal Secrets (1989). Baran has a private psychotherapy practice in Los Angeles.

From the Dust Jacket: Katherine Paterson’s books are an integral part of childhood, made up of characters that feel like part of our families. Now, in these fascinating stories from her life, she reveals the origins of those characters, like Leslie Burke from Bridge to Terabithia, the great Gilly Hopkins, and Lyddie, as well as the events that inspired her storylines. Katherine’s unique life began in China with her missionary parents, and continued as a single woman in Japan and then as a wife and mother of four in Maryland. And of course, these stories go behind the scenes to the exhilarating moments when she won her many awards, including two Newbery Medals and a Newbery Honor.

Filled with personal photos and letters, as well as introductions from fellow writers Kate DiCamillo and Nancy Graff, these funny, poignant, and heartwarming tales give fans insight into some of our most beloved children’s books—and the legendary writer behind them.

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About the Author: Katherine Paterson is the renowned author of many classic children’s books, including Bridge to Terabithia, The Great Gilly Hopkins; Lyddie; Jacob Have I Loved; Come Sing, Jimmy Jo; and The Master Puppeteer, among many others. Her work has won two Newbery Medals and a Newbery Honor, two National Book Awards, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. She also served a term as the National Ambassador for Children’s Literature. Katherine lives in Vermont.

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By the Same Author: The Sign of the Chrysanthemum (1973, Crowell) The Great Gilly Hopkins (1978, Crowell); and Come Sing, Jimmy Jo (1985, Lodestar Books), among many others.

From the Dust Jacket: My wife, Carey, answered the phone on the first ring.

“Hi, honey,” I said, sipping my coffee. “It’s just me.”

“Dion, listen to me. We’ve been chosen.”

I drew a blank. “What do you mean?”

Then it hit me like a thousand volts of electricity right to my heart. “Oh my God! Carey, we’ve been chosen by a birth mother?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Our social worker called and told me a birth mother read and loved our profile. She’s an eighteen-year-old girl, and Dion, she’s due in three weeks! She wants to meet us as soon as she can!”

With that news, the Howells began the rollercoaster ride of their lives.

The Story of David is the story of Dion and Carey Howells, a couple desperate for a child. It is also the story of Nancy, a teenager who became pregnant from a date rape and knew she couldn’t keep her baby, but also knew that she wanted to maintain some contact with him throughout his life. And ultimately, it is the story of David, an adopted child who will never have to ask the question “Where did I come from?” Who will never wonder who his “real” mother is, and how he came to be the son of Carey and Dion Howells.

When Dion and Carey met Nancy, a bond formed among the three, a bond that ultimately helped all of them get through the difficult times ahead: when, after David’s birth, Nancy almost changed her mind about the adoption; when she went into a devastating postpartum depression; and when she went to see David for the first time after his birth. All along, despite advice to the contrary, Dion, Carey, Nancy, and David worked together to form a new kind of family—one where love is unlimited and David will always know who he is, where he came from, and where he belongs.

This extraordinarily moving account combines the two most emotional crises for any would-be parent—the search for a child to love and a young woman’s need to relinquish her own child to better his life. It is at once a family’s inspiring personal story, an unforgettable human drama, and a compelling argument for open adoption.

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About the Author: Dion Howells is a police officer in Cleveland, where he lives with his wife, Carey, and their son, David. After adopting David, he became a strong advocate for open adoption.

Karen Wilson Pritchard is a journalist who has written extensively for Cahners Publishing and CMP, Inc. She lives in a suburb of Cleveland with her husband, adopted son, daughter, triplet sons, and newborn baby boy.

From the Back Cover: It can be tough for a young person to deal with issues such as a new sibling, the death of a pet, or starting school. This book provides teachers, parents, and librarians with a timely resource when an adult needs to broach a challenging issue. Organized by topics as diverse as adoption, homelessness, and aging, this book provides the user with all the information needed to choose the right book.

Additional features include:

• Detailed story summaries

• Recommendations for connecting to the issues

• Discussion questions

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About the Author: Laura Ann Campbell has spent more than fifteen years working with children of all ages in both formal and informal educational settings. The mother of two young children, she has a master’s degree in elementary education and oversees youth programs at the Denver Museum of Natural History.

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Compiler’s Note: See, particularly, Chapter 2: Adoption (pp. 5-10).

In a highly controversial and publicized custody case, Jean DeMartino and her husband Nick battled a birth mother who revoked her legal surrender to a prominent New York adoption agency. After personally delivering the child to foster care, the mother changed her mind after the infant girl was already with adoptive parents in a loving home. The birth mother apologized to the court for any trouble her flip-flop caused. The court’s decision to return that baby began a legal struggle that traversed the New York then Florida courts and finally the United States Supreme Court. Jean DeMartino, Lenore’s adoptive mother, relates heartaches and emotional upheavals a family endures when judges overlook “the best interests of the child.”

In a world where suffering and injustice abound, we yearn for evidence that God has not forgotten His children, that He knows each one by name. We long to know that God directs our lives and desires to use each of us in His plan to bring light to the nations. Readers will witness God’s compassion as he leads a family to Romania in search of one special child. They’ll see His interest and involvement as He orchestrates a dramatic series of events that would bring help and hope to abandoned children around the world. And their faith will be bolstered by this powerful, modern-day example of how God speaks to us...and asks us to risk for Him. For every mother who has faced the challenge of entrusting her children to God...for every husband and father who has been called to rely on the Lord’s power, and not his own, and for every believer who has longed to be used mightily by the Lord, author Jan Beazely offers the loving reminder: God’s mercy never fails. Best-selling author Kay Arthur says, “Over the years, many stories of God’s miraculous ways and the perseverance and faith of His saints have come to my attention. [This] story...stands far above the rest.” About the Author: Jan Beazely is co-founder of All God’s Children International, a licensed, non-profit Christian adoption and relief ministry. The agency was founded in 1991, after the Beazely family adopted a child from Romania, then began to assist other families by facilitating the adoption of orphaned and abandoned children.

As I stood in the sunroom looking out the window, I thought I caught some movement in our backyard. I walked out onto the slate patio and peered into the dimly lit shrubbery when suddenly a figure dressed in black from head to toe emerged pointing a gun—at me! I immediately jerked both hands above my head. “Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot” I croaked. I could hear my own heart pounding in my ears. Our son, Mike had come through the front door just minutes before. I had a million questions only he could answer. How had it all come to this? Never in my wildest dreams—or nightmares—could I have imagined a SWAT team in my backyard. But I hadn’t imagined our son could become addicted to drugs either. Even though I was a trained counselor, I hadn’t seen disaster coming under our own roof. As we stumbled through the hell that surrounds addiction, my maternal instincts were driving me harder and harder to save Mike. I was consumed with fear as my well intentioned efforts were enabling his addiction and prolonging the inevitable. How could I find the strength to let go? Who will help Mike now? Will he find a special angel from his past to lead him out of this darkness? Will he win the battle to survive? Take a journey so real you will feel the pain and the joy of every twist and turn in the road to recovery.

Striving for the Purple Heart is a book that every mother should read, whether you are a young mother, a mother of teenagers, or a mother with an empty nest trying to let go after a long and wonderful journey through motherhood. In her book, Kimberly Quinn Smith explores how mothers are “wired” and why they often feel overwhelmed, guilty, and question whether they are good enough moms. She uses heart-felt humor to convey her message that these feelings are universal to all mothers, whether they work inside the home or out, whether they are single or married, and whether their children are adopted or have special needs. She defines supermom, and offers strategies to enhance the enjoyment of motherhood.

From the Dust Jacket: A father for six years, a mother for ten, and for a time in between, neither, or both (“the parental version of the schnoodle, or the cockapoo”), Jennifer Finney Boylan has seen parenthood from both sides of the gender divide. When her two children were young, Boylan came out as transgender, and as Jenny transitioned from a man to a woman and from a father to a mother, her family faced unique challenges and questions. In this thoughtful, tear-jerking, hilarious memoir, Jenny asks what it means to be a father, or a mother, and to what extent gender shades our experiences as parents. “It is my hope,” she writes, “that having a father who became a woman in turn helped my sons become better men.”

Through both her own story and incredibly insightful interviews with others, Jenny examines relationships between fathers, mothers, and children; people’s memories of the children they were and the parents they became; and the many different ways a family can be. With an afterword by Anna Quindlen in which Jenny and her wife discuss the challenges they’ve faced and the love they share, Stuck in the Middle with You is a brilliant meditation on raising a child.

INCLUDES CONVERSATIONS WITH Richard Russo • Edward Albee • Ann Beattie • Augusten Burroughs • Susan Minot • Trey Ellis • Timothy Kreider • Anna Quindlan • and many others.

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About the Author: Jennifer Finney Boylan is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve books, including She’s Not There and I’m Looking Through You. She is also a regular contributor to Conde Nast Traveler and the op/ed page of the New York Times and a professor of English at Colby College in Maine. She has served on the judging committee of the Fulbright Scholars, administered by the US Department of State.

From the Publisher: Driven from their Colorado farm after a long and bitter struggle with the dust-bowl conditions of the late 1930s, Nelle Davis and her husband migrated, with their two children [a son and an adopted daughter], to the forests of northern Idaho to begin again as stump ranch farmers. Originally published in 1942, this is the story of that move and of their resettlement. Told with wit and narrative skill, it provides an intimate look into the struggle for survival and gradually returning hope for security that were the driving forces in the lives of millions of her contemporaries. Although a less than willing participant in the great agricultural exodus of those years, Nelle Davis was quick to defend the difference her family felt from those other emigrants who peopled the pages of John Steinbeck’s novels and exemplify for many today the character of the period. This is an authentic pioneer story told with charm and simplicity.

From the Back Cover: You have something every child needs: a safe and loving home.

Foster parenting is the hardest job you will ever love. So before you open your heart to a child in foster care, you want to be sure you’re ready for the road ahead. Foster parenting is a journey your whole family will share. What will this mean for them?

Success as a Foster Parent offers you and your loved ones the information you need to get ready for this life-changing experience. In it you’ll discover what it takes to be a foster parent, learn about the application process, and get real-life tips from other successful foster families. Success as a Foster Parent gives you the knowledge you need to succeed, with information on:

• Finding the best foster care agencies in your area.

• Understanding the financial costs of fostering and the compensation you’ll receive.

• Making the most of the training and support available to foster parents.

• Caring for kids of all ages and backgrounds.

• Adopting a child from foster care.

• Fostering children with special needs.

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About the Author: The National Foster Parent Association (NFPA, nfpaonline.org) is a nonprofit, volunteer organization. It was established in 1972 to respond to the concerns of several independent groups that felt the United States needed a national organization to meet the needs of foster families. In August 1971, the Child Welfare League of America received a three-year grant to establish a national organization for foster parents. Today, the NFPA has grown from 926 foster parents, 210 social workers, and 59 other professionals to an organization that represents over 140,000 foster families nationwide through state and local foster parent affiliates.

Rachel Greene Baldino, MSW, LCSW, writes a relationship column for the health and wellness website SixWise.com. She is the author of the eBook Loving Simply: Eliminating Drama from Your Intimate Relationships.