From the Back Cover: Phoebe, an autistic nine-year-old girl, is taken into police protection after a chance comment to one of her teachers alerts the authorities that all might not be what it seems in her comfortable, middle-class home.

But after several shocking incidents of self-harming, and making threats to kill, it soon becomes apparent that Phoebe’s autism may be the least of her problems.

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About the Author: Rosie Lewis is a full-time foster carer. She has been working in this field for over a decade. Before that, she worked in the special unit team for the police force. Based in northern England, Rosie writes under a pseudonym to protect the identities of the children she looks after. This is her first book.

From the Dust Jacket: Every adoption is a magnificent occurrence. Couples who despaired of ever having children pour out their love to a new family member. Lonely, forgotten children find a caring family and a loving place where they can grow and thrive. But sometimes the pieces of an adoption come together in such a way that it moves beyond the everyday marvel into the miraculous.

Now bestselling author Karen Kingsbury continues her Miracles series with this collection of twelve true stories illustrating the presence of God in adoption.

• Brought Together by a Miracle. A Manhattan social worker receives a new case—a three-year-old girl newly orphaned in a horrible accident; but the woman has the strangest feeling that God is up to something unusual.

• Twice the Miracle. A young couple loses twins in the heartbreak of miscarriage yet learns to pray again, with uncanny results.

• The Right Place at the Right Time. A young attorney who, with God’s help, works hard to place “special-needs” children in loving families stumbles upon a miracle.

• A Series of Miracles. High-school sweethearts who marry but can’t conceive adopt a young Chinese girl who has a surprise for them—and so does God!

But most poignant of all is Karen Kingsbury’s own story—the story of a family that set out to adopt one Haitian boy but came home with three boys instead!

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About the Author: Karen Kingsbury, a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, is widely known for her bestselling inspirational titles, including A Thousand Tomorrows, Gideon’s Gift, Maggie’s Miracle, A Treasury of Miracles for Teens, A Treasury of Miracles for Women, A Treasury of Christmas Miracles, Redemption, and A Time to Dance. Her novel Deadly Pretender was made into a CBS television Movie of the Week. She lives with her husband and six children in the Pacific Northwest.

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By the Same Author: When Joy Came to Stay (2000, Multnomah); Halfway to Forever (2002, Multnomah); Reunion (with Gary Smalley) (2004, Tyndale House); Fame (2005, Tyndale House); Forgiven (2005, Tyndale House); Even Now (2005, Zondervan); Like Dandelion Dust (2006, Center Street); Found (2006, Tyndale House); Family (2006, Tyndale House); Ever After (2007, Zondervan); Forever (2007, Tyndale House); and Between Sundays (2007, Zondervan), among many others.

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Compiler’s Note: Much of Kingsbury’s prodigious output centers on the “Baxter Family Saga,” which began with the Redemption Series (co-written with Gary Smalley), and continued with the Firstborn Series, Sunrise Series, Above the Line Series, and Baily Flanigan Series, among others. Following the revelation (in Reunion) that the Baxter family matriarch had given up her firstborn for adoption, and the subsequent efforts of the family to become reunited with its lost member (in the Firstborn series), the adoption theme fades to background noise. Readers who find Kingsbury’s intensely Christian point of view appealing will likely enjoy all of her books; not just the ones I have chosen to list here. All others are hereby forewarned.

From the Dust Jacket: Melanie Allen had a dream—to adopt a special-needs child and provide a stable loving family for her. But her dream turned into a nightmare that would tear her family apart. To all appearances five0year-old Alex was obedient and charming but, over the course of five years, Melanie was left desperate by her behavior. Alex festered with the rage born out of her unimaginable neglect as an infant—and she turned that venom on those who were trying to care for her.

Unbeknownst to anyone, she was suffering from a severe attachment disorder—a problem not uncommon in neglected children. Yet the manifestation of her symptoms was so deceptive that even Melanie’s relatives didn’t believe her when she told them about the trouble with Alex. Melanie sought help from social services, to secure a correct diagnosis for the little girl she was determined to help. Unfortunately nobody in authority accepted the seriousness of Alex’s condition until it was almost too late.

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About the Author: Melanie Allen was born in 1963 in the Midlands, a few miles from where she now lives with her family. She is currently studying for a degree and hopes one day to become a health visitor.

This is the funny, sad, gripping story of Ms. Dillon’s long courtship with Roger; their eventual marriage; and their excruciating efforts to have a family, despite infertility, miscarriages, failed adoptions and one baby’s death. These events naturally raised serious questions about God’s goodness, and the story includes the spiritual journey occurring underneath the details. The drama, honesty, humility and humor make it hard to put down. Almost everyone will relate to this story, because it’s about True Love. About the Author: Susan Dillon was born in the Midwest during the baby boom, attended college in California, and worked in the public interest for a few years in Washington D.C. She went to law school hoping to find some direction in life, worked in large law firms and a nonprofit corporation. Her real life began when she married and began raising a family. She and her husband and two children live outside Washington, D.C.

True Love Waits promotes saving sex for marriage after a courtship long enough to get to know your potential partner on all levels of a relationship: intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. The author’s social conservatism is not based on any religious teachings. Rather, it is based on achieving a holistic intimacy with your boyfriend or girlfriend before becoming physically intimate. The book describes the author’s journey from the hippie days of free love to a conservative philosophy of waiting for marriage. The author’s transformation is a direct result of growing up in the 1950s and her teenage years in the late 1960s as well as her raising six children over the course of forty years.

From the Back Cover: Since 1982, the Independent Adoption Center has successfully placed over 4,000 newborns with families across the United States. As a non-profit organization, the IAC is committed to providing both birthparents and adoptive parents with the most comprehensive counseling support available as families are created through OPEN ADOPTION. The mission of the IAC is to provide open adoption placement and counseling to birth and adoptive families to ensure that every child grows up feeling loved and supported.

Each family that is created or expanded through open adoption has their own, unique story. Preparation time, wait time, the length of the match between adoptive and birthparents, the hospital experience, and ongoing contact between the birth and adoptive families are different for everyone. In an effort to educate the general population and prospective birth and adoptive parents, we have compiled True Stories of Open Adoption from past clients and staff members who agreed to share their stories of how their families came to be. The reader will be touched by these moving stories while learning about the depth of these distinctive relationships.

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About the Author: Guylaine Hubbard-Brosmer is the national research director, home study supervisor and an adoption coordinator at the Los Angeles branch of the Independent Adoption Center (IAC). She has held other positions during her tenure at the IAC where she has been on staff since 2005. She has worked with hundreds of families during their adoption process and supervises a large, successful independent home study program. In addition, she has given numerous talks at conferences about agency adoption, open adoption and trans-racial adoption.

Dr. Hubbard-Brosmer has dedicated her career to family-building. She worked in the infertility field for 15 years following the completion of her Ph.D. in endocrinology from University of California at Berkeley. A career change led her to earn a M.S.W. from California State University Long Beach, where her thesis project was A Study of Trans-racial Adoptive Parenting and the Needs of Multicultural Families.

Ann Wrixon is the executive director of the Independent Adoption Center (IAC). She succeeded JAC founder, Dr. Bruce Rappaport, when he retired in August 2006. During her tenure, the IAC has more than doubled the number of families for whom it provides services. IAC is a licensed adoption agency in California, Texas, Indiana, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, New York and Connecticut.

Ms. Wrixon has spent her career managing non-profit organizations dedicated to improving education and child welfare. She has published widely on those subjects as well as adoption-related topics including open adoption, LGBT adoption, interstate adoption, and much more. Ms. Wrixon has a B.A. from Rutgers University, a M.B.A. from San Francisco State University and a M.S.W. from California State University East Bay.

From the Dust Jacket: “And adoption does have its paradoxes, its ironies, its counterintuitive, crazy logic: It can involve serpentine bureaucracies, but it brings about a perfect and sacred exchange. It is a promise, a vow, a contract even, but governed by love. It is a complete connection, often between very distant points. It transcends everything, yet couldn't be more earthbound. It changes your life, but starts with a phone call. It feels divine, but every participant is exceedingly human. It is profound, but hilarious. Ridiculous, sublime. You get the picture.”

—From the Introduction

Truly Yours is a beautiful collection of thoughts on the wonder and joy of adoption. Along with a thoughtful introduction by author and adoptive mother Laura Dail, Truly Yours is filled with musings from Art Buchwald, Isabella Rossellini, Dale Evans, George Burns, Jamie Lee Curtis, Barbara Walters, Rosie O’Donnell, the Dalai Lama, and many others. These diverse voices share observations on both the joys and challenges of adoption, each offering a unique perspective on the wondrous experience. Heartfelt and inspiring, this candid book on adoption will become a treasured keepsake for all whose lives have been touched by the incredible, indescribable miracle that is adopting a child.

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About the Author: Laura Dail is a literary agent and adoptive mom. She created Truly Yours not just for adoptive families and those considering adopting but also for their friends and extended family who want a better understanding of the experience. Laura lives in New York City with her daughter, Eva.

Luke and Trisha are Christians who have been transformed by Jesus Christ. Their goal is to serve Him with their lives in whatever way He sees fit. In the summer of 2007, their first child was born on the other side of the world. In early 2009, they saw him for the first time via a DVD. They anticipated bringing their son home within the year. They prepared a bedroom, notified family, and imagined how their lives would change. And then nothing. God has taught them incredible things through the process of waiting on Him. They believe that waiting-though painful-is a gift. Trust, Hope, Pray is a compilation of the lessons they have learned about waiting. Though they cannot help but think of their own recent experiences, it is not primarily a book about adoption. It is a book about the grace of God experienced while waiting.

Parenting doesn’t come with a handbook. Neither does foster parenting, which has its own set of difficulties. Get ahead of the game by reading about the foster care system through the eyes of a child who has lived through the process. The Truth about Foster Care offers a wit-filled and practical explanation of the confusing, sometimes scary world of fostering. Whether you are considering being a foster parent, adopting, or are already building your family, this book gives insight over the glossed-over pamphlets. The author provides an intimate look into her childhood and her struggles from her years in foster care, nightmarish experiences that more than half a million American children share today.

From the Publisher: 12 Before 40: The Case for Large Families in the Unification Movement by Jon Quinn is about the core belief of Sun Myung Moon that godly couples should fulfill God’s commandment to be “fruitful and multiply” in Genesis 1:28. In his wonderful, must-read autobiography As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen Father Moon writes, “I tell brides and grooms to have many children. To bear many children and raise them is God’s blessing.”

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Compiler’s Note: Previously subtitled, “Unificationists Must Have the Goal to Have at Least 12 Children Before the Age of 40 Even if We Have to Adopt Them”.

From the Back Cover: The truth is that most of us never get a chance to make our mark of greatness on the world which doesn’t negate our basic human desire to find meaning in our story. We all want our lives to matter and for the world to be marked in some small way by our journey. And then there are the questions: how do we hold onto hope when all indicators point to floundering financial futures? How do we feel joy in a society of failing families and Facebook-limited friendships? How do we find purpose when just paying the bills has to be our priority? How do we believe when God is silent? How do we know that our lives matter? If you’ve ever asked any of these questions, The Twelve Gifts of Life will change your perspective. A collection of powerful, poignant narratives with a punch of humor, these true-life vignettes will help you discover meaning in the midst of the mundane. Buried within even the most challenging circumstances are the gifts of life for those discerning enough to discover and embrace them. Life is not meant to be survival of the fittest. Life is not meant to defeat us. Life is not meant to beat us down. The gifts of life restore us. They give us hope. They give our life meaning. They are meant to be savored. The gifts belong to all of us. Discover them through this inspirational, soon-to-be bestseller.

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About the Author: Cindy Champnella is a Ph.D.-prepared psychologist, author and acclaimed speaker who has presented to numerous civic, community and religious groups all over the United States. Cindy has published: The Waiting Child: How the Faith and Hope of One Orphan Saved the Life of Another (St. Martin’s Press, 2003), was a contributing writer to Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections (EMK Press, 2007); and Pieces of Me: Who Do I Want to Be (EMK Press, 2009). Cindy s first book was excerpted in Ladies Home Journal and Women’s Weekly. She is a former guest columnist for The Detroit News and a regular feature writer for Adoption Today magazine. In addition to her day job as a college administrator, she is an adjunct psychology faculty member, a passionate advocate for at-risk children and has assisted hundreds of families in their international adoption efforts. Cindy has graduate degrees both in psychology and in business. She is married and has five children, including two daughters adopted from China. She lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

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By the Same Author: The Waiting Child: How the Faith and Love of One Orphan Saved the Life of Another (2003, St. Martin’s Press).

From the Publisher: From the time I began my journey to find motherhood until the completion of her adoption was twelve years. I learned though I did not endure physical labor for her I gave birth in a different way, with my heart. I discovered if I was going to love this child the way God designed a mother to love I needed to truly know what love is and there was only one way to do it, start with the best child rearing manual ever, the Word of God.

From the Dust Jacket: Ever since she was a little girl, Jill Williams had dreamed of adopting children from Asia. Twelve-Part Harmony is the delightful story of how God has brought her dream to fruition. Pat and Jill Williams open their hearts and home to you, telling how eight adopted children from Korea and the Philippines became permanently “grafted” into the Williams family. At first, Pat refused to consider adoption. Then God changed his heart and gave him the same vision that Jill had cherished for years.

Twelve-Part Harmony is a compelling story—and more. Woven into the narrative is reassuring counsel for all parents, but especially for those who want to “graft” children into their own families. By sharing their own experiences, Pat and Jill Williams dispel common objections, fears, and misconceptions. They provide reliable in-sights on such vital topics as:

• developing family unity

• instilling a sense of belonging in each child

• helping adoptive children answer such sensitive questions as “Who am I?” and “Where do I come from?”

• adopting international children or those who are hard to place: AIDS and “boarder” babies, abused children, handicapped or older children

• choosing adoption agencies

As Twelve-Part Harmony unfolds, you will view adoption through the eyes of a couple who regard it as a God-honoring plan. The Williamses write honestly of both the joys and heartaches of raising their international family. The lessons the Williams family has learned in blending harmoniously are lessons you can implement with your own family.

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About the Author: Pat and Jill Williams are the authors of Rekindled, Love Her ... Like Him, and Keep the Fire Glowing. Pat Williams is president of the Orlando Magic NBA team and Jill Williams chairs The Adoption Centre, a Maitland, Florida, agency known for placing children with “special needs.”

Beth Spring is the author of The Infertile Couple, Childless: The Hurt and the Hope, and the coauthor of Euthanasia. She and her husband, Jeff, are the parents of two adopted children from Korea.

Bertha Holt is the founder of Holt International Children’s Services.

From the Back Cover: Twenty Things Adoptive Kids Wish devotional gives adoptive families encouragement as they seek God to work through the emotions unique to their family. Three hundred and sixty-five inspiring daily devotions are filled with Scripture and authentic insight into the heart of adopted children. Powerful prayer prompts help you navigate through difficult topics such as rejection, the missing faces in their lives, and much more. As you pray together through these tough topics, you will become the greatest prayer warrior for your adopted child and God will knit your hearts together in His love.

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About the Author: Straightforward and insightful, Sherrie Eldridge writes from a passion for adopted children and their parents to be drawn closer. An internationally recognized adoption-advocate speaker, she is the author of more than five books including the best-selling Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew. An adoptee herself, she understands an adoptee’s perspective and offers insight to deepen parent-child bonds. She is actively involved in adoption advocacy roles and was named a Congressional Angel in Adoption. Sherrie has been married to Bob Eldridge for 50 years. They have two married daughters and six grandchildren, one who joined their family through adoption.

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By the Same Author: Twenty Things Adoptive Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew (1999, Dell Trade Paperback); Twenty Life-Transforming Choices Adoptees Need to Make (2003, Piñon Press); Forever Fingerprints: An Amazing Discovery for Adopted Children (2007, EMK Press); Questions Adoptees Are Asking: About Beginnings, About Birth Family, About Searching, About Finding Peace (2009, NavPress); Twenty Things Adoptive Parents Need to Succeed (2009, Delta); and Under His Wings: Truths to Heal Adopted, Orphaned, and Waiting Children’s Hearts (with Beth Willis Miller; 2012, Jewel Among Jewels Resources), among others.

From the Back Cover: The voices of adopted children are poignant, questioning. And they tell a familiar story of loss, fear, and hope. This extraordinary book, written by a woman who was adopted herself, gives voice to children’s unspoken concerns, and shows adoptive parents how to free their kids from feelings of fear, abandonment, and shame. With warmth and candor, Sherrie Eldridge reveals the twenty complex emotional issues you must understand to nurture the child you love ... that he must grieve his loss now if he is to receive love fully in the future ... that she needs honest information about her birth family no matter how painful the details may be ... and that although he may choose to search for his birth family, he will always rely on you to be his parents.

Filled with powerful insights from children, parents, and experts in the field, plus practical strategies and case histories that will ring true for every adoptive family, Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew is an invaluable guide to the complex emotions that take up residence within the heart of the adopted child—and within the adoptive home.

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About the Author: Sherrie Eldridge was adopted herself, and she uses many personal anecdotes to help illustrate the themes of this book. She formed an organization, Jewel Among Jewels Adoption Network, Inc., which helps educate people about the unique needs of the adopted child and publishes a quarterly newsletter, Jewel Among Jewels Adoption News. She lives with her husband in Indianapolis.

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By the Same Author: Twenty Life-Transforming Choices Adoptees Need to Make (2003, Piñon Press); Forever Fingerprints: An Amazing Discovery for Adopted Children (2007, EMK Press); Questions Adoptees Are Asking: About Beginnings, About Birth Family, About Searching, About Finding Peace (2009, NavPress); Twenty Things Adoptive Parents Need to Succeed (2009, Delta); Under His Wings: Truths to Heal Adopted, Orphaned, and Waiting Children’s Hearts (with Beth Willis Miller; 2012, Jewel Among Jewels Resources); and Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish: A Daily Devotional for Adoptive and Birth Parents (2015, New Hope Publishers), among others.

From the Back Cover: Do I have what it takes to be a successful adoptive parent? What tools do I need to succeed? Is love enough?

In her groundbreaking first book, Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew, Sherrie Eldridge gave voice to the very real concerns of adopted children, whose unique perspectives offered unprecedented insight. In this all-new companion volume, Eldridge goes beyond those insights and shifts her focus to parents, offering practical wisdom and advice on creating a loving, nurturing environment for your adopted child.

Speaking from her own experience as an adoptee, Eldridge shares proven strategies and the moving narratives of nearly 100 adoptive families, helping parents gain a deeper understanding of their children’s needs as well as their own. By truly listening to your child, by learning to speak his heart language, you’ll learn to connect with him on every level, opening the channels of communication—and keeping them open forever. Discover how to

• talk candidly with your child about her adoption and her birth family

• help your child move past his “broken life” narrative

• connect with other adoptive families—and build a support network

• handle negative birth-parent history openly and honestly

• cope with emotional triggers—what to do when you “lose it”

• and much more

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About the Author: Sherrie Eldridge is the author of the bestselling Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew. An internationally known adoption expert and speaker, she is also the founder and president of Jewel Among Jewels Adoption Network. She lives in Indiana with her husband.

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By the Same Author: Twenty Things Adoptive Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew (1999, Dell Trade Paperback); Twenty Life-Transforming Choices Adoptees Need to Make (2003, Piñon Press); Forever Fingerprints: An Amazing Discovery for Adopted Children (2007, EMK Press); Questions Adoptees Are Asking: About Beginnings, About Birth Family, About Searching, About Finding Peace (2009, NavPress); Under His Wings: Truths to Heal Adopted, Orphaned, and Waiting Children’s Hearts (with Beth Willis Miller; 2012, Jewel Among Jewels Resources); and Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish: A Daily Devotional for Adoptive and Birth Parents (2015, New Hope Publishers), among others.

A book about the reasons one would want to adopt a child either domestically or internationally. This story is about the great joys and experiences you will have as a parent.

Life was blissfully happy for the Amersons as they adjusted to life as a family of three. After the adoption of their newborn daughter, Fran and Pete focused on their new roles as mother and father. Things were pretty uneventful until about six months later, when they received an exciting surprise: Fran was expecting! Unfortunately, this would be no ordinary pregnancy. As complications arose and unfortunate events occurred, the Amersons were forced to revisit lessons learned a year earlier. Once again, perseverance and faith were tested as they endured this difficult trial.

One morning, sometime after my forty-third birthday I realized I wanted to be a Mom. Now I appreciate that you might think any normal woman would want kids in her twenties or thirties, but I didn’t really. My husband and I were busy with career, traveling and partying and, well, I just forgot to have kids. I never heard my biological clock ticking and now my alarm was ringing, and ringing loudly! Pregnancy wasn’t an option for me, so after many soul-searching conversations with my husband, we decided to adopt—via foster care. This is my story. I hope you enjoy it.

From the Publisher: In Chicago, Theresa Reid and her husband had lucrative careers and a beautiful home. What was missing from their lives was children. But they knew in Eastern Europe there were children who were missing parents—and they set out to find their family.

There was self-doubt and gut-wrenching fear, mountains of paperwork and nerve-racking interviews, agonizing choices and false starts. There was the painful awareness of thousands of children languishing in poorly funded orphanages, waiting for someone to embrace them and bring them home. And there were Byzantine bureaucracies and poverty-stricken conditions in the former Soviet Republic—where, beyond the borders they crossed and the obstacles they navigated, two little girls waited.

This is Theresa Reid’s account of how Natalie and Lana came to be her daughters—a journey that travels not only to Moscow and Kiev but into the deepest parts of a mother’s heart. She addresses the issues that arise for many an adoptive parent—including the guilt over taking children away from their roots, the unknowable mysteries of her daughters’ earliest childhoods, and the slow, stumbling steps toward trust and tenderness that played out between them.

For any parent, adoptive or not, this book offers not only a compelling story but valuable insights into the transformative power of loving a child.

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About the Author: Theresa Reid was the Executive Director of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

Ukraine Adoption is the story of how the Redman family, against all odds successfully adopted two young girls from Ukraine. Follow their journey working with, and against the Ukrainian adoption system and learn how you too can navigate the often murky waters. Adoption is a blessing for both the child and your family—we’ll show you how we did it and you can too.

From the Back Cover: Are you or is someone you know being touched by an unplanned pregnancy or considering adoption?

As a parent, have you unknowingly thought or acted as if you took your child for granted?

Do you find yourself or others struggling with pro-life and pro-choice issues?

ASTRONOMICAL and OUT-OF-CONTROL are the daily occurrences of unplanned pregnancies in our land. In America, the statistics are shocking—over 8,000 new unplanned pregnancies and more than 4,000 abortions take place every day. Will anyone unlock the pro-life and pro-choice gridlock with a solution for common ground? Perhaps you’re among the 2-3 million couples seeking to adopt a child when only 50,000-75,000 babies are available for adoption each year. As two of the statistics seeking to adopt, Mike and Annie found themselves traveling along rocky roads with those experiencing crisis pregnancies. Unexpectedly, they uncover a road untraveled by the pro-life and pro-choice camps that offers a middle ground solution where everyone wins.

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About the Author: Mike and Annie Sheaffer’s personal quest to adopt children culminated in 1995 with an unusual advertising campaign that generated over 1,000 phone calls nationwide within sixty days. Surprisingly, many calls were from women facing unplanned pregnancies and in dire need of help and guidance. Impassioned by their distress, Mike embraced a caring mission as he founded America’s Crisis Pregnancy Helpline (ACPH).

As a national nonprofit organization, ACPH addresses critical needs in response to a national crisis — over 8,000 new unplanned pregnancies and over 4,000 abortions a day. America’s Crisis Pregnancy Helpline offers education, confidential counseling, and referrals for women experiencing unplanned pregnancies. With the purpose of creating national awareness, ACPH serves as a facilitator for various nonprofit, public, and private social service organizations.

Mike, president of HI-LINE, Inc., a national distributor of electrical and mechanical aftermarket products based in Dallas, Texas, turned his father’s private venture into an expansive, multi-million dollar corporation. A graduate of Texas Tech University, Mike is an author, speaker, and public service advocate of common-sense solutions to our national pro-life and pro-choice struggle.

After receiving her liberal arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Annie was sales and marketing director for a subsidiary of The Associates First Capital Corporation. She also served as consultant/coordinator for Stonecroft Ministries in Farmers Branch, Texas. As a lieutenant for the Kilgore College Rangerettes, she performed in the presidential palace in Bucharest, Romania. A dance choreographer for the Superstar Drill Team, a division of the National Cheerleaders Association, she choreographed national drill team events in Dublin, Ireland and Honolulu, Hawaii. Annie received her Masters of Biblical Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1993.

Married since 1988 and the loving parents of three children, Jack, Travis, and Hannah, Mike and Annie reside in Dallas, Texas. They serve as Single’s Ministry Lay Leaders for Bent Tree Bible Fellowship where Annie also pioneered a post-abortion support program.

From the Back Cover: So you’ve made the decision to adopt. What’s next? For starters, how do you know whether domestic or international adoption is right for you? (And what are the real differences between the two?) Adoption insider Elizabeth Swire Falker answers these questions and many more. As an attorney who practices in the area of adoption and has worked with hundreds of families, and as an adoptive parent herself, she offers expert advice on each stage of the process. This comprehensive, accessible guide leads you with confidence through every decision you’ll have to make—including the ones that you’d never know to expect. Complete with checklists, tips, sidebars, and plenty of counterintuitive advice, it shows you how to:

• Identify which adoption experts you do and don’t need

• Find the right birth mother or choose the right country for your family—and how co spot red flags in potential situations

• Select an attorney or agency and prepare for your home visit

• Finance an adoption on a budget, manage the red tape, and get around the roadblocks

• Navigate all of the complex emotions that surface along the way.

With Elizabeth Swire Falker’s warm yet been-there-done-that voice, The Ultimate Insider’s Guide to Adoption is sure to become a tried-and-true resource for adoptive parents everywhere.

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About the Author: Elizabeth Swire Falker is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She maintains a private law and consulting practice in the areas of infertility, reproductive, and adoption law (www.StorkLawyer.com). She is a professional member of RESOLVE, the AFA, and the prestigious American Society for Reproductive Medicine. She lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband and their two children.

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By the Same Author: The Infertility Survival Handbook: Everything You Never Thought You’d Need to Know (2004, Riverhead Books).

From the Back Cover: Asia Renning was adopted by Jerry and Adair Renning when she was two years old, even though she was considered to be too institutionalized to be able to bond with a family. Asia’s struggles with a condition which required a colostomy, as well as autism, has led her family on a quest to help her maximize her potential. In this book, Adair Renning details the family’s search for effective treatments, including auditory integration therapy, food and environmental allergy treatments, mega-vitamins, and treatment for Leaky Gut Syndrome.

This is one family’s story, but it represents a celebration of the strength of the human spirit, when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds.

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About the Author: Born in North Carolina, Adair Renning met her Minnesota-born husband Jerry in the mountains of Colorado. After experiencing the joy of their first adoption, daughter Meghann, they decided to adopt a child with special needs. Asia is that child. The Rennings now live in Michigan where Meghann is a junior at Eastern Michigan University, Jerry a salesman for J. Mollema and Son, and Adair works for Web Elite, Inc., a web site development firm in Ann Arbor. Asia is a senior at Milan High School and a member of the track and cross-country teams.

From the Dust Jacket: Is maternal instinct fact or a myth? What special challenges do adoptive parents face? What kind of daycare is better, one with many caregivers or one with few? Do the experiences of early childhood always influence our ability to build and maintain social relationships as adults? Understanding Attachment helps to answer these questions and many others. This book is ideal for the reader who wants or needs a thorough understanding of attachment, but does not have the time to indulge in lengthy study. Parents, child care providers, teachers, nurses, social workers, attorneys, therapists, students, and counselors will all appreciate this work.

Mercer defines attachment and related terms, discusses the history of the idea, and describes ways in which this aspect of emotional life can be measured. She explains developmental change and the way attachment continues to alter from infancy to adulthood. The importance of social experiences with parents and other caregivers is emphasized. Outcomes of good and poor attachment experiences are discussed, and there is material on attachment disorders. The book concludes with a description of recent work that gives a new perspective on attachment.

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About the Author: Jean Mercer is Professor of Psychology in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Richard Stockton College and President of the New Jersey Association for Infant Mental Health.

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By the Same Author: Attachment Therapy on Trial: The Torture and Death of Candace Newmaker (with Larry Sarner & Linda Rosa; 2003) and Child Attachment: Myths and Misunderstandings (2009, SAGE Publications), among others.

From the Back Cover: Beginning with the touching story of a devoted goose, this book is written for anyone who has ever felt different, rejected or empty. Understanding Goose explores issues of loss, grief, rejection, identity, trust, shame, intimacy and control, and how they affect our lives. This book moves beyond mere self-analysis to help readers discover the fulfillment that comes when we look to God for healing and self-worth. In the preface, Jeanie writes, “Without the Scriptures and a relationship with God (which secular teachings often avoid), we miss the most significant and crucial path to healing! It is my conviction that all things work better when based on principles that have their origins in God’s word. May you find rest for your soul as you come to ‘Understand Goose.’”

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About the Author: After graduating from the University of Florida, Jeanie Shaw and her husband, Wyndham, went into the full-time ministry and served churches in North Carolina and West Virginia. They have taught classes on marriage, parenting and leadership in numerous cities and countries. For eight years, Jeanie served as a vice president of HOPE worldwide, working with New England and Europe. She has four grown children and five grandchildren (and counting!), and currently serves as a women’s ministry leader in the Boston Church of Christ.

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By the Same Author: Jacob’s Journey: One Child’s Adoption Teaches Us About Our Place in God’s Family (2011, Discipleship Publications International) and My Morning Cup, and Other Spiritual Thoughts (2011).

This is a wonderful booklet of useful information that will help you understand your child’s Korean heritage more fully. Includes fascinating info on the traditional Korean family structure, religion, housing, diet, child rearing practices—as well as background on adoption in Korea. Written by consultants to the Children’s Home Society of Minnesota, this 56-page resource will give you an excellent overview to Korean culture as it relates to children and family.

From the Dust Jacket: In this clear and practical approach to the family and its major and minor problems, two well-known psychoanalysts deal with the family as a dynamic and constantly changing group. The authors discuss the complex and important interrelationships of the family and the influence of both internal and external forces upon its organization and unity.

Demonstrating the fluctuating structure of the family, Understanding Your Family traces the course of the family group from the moment of marriage to the completion of the cycle when the children of the marriage form new families of their own. The book introduces the concept of the family ego: how it develops, how it functions, how it relates to the individual egos of the family members.

From this total picture of the family comes a knowledge and understanding that will enable the reader to cope more successfully with the manifold tensions and conflicts of family life, and thereby to achieve greater happiness.

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About the Author: Alexander Grinstein’s mother and father are both physicians, so it was not surprising that he, too, gravitated toward the medical profession. After receiving his M.D. from the University of Buffalo, be interned at the Wayne County General Hospital at Eloise, Michigan, and served there as resident and later as staff psychiatrist. His psychoanalytic training was taken in Detroit.

In addition to his private practice in psychiatry and psychoanalysis, and as consultant to various Detroit social agencies, Dr. Grinstein has been associated with the Psychopathic Clinic at Recorder’s Court in that city, with the Armed Forces Induction Board, and in several capacities with Wayne State University. A fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, he is the author of the five-volume Index of Psychoanalytic Writing, and of many articles for professional journals. He is married to a psychologist and is the father of two young sons.

Born in Austria-Hungary, Editha Radanowicz Sterba received her Ph.D. in psychology and musicology from the University of Vienna. Her interest in failures of school children led her to the study of psychoanalysis, and was was graduated from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. There, with Anna Freud, she founded the famous children’s seminar in the late 1920s.

Mrs. Sterba and her husband, psychoanalyst Dr. Richard Sterba, left Vienna in 1338 and came to the United States, where they have been active as teachers of psychoanalysis in Detroit. Associate professor of mental hygiene in the psychiatric department of Wayne State University, she in also consultant to social agencies and schools and is research director of The McGregor Health Center. Mrs. Sterba is a member of the American and International Psychoanalytic Associations, and is the author of numerous papers and articles, as well as of Beethoven and His Nephew, a psychological study of human emotions, co-authored by her husband. She is the mother of two daughters.

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Compiler’s Note: See, particularly, Chapter 13: Adoption (pp. 179-185).

Jayce Hunter presents a riveting glimpse into the all-too-real challenges of adoptive parents. When a happily married couple adopts twins, they learn just how challenging it can be to transform the lives of children who were previously abused and neglected. From physical, out-of-control breakdowns, to heartfelt tears of regret, the parents in Undoing battle to give their adopted twins the love-filled family they deserve. Honest, raw, bold, and emotional, this story of an adoptive family explores what really happens behind closed doors.