In the early 70s, after being abandoned by both parents, the girls were made wards of the Fresno County, California court and spent the next 14 years-in a series of adoptive homes. The dislocations, confusions, and odd pleasures of an unrooted life form the basis of one of the most compelling memoirs in recent years--a book the tradition of Jo Ann Beard's Boys of My Youth and Mary Karr'sThe Liar's Club.McLain's beautiful writing and limber voice capture the intense loneliness, sadness, and determination of a young girl both on her own and responsible, with her siblings, for staying together as a family.

    More than one woman's search for her biological parents, Found is a story of loss, adjustment, and survival. Lauck's investigation into her own troubled past leads her to research that shows the profound trauma undergone by infants when they're separated from their birth mothers—a finding that provides a framework for her writing as well as her life.Though Lauck's story is centered around her search for her birth mother, it's also about her quest to overcome her displacement, her desire to please and fit in, and her lack of a sense of self—all issues she attributes to having been adopted, and also to having lost her adoptive parents at the early age of nine. Throughout her thirties and early forties, she tries to overcome her struggles by becoming a mother and by pursuing a spiritual path she hopes will lead to wholeness, but she discovers that the elusive peace she has been seeking can only come through investigating—and coming to terms with—her past.

    Hannah's Hope is intended as a guide to assist you in making wise decisions as you struggle through your grief of not yet conceiving, losing a child, or struggling through the adoption process.

    It highlights the highs and lows, but most importantly, it emphasizes the stability and comfort that the child so desperately needs. It also serves as a keepsake book providing a section for journaling about the child’s time in the foster home. This gives foster families an opportunity to give the child a piece of their history when they leave.

    . . using the key you never knew you had.Tim Tebow credits his mom with being the key to his success--but Pam never expected that she would be known on a national stage. For most of her life, she was serving quietly and faithfully as a wife and a mom--choosing life for her child in the face of medical risks, answering the Lord's call to mission work in the Philippines, and homeschooling before anyone knew what the word meant. But all along the way, her experiences--and her consistent, everyday choices to follow the Lord and to serve wherever He placed her--were creating unexpected ripples of influence throughout her family, her community, and her world. And they would end up extending far beyond anything she ever imagined.Pam believes that every one of us can be influential--and that deep within a woman's heart is the desire to use her influence for good. In Ripple Effects, Pam uncovers and explores the miraculous motivating power of influence we can have on this generation and the next, no matter where we are planted in life. Whether we are in the midst of endless diaper changes, climbing up the corporate ladder, or simply doing our best to live, love, and serve well each day, Pam will encourage us to maximize our God-given opportunities for influence--and watch how far the ripples will spread.

    Their first ten years together included Domingo’s alcoholism and abuse, and Irene’s desperate prayers for answers. Then a miracle happened: Domingo pleaded for forgiveness. As God healed their marriage, Irene and Domingo adopted a little girl. And a new season began for an imperfect couple who were willing to say yes to each other and to God. Over the past forty-five years, the Garcias have birthed, fostered, or adopted thirty-two children. Their story holds difficult endings as well as promising new beginnings. Above all, their story reminds us what can happen when ordinary people submit to God’s call. Rich in Love is about a family cemented in hope. About a need to love the orphan. And about a God who never, ever gives up.

    This is one woman's story of all she lost and how hard she fought to survive.A teenager in the 1970s, Gwen Wilson grew up in Western Sydney. It was a tough childhood. Illegitimate, fatherless - her mother in and out of psychiatric hospitals; it would have been easy for anyone to despair and give up. Yet Gwen had hope. Despite it all, she was a good student, fighting hard for a scholarship and a brighter future.Then she met Colin. Someone to love who would love her back. But that short-lived love wasn't the sanctuary Gwen was looking for. It was the start of a living hell. Rape was just the beginning. By sixteen she was pregnant, her education abandoned. Australian society did not tolerate single mothers; prejudice and discrimination followed her everywhere. In an effort to save her son, Jason, from the illegitimacy and deprivation she'd grown up with, Gwen chose to marry Colin - and too quickly the nightmare of physical abuse, poverty and homelessness seemed inescapable.In 1974, in the dying days of the forced adoption era in Australia, this isolated teenager was compelled to make a decision about her child that would tear her life apart, one she would never truly come to terms with.I Belong to No One is one woman's story of all she lost and how hard she fought to survive and eventually triumph.

    For the boy inside the pages . . From Charles: I am often asked about my childhood. How I grew up. Where. What informed me as a writer, man and child of God. Starting with some of my earliest memories, these are stories of that place in me. That kid in me. In here you will find honest admission of my mistakes, failures, successes. Note: these are not fiction and this is not a novel.These stories are as true as I can remember. In these pages, you will hear the beginnings of my voice as a writer, the things that were troubling me — things I didn’t know how to voice out my mouth so they bubbled up and out my fingers. You will also hear my unshakable and childlike faith in a sovereign and good Heavenly Father.I wrote most all of these stories between my sophomore year in high school and my senior year in college so my temptation here and now was to edit them. To make them sound like me today, the writer I’ve become after almost thirty years with this keyboard on my lap. For the record, I have not done that. What you read today, is what I wrote then. (That doesn’t mean they’re sloppy. I’ve cleaned them up a bit.) But, as a result, you hear my early voice. And while it is ripe with mistakes and a wordiness long since edited out of me, there’s also an innocence and purity that I cherish.For those of you looking for my next novel, this is not it. But, it will give you insight into the novels you have read or might read. I’ve entitled them, “River Road,” because I grew up there. Because that hallowed ground along the St. Johns River holds a tender place in my heart. Because the valiant, sweaty kid I knew back then is still running around with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and he holds an absolute faith that fishing is a more noble pursuit than school, that he can play in the NFL, that men don’t die of hiccups, that he can still cat-walk his Schwin Mag Scrambler over sixty nine parking spaces, that swallowing Levi Garrett chewing tobacco won’t hurt him and that girls actually think it’s cool, that throwing tangerines at cars is good training for arm strength, that being a bully to a buddy hurt his heart, that a pellet to the gonads is excruciatingly painful, that when my praying mother hit her knees next to a wrecked car and bleeding man that she towered over the men around her, that forgiveness is the toughest thing that kid will ever offer another and that God can and will kill the devil. Enjoy.

    draws on personal stories infused with humor and wisdom to extract impactful life lessons. He walks us through some of his most career-defining moments to emphasize the importance of living life with the punchline in mind. With a comedian's cadence and a dependable friend's outstretched hand, Michael Jr. addresses provocative issues including race, policing in America, forgiveness, socio-economics, and faith with gritty familiarity. While you will find yourself laughing out loud, at its core, FUNNY HOW LIFE WORKS reveals that if you pay close attention, the obstacles you face day to day are part of a much bigger plan that can help you realize and fulfill your life's mission. Like many of us, Michael Jr. wrestled with several moments of uncertainty, from living in his car to being held up by officers, but he never lost sight of the bigger picture. In this inspiring and self-reflective book, he implores us to do the same.

    Blanchard’s 2011 five-hundred mile pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago—hiking from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France over the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles in Spain, and then westward across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostella.For over a millennium, Christians have made this pilgrimage to the cathedral in Santiago, where the remains of St. James the apostle are entombed. Today, this journey is known as a European Cultural Itinerary, attracting people from around the world. In 2011, more than 183,000 people completed the pilgrimage; 44% of these pilgrims were women.Though Women of the Way is about Jane’s journey on the Camino de Santiago (also known as “The Way”) and discussions with women she met on the pilgrimage, this is not a “chic” book. It is about embracing the Camino, the personal changes, and the beauty and appeal of the most popular of all the pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, the Camino Frances. — Discover why people from around the world walk the Camino. — Learn how to prepare for the Camino, about the daily rituals in long-distance walking, and the camaraderie shared among these modern-day pilgrims. — Visualize the beauty of northern Spain through Jane’s vivid descriptions. — Understand why so many people embrace the Camino.“An articulate, well-observed and thoughtful look at walking the Camino.” ~ Adam Nathan“I felt as though I, too, was a pilgrim as I saw the beautiful landscapes Jane described, felt the tiredness she experienced, enjoyed the food along with her, laughed and cried with her.” ~ Elizabeth Chandler“My husband, John (62), and I are reading your book while we prepare to walk the Camino in May of 2013. We are loving it! I like your honesty and factual approach. Your descriptions have caused us to laugh and almost cry at times. Thank you! We are reading a little each day and John reminds me to bring the book in the car or to bed. The spirit of the Camino is already appearing in our relationship as we prepare. I can see a change and it is wonderful!” ~ Kim Todaro

    Jerusalem writes with a raw honesty that reassures readers they are not alone in feeling not good enough, not wise enough, not Christian enough to figure out God s plans. Jerusalem is active on Facebook and Pinterest and regularly posts on her blog Slow Living in a Fast World where she records what she calls her beautymess attempts at living a sacramental life."

    No one knew that the stage itself would steal her dream-and almost her life-during a rehearsal for the next big show.Just days before her opening night performance in The Wizard of Oz, sixteen-year- old Tasha took one step backward and fell sixteen feet through a trap door. On that day, Nov. 11, 1997, she landed on the concrete floor of the historic Sheldon Theater, breaking her neck, crushing her spinal cord, and fracturing her skull. She would never walk again.For the next three days, Tasha prepared for a surgery that would at best leave her a C-5 quadriplegic. Post-op complications turned Tasha's struggle and ultimate triumph into an unbelievable journey. From loss and grief to self-discovery and achievement, Tasha's faith, resilience, and honesty have allowed her to leave the old Tasha behind while she confronts the new Tasha's life from a state of the art wheelchair.Discover Tasha's remarkable spirit in My Last Step Backward, a poignant memoir that seeks to inspire you to welcome adversity and face your own trap door of opportunity.

    It is the story of how a painful legacy of the past is confronted and met with peace. This book is for anyone who has struggled to understand why our desires- even the simplest ones-are sometimes denied or who has questioned where God is when we need him most. This story is about one woman's unlikely road to motherhood. Finally, it's a book about the "undeserved gift which is life itself." It's the story of Finding Grace.Donna VanLiere has entertained millions with her inspirational stories. In her new book, she gives us a candid look into her own life, a life filled with suffering and pain, but one that ultimately finds peace with itself.

    In that decision, the faith she had always talked about became the faith she was going to learn how to live. In the years since, God has given Angela a passionate desire . . . to live an amazing life, even while raising four kids as a single mom. In this book she shares her hard-earned wisdom on loneliness, dating, finances, and parenting, encouraging every solo mom. "As a gift to our children," she says, "we can become healthy moms who are strong and amazing women in spite of our circumstances."

    It always involves earning our children's trust. Whether we are overwhelmed at being parents, planning to be parents, reacting to our parents, or learning to stand with our kids as they now parent, we need to know there is always a way home, convinced God is in the middle of every stage of our family. Find yourself in this story as you ride along with the Clawsons on vacation. Go inside the episode as each part of the story unfolds, and find the freedom and truth that God offers us as we build trust with our kids, and discover insight and hope for our own painful patterns. This book is filled with joy, insight, wisdom and maybe a fresh way of seeing our families and ourselves. Enjoy the ride.