Each of us has a lifetime in which to discover our way to belong within our particular experience of times and events. Instead of an operating manual, our families and cultures give us expectations for who we are and what is our place in the world. This is the story of my journey into the calling of motherhood that I did not understand and struggled to reject. Conscientious wrestling with the experiences of motherhood eventually taught me how entangled love and anger can be and how suffering is inseparable from both. Finally a deeper call to love confronted me.
Each of us has a lifetime in which to discover our way to belong within our particular experience of times and events. Instead of an operating manual, our families and cultures give us expectations for who we are and what is our place in the world. This is the story of my journey into the calling of motherhood that I did not understand and struggled to reject. Conscientious wrestling with the experiences of motherhood eventually taught me how entangled love and anger can be and how suffering is inseparable from both. Finally a deeper call to love confronted me.
Set in Pittsburgh in the 1980s, Christina's Gift begins with the death of Christina Martin Andrews, a minister serving an established congregation in the city. As her friends and family try to make sense of how her life ended, they realize that her friendship was an invitation to become friends with Jesus and, in doing so, to discover their true selves, their true purpose.
An insightful, honest memoir by a remarkable woman. --Alycin Hayes, Author of Amazon Hitchhiker An extraordinary book by a person of deep faith and courage. --Kenneth D. Wald, Author of forthcoming Ghosts on the Wall Adventures of a Midwife chronicles the journey of a woman with a goal, determined to excel in spite of life's challenges. We cheer for her every stage of her lifelong sojourn. --Leo Hines, Writers Alliance of Gainesville Adventures of a Midwife: Finding Joy on the Journey relates the challenges Elsie Wilson had in becoming a nurse-midwife in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and the rainforests of Congo, Africa. This memoir describes her struggles in surviving abuse, cancer, depression, and fire. Her commitment to missions, which started at age thirteen, grew when she won a nursing scholarship and cared for her dying mother. The doubt and uncertainty that she could be used by God was dispelled as He took her on a journey only He could design, ending in joy. She never imagined she would be driving up creek beds in a Jeep, crossing over swinging bridges, or examining a pregnant woman with a snake hanging over her head. Delivering babies in shacks with newspapers on the walls and depending on God in life-threatening circumstances developed an inner joy despite these difficulties. God's faithfulness and grace provided the strength to survive the trauma she experienced and led her to become a spiritual midwife.
Ken Alcorn can convey more in a set of gestures and physical movements than most can communicate in a multitude of words. -Erin Campbell, The Student Magazine, Wake Forest University The most amazing quality of Alcorn's show is that he said nothing. As a mime, he relied on the basics of human perception and, without saying a word, brought an energy and electricity to the stage that would normally require lots of extras. -Juan Carlos Coto and Tony Fins, The Miami Hurricane, The University of Miami Ken's wife, Beth Atkinson-Alcorn saved my life. Then we got to know Ken as he put his talents to use at our radio station in between the "calls of the children" with lost lunches, school awards and athletic competitions, juvenile detention rescues, and college graduations. This is real life. And it takes a real life to not only navigate it, but guide four newbies into the varied ups and downs that only excellence demands. -Dr. Laurel T. Hughes-Massey, Issues of Conscience: Journals on the Science and Sale of Life Delve into the life of a man who did not speak for a career, but who found his voice in the middle of an empty stage, on the pages of notebooks, within the harmonies of a piano, the lines of poetry and lyrics, paint on canvases, and voice-overs for national radio. Alcorn postponed those particular self expressions, to redirect creative energies into guiding his children into finding their own unique voices. Sometimes pretty tough love. Read the humorous and poignant stories of this godly husband to a brilliant surgeon who, as mime and actor turned full time father recounts the winding journey from the spotlight to diapers and beyond. Where did this fully committed decision lead him in almost three decades that has yet to see its final glory? You will be inspired to walk the same paths with Ken Alcorn. His finest review? Four voices that say, "I love you, Dad!" Leaving him absolutely speechless.
Over the past fifteen years, as a licensed health provider in the United States, I remain incredibly inspired at how the human body works and its ability to heal and repair itself if given the right resources and conditions. I have always believed that the fundamental premise of our healthcare system should focus on using the best practices across all disciplines to offer solutions that support the inherent healing ability of the body to obtain sustainable health outcomes. In what is regarded as the best healthcare system in the world, it is ideal to have a system that begins the caring process with the most effective, conservative and minimally invasive solutions coupled with a mindset to offer protocols that help people sustain a healthier, pain-free life. We all know that is not happening on the grand scale. In my field I have come across thousands of patients who are beyond frustrated with the current status quo of treatment they and their family members have been offered for various conditions, usually limited to medication, injection, or surgery. By the time many patients reach my office, they have already spent a lot of time and money seeing multiple providers and specialists without experiencing sustained positive outcomes, if any at all. Moreover, I truly believe that there is an even larger population of people who are choosing to suffer in silence due to their dissatisfaction with health options or the rising cost of care. This only creates an epidemic proportion of chronic health issues that lead to alarming ER visit rates, premature surgeries, reliance on pain medication and even preventable deaths! The solution to these problems is the challenge I present to you when I say, "Dare 2 Live Well." The dare is evident because you must boldly assign accountability and responsibility for your health into your own hands. You must take the reins! I wrote this book to help you navigate a challenging and complex health care system that is broken. This guide will help make the system work for you as you endeavor to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Most importantly, I want to help shift your focus from pain to prevention and help you recognize the reality that our health-related decisions have a resounding and lasting impact on our families and on future generations.
“A very wise book, and it is written in the most beautiful, precise and definitive prose.” -La Nirgad, Ha’aretz Literary Supplement “Sometimes one had the experience of reading a book and just falling in love with it-because it is so well written, so moving, and it gets into your soul. That was my experience when I read The Confessions of Noa Weber .” -Eleonora Lev, Ha’aretz Acclaimed middle-aged writer Noa Weber-acclaimed both as a writer and as one of Israel’s leading feminists-has all the trappings of a successful “feminist” life: She has a strong career, a wonderful daughter she raised alone, and she’s a respected cultural figure. Yet her interior life is inextricably bound by her love for a man-Alek, a Russian ÉmigrÉ and the father of her child, who, over the years, has drifted in and out of her life. Trying to understand-as well as free herself from-this lifelong obsession, Noa turns her pen upon herself, and with relentless honesty dissects her life. Against the evocative setting of turbulent, modern-day Israel, the examination becomes a quest-to transform the nature of her love from irrational desire to a greater, transcendent comprehension of the sublime. The Confessions of Noa Weber introduces to the English-speaking world a startlingly talented writer in a rich tale that illuminates the desires, yearnings, and complexities of life in Israel, and of people trying to balance the needs of the secular world with the ultimate need and desire for transcendence. Gail Hareven is one of Israel’s leading writers; the author of five novels, three short story collections, plays, a nonfiction book, and two children’s books; and the winner of the prestigious Sapir Prize for The Confessions of Noa Weber . She teaches writing and feminist theory in Jerusalem. This is her first book to be translated into English.
In Wom(b)an: A Cultural-Narrative Reading of the Hebrew Bible Barrenness Narratives Janice Pearl Ewurama De-Whyte offers a reading of the Hebrew Bible barrenness narratives. The original word “wom(b)an” visually underscores the centrality of a productive womb to female identity in the ANE and Hebrew contexts. Conversely, barrenness was the ultimate tragedy and shame of a woman. Utilizing Akan cultural custom as a lens through which to read the Hebrew barrenness tradition, De-Whyte uncovers another kind of barrenness within these narratives. Her term “social barrenness” depicts the various situations of childlessness that are generally unrecognized in western cultures due to the western biomedical definitions of infertility. Whether biological or social, barrenness was perceived to be the greatest threat to a woman’s identity and security as well as the continuity of the lineage. Wom(b)an examines these narratives in light of the cultural meanings of barrenness within traditional cultures, ancient and present.
Pregnancy and childbirth are not to be feared; they are divinely appointed processes that can be joyful, spiritual, and bring families closer to God. The Gift of Giving Life: Rediscovering the Divine Nature of Pregnancy and Birth offers something that no other pregnancy book has before-a spiritual look at pregnancy and birth by and for LDS women and other women of faith. Through moving stories women in the scriptures, women from early Latter-day Saint history, and dozens of modern mothers, The Gift of Giving Life assures readers that God cares deeply about the entire procreative process. The Gift of Giving Life does not advocate for any one type of birth or approach to prenatal care, rather it intends to unify our families and communities in regard to the sacredness of birth. We also aim to provide you with resources, information, and inspiration that you may not have had access to all in one place before. Topics covered include: constant nourishment, meditation, fear, pain, healing from loss, the physical and spiritual ties between the Atonement and childbirth, the role of the Relief Society in postpartum recovery and more. Birthing women, birth attendants, childbirth educators, and interested readers of all faiths are invited to rediscover within these pages the divinity and gift of giving life.
