Shelley Rivelli believes that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38""39) and that it is in this very love that we are clothed in strength and dignity. Sharing your story is what connects us, and that is what Shelley has done. Through transparency, laughter, and some tears, Shelley brings you through her journey. May you allow her stories to inspire you to discover your own strength and dignity through the relentless love of your heavenly Father. In the worst moment, I stood in my kitchen and asked the Lord to give the command to save me. And he did. I wish I could say the saving came easily or quickly, but it did not. It came with difficult decisions, heartbreak, and mistakes. The saving came when I was ready to say, "Your will, not mine," and mean it. The saving came with my full surrender. (Shelley Rivelli)
From Debbie Macomber, the beloved author and queen of Christmas stories, comes this enchanting adult coloring book featuring all-new festive illustrations inspired by her treasured holiday novels. Debbie Macomber invites you to join in the holiday spirit with a collection of forty-five gorgeous black-and-white drawings ready to be brought to colorful life with your creative flair. Now you can escape to the peaceful, snow-covered settings and revel in the festive celebrations signature to her Christmas stories. Debbie Macomber’s Very Merry Christmas Coloring Book is perfect for anyone looking to experience the comfort and joy of the season.
Upon publication, Anita Silvey’s comprehensive survey of contemporary children’s literature, Children’s Books and Their Creators, garnered unanimous praise from librarians, educators, and specialists interested in the world of writing for children. Now The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators assembles the best of that volume in one handy, affordable reference, geared specifically to parents, educators, and students. This new volume introduces readers to the wealth of children’s literature by focusing on the essentials — the best books for children, the ones that inform, impress, and, most important, excite young readers. Updated to include newcomers such as J. K. Rowling and Lemony Snicket and to cover the very latest on publishing and educational trends, this edition features more than 475 entries on the best-loved children’s authors and illustrators, numerous essays on social and historical issues, thirty personal glimpses into craft by well-known writers, illustrators, and critics, and invaluable reading lists by category. The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators summarizes the canon of contemporary children’s literature, in a practical guide essential for anyone choosing a book for or working with children.
For Elif Ekin, entertaining the idea of a divorce was intimidating. There were questions of money, custody, and living arrangements. But she really wanted to regain control of her life. So, after ten years of marriage, and with her four-year-old little girl, Elif made the difficult decision to file for divorce - a scary proposition for a stay-at-home mom. In this memoir, Elif chronicles her journey through this deeply emotional process, in which she had so much to lose and yet so much to gain. Mostly Happy shares a brutally honest account of her experiences through the ups and downs and through all of the difficult situations and decisions. It narrates her proactive approach seeking therapy, doing extensive reading, and finding her center. Mostly Happy follows Elif as she acknowledges her emotions and rediscovers herself while moving through the legal process and finding a state of peace and contentment on the other side.
When Kizzie had returned to Smithville and said yes to Zaks marriage proposal, the journey to the altar and their happily ever after was supposed to have been short and easy. They had both thought that finding each other again after so many years, finding room in their hearts to forgive past mistakes and letting go of old transgressions would be the hard part. But things get out of control when Kizzie secretly hatches a plan to return alone to her former home to confront an ex-boyfriend who refuses to accept the end of their relationship. One bad decision turns both their lives upside down, putting their love on fragile ground. But more than that, it puts Kizzies life at risk. In this, the sequel to Let Love Have Its Way, Zak and Kizzie learn that once love has its way, happiness does not automatically follow. That getting to happy is not always a straight line. The greatest test of love for them yet is finding that love is not the end of the story, its only the beginning.
"[A] thoughtful and lucid tale of love, companionship, and heartbreaking illness." —Lydia Davis In 2004 Rachel Hadas's husband, George Edwards, a composer and professor of music at Columbia University, was diagnosed with early-onset dementia at the age of sixty-one. Strange Relation is her account of "losing" George. Her narrative begins when George's illness can no longer be ignored, and ends in 2008 soon after his move to a dementia facility (when, after thirty years of marriage, she finds herself no longer living with her husband). Within the cloudy confines of those difficult years, years when reading and writing were an essential part of what kept her going, she "tried to keep track…tried to tell the truth." "If only all doctors and nurses and social workers who care for the chronically ill could read this book. If only patients and family members stricken with such losses could receive what this book can give them. While Strange Relation relates one illness and the life of one family, it is also, poetically, about all illnesses, all families, all struggles, all living. The art achieves the dual life of the universal and the particular, marking it as timeless, making it for us all necessary."—Rita Charon, MD, PhD, Program in Narrative Medicine, Columbia University "Rachel Hadas's own wonderfully resonant poems, along with the rich collection of verse and prose by other writers that she weaves into her story, clarify and illuminate over and over again this thoughtful and lucid tale of love, companionship, and heartbreaking illness—illness that, as she shows us so well, is at once frighteningly alien and also deeply a part of our unavoidable vulnerability as mortal beings. Beautifully written, totally engrossing, and very sad."—Lydia Davis "Strange Relation is a deeply moving, deeply personal, beautifully written exploration of how the power of grief can be met with the power of literature, and how solace can be found in the space between them."—Frank Huyler "A poignant memoir of love, creativity and human vulnerability. Rachel Hadas brings a poet's incisive eye to the labyrinth of dementia."—Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of Medicine in Translation and Singular Intimacies "Like an elegy, Strange Relation is about loss and grief. Like all elegies, it also memorializes and celebrates. Rachel Hadas, in the course of her personal narrative, cites accounts of dementia, in its social and personal meanings."—Robert Pinsky "Brilliant and tough-minded, poignant but clear-headed, Rachel Hadas shines a steady light on her experience as the wife of an accomplished composer who, at a comparatively early age, descended into dementia. Strange Relation never sacrifices truth for easy answers. Instead, Hadas uses literature to chart a course through wrenching complexities. This lauded and exceptional poet shows how language itself, the very thing her husband loses, became her shield as she crossed the ravaged lands of decision-making, making new discoveries, new friends, and new sense of the world. Strange Relation snaps with bravery, intelligence, and Hadas' tart, candid wisdom."—Molly Peacock "Strange Relation is a beautifully written and piercingly honest account of life with a brilliant man as he descends into dementia, in his sixties."—Reeve Lindbergh
A perennial bestseller, now revised and updated for a new generation of fathers, this readable, inspiring guide to the world of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers is an indispensable treasury of advice, ideas, and suggestions.
