Sushi the Cat, by author and artist Pamela Alderman, addresses respect and friendship. In this book, children will enjoy the delightful antics of Ella and her cat, Sushi. By highlighting the importance of understanding, sharing, and companionship, Sushi the Cat teaches young readers and listeners how to treat others. When we show respect to others, we open the way to make new friends. Pamela Alderman started painting as a ten-year-old, when her mom enrolled her in an adult art class. Her dad taught her how to draw on paper napkins after dinner. Decades later, Pamela's artwork expanded from individual paintings to include community-based projects with a focus on healing and resilience. Sushi the Cat was inspired while Pamela worked for her church as a conversational English teacher in Japan, where she met her husband, Leon. Thirty years later, Pamela traveled to Japan again and experienced the extraordinary kindness and respect of the Japanese people. These gracious encounters inspired Pamela to share those values through Sushi the Cat.
A collection of poems selected to observe past and present everyday life with honesty. Written plainly and always accessible. Sometimes shy or searching. Sometimes urgent or daring. No regrets.JANE E. GRIFFIOEN is the author of London Street: A Memoir (see link below). She has published poetry and essays in Elysian Fields, 3288 Review, Perspectives, Mars Hill Review, Origins and other journals. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she was born and raised. Visit her at www.janeegriffioen.com.
Sarah Samantha Melinda Malloy, The Story of a Survivor is a story about a young girl who goes through the trauma of sexual abuse. A gentle, lop-eared rabbit helps Sarah to find the help she needs. Sarah is a survivor. "This book is a great resource to help children, parents, and professionals work through the confusing and complex landscape of trauma treatment. The whimsical rhyming keeps the book approachable but doesn't shy away from discussing and highlighting the immense impact of sexual trauma. Pairing the physiological symptoms with relatable and helpful characters is a unique take on an essential component of trauma work. This inspirational story lovingly shows how a person can move forward and grow up and help others in true survivor fashion. I look forward to using it in my practice."Chris Roberts, LMSW, (Certified in TFCBT) Licensed Master of Social Work, with certification in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
She barely knew her brother who wandered in and out of her life, but when Janet received the old leather duffle bag containing what she believed were his only effects, she hesitated to search through it. She put it to the side thinking: I knew I would need some time when I was able to be solitary, to open the box, to look through the duffle bag which I knew was inside, to view what remained of my brother's life, and while secluded in my room, to confront my brother's things. When she did sort through the bag, she discovered: A rogue's gallery of curious items which were somehow important enough that he wrapped them and kept them... His secret cache. Perhaps the answer to who he was... She examined her brother's things.She was unsure what to do with them.Or what they signified.
James Joyce's ULYSSES is one of the greatest novels in literature. Radical in its day for its modernist construction, stream of consciousness narrative, its unvarnished exploration of sexuality; Ulysses calls to readers but can be daunting due to its length and composition.This rendition of a day in the life of Leopold Bloom in 20th century Dublin has pared Joyce's masterpiece by a third, leaving the original storyline, characters, motifs, and Joycesian prose to be enjoyed by new readers and those liking to experience Bloomsday again.If you yearned to read Ulysses, here is an accessible version that will give you the flavor, nuance, wit, and passion of the original. To say "Yes, I know Ulysses" - is a matter of pride.
Nothing has ever come easily to Charlotte. Her landscape design business will go belly up if she doesn't find a paying client-and soon. Since her sister's death, all attempts to nurture her niece Mazie have been rebuffed. Even her engagement to the handsome Harp is taking some getting used to. But just over the horizon, on an island in a river, is an exquisite rustic lodge in need of a garden. Its owner, Fig Bigelow, is eccentric, principled, utterly delightful-and the keeper of a terrifying secret. Charlotte's Crossing is as much a love song to native plants and a plea for their protection, as it is a story of one woman's uncommon love for an uncommon man."This is not just a balanced, well-researched discourse on the value of native plants . . . although it certainly is that. This is a real novel, with human interest plots and subplots, engaging dialogue, and skillful character development. A great read, whether or not you have ever heard of a native plant!" -Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home.". . . a cracking good story . . . Fans of field guides as well as readers on the beach will find it both engrossing and enlightening." -Julie Christianson Stivers, author, editor, On the Town Magazine". . . a heartfelt love story and a plea to rethink how we landscape and garden today. A very enjoyable read." - Esther Durnwald, Michigan Wildflower Farm"One woman's heroic fight to ban the sale of invasive plants -This is my fantasy. Arnold's elegant descriptions of nature's beauty will leave readers wanting to know the name of every leaf, twig and flower." - Jessie Schulte, Kent Conservation District
Paul's letter to the church in Rome is a treasure of truth and instruction for his readers. This devotional book offers you the opportunity to get to know this amazing piece of Scripture in a deeper way. At the end of each day's reading, you will be challenged with the goal of using what you have learned. Study questions are then added to enrich your devotional/study time, and to strengthen your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for making this learning journey with me.Brenda Dillon lives on a horse farm in west Michigan where she enjoys riding and time spent with her family. She loves studying the Scriptures and helping others learn to love it as well. She had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home where the Word of God was faithfully taught.
How Community Based Employment for Individuals with Disabilities Changes Lives.The Bakhuyzen family is introduced to the world of disability by their adopted son, Will. Join their journey, from adopting a special needs boy from Hong Kong to beginning a faith-based nonprofit that finds employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Through inspiring stories, Dirk Bakhuyzen shows how employment for individuals with disabilities offers families, caregivers, business partners and the overall community purpose, fulfillment, and powerful change for the good. He also offers practical advice for starting a similar nonprofit in your own community. Proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to Beyond26.
This historical novel is based on the lives of former Michigan Governor Chase Osborn and his ward, wife, and widow, Stellanova Osborn. The author weaves the facts of their lives into the narrative and leaves the reader to decide if life is indeed stranger than fiction. The answer to that question may be found in the many pages of their personal correspondence included in this novel. As the letters penned by the Osborns attest, their devotion to one another was tested many times over many years. None more so than in the summer of 1937 when Carleton Angell, then Professor of Art at the University of Michigan, spent six weeks on Sugar Island making a study for a bronze bust of Osborn.During that summer, caught between image and reality, the relationship of Chase and Stellanova Osborn was strained by their own efforts to maintain the fiction of their public façade. This is a saga of public accomplishment and suppressed realities, of burnished reputations becoming art, and broken promises betraying the importance of honor over honesty.
This book fictionalizes a true series of events in the late puritan Connecticut River valley through the French and Indian Wars in upstate New York until after the American Revolution in the new settlements.It follows several main characters:¿ An unwed mother who pursues justice with uncommon family support¿ Amorously wayward sons of "River Gods"¿ Colonial militia men¿ Brilliant theologian Jonathan Edwards¿ Dynamic-but-depressed revolutionary attorney Joseph Hawley¿ A Mohican/Mohawk sachem;and the diverse and complex communities that produced them.The central controversies animating these stories were religion versus town turmoil and transformations, particularly a prominent fornication case (not unusual in this period), a refusal to acknowledge paternity and church authority (against law and evidence), excommunication, and the intriguing consequences.Weaving through a century of time and towns, the book is the product of extensive research and incorporates archaeology, artifacts, history, primary source documents, sociology, psychology, law, religion, and other disciplines into the stories. Painstaking research was conducted for historic accuracy of both actual facts and persons, as well as the minutiae of 18th century life.
Linda''s life has never been traditional. She was born to teenage parents who tried their best to care for her, but when three younger siblings came along, it was too much. The tipping point occurred when Linda was just eight years old. Her mother left. Her father turned to alcohol. Her siblings needed a caregiver. After having her childhood ripped away by responsibilities well beyond her years, Linda wanted an escape. To her, escape took the form of a relationship with an older man. After marriage and motherhood consumed her teen years, Linda''s life took many abusive, pain-filled twists and turns. Unguided decisions led to a life of loneliness, drugs, promiscuity, and risks -- but these decisions also created resilience. Linda''s story is a tale of ups and downs, but ultimately it is a testament to the grit of the human spirit. Diving into Linda''s story reveals her relentless determination in darkness, a lesson anyone could benefit from.
As Tomas watched his third child come into the world accompanied by screams and blood and puke, he wondered whether he should drown it in the same manner his father used to drown the kittens on the farm. For generations, the Allerton family men worked as carpenters and furniture makers. They made bookcases and tables and bed frames; they whittled and carved keepsake boxes and whirligigs and canes; they repaired door frames and replaced rotted crates. And they made caskets and helped in the burial of the inhabitants when it was required. The family had settled in Levett, Illinois, a farming community with a middling town containing a post office, a general store and a hardware store, a church, a schoolhouse. This was the spot Tomas grew up, where he learned his trade, where he lived an austere and harsh existence.This was the life Tomas Allerton left to travel to unknown places, new circumstances, strange locales.
Tens of millions of people are stampeding into re-tirement on their last major financial run expecting a retirement lifestyle of independence and dignity. Unfortunately, they are following a leader off a financial cliff, due to the traditions and habits that have led to a misunderstanding of long-term planning-not to mention the prehistoric cognitive bias that is tugging at their behavior.In this case, the leader is not a person, but an archaic set of principles and practices hauled around in their minds by generations of misinformation and a culture that works against long-term planning. These ideas are packed into a mental suitcase that many people carry with them through retirement planning.For up to sixty years you have been packing your suitcases - un-consciously - with inaccurate and unclear financial strategies and decisions. As you visualize your next thirty years, you have finally come to a realization that hits almost everyone at this point in life: it is time to repack my financial baggage to ensure our future; otherwise, my family and the generations thereafter will never get to where they want to go.
From a mother''s and daughter''s lives in danger of not living, a story of how faith in God has transformed the life of a physically disabled woman with the disability of Cerebral Palsy. Living as though just going through the motions of life. Addictions and hopelessness, God transformed a woman''s life into a testimony when the decision to surrender life to Jesus Christ. The old way of living compared to the new life found in Jesus Christ is what satisfies because a messed up life can become a testimony when seeking God wholeheartedly.Emily Zondlak is also the author of Chapter by Chapter, Open His Word and Dimly Lit.
It was 1942, and Theodora, a charming Dutch/Indonesian teenager, was uprooted from her pampered East Indies upbringing and forced to live in one of many desperate, disease-infested concentration camps set up by the occupying Japanese army. A few years later, her life was plunged into danger again from the angry Indonesian nationalists on the hunt for anyone with Dutch blood. Arriving in The Netherlands, her “mother country,” Theodora thought she had found safe haven, but was to face an epic deluge when the North Sea burst through the existing dams and flooded her quaint Dutch village. A prisoner, refugee, immigrant, and survivor, Theodora’s story is one of faith, forgiveness and reconciliation. You will witness an untold chapter in history as you are inspired by one amazing woman’s testimony of grit and grace.
"What an Awesome God we serve" At the risk of sounding like a modern day zealot, I am prepared to shout this truth from the highest rooftop.I freely speak of God's awesomeness when I look back at the unwavering faith He gave to my grandmother, my mother, and me as we walked through the fiery furnaces of the Jim Crow era of accepted- although ignorant-segregation of people of color.Ignorance is not bliss as some would have us believe, but merely a coping mechanism designed to keep vulnerable segments of society in darkness and a super-imposed way to deal with societal induced pain.To have come away with a genuine love for my brothers and sisters in Christ; no matter their color and to know that the God I serve gave us the life tools to work with, making the journey while raising our children, nothing short of miraculous is paramount.It is my prayer that everyone who reads this book, will also come away with a deeper love for God and our fellow man. Remember and apply this truth daily to your walk with Christ that "God is no respecter of persons." Acts 10:34C.B. Porter
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