In the heart of Northwest Indiana's Calumet Region sits Whiting, Indiana. Born and raised in this "industrial Mayberry," author Albert R. Koch relives his experiences in this small town and beyond through this refreshing collection of essays. Help Mom with the Dishes is a journey through Koch's life, featuring people, places, and extraordinary moments experienced by a not-so-ordinary guy. These episodes convey the wonder of youth, the potency of humor, the power of learning, and the poignancy of emotions. For Koch, what happens in the past provides direction for the future. One can decide to either live life looking in the rearview mirror or focus on what lies ahead. One can use life experiences to strengthen and grow, or be satisfied with a mediocre life. Early on, Koch's choice is to "Help Mom with the dishes." Viewed through the parade of seasons, these distinctive, exceptional moments during Koch's continual quest for understanding and meaning are recalled with thoughtful, reflective insight-from classroom to factory, factory to campus, campus to classroom. Over that time, he's learned an important lesson: The triumph over sadness is not easy. It requires an unflinching belief in the goodness of people, a positive sense of humor, and perhaps, too, a little faith and reverence for things we cannot see.

The #1 New York Times–bestselling author takes an “unfailingly funny” look at global problems and offers his own political perspective (The Washington Times). In this volume, the political humorist and former National Lampoon editor-in-chief attacks fashionable worries—all those terrible problems that are constantly on our minds and in the news, but about which most of us have no real clue—and crisscrosses the globe in search of solutions to today’s most vexing issues, including overpopulation, famine, plague, and multiculturalism. In the process, he produces a hilarious and informative book which ensures that the concept of political correctness will never be the same again. “One of the funniest, most insightful, dead-on-the-money books of the year.” —Los Angeles Times “O’Rourke’s best work since Parliament of Whores.” —The Houston Post “Bottom line: Buy the book.” —The Wall Street Journal

Lambda Literary Award winner Good Moon Rising is about two young women who fall in love while rehearsing a school play, realize they're gay, and resist a homophobic campaign against them. Good Moon Rising, both a New York Public Library Book for the Teenage and a Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, "takes us into the dynamics of homophobia" (Horn Book). "Garden, who gave us one of the first honest, sensitive portrayals of two young women in love in the brilliant Anne On My Mind, Farrar, 1982, offers us another thought-provoking story of homosexual love."-Voya

Full-time FindingJoy.net blogger, speaker, marketer, podcaster, and single mom of seven, Rachel Marie Martin presents a rallying cry to anyone who believes the lie that she is "just a mom." Over the years, you willingly pour everything you have into your family, but in the process, you lose the essence of who you are. In her characteristic raw and visceral style, Rachel teaches you how to rewrite the pages of your story, follow your passion, and discover the beauty of who you are. Drawing on lessons from her own incredible journey--together with insight from conversations with thousands of other women--Rachel encourages moms to break cycles, take off masks, and prevent fear from taking control. She balances her "no excuses" approach with breathing room and grace for those messy moments in life and mothering. Rachel reminds you there is always a reason to hope, to move forward, and to dare the impossible. You can make changes. You can pursue dreams, find yourself, and live a life of deep happiness and boundless joy. Stop waiting for "someday." Take hold of the moment, and say yes to your dreams.

The Kid Looks Back is a collection of sixty-eight stories that cover a wide range of topics. I hope that his book will be a gentle hiding place where you can go to get away from something, return to something or go where you have never been. Some of these stories are true. Others are factually true, although bit embellished. Others are outright fabrications. Most look back to a kinder, mellower time. Digging for worms, swimming in a pond, using an outhouse or wading in a river may bring gross evaluations from our urbanized cousins. I hope that this book introduces them to life with a smile. Most of the stories have a message. Many are simply humorous. Entertainment is the motive. Carefree is the mood. Try to find yourself within these pages. May the beak of reality crack your comfort shell. Start anywhere. Finish anytime. Enjoy!

Introducing the lifesaving cookbook for every mother with kids at home—the book that solves the 20 most common cooking dilemmas. What’s your predicament: breakfast on a harried school morning? The Mom 100’s got it—Personalized Pizzas are not only fast but are nutritious, and hey, it doesn’t get any better than pizza for breakfast. Kids making noise about the same old lunch? The Mom 100’s got it—three different Turkey Wraps, plus a Wrap Blueprint delivers enough variety to last for years. Katie Workman, founding editor in chief of Cookstr.com and mother of two school-age kids, offers recipes, tips, techniques, attitude, and wisdom for staying happy in the kitchen while proudly keeping it homemade—because homemade not only tastes best, but is also better (and most economical) for you. The Mom 100 is 20 dilemmas every mom faces, with 5 solutions for each: including terrific recipes for the vegetable-averse, the salad-rejector, for the fish-o-phobe, or the overnight vegetarian convert. “Fork-in-the-Road” variations make it easy to adjust a recipe to appeal to different eaters (i.e., the kids who want bland and the adults who don’t). “What the Kids Can Do” sidebars suggest ways for kids to help make each dish.

Desperate is for those who love their children to the depths of their souls but who have also curled up under their covers, fighting back tears, and begging God for help. It’s for those who have ever wondered what happened to all their ideals for what having children would be like. For those who have ever felt like all the “experts” have clearly never had a child like theirs. For those who have prayed for a mentor. For those who ever felt lost and alone in motherhood. In Desperate you will find the story of one young mother’s honest account of the desperate feelings experienced in motherhood and one experienced mentor’s realistic and gentle exhortations that were forged in the trenches of raising her own four children. Also in Desperate: QR codes and links at the end of each chapter that lead to videos with Sarah Mae and Sally talking about the chapter Practical steps to take during the desperate times Bible study and journal exercises in each chapter that will lead you to identify ways in which you can grow as a mom Mentoring advice for real-life situations Q & A section with Sally where she answers readers questions

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself” (NPR). • CELEBRATING OVER ONE YEAR ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man who would become her husband--her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, and complete with family photos, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.

When Jesus left the most exclusive gated community in the universe to come live with the people he loved and gave his life for, he turned everything we know and believe about life on its head. Jesus said that he came to bring good news to the poor, but most Western Christians remain disconnected and isolated from the poor and their contexts of injustice. Even our churches echo society’s pressure to isolate ourselves from the margins (e.g. by moving to a better suburb) and instead teach us how to be “nice people” who worship a “nice Jesus” and don’t disrupt the status quo. Convinced that Jesus places love for the poor and the pursuit of justice central, Craig Greenfield has sought to follow in Christ’s footsteps by living among people at the edges of society for the last fourteen years. His quest to follow this Subversive Jesus has taken Craig and his young family from the slums of Asia to inner city Canada and back again. This is the story of how Jesus led them to the margins: initiating the Pirates of Justice flash mobs, sharing their home with detoxing crackheads, welcoming homeless panhandlers and prostitutes to the dinner table, and ultimately sparking a movement to reach the world’s most vulnerable children. This book is a strong and potentially controversial critique of the status quo too often found in our churches, but it offers an inspirational and hopeful vision of another way. While readers may not relocate to a slum, they will certainly come to view their lives and ministry through a fresh lens—reconsidering how they are uniquely called by Jesus to subversively love the poor and break down systems of injustice in their sphere of influence.

An interior designer and lifestyle coach helps modern moms design lives they love with less stress, less guilt, and more time to pursue their dreams. Balancing the demands of modern motherhood is a tough job. Between kids, work obligations, social commitments, and household duties, trying to fit in a little me time (let alone a date night) can seem practically impossible. For many moms, doing well at work makes them feel like they’re failing at home, and when they focus on their family, they feel like they’re falling behind at work. It’s a vicious cycle that all too often lead to burnout—but there really is another way. The Possibility Mom provides practical solutions for keeping the balance of a modern mother’s life with less stress, less guilt, and more satisfaction. Here, you’ll learn smart ways to trim your to-do list, clarify your priorities, get more done in less time, and live the life you love―one that you design.