When visiting an elderly relative or friend, are you often at a loss for what to talk about? After the initial pleasantries, do the minutes drag on? You may very well love this person, but find yourself struggling to carry on a conversation. An hour can seem endless. If only you could think of something interesting to talk about! If Only You Would Ask transforms this situation! Open to any page and soon find yourself engaged in meaningful conversation. With forty-two topics and over four hundred questions, If Only You Would Ask provides a framework for tapping into memories that may not have been thought about or talked about for years! You and the person you are visiting will both enjoy your time together. In fact, you will look forward to your next get together. Every person has stories to share, If Only You Would Ask! About the Author Mother-daughter duo Eileen Opatz Berger and Joan Berger Bachman teamed up for five years to make this timeless resource available for all those who spend time with the elderly. Eileen Opatz Berger graduated from the College of St. Benedict and the University of Wis/River Falls. Presently she teaches English as a second language. Along with her family, foreign students have been the joy of her life. Favorite pastimes include travel, writing, and tennis. She currently divides her time between White Bear Lake, Minnesota and Sun City West, Arizona. Joan Berger Bachman is extremely pleased and proud to be coauthoring a book with her mom! As a teenager, Joan recalls her mother's advice: "When you are in a social situation, always make an effort to ask each person three questions. This shows that you are interested in what they have to say…" In other words, give people the opportunity to talk about themselves! Generally, people are pleased to share, and you will have deflected the attention from yourself! So it comes as no real surprise that four decades later, she has coauthored a book filled with questions to promote quality conversations! Joan resides with her husband John in Rochester, Minnesota. Proud mother of three grown children and grandmother to five, she is grateful for family, for health, and for friends who continue to enrich her life.

We can know that if we pray, some outcomes will be different than if we do not pray because God made many promises conditioned on whether we ask. These promises relate to a galaxy of concerns and needs that are important to us and God, such as faithfully serving God and experiencing his blessings in our life, health, marriage, children, family, and job. If we fail to pray about everything as the Scripture commands (Phil 4:6), we will enter heaven and learn there were many things God would have done in and through us if only we’d asked! Sadly, Calvinism’s determinism has turned these wonderful promises into nothing more than a promise that God will do what he predetermined to do regardless of whether we pray or not. Do not allow Calvinism’s deterministic beliefs and distortions of Scripture to rob you of this blessed intimate prayer relationship with God.

Life doesn’t always go the way we hope it will. Whether it’s singleness, childlessness or some other big disappointment, it’s hard to be content when life lets us down. Author Jennie Pollock knows what it's like to feel discontent. With warmth and honesty, she answers common doubts that arise when life doesn't go the way we had hoped: Is God good? Is he enough? Is he worth it? She walks readers through the process of taking our eyes off the things we wish we had and instead enjoying the character of the God we do have—a God who is good, who meets all our needs, and whose promises are worth the wait. Drawing on encouragements from the Bible and the stories of others, this book helps readers to trust in God’s plan for their lives and enjoy true contentment through a genuine conviction that Jesus is better than even our most keenly-felt hopes and longings for this life.

Melinda's husband is so boringly nice she can't stand it. Something's gotta give. Thankfully, she has a plan—but she's not the only one.

A delight for dog lovers and, until dogs learn to talk, the best way to remember that the "inner dog" is probably much like the outer one, this winning collection teams up dog portraits and humorous verse to offer an honest, original, and hilarious portrayal of what dogs really "think." 50 duotone illustrations.

If Only You People Could Follow Directions is a spellbinding debut by Jessica Hendry Nelson. In linked autobiographical essays, Nelson has reimagined the memoir with her thoroughly original voice, fearless writing, and hypnotic storytelling. At its center, the book is the story of three people: Nelson's mother Susan, her brother Eric, and Jessica herself. These three characters are deeply bound to one another, not just by the usual ties of blood and family, but also by a mother's drive to keep her children safe in the midst of chaos. The book begins with Nelson's childhood in the suburbs of Philadelphia and chronicles her father's addiction and death, her brother's battle with drugs and mental illness, her own efforts to find and maintain stability, and her mother's exquisite power, grief, and self–destruction in the face of such a complicated family dynamic. Each chapter in the book contends with a different relationship—friends, lovers, and strangers are all play—but at its heart the book is about family, the ties that bind and enrich and betray us, and how one young woman sought to survive and rise above her surroundings.

A funny, frank and bittersweet look at sisters, marriage and moving on, from the New York Times bestselling author of the Blue Heron series Letting go of her ex-husband is harder than wedding-dress designer Jenny Tate expected…especially since his new wife wants to be Jenny's new best friend. Needing closure, Jenny trades the Manhattan skyline for her hometown up the Hudson, where she'll start her own business and bask in her sister Rachel's picture-perfect family life…and maybe even find a little romance of her own with Leo, her downstairs neighbor, who's utterly irresistible and annoyingly distant at the same time. Rachel's idyllic marriage, however, is imploding after she discovers what looks like her husband's infidelity. She always thought she'd walk away in this situation but now she's wavering, much to Jenny's surprise. Rachel points to their parents' perfect marriage as a shining example of patience and forgiveness; but to protect her sister, Jenny may have to tarnish that memory—and their relationship—and reveal a family secret she's been keeping since childhood. Both Rachel and Jenny will have to come to terms with the past and the present, and find a way to help each other get what they want most of all.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A life-changing guide to finding your direction—and your passion—in a world of seemingly limitless options “For those who want to find their passion . . . a step-by-step guide for restructuring one’s life so that it has meaning, direction, and joy.”—Ellen Kreidman, author of Light His Fire and Light Her Fire If you suspect there could be more to life than what you’re getting, if you always knew you could do anything—if you only knew what it was—this extraordinary book is about to prove you right. No matter what your age, no matter how “unattainable” your dreams, you can create and live a life you love. I Could Do Anything If Only I Knew What It Was reveals how you can recapture “long lost” goals, overcome the blocks that inhibit your success, decide what you want to be, and live your dreams forever. You will learn: • What to do if you never chose to be what you are. • How to get off the fast track—and on to the right track. • First aid techniques for paralyzing chronic negativity. • How to regroup when you've lost your big dream. • To stop waiting for luck—and start creating it. A life without direction is a life without passion. I Could Do Anything If Only I Knew What It Was guides you not to another unsatisfying job but to a richly rewarding career rooted in your heart’s desire.

A longtime good girl and unapologetic bad boy score the love of their life when they least expect to in this swoony, slow-burn sports romance. Ziggy Bergman is tired of being underestimated. Sure, she’s the youngest player on the National Soccer team and the baby of the family, but that doesn’t mean she still deserves to be treated like a kid. It’s time for her angelic image to get a makeover. What better way to do that than hanging out with trouble incarnate and her brother’s best friend, Sebastian Gauthier? Sebastian has hit rock bottom. His hockey career and sponsorships are in jeopardy of ending if something doesn’t give. Seb’s not willing to actually change his destructive ways, but he’s happy to pretend he’s a reformed reprobate by faking a friendship for publicity with sweet, shy Ziggy Bergman. When faking starts to feel real, Ziggy and Seb discover an unexpected friendship they’re happy to hold on to. At least, until their once-fake friendship becomes the most loving, empowering relationship they’ve ever known, and the end goal—for both of them—changes.