Michael C. Tolman was born May 25, 1957 to Rex and Elizabeth Corbett Tolman. He was taught well and grew to be an honorable man of his word, a man who kept commitments. Mike was diagnosed with Small Cell Lung Cancer; he endured two surgeries followed by radiation and chemotherapy. His body was weak but he was determined to finish his treatment and return to the Virginia Roanoke Mission to complete the unfinished service he had promised. Commitment. He often thought of Jessica, the beautiful girl he met at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. They had agreed to meet after their missions, when the time was right. He lost his battle on May 1, 1979.

God makes you strong through His Word. He enables you to be courageous, self-assured, and influential. Lessons from Proverbs declare that God is real and to those who are obedient and pursue His will, He "sets on high." He will lift you up.

I have always loved music, through singing or listening to it. I played the organ and piano in church services. Because I played these instruments, I memorized many hymns. I also gave piano lessons. One of the hymns was "Lift Me up above the Shadows," a beautiful hymn by Herbert Buffman. Although I did not play it often, one day the song was impressed on my mind. Like a broken record, it played over and over. I would find myself singing it. This happened several days before my husband died. God was using it to prepare me for what was ahead, and I believe also to let me know He would be with me and guide me.

Encourage children to show love and support for each other and to consider each other’s well-being in their everyday actions. Consultant, international speaker and award-winning author Monique Gray Smith wrote You Hold Me Up to prompt a dialogue among young people, their care providers and educators about reconciliation and the importance of the connections children make with others. With vibrant illustrations from celebrated artist Danielle Daniel, this is a foundational book about building relationships, fostering empathy and encouraging respect between peers, starting with our littlest citizens.

One fateful evening, Shanaya gets trapped in an elevator with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend is more of a simple bedroom lover. But now that he is put into a position where he can't run away, Shanaya finally gets the chance to fulfil her desires as she plans to use the space to its fullest, lifting them up in pleasure together. Will he be able to resist temptation, or will he get in on the action?

Parents, young people, community organizers, and educators describe how they are fighting systemic racism in schools by building a new intersectional educational justice movement. Illuminating the struggles and triumphs of the emerging educational justice movement, this anthology tells the stories of how black and brown parents, students, educators, and their allies are fighting back against systemic inequities and the mistreatment of children of color in low-income communities. It offers a social justice alternative to the corporate reform movement that seeks to privatize public education through expanding charter schools and voucher programs. To address the systemic racism in our education system and in the broader society, the contributors argue that what is needed is a movement led by those most affected by injustice--students of color and their parents--that builds alliances across sectors and with other social justice movements addressing immigration, LGBTQ rights, labor rights, and the school-to-prison pipeline. Representing a diverse range of social justice organizations from across the US, including the Chicago Teachers Union and the Genders and Sexualities Alliance Network, the essayists recount their journeys to movement building and offer practical organizing strategies and community-based alternatives to traditional education reform and privatization schemes. Lift Us Up! will outrage, inform, and mobilize parents, educators, and concerned citizens about what is wrong in American schools today and how activists are fighting for and achieving change.

This pocketbook is a collection of inspiring text quotes that held me up when I am down or being pulled down. Hope this will also help you as you journey into this world. Let yourself be a guide and light to others as well while creating chapters in life.

Losing Us: A Dementia Caregiver’s Journey, is a candid, compassionate and sometimes humorous memoir of Author Rosella Leslie’s heartbreaking struggles and triumphs during her twelve years as her husband’s primary caregiver. It is also an informal guide to dementia caregiving, including links to helpful resources for caregivers, their friends, families and communities. The poems that begin and end each chapter capture the frustration and sorrow of her husband’s ever-shifting cognitive abilities and the emotional rollercoaster Leslie rides, rising to heights of acceptance, joy and resolve, then plunging to valleys of guilt, doubt and despair. She urges caregivers to accept dark thoughts and harsh feelings as a natural response to being in an impossible situation, and to keep putting one foot in front of the other as they move toward the faint light of hope that shines at the end of this very dark tunnel.