For over fifty years Margaret Laird has served her Lord in the heart of Africa. She entered French Equatorial Africa in 1922 and recounts in the book some of her many experiences in the school of faith. The stories are unforgettable and, in fact, you will find yourself repeating them to others. While this book is not a biography in the usual sense, it does permit us to look at missionary life through the windows of her experience. You will realize that miracles do happen in this generation and that we have a God who hears and answers prayer. - Foreword.

Mama of ten Abbie Halberstadt helps women humbly and gracefully rise to the high calling of motherhood without settling for mediocrity or losing their minds in the process. Motherhood is a challenge. Unfortunately, our worldly culture offers moms little in the way of real help. Mamas only connect to celebrate surviving another day and to share in their misery rather than rejoice in what God has done and to build each other up in hard times. There has a be a better way, a biblical way, for mamas to grow and thrive. As a daughter of Christ, you have been called to be more than an average mama. Attaining excellence doesn’t have to be unsettling but it will take committed focus and a desire to parent well according to God’s grace and for His glory. M is for Mama offers advice, encouragement, and scripturally sound strategies seasoned with a little bit of humor to help you embrace the challenge of biblical motherhood and raise your children with love and wisdom. Mama, you are worthy of the awesome responsibility God has given you. Now it’s time to start believing you can live up to it.

Her grandson was literally on the brink of death's door. From as early as one month old, he was gravely ill with one illness after another. By the time he was three years old, he had been hospitalized more times than she could count. He would get better and then suddenly relapse with no reasonable explanation. When her granddaughter was born, she too started having alarming health problems. She had known that her daughter-in-law seemed to exaggerate but never could she have imagined this. The children's mother was so cunning and crafty in her manipulative deception that she fooled dozens of medical professionals along the way. After three years of her grandson being constantly sick with countless hospitalizations, this grandmother was faced with the horrifying realization; that her grandchildren were sick because their mother was making them sick. Then the real fight began. Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy is one of the cruelest forms of child abuse imaginable. It is very difficult to prove and even harder to prosecute. This story chronicles a woman's journey as she discovers that her two grandchildren are victims of this abuse that most people have never even heard of. Her faith in God kept her going as she turned their tragedies and trials into triumph. Follow her journey of faith as she fights to rescue, protect, and bring healing to her grandchildren's broken spirits and shattered little souls.

In this beautifully illustrated children’s book, a heartwarming tale of motherly love unfolds in the Arctic north. In a timeless and universal story, a child tests the limits of independence and comfortingly learns that a parent's love is unconditional and everlasting. The lyrical text introduces young readers to a distinctively different culture, while at the same time showing that the special love that exists between parent and child transcends all boundaries of time and place. The story is complemented by graphically stunning illustrations featuring whales, wolves, puffins, and sled dogs. This tender and reassuring book is one that both parents and children will turn to again and again.

Following the abduction of 15 year old Lucy Mears, her mother Brenda, a self made business woman, President of Mears Empire expects a ransom demand. Weeks go by, and when no such demand materialises, alarm bells ring for family and friends. The investigators realise that normal criminal motives have been replaced by more worrying and potentially sinister motivations. Attention changes rapidly from one character to another, focusing on present and former employees of Mears Empire, to the household staff, to Lucy's music tutor and to complete strangers caught up in the mystery of a child's abduction, while all the time the perpetrator of the crime remains undetected. The terrified child and her strange captors encounter countless difficulties and unimaginable dangers as they journey across several states of America to their ultimate destination where their mysterious purpose is finally revealed. 'Call Mama' explores the extremes of human nature and the corrosive nature of revenge. It is an examination of our humanity, the good, the bad and the really ugly in a very human story of crime, in which two prominent detectives, Tony Harvey and Carole Carr almost lose their careers. A crime with tentacles with the potential to reach almost to the White House and throwing the Presidential election into turmoil.

It is not every day I say, "I enjoy time with critters." I grew up on this farm decades ago. Then I left. Now I have returned. I enjoy working with the critters now more than ever. The sheep, turkeys, fowls, guinea hens, and dogs are unique. I spent time with one sheep whom I called Mama. She understood me. No matter where she was, when she heard my voice, she came running. Mama was spoiled, and she knew it. The flock treated her with respect. They never entered the pen in the evenings unless Mama was there to enter first. They assembled in front of the gate and waited for her. In the mornings, she led them out of the pen. There are times when Mama sneaked away from the flock and ate alone. When she was discovered missing, they ran all around the farm baaing and baaing. Mama heard them, but she never answered. When the flock found her, they surrounded her, but Mama continued eating.I observed a turkey hen training her first seven chicks. She stretched her neck in the air, called out a certain sound, and all the chicks crouched on the ground. After giving another signal, they got up. Remarkable.As a child, I never observed these behaviors. They were critters who served a purpose. Now I get so involved that the loss of one haunts me for weeks even months. Mama told her own story, her observations and challenges. She was favored more than the others, and she knew it. Her story is a reminder that the day will come when each of us will leave our loved ones. We have to pass on the torch of life and hope for the best.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A moving memoir about the legendary author’s relationship with her own mother. Emma Watson’s Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick! The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother. For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence—a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou dramatizes her years reconciling with the mother she preferred to simply call “Lady,” revealing the profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between them. Delving into one of her life’s most rich, rewarding, and fraught relationships, Mom & Me & Mom explores the healing and love that evolved between the two women over the course of their lives, the love that fostered Maya Angelou’s rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights. Praise for Mom & Me & Mom “Mom & Me & Mom is delivered with Angelou’s trademark good humor and fierce optimism. If any resentments linger between these lines, if lives are partially revealed without all the bitter details exposed, well, that is part of Angelou’s forgiving design. As an account of reconciliation, this little book is just revealing enough, and pretty irresistible.”—The Washington Post “Moving . . . a remarkable portrait of two courageous souls.”—People “[The] latest, and most potent, of her serial autobiographies . . . [a] tough-minded, tenderhearted addition to Angelou’s spectacular canon.”—Elle “Mesmerizing . . . Angelou has a way with words that can still dazzle us, and with her mother as a subject, Angelou has a near-perfect muse and mystery woman.”—Essence

Discover the power, joy, and love of living a present, authentic, and intentional life despite a world full of distractions. If technology is the new addiction, then multitasking is the new marching order. We check our email while cooking dinner, send a text while bathing the kids, and spend more time looking into electronic screens than into the eyes of our loved ones. With our never-ending to-do lists and jam-packed schedules, it's no wonder we're distracted. But this isn't the way it has to be. Special education teacher, New York Times bestselling author, and mother Rachel Macy Stafford says enough is enough. Tired of losing track of what matters most in life, Rachel began practicing simple strategies that enabled her to momentarily let go of largely meaningless distractions and engage in meaningful soul-to-soul connections. Finding balance doesn't mean giving up all technology forever. And it doesn't mean forgoing our jobs and responsibilities. What it does mean is seizing the little moments that life offers us to engage in real and meaningful interaction. In these pages, Rachel guides you through how to: Acknowledge the cost of your distraction Make purposeful connection with your family Give your kids the gift of your undivided attention Silence your inner critic Let go of the guilt from past mistakes And move forward with compassion and gratefulness So join Rachel and go hands-free. Discover what happens when you choose to open your heart--and your hands--to the possibilities of each God-given moment.

**A New York Times Editor's Choice selection!** This outrageous and hilarious memoir follows a film and television director’s life, from his idiosyncratic upbringing to his unexpected career as the director behind such huge film franchises as The Addams Family and Men in Black. Barry Sonnenfeld's philosophy is, "Regret the Past. Fear the Present. Dread the Future." Told in his unmistakable voice, Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother is a laugh-out-loud memoir about coming of age. Constantly threatened with suicide by his over-protective mother, disillusioned by the father he worshiped, and abused by a demonic relative, Sonnenfeld somehow went on to become one of Hollywood's most successful producers and directors. Written with poignant insight and real-life irony, the book follows Sonnenfeld from childhood as a French horn player through graduate film school at NYU, where he developed his talent for cinematography. His first job after graduating was shooting nine feature length pornos in nine days. From that humble entrée, he went on to form a friendship with the Coen Brothers, launching his career shooting their first three films. Though Sonnenfeld had no ambition to direct, Scott Rudin convinced him to be the director of The Addams Family. It was a successful career move. He went on to direct many more films and television shows. Will Smith once joked that he wanted to take Sonnenfeld to Philadelphia public schools and say, "If this guy could end up as a successful film director on big budget films, anyone can." This book is a fascinating and hilarious roadmap for anyone who thinks they can't succeed in life because of a rough beginning.

Joseph's interest in books inspires Mama to learn to read.