Miriam Zehr has worked at the Sugarcreek Inn longer than she cares to admit. Though she always tries to have a smile for every customer who comes in, deep down, Miriam knows something's missing... a family of her own. When the man she's pined after all her life suddenly seeks her out, she's thrilled to be noticed...until she realizes he's only asking for her help to get the attention of her neighbor, Mary Kathryn Hershberger. If Miriam helps Junior court Mary Kathryn, she'll get to spend a lot of time with him, but she may also lose him in the process. Are these few stolen moments worth the sacrifice? Is Miriam right to even hope for the life she dreams of?

"A figure skating prodigy is one of a few "hopefuls" racing against nature's clock to compete in the Olympics"--

Where do turtles hail from? Why and how did they acquire shells? These questions have spurred heated debate and intense research for more than two hundred years. Brilliantly weaving evidence from the latest paleontological discoveries with an accessible, incisive look at different theories of biological evolution and their proponents, Turtles as Hopeful Monsters tells the fascinating evolutionary story of the shelled reptiles. Paleontologist Olivier Rieppel traces the evolution of turtles from over 220 million years ago, examining closely the relationship of turtles to other reptiles and charting the development of the shell. Turtle issues fuel a debate between proponents of gradual evolutionary change and authors favoring change through bursts and leaps of macromutation. The first book-length popular history of its type, this indispensable resource is an engaging read for all those fascinated by this ubiquitous and uniquely shaped reptile.

Raise hopeful, grounded and action-oriented children in a time that feels full of uncertainty. Kids and parents alike are feeling the weight of these troubling times. Anxiety disorders are on the rise in teens and children. “Climate anxiety” is a phrase entering our cultural lexicon. Ancient practices of Christianity, both internal and external, can be a guidepost for parents navigating this uncharted territory. They give us a way to be grounded as well as provide a way of living with purpose in a time of urgency. The Hopeful Family is the guidebook for parents who are building a life of meaning and hope even in a time of unease. Readers will be reminded of the hope that is part of the Christian story and find both inspiration and evidence to step more fully into a framework of abundance and optimism.

When Christians join together to pursue the common good of our neighborhoods, we bring hope to the world, credibility to the church, and glory to God. Filled with original research from the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries, this book from Don Everts offers constructive, practical ways that Christians and churches can bless our local communities.

How do we actually pursue the flourishing of our neighborhoods? This field guide walks you through a simple, powerful process for blessing your own neighborhood, with six sessions on discovering the gifts of your community, imagining the possibilities, and pursuing the common good. Exercises and assessments provide practical tools for bringing your hopes into concrete reality.

Many accounts of critical pedagogy, particularly accounts of trying to enact it within higher education (HE), express a deep cynicism about whether it is possible to counter the ever creeping hegemony of neo-liberalism, neo- conservatism and new managerialism within Universities. Hopeful Pedagogies in Higher Education acknowledges some of these criticisms, but attempts to rescue critical pedagogy, locating some of its associated pessimism as misreading of Freire and offering hopeful avenues for new theory and practice. These misreadings are also located in the present, in the assumption that unless change comes within the lifetime of the project, it has somehow failed. Instead, this book argues that a positive utopianism is possible. Present actions need to be celebrated, and cultivated as symbols of hope, possibility and generativity for the future - which the concept of hope implies. The contributors make the case for celebrating the pedagogies of HE that operate in liminal spaces – situated in the spaces between the present and the future (between the world as it is and the world as it could be) and also in the cracks that are beginning to show in the dominant discourses.

An inspirational mental health book to help you find hope and build it into a lifelong habit. Filled with practical exercises, questions to consider, revealing research, timeless philosophy, and tales of triumph over adversity, How to Be Hopeful is an uplifting, motivational, and essential guide to living and acting with renewed hope for self-compassion and for a more compassionate world. It shows us the places we can look for hope—in nature, art, the kindness of strangers, our own actions—and ways to keep it alive through moments of adversity. A wonderful gift for all occasions! Graduation Birthday Divorce Get well or feel better after surgery Cheer up Thinking of you Author, performer, and activist, Bernadette Russell, has made it her life's mission to teach the practice of hope, allowing us to focus on the positives and the possibilities—no matter what challenges life throws at us.

Nick Fiedler (of Nick and Josh Podcast fame) decided to travel the world for a year or so, and in the process of figuring out what to carry and what to throw out, heard a little voice telling him to set aside the faith of his childhood. So Nick changed his Facebook religion status from Christian to "Hopeful Skeptic" and set out to see where God would take him. If you find yourself asking nagging questions of the faith you were born into, put on your boots and take a little trip with Nick.