It was approaching noon, and my wife and three other women in her photography club were due to return home after a morning of photography at a nearby alpaca ranch. I was waiting anxiously because we had scheduled a golf match at our local country club after a quick lunch. As I restlessly looked out the front window for her car, I witnessed a state police vehicle pull into the driveway. Two officers emerged and walked toward our front door. I welcomed them and inquired as to the reason for their visit. The young female officer asked if I had heard about an accident on Route 209. I replied that I had not. She informed me that a large semitrailer truck had rear-ended a car stopped at a traffic light. She hesitated a moment and then added, "Your wife was a passenger in the back seat of the car and was killed." Following the subsequent funeral, that announcement continued to haunt me. Grief became more pronounced each passing day. In a conversation about my condition with a friend, he made the comment that I try dealing with my grief by writing. As we talked further, I mentioned how much I missed talking with her, how our conversations were always so alive and animated. This prompted another recommendation. "Write her letters, express to her your feelings of grief and more." I liked that, and this book is the result. It consists of a series of letters to Mae, whoever remains alive in my imagination. It has helped bring my grief to the surface and provide necessary therapy. I have determined to publish with the hope that in some way, it may provide grief insight for others who have lost loved ones.

On May 6, 2017, my husband, Derell Daniel, was killed in a car wreck. Our love story that began with love letters over twenty-five years ago as junior high school students took a tragic turn when my husband's life ended and grief stepped in. On my journey with grief, I have learned that the only way to get through grief is to be honest with your pain and just allow yourself to grieve. These letters represent a transparent look into the heartbreaking events that lead to, and follow, the death of my husband. Sometimes, grief is not about getting better: it's simply about getting through. Getting through the next second, the next minute, the next hour, the next day. Give yourself permission to take it one second at a time, because at times that's all you can do. The single most vital thing one can learn after the loss of a loved one is to accept the role grief will take in your life. This is my love letter to Grief, as I learn to accept that it may always walk beside me. This is my love letter to Grief, as I learn to navigate through life with the waves crashing all around me. This is also my love letter to you, so that you know that you are not alone, we walk together, yet separately, in our grief journey. If I can make this journey for one widow, one mother, one daughter, one person just a little easier to bear, I feel my husband's death will not be in vain.

Just when everything seems to be going wrong, hope—and love—can appear in the most unexpected places. Summer has begun, the beach beckons—and Francesca Schnell is going nowhere. Four years ago, Francesca’s little brother, Simon, drowned, and Francesca’s the one who should have been watching. Now Francesca is about to turn sixteen, but guilt keeps her stuck in the past. Meanwhile, her best friend, Lisette, is moving on—most recently with the boy Francesca wants but can’t have. At loose ends, Francesca trails her father, who may be having an affair, to the local country club. There she meets four-year-old Frankie Sky, a little boy who bears an almost eerie resemblance to Simon, and Francesca begins to wonder if it’s possible Frankie could be his reincarnation. Knowing Frankie leads Francesca to places she thought she’d never dare to go—and it begins to seem possible to forgive herself, grow up, and even fall in love, whether or not she solves the riddle of Frankie Sky.

Without proper support, navigating the icy waters of grief may feel impossible. The grieving person may feel spiritually bankrupt and often the loss is so painful that the bereaved may lose faith in what they once held dear. Mindfulness meditation can restore hope by offering a compassionate safe haven for healing and self-reflection. While nobody can predict the path of someone else's grief, this book will guide the reader forward through the grieving process with simple mindfulness-based exercises to restore mind, body and spirit. These easy-to-follow meditations will help the reader to cope with the pain of loss, and embark on a healing journey. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of grief, and the guided meditations will calm the mind and increase clarity and focus. Mindfulness and Grief will help readers to begin the process of reconstructing the shattered self that is left in the wake of any major loss.

“Dear Ava, I loved your book.” —Award-winning actress Emma Watson For fans of Kathleen Glasgow and Amber Smith, Ava Dellaira writes about grief, love, and family with a haunting and often heartbreaking beauty in this emotionally stirring, critically acclaimed debut novel, Love Letters to the Dead. It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more—though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was—lovely and amazing and deeply flawed—can she begin to discover her own path.

The word miscarriage, in today's culture, is a dirty wordrarely discussed and grossly misunderstood. Yet, one out of four pregnancies ends in this tragedy. Where are these women, Samantha wondered, after her miscarriage? Slowly, quietly, women began to approach her, but, Ive had a miscarriage too, was all they could offer. Samantha realized that she had unwittingly become a member in an underground, secret society of women who suffer alone in silence. Love Letters is the story of her journey, the same journey that each mother who miscarries begrudgingly embarks onthe excitement of pregnancy, the overwhelming, unfathomable devastation and loss, the grotesque details that no one speaks of, the uphill road toward hope and freedomand the Savior who walks beside her every step of the way. Though she stumbles, she will not fall, for the Lord upholds her with His right hand (Psalm 37:24).

Though one in four pregnancies ends in loss, miscarriage is shrouded in such secrecy and stigma that the woman who experiences it often feels deeply isolated, unsure how to process her grief. Her body seems to have betrayed her. Her confidence in the goodness of God is rattled. Her loved ones don't know what to say. Her heart is broken. She may feel guilty, ashamed, angry, depressed, confused, or alone. With vulnerability and tenderness, Adriel Booker shares her own experience of three consecutive miscarriages, as well as the stories of others. She tackles complex questions about faith and suffering with sensitivity and clarity, inviting women to a place of grace, honesty, and hope in the redemptive purposes of God without offering religious clichés and pat answers. She also shares specific, practical resources, such as ways to help guide children through grief, suggestions for memorializing your baby, and advice on pregnancy after loss, as well as a special section for dads and loved ones.

Powerfully written book about death, grief, loss and recovery

This spiritual companion for mourners affirms their need to mourn and invites them to journey through their very unique and personal grief. Detailed are the six needs that all mourners must yield to and eventually embrace if they are to go on to find continued meaning in life and living, including the need to remember the deceased loved one and the need for support from others. Short explanations of each mourning need are followed by brief, spiritual passages that, when read slowly and reflectively, help mourners work through their unique thoughts and feelings. Also included in this revised edition are journaling sections for mourners to write out their personal responses to each of the six needs. This replaces 1879651114.

A unique and delightful children’s book about how God’s glory can be found all around us every day, from the award-winning author of Cora Cooks Pancit. “Mama, what exactly is glory?” When Zayla asks her mom to describe God’s glory, Mama knows it’s time for an adventure! Together, Mama and Zayla discover how sunrises and dancing, daffodils and green peppers, kind words and loving hugs—and more!—are all reminders of God’s glory. Award-winning author Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young’s rich multicultural story and Alyssa De Asis’s vibrant artwork make Chasing God’s Glory a unique invitation to notice and celebrate the radiance of God’s light and love as you and your family become “glory chasers.”