Every rose has its thorn... Reece Childs finally has his rose--Lona Rose, that is, a woman from his past and everything he's ever wanted after a lifetime of the kind of transgressions he holds inside the darkest part of him...and never, ever wants Lona to find out about. He'd been as close as a kiss to having her as his wife, too. After a whirlwind courtship, he and Lona flew to Las Vegas to get hitched. Having more than one disastrous divorce already under her belt had shattered Lona's illusions about the institution of marriage and made her superstitious about taking that journey again. So they came back and let everyone in town believe they were married. Now their little daughter Honey is two years old and life seems perfect. Reece never anticipated the thorny, black sins from his past to destroy his present and future happiness. When Reece came back to Amethyst and fell for Lona Rose, he'd left behind truck driving and everything associated with it. He'd had no clue that Angelina Batista, his "port" in the city he made his most frequent run to, was pregnant. She shows up in Amethyst, demanding in no uncertain terms that he be a father to and provider for their son, who's not much older than Honey. Not only has Angelina picked up and left everything else behind to pursue him, but she has medical proof that the boy is his. The world drops out on Lona, who confronts secrets about the man she loves that she could never have imagined in her worst nightmares. She's furious and intent on doing everything to drive this overbearing usurper as far from her happily-ever-after as she can. She's equally unwilling to share her man with someone he never loved, regardless of the intimacy in their uncommitted relationship. Yet she soon suspects she's fighting a losing battle because, even to keep her happy, Reece can't turn away from his own son...
Amethyst, WI is a small, peaceful town on a pristine lake with an active tourist season in summer. When the air turns chill, the area is transformed into a ghost town with only a handful of lifers who stay. Populated with colorful characters, Amethyst is bursting with mystery, romance, and jealousy. Come and visit a place where anything is possible all-year-round. Every rose has its thorn... Reece Childs finally has his rose--Lona Rose, that is, and life seems perfect. Reece can't imagine a thorn from his past could destroy his present and future happiness. He'd had no clue that Angelina, his "port" in the city he made his most frequent run to when he was a truck driver, was pregnant. Now she's in Amethyst, demanding that he be a father and provider to their son. Even to keep Lona happy, Reece can't turn away from his own son...
Barney is a yellow tabby cat that lives on a farm. He is a bit mean and definitely temperamental. He spends most of his time in the safety of the barn, especially the loft. There, his hated enemy can’t reach him—that no-good, dirty varmint Sampson. But Sampson, the Australian shepherd farm dog, finds his opportunities. The hyperactive dog gets on every nerve that the poor tabby has and loves every second of it. Sampson is never happier than when he has outwitted Barney. In this story, Barney lets down his guard when his hungry stomach distracts his common sense, and he forgets. He forgets about the thorn in his side, the bur under his saddle, the gnat in his face...he forgets about Sampson. Read about the crazy antics of these two farm animals and the poor farmer, Jim, who gets caught in the middle in this story of Barney the Barn Cat.
The vibrant pageant of Elizabethan England comes to life in Karen Harper's fifth novel in her acclaimed Elizabeth I Mystery Series. Hailed as "extraordinary" by The Los Angeles Times, these historical mysteries beautifully blend fact and fiction as the young Queen Elizabeth Tudor becomes an amateur sleuth to save her court, crown, and kingdom. Though summering in the lush countryside to escape the plague rampaging through London, the queen and her court cannot escape the reach of a multiple murderer who seems to disappear at will. In the gardens of Hampton Court, Elizabeth proudly shows a famed visiting lawyer her huge hornbeam maze. But the intricate labyrinth soon becomes a scene of horror as Elizabeth herself is attacked and the lawyer is murdered within its leafy dead ends. The queen calls upon her small, select band of advisors to help her ferret out the identity of the maze murderer. When the court must flee the encroaching Black Death, even the royal haven of Hatfield House with its charming knot garden holds terror. Undaunted, the queen and her chief advisor, William Cecil, set a trap in the flooded thorn maze at Cecil's nearby estate. But even if they snare the ghostly murderer before he or she strikes again, will they unmask not only the villain but the person they love best in all the realm?
When healing is necessary, this book covers some of the brokenness we go through in life. I would love to walk into my garden and not run across thorns that hurt me in such a beautiful place. I have found out in all that I have shared in this book that my one constant was and still is God. He can heal, save, and set free, no matter how broken we are. This book shows you all the thorns that hurt me. God removed everyone and caused me to heal in my pain. Wisdom came to me and taught me that as ugly as my story is, someone and somebody needs this way out. When you read this book, read it with spirit because natural ability will not understand how a person could become so naked, but just know God can only heal you when you are naked but not ashamed.
“An empowering book . . . strategies for freeing yourself from the control of an unhealthy mother relationship.” —Susan Forward PhD, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Toxic Parents For any adult daughter who struggles with a narcissistic, controlling, or otherwise difficult mother, here’s the good news: Your mother doesn't have to change in order for you to be happy. Inspired by her own journey, Karen C.L. Anderson shows women how to emotionally separate from their difficult mothers without guilt and anxiety, so they can finally create a life based on their own values, desires, needs, and preferences. With personal stories, practical tools, and journal prompts that can be used now to feel better. Anderson compassionately leads women struggling in their relationships with their difficult mothers through a process of self-awareness and understanding. Her experience with hundreds of women has resulted in cases of profound growth and transformation. This book is about Anderson discovering and accepting the whole of who she is (separate from her mother), and—in relatable, real, funny, and compassionate prose—making her discoveries accessible to women struggling to redefine their own challenging relationships with their mothers. Learn: · Why mothers and daughters can have difficult relationships · How to heal and transform your mother “wounds” · How to tell your stories in a way that empowers · How to handle the uncomfortable emotions that seem inevitable · The art of creating, articulating, and maintaining impeccable boundaries · How to stop “shouldering” How to “re-mother” yourself and acknowledge, honor, and meet your needs
Is there a need for healing in your life? This book can help you access God’s amazing healing power. Karen Henein explores the Bible’s teaching about healing, referencing hundreds of verses and relating encouraging stories. Why not learn how to actively use every point of access to God’s healing power? God loves you and wants to extend His kindness, compassion, mercy, and grace. In response to your prayers and other steps of obedience, God will choose the measure, method, timing, and duration of the healing He will provide for you and your loved ones. While generating faith for healing, God’s Healing Power also explores why God allows seasons of suffering, what the Bible says about life span, obstacles to our healing, the reality of death, and the promise of eternal life. Hope for healing and hope for heaven can run simultaneously on side-by-side tracks. Those distinct hopes will merge at the believer’s last earthly horizon. God will fully restore us some day, providing a resurrected body that’s immortal, indestructible, and forever free from pain. Here or there, now or then, a positive outcome awaits each believer. Whether you need faith for healing, or peace and comfort as life nears its end, God’s Healing Power will provide substantive help for your journey.
The Death of a child. Bearing the unbearable. A journey of faith. The complex questions, experiences, and emotions that accompany grief are painfully isolating. Seize this rare opportunity to intimately journey alongside a grieving mother through the first seven years of grief. Candidly confront many painful yet common struggles of grief, and reconcile shattering loss with faith in God June 8, 2017, Scott and Karen Harmening's seventeen-year-old daughter, Sarah, was killed in a tragic church bus crash outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Scott was driving behind the bus and watched helplessly as it crossed into the adjacent lane striking another vehicle, sharply overcorrected, and then flipped across the interstate. After crawling through the wreckage to get to Sarah, he frantically called Karen to tell her to pray for Sarah who was pinned beneath the wreckage. Karen and their remaining daughters prayed together and hurriedly began the three-and-a-half hour drive from Huntsville, Alabama, to Scott and Sarah; only to learn upon their arrival that Sarah had died hours before. Karen, a Christian writer and blogger, immediately began writing to process the excruciating questions, experiences, and emotions that accompany the death of a child; Sifted is the collected work of seven years of writings. With raw honesty, explore the depths of the valley of the shadow of death with her to reconcile shattering loss with faith in God. Witness the unexpectedly sweet mingling of sorrow with hope and peace. And discover, deep in the shadowed valley, a costly joy rendered by sorrow so pure and precious that it is "inexpressible and full of glory." Highlights: -One hundred entries written over a span of seven years -Each entry is a transparent account of wrestling through a specific question, experience, or struggle related to grief -Entries may be read in chronological order or topically by using the included topical index -If you are grieving-read and be encouraged you are not alone -If you love someone who is grieving-read to better understand suffering and grief -If you love stories of faith triumphing in adversity-read and be blessed Explore topics such as: -Understanding Grief -Hard Questions Like "What If?" and "Why?" -Surviving the Many Hard Days and Dates -Finding Hope -Finding Joy -Loneliness and Abandonment -Spiritual Warfare -Will It Ever Get Better?
Karen F. Stein University of Rhode Island, Kingston, USA Rachel Carson is the twentieth century’s most significant environmentalist. Her books about the sea blend science and poetry as they invite readers to share her celebration of the ocean’s wonders. Silent Spring, her graphic and compelling exposé of the damage caused by the widespread aerial spraying of persistent organic pesticides such as DDT, opened our eyes to the interconnectedness of all living beings and the ecological systems we inhabit. Carson’s work challenges our belief that science and technology can control the natural world, asks us to recognize our place in the world around us, and inspires us to treat the earth respectfully. She calls us to rekindle our sense of wonder at nature’s power and beauty, and to tread lightly on the earth so that it will continue to sustain us and our descendants. This book guides readers on a journey through Carson’s life and work, considers Carson’s legacies, and points to some of the continuing challenges to sustainability. It provides a listing of resources for reading, learning, or teaching about the environment, about nature writing, and about Carson and the crucial issues she addressed.
Key Selling Points In Blood Donor, a teen misses curfew and ends up being kidnapped by a strange organization with an unsettling clientele. The book explores dysfunctional families and the challenges young adults face as they enter the world. A thrilling drama with a startling, unexpected revelation: the teens' blood is being used as an anti-aging treatment. Karen Bass has written several award-winning books for teens including the R. Ross Annett Award winner Graffiti Knight. New, enhanced features (dyslexia-friendly font, cream paper, larger trim size) to increase reading accessibility for dyslexic and other striving readers.
When Quinn Rutledge and Summer Rosales met on a warm summer night on the shores of beautiful Lake Amethyst, they were both young, all was right in the world, and the only thing on their agenda was romance-one that neither of them wanted to end with the summer and closing of resort town Amethyst's tourist season. Promises and plans were made. Promises were broken... Quinn had a lucrative dream career stretching out before him as an author. Though he'd returned to his livelihood after the summer with the woman he'd fallen so hard for, his heart prevented him from keeping away until they could see each other again the following summer as they planned. When Summer didn't show up, he'd tried to find her and couldn't. Though he should have returned to his writing, he's instead found himself settling in Amethyst, waiting hopefully, and probably foolishly, through endless winters until Summer comes around...
Tori Bertoletti, librarian and planet cataloger, and Raze Salen, mankind's emissary, aboard the Human spacefaring liveship the Aero have convinced their government of the dire need to negotiate formal alliances with the other cultures in the galaxy. The monumental task they're undertaking and the consequences of failure are mind-rattlingly clear. Complications muddle the mission in the form of uneasy truces and frustrating stalemates, long-held enigmatical cosmologies suddenly called into life-altering question, along with immediate and imminent threats that could tear apart the fabric of the entire universe and everything living in it.
The K’iche’ Maya creation story preserved in the sixteenth-century manuscript Popol Vuh describes the origin of the world and its people in a setting long assumed to be the Guatemalan central highlands. Now a scholar with a deep knowledge of Maya history shows that all of these mythological events occurred at specific locations and that this landscape was the template for the Maya worldview. Examining the primary Maya deities, Karen Bassie-Sweet links geographic features to gods and beliefs. She reconstructs key elements of the Popol Vuh to argue that the three volcanoes around Lake Atitlan were the three thunderbolt gods and that the lake was the center of the world. She also shows that the Maya view of the creation of humans is centered on corn and examines core beliefs about the corn cycle to propose that the creation myth was established much earlier in Maya history than previously supposed. Generously illustrated, Maya Sacred Geography and the Creator Deities is a detailed ethnohistorical analysis of Maya religion, cosmology, and ritual practice that convincingly links mythology to the land. A comprehensive treatment of Maya religion, it provides an essential resource for scholars and will fascinate any reader captivated by these ancient beliefs.
Because Life's Too Short Not to Love It If someone watched how you spend your days, would they be able to tell what your passions and priorities are? Sadly, sometimes we allow the trivial activities of life to crowd out what's truly important. Offering a road map back to a life of purpose and passion, bestselling authors Karen Ehman and Ruth Schwenk help you unlock a vibrant life uniquely suited to your personality, season of life, and schedule limitations. Packed with encouragement, biblical advice, real-world help, and personal discovery, this 40-day journey includes interactive workbook components to help you · discern and pursue your passions and priorities · craft a personalized action plan deeply rooted in Scripture · manage the tension between your relationships and your responsibilities · cultivate a life-giving routine of rest and productivity · impact others for eternity through your life and gifts When you focus on what matters most, you can live with confidence and joy.
Ricky Rooster has a big problem; the previous night, the wind blew a thorn into his beak. Now there is even a bigger problem too; Ricky must wake the farm animals at exactly 6:04 in the morning, when the sun begins to rise. How is he going to accomplish this with a thorn stuck in his beak? This is a funny, rhyming story of a Rooster who asks for the help of his friends to get him out of a painful situation. Will Connie Cow be able to help? Can Daniel Duck help Ricky out? What about Pammy Pig or Sharon Sheep? Maybe Wayne Woodpecker will come to the rescue. This is also a great interactive story. The reader can raise their left hand every time they come to the phrase, "Is that a thorn stuck in your beak?" When the person, child or children listening to the story sees their left hand raised, they will yell out, "Is that a thorn stuck in your beak?" The reader can raise their right hand every time they come to the phrase, "6:04." When the person, child or children listening to the story sees their right hand raised, they will yell out, "6:04." This interactive story instills focus and good listening skills and will have the children laughing and waiting with anticipation for the next time to join in the story. This is a great story to share with young children and also makes a great first reader.
Published in 2001: Abbreviations, nicknames, jargon, and other short forms save time, space, and effort - provided they are understood. Thousands of new and potentially confusing terms become part of the international vocabulary each year, while our communications are relayed to one another with increasing speed. PDAs link to PCs. The Net has grown into data central, shopping mall, and grocery store all rolled into one. E-mail is faster than snail mail, cell phones are faster yet - and it is all done 24/7. Longtime and widespread use of certain abbreviations, such as R.S.V.P., has made them better understood standing alone than spelled out. Certainly we are more comfortable saying DNA than deoxyribonucleic acid - but how many people today really remember what the initials stand for? The Abbreviations Dictionary, Tenth Edition gives you this and other information from Airlines of the World to the Zodiacal Signs.
A woman with a legendary green thumb, a man living in an emotional desert, and a small boy unable to connect with others. Can the three of them, with a little help from the charmed town of Dove Pond (and a pesky ghost), turn a nightmare into a fairytale and forge their own happily ever after? Young widow Sofia Rodriquez has just accepted the position of greenhouse manager for Ava Dove’s booming herbal tea business. Sofia is delighted to have found a job that will make use of her gardening skills and allow her to spend time with her son, Noah, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s. Adding to her joy is the charming farmhouse she’s renting on the edge of Dove Pond. The only cloud on Sofia’s horizon is her next door neighbor, Jake, whose yard is a thorny jungle worthy of Sleeping Beauty. Soon enough, Sofia discovers that Jake himself is just as thorny and unpleasant as his yard. After his fiancé left him, work-from-home IT whiz and game developer Jake Klaine has gone from Prince Charming to complete hermit. But Jake isn’t really alone; he’s living with a ghost: a (formerly) hairy man named Doyle who’s a fan of bad puns and who refuses to leave Jake’s bathtub. This is nothing new for Jake, as he’s been talking to ghosts since he was a boy. He finds real people harder to deal with, like the kid next door who won’t stop bugging him about the new game he’s developing. Sofia and Jake know all too well that life isn’t a game. They’ve both lost the person they loved most. But under the watchful eye of the ghostly Doyle and Sofia’s new friend Ava, who has abilities of her own, Jake and Sofia decide to take a chance and let in an outsider. Soon they discover that, with a little magic, even the thorniest walls are no match for the innocent trust of a lonely child and the fierce determination of a woman wielding a razor-sharp pruner and a heart big enough to make even the most stubborn flower bloom.
An unsuspecting nurse is lured to an ancient family mansion said to hold both ghosts and horrifying secrets in order to care for three orphaned children. Amberlyn Lyons has recently suffered a devastating miscarriage that has torn her marriage apart and shaken her faith. She quietly takes a nanny position at an isolated mansion in Bloodmoon Cove without electricity, telephone, or ease of passage. The moment she walks into Bloodmoon Manor, Amberlyn deduces that all things aren't as they seem. The eerily similar owners distrust doctors who, in thirty years, have been unable to cure their severely deformed daughter Katerina. Katerina both idolizes and despises Amberlyn for her beauty. Childishly cruel, Katerina enjoys tormenting the orphans by telling them tales of the malicious ghost that haunts the decaying mansion. Amberlyn discounts the paranormal legends as made-up stories until she hears the shuffling of footsteps in the cold, dark halls and feels that she's being watched at every turn. She knows the ghost is real and she must protect the children. But when she discovers a graveyard behind the mansion filled with babies who died at birth or shortly thereafter, she realizes the ghost of Bloodmoon Manor is really a family curse and she was brought there to uphold the family legacy of that curse. Either she finds a way to escape with the children...or she becomes the next bloodmoon bride.
Though author Karen Higgs-Faretta has lived through some dark and traumatic times, she was never left without a sparka glimmer of hope. In this memoir, she shares the story of her life against the backdrop of those dark moments, revealing how the spark was always there and how it helped form the person she is todaya person who has peace and joy within herself. A Spark in the Darkness narrates the difficult times in Higgs-Farettas life: the death of her oldest daughter, a divorce, a brain aneurysm, and subsequent paralysis on her left side. The dark experiences led her to a dark path that was filled with light. She encourages the reader to look and to ask for their own sparks during dark experiences. Full of hope and inspiration, A Spark in the Darkness delivers the messages that there is a purpose and a reason for every life and that life is truly good.
Peaceful Pilgrims Series is set in Karen Wiesner's fictional town of Peaceful, Wisconsin, a small community with old-fashioned values and friendly people you'll want to get to know and visit often. Small-town girl Ayodele "Della" Flynn lives in a city she abhors, where danger seems to be lurking around every corner. When her husband dies very unexpectedly, she's confronted with figuring out where her home is with her young son River and trying to come to terms with the loose ends her husband left their lives in.
Back into the mouth of hell... Daniel and Hannah Reynolds are newly married with their first child on the way when a notice comes from a lawyer saying that the remaining member of the Bonavaris clan has died and willed Bloodmoon Manor and all its possessions to Hannah, her former maid and cook. While Hannah can't fathom the reason for the bequeath, the notion of selling the manor and the valuable items inside it begins to grow inside her like an obsession. She and Daniel have begun their married life with little more than outstanding debts from his medical education--debts that come due around the same time as the birth of their baby. After a lifetime of poverty, Hannah refuses to allow her child to face the kind of scavenging, hand-to-mouth existence that had led to her employment at the horrible Bloodmoon Manor in the first place. Unable to convince his beloved wife to forget about returning to Bloodmoon Cove to secure a future for their family, Daniel has no choice but to follow her into what he aptly calls "the mouth of hell"--a place Hannah just barely escaped with her life last time. Daniel's worst fears are justified when the doors of Bloodmoon Manor slam shut behind them. They've been lured here deliberately, and the horrors that haunt the dark, evil manor aren't willing to let Hannah leave ever again...
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls his followers to a new lifestyle that affects all our relationships. The author¿s insights from the original Greek give illumination and depth that help the reader rediscover truth in this classic sermon.
For the ten generations since the evil first came to Woodcutter's Grim, the Guardians have sworn an oath to protect the town from the childhood horrors that lurk in the black woods. Without them, the town would be defenseless...and the terrors would escape to the world at large. The son of shape-shifting goats, William Gruff escaped a dire fate when his family is bound to the evil pervading Woodcutter's Grim, the only shelter for supernatural creatures. Adaryn Azar, a legendary phoenix, changes his lonely life. But a happily-ever-after may be impossible when the hunter who's tracked her for centuries finds her again. Dying and resurrecting would mean forfeiting the life growing inside her. Unfathomably, Woodcutter's Grim may be the only safe place left.
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