Retired and in their sixties, Eve Brenneman and Adam Groft find themselves in an unlikely Eden-- helping a crew of senior citizens beautify their dying rural Michigan community by creating a perennial garden. When Eve begins writing a garden column in the local county weekly, these unforgettable characters embark on a heartwarming, poignant journey to discover love and meaning as they cope with growth and loss in the changing seasons of their lives.
VOX HUMANA celebrates the transforming power of love, friendship, family and shared human work. As a young woman Charlise Howard left rural western Pennsylvania with music in her soul only to spend her career in Philadelphia as a job counselor helping others "find their voice." Force-retired at 59, Char feels spiritually and emotionally adrift as she moves back to her hometown of Hope. An encounter with a former classmate, Rob Sims now a priest assigned to the struggling Episcopal parish of her childhood, further shakes her assumptions about the choices that have led her to this point. At the keyboard of the historic parish pipe organ and as she helps spearhead a parish-based folk-weaving project to revitalize her dying community, Char learns to risk the love and fulfillment that have so long eluded her. VOX HUMANA is a powerful song of hope for those facing watershed moments in their lives and for generations struggling to reconnect with one another.
Bay View is a jewel box of a Northern Michigan Chautauqua community along the shores of Little Traverse Bay, southwest of the Mackinac Bridge. Founded in 1875 and now a National Historic Landmark, its 31 public buildings and 450 cottages are among the most pristine examples of 1900-era High Victorian architecture in the United States. Historical photographs capture the fascinating journey via rail and Great Lakes steamer to the early campground's beech-forested hillside. Rare images trace its path from a wilderness Methodist campground to a vibrant embodiment of Chautauqua's four pillars: the arts, education, recreation, and religion. Building on the Camp Meeting and Chautauqua traditions, the founders forged a unique lifestyle that ends every November only to resume with renewed energy every April. The turrets, towers, and gingerbread of this timeless Brigadoon excite the imagination today just as they did more than 135 years ago.
A fascinating glimpse of RV culture, IN TRANSIT tells of a woman's struggle to redefine what it means to be at "home" with herself in the face of the toughest challenges life has to offer. The 3 years that Lib and her husband spend on the road in a motor home after selling their home are the happiest they have ever known. Widowed at 64 and "homeless" except for her RV, Lib moves in with her adult children--overwhelmed by an uncertain future. When she finds the strength to return to the campground on Michigan's UP where her world as she knew it came so tragically to an end, it is not just to reclaim her vehicle but her hopes and dreams for independence. She discovers that even in that tiny community along the shores of Lake Michigan, she is not the only one facing transitions and in need of healing. As her personal journey becomes tied to the stories of those around her, Lib learns that she is capable of far more than just survival in the brave new world she is choosing for herself.
Grief changes everything. Devastated by the loss of her beloved Adam, writer Eve Brennerman despairs of finding new ground upon which to rebuild her life. And then one wintery morning, Eve spots a rusty junker stranded outside the nursery she has inherited from Adam. Fate? Or coincidence? "Woman, Mother, Widow. All true and yet those words do not define me. My life is a work in progress." And thus Eve starts out on a journey to bloom where she is planted. "A tender, intelligent, heartbreaking and joyous celebration of the circle of life and the seasons." (Sharon Lovejoy, best-selling author and illustrator of garden and nature books.) GARDEN OF EVE is the second novel in the LIFE IN THE GARDEN SERIES.
Grief-stricken Professor A. J. Ferinelli buries himself in his scholarly research until a young woman shows up accusing the Academic Dean of sexual harassment. He is drawn into her quest for justice and is caught up in a firestorm of intrigue, betrayal and violence.
Long-time Little Traverse Bay cottager Maggie Aron copes with growing older, finding love, and an aging mother, all while trying to find her way in a changing world.
In Northern Michigan, garden writer Eve Brennerman begins to sense the end of winter coming to the landscape around her, and she also begins to feel that she needs to rediscover life and love. But what she will learn about love and its opposite will shake her idyllic rural Eden to its foundations.
Nearly all pastors sent to rural congregations were nurtured in larger urban congregations, and nearly always educated in urbanized seminaries. A wide culture gap between leaders and members often emerges among the church leaders in rural congregations. This book is designed to address and study the issues that arise when ordained and lay pastors are called or appointed to rural congregations. This handbook will orient seminary students and pastors who are doing ministry in rural congregations. It focuses on the nature of congregational life in such a setting, showing ways to deal with the issues and challenges specific to rural culture. The authors tell how to best engage in evangelism and mission in the particular locations in which these congregations find themselves. Rural Congregational Studies: A Guide for Good Shepherds outlines features of different rural settings that affect life and church life. Each chapter contains a section of "resources" (sidebars, ideas, programs, and so forth) that tie it to the chapter theme.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.