Mary Lous Surprise is a story of a young girl named Mary Lou who has leukemia and who is missing her classmates. After hearing the news at school, Henry decides to throw a party at Easter time at her house with cake, ice-cream, balloons, and games. Through all the excitement, Mary Lous friends, teacher, and principle all learn that happiness is doing for others. I wrote and illustrated Mary Lous Surprise when I was eleven years old. For over thirty-six years, the homemade book was tucked away in my mothers attic, hidden in an old suitcase I used to carry around as a child. Getting ready to move, my mother rediscovered it and gave it me. When I reread the story that I wrote many years ago, I discovered several uncanny parallels to my adult life. I knew God wanted me to share it as a testimonial of hope for others. I feel I am living proof that life goes in a full circle. Like Mary Lou, I too, have cancer which is also a white blood disorder and is very similar to leukemia. I have had it for fourteen years and have relapsed for the fifth time as of last year. Over the summer the cancer has spread and I start chemotherapy for a third time in January. It was not long before I started work at Island Hospice as Volunteer Coordinator for THA Group, that I felt my calling was to help others. I recruited my children Sims fourteen and Stephen seventeen, as Island Hospice Teen volunteers. I wanted them to learn important lessons in life like the benefits of helping those in need. There are a number of other aspects in the book and from my childhood that now have so much relevance. Not only does Mary Lou have cancer, but they go to visit her on Easter. This year April 8th, my husband Stephen and I will have been married twenty four years and it falls on Easter. Mary Lous teachers name is Miss Beatie and that is the teacher on the popular television show Little House on the Prairie, which was my childhood favorite show. My daughter and I watch the reruns today. Henry and the children play games with Mary Lou to cheer her up. I play games now with our hospice patients to cheer them up and relieve stress. The cover was recreated by my daughter just like we found it, but put on a lime green paper. My children discovered that all cancer types are given a color and lymphomas is lime green and the celebration month is September. The book was just discovered in the month of September and my childhood favorite color just so happened to be apple green. I truly believe God gave me the courage to write the story so young because I believed in him so much. He knew one day I would find the book at just the right time in my life, so that I could share it with others who need encouragement. I believe everything is for a reason and there are no such things as consequences. I have shared my story with patients, nurses, children and veterans. I now want to share it with you and your family. Mary Lous moral of her story says it all happiness is doing for others. I would love to hear your comments. Email: buttimer1@att.net.
(Book). Kinky Friedman has always maintained his Kinkster persona and hidden Richard Friedman from the public eye. Using one-liners, humor, and occasional rudeness, he follows the advice of his friend Bob Dylan to keep an aura of mystery. Author Mary Lou Sullivan spent many contentious days and nights at Kinky's Texas Hill Country ranch before he trusted her enough to open up and speak candidly. Best known as an irreverent cigar-chomping Jewish country-and-western singer, turned author, turned politician, Kinky has dined on monkey brains in the jungles of Borneo, supped with presidents, and vacationed with Bob Dylan in the tiny fishing village of Yelapa, Mexico. A satirist who loves pushing the envelope, he's been attacked onstage, received bomb threats, and put on the only show in Austin City Limits' history deemed too offensive to air. From the 1970s music scene in L.A. with Tom Waits and the Band, to political platforms advocating legalized marijuana, to friendships with John Belushi, Joseph Heller, Don Imus, Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, and Billy Bob Thornton, this is the candid account based on dozens and years of interviews of the larger-than-life Texan who is still writing books and songs, recording albums, and performing for enthusiastic audiences throughout the world.
In Rainy Lake, author Mary Rockcastle invites the reader to savor the sights, sounds, and smells of summer at her parents' lopsided lakefront cabin during the 1960s. From the landscape of her memory, Danielle Fillian paints a sensitive and wise family portrait of summers filled with fly-fishing, swimming, water-skiing, new friendships, and a deepening first love. But with the intrusion of the Vietnam War and the rumblings of the civil rights movement growing steadily nearer, this sheltered vacation community is forced to acknowledge the harsh realities of the wider world.
Despite its cozy image, the bungalow in literature and film is haunted by violence even while fostering possibilities for personal transformation, utopian social vision and even comedy. Originating in Bengal and adapted as housing for colonialist ventures worldwide, the homes were sold in mail-order kits during the "bungalow mania" of the early 20th century and enjoyed a revival at century's end. The bungalow as fictional setting stages ongoing contradictions of modernity--home and homelessness, property and dispossession, self and other--prompting a rethinking of our images of house and home. Drawing on the work of writers, architects and film directors, including Katherine Mansfield, E. M. Forster, Amitav Ghosh, Frank Lloyd Wright, Willa Cather, Buster Keaton and Walter Mosley, this study offers new readings of the transcultural bungalow.
It's always sexy when he runs the company...but she commands his heart. These 10 couples know exactly what suits them and where to draw the line between business and pleasure. Find out who's boss on these perfect lunchtime breaks! An Inconvenient Love: To expand his real estate business, Luca Castellioni needs an English-speaking secretary and a wife, so he strikes a bargain with pretty stranger Sophia Stevens. She's fascinating, and soon enough he wants more marriage and not so much convenience in their agreement. Too bad his new wife has reconstructed her own life without him. Can love overcome the obstacles between them? Urgent: One Nanny Required: Rania George is offered a sweet gig babysitting a boy she adores. Only catch? She has to fly to Hollywood--a place she loathes--and spend three weeks with his devastatingly handsome and arrogant father. Slow Ride: Mechanic Cooper Moretto rolls up on trouble with a capital T when he spots Kyla O'Grady's '67 Mustang Coupe by the side of the road. The new gal in Aston Falls is out of cash and he's short-handed, so an employment trade makes sense. But there's danger following Kyla. Can their love vanquish the threat? Bride by the Book: Small-town Arkansas attorney Garner Holt badly needs an assistant to sort out his cluttered office, but he didn't expect a super-secretary like Miss Angelina Brownwood. She's perfect until an online search reveals a flaw: Angelina isn't a secretary. But does her secret mean she's not the girl for him? Looking for Prince Charming: Glory agrees to pose as her boss's girlfriend while he campaigns for Lord Mayor of Melbourne--which might not be the best idea since she's already in love with him!Battling the Best Man: Now a Chicago resident, Dr. Kory Flemming can't say no to returning home for her best friend's wedding. Trouble is, Will Mitchell, the only man smart enough to keep pace with Kory in high school, is the best man, and he's up to his usual flirtatious tricks. Can they set aside their rocky past to make a new future together? A Man for All Seasons: There are crazier ways to spend a holiday. At least that's what journalist Janey Turner keeps telling herself when she agrees to spend Thanksgiving with the editor she's never met in person before. But the chemistry that flares between her and Joe Argenti is as hot and unexpected as the lightning strike that soon ignites Casper Mountain. Will her professional dreams cost her a merry Christmas? Act of Love: When you're young and passionate about your first theatre job, you do everything your director tells you, right? Not if you're Marigold Aubrey, who can't seem to resist speaking her mind around charismatic Tor Douglas. But is she trying for the part, or his heart? Edie and the CEO: Edie Rowan is passionate about workers' rights, but when her protests backfire, championing the little guy gets her in trouble with sexy CEO Everett Kirk. He sends her to attend management camp--and even drives her there himself. When they let down their professional guard, sparks fly and secrets are revealed. The Meatball Mistress: Ryan Garridy is a diehard commitment phobe, struggling to keep his Italian restaurant afloat. The last thing he needs is to hire Cara Manzoni, a woman who skipped out on paying for her meal. Unless, that is, this secretive stunner can save more than just his livelihood. Sensuality Level: Sensual
Celebrated gymnast Mary Lou Retton shares the inspiring philosophies behind her success--and offers seven practical gateways to finding true happiness in your own life. Who can forget Mary Lou Retton's perfect vault and winning smile? Fifteen years after her Olympic triumph, Mary Lou is no longer the little girl on the Wheaties box--she's a dynamic, accomplished mother of two who has become one of America's most sought-after motivational speakers and inspiration to people everywhere. Now, in Mary Lou Retton's Gateways to Happiness, she shares her secrets for achieving a balanced, fulfilling career and life and presents seven gateways that can help you cultivate lasting happiness every day. Based on her remarkable experiences as an Olympic athlete, professional speaker and spokesperson, Christian, wife, and mother, Mary Lou Retton's Gateways to Happiness shows that, even with life's challenges and obstacles, true happiness is always within our reach. The seven gateways she presents--Family, Faith, Relationships, Attitude, Discipline, Health, and Laughter--are the tools we can use to improve our sense of contentment and well-being, as we follow our true dreams and ambitions, take care of our bodies, devote more time to the special people in our lives, and make our relationship with God an integral part of every day. For each gateway, Mary Lou provides concrete suggestions, action plans, and even recipes to help you embrace its principles and make it work for you. From communication exercises, to time management, to spiritual disciplines, Mary Lou's warm hearted prescriptions and advice will help you discover your deepest needs, reduce stress, and open the door to a life filledwith peace and joy. Flavored with inspiring stories from renowned athletes and celebrities, and brimming with the trademark enthusiasm and energy that have made her such a beloved American figure, Mary Lou Retton's Gateways to Happiness is a fresh and engaging collection of wisdom that will enable you to realize your true, God-given potential. The next time you look in the mirror that winning smile will belong to you! From Mary Lou Retton's introduction. On August 3, 1984, I stopped being just Mary Lou Retton from Fairmont, West Virginia, and discovered that overnight I'd become "America's Sweetheart." Without the unfaltering support of my family, and without the strength I received from my faith in the Lord, I never would have made it through this difficult period. They helped me understand that this overwhelming transformation in my life was not something to run away from, but rather to be embraced. I came to realize that it was just one part of the larger journey I was on--what Dr. Billy Graham calls our "journey toward happiness." Even with all my preparation and training for success in the Olympics, I was never aware that I was also preparing for something else. Something which would last for the rest of my life, long after I was able to mount a balance beam or stick a perfect landing. I was training for happiness. True joy and happiness are within reach for all of us no matter how bad our circumstances may seem, I believe that our happiness depends on how we respond to certain basic opportunities, or gateways, that God has opened to each and every one of us--Family, Faith, Relationships, Attitude, Discipline, Health, and Laughter--gateways that will take us onestep further down the road to true happiness.
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