Out of the Darkness: My Journey Through Foster Care

This was a very touching story.  I personally know several girls who could have written this book.                                                    

   Kailamai was from a family of deep depression, misery, heavy drinking, drugs, and abuse. She lived with her mother, sister Amanda, and her mother's many boyfriends.  Kailamai found her safe haven in school and books.  While overweight, she was often bullied. The school counselor, Deborah, was able to get Kailamai to trust her, and there was something about Deborah's sincerity that soothed Kailamai.  The floodgates holding back her pain were bursting at the seams and she could no longer hold it in.   After that, Kailamai's life was never the same.

  She was in 14 different foster home by the age of 16.   Her first home was with Daniel and Laura and their daughter, Crystal. Being with a close-knit family was confusing at first but she soon felt Daniel and Laura's love during her 18 months there. Kailamai always felt guilty for not being with her birth mother, although every time she returned home, she would end up in hospital and placed in another foster home.

Kailamai worked hard to get herself through school with help from foster parents Scott and Loretta. She graduated from college with an Associate's degree and is currently in her senior year majoring in Business Administration, with a double minor in Justice Studies and Communication.  She now helps many children who are living a lifestyle similar to what she experienced throughout her childhood. 

Author's note:

Forgiveness is powerful.

It is beautiful

The Case For Grace

Lee Strobel is a great story teller. In The Case For Grace he tells us real life stories that makes GRACE come alive for us. We all need a deeper understanding of God's grace.
Strobel, who has written  many other "Case for ... " books (The Case For Christ, The Case for a Creator, The Case For Faith), was once a devout atheist but through researching for a book, became a Christian.
In The Case For Grace you will meet all kinds of people who have been touched by grace. You will discover how some have been "rescued by grace" and how others become "addicted to grace."  You will learn about going "beyond mercy to grace," and the "effects of cheap grace."  And there is more! Much more about grace! Take a new look at "grace" and be warmed by human stories that end more than well!

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Prior to reading Mary Roach’s engaging nonfiction book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers I, like many people, was woefully uninformed regarding the exciting after-life of many deceased bodies.  This well-researched and wryly written novel explores, in detail, the ways in which cadavers have influenced and continue to shape many aspects of our lives.  Consider, for example, your safety belt.  According to Roach “For every cadaver that rode the crash sleds to test three-point seat belts, 61 lives per year have been saved.” Even more interesting is the author’s discussion of the illicit act of body snatching.  When medical science was still fresh and new (as well as frighteningly barbaric) in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, cadavers for medical studies were hard to come by.  Many anatomist resorted to purchasing their stock from sometimes less-than-reputable dealers who would deliver their parcels via the back door.  Roach tells of “flummoxed anatomist who opened a crate delivered to his lab expecting a cadaver but found instead a ‘very fine ham, a large cheese, a basket of eggs, and a huge ball of yarn.’ One can only imagine the surprise and very special disappointment of the party expecting very fine ham, cheese, eggs, or a huge ball of yarn, who found instead a well-packed but quite dead Englishman.”  The book touches on every imaginable (and some unimaginable) aspect of a cadaver’s journey, delivering laughs, gasps, information along the way.  A fine book for those who like a little humor with their science.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Prior to reading Mary Roach’s engaging nonfiction book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers I, like many people, was woefully uninformed regarding the exciting after-life of many deceased bodies.  This well-researched and wryly written novel explores, in detail, the ways in which cadavers have influenced and continue to shape many aspects of our lives.  Consider, for example, your safety belt.  According to Roach “For every cadaver that rode the crash sleds to test three-point seat belts, 61 lives per year have been saved.” Even more interesting is the author’s discussion of the illicit act of body snatching.  When medical science was still fresh and new (as well as frighteningly barbaric) in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, cadavers for medical studies were hard to come by.  Many anatomist resorted to purchasing their stock from sometimes less-than-reputable dealers who would deliver their parcels via the back door.  Roach tells of “flummoxed anatomist who opened a crate delivered to his lab expecting a cadaver but found instead a ‘very fine ham, a large cheese, a basket of eggs, and a huge ball of yarn.’ One can only imagine the surprise and very special disappointment of the party expecting very fine ham, cheese, eggs, or a huge ball of yarn, who found instead a well-packed but quite dead Englishman.”  The book touches on every imaginable (and some unimaginable) aspect of a cadaver’s journey, delivering laughs, gasps, information along the way.  A fine book for those who like a little humor with their science.

My Story My Song

A delightful book sure to inspire, by Lucimarian Roberts, mother to Good Morning America's Robin Roberts. 

Her Story: Lucimarian, 87, shares her story of growing up in the segregated South, traveling around the world with a military husband, losing much to hurricane Katrina, and the plight of aging and succumbing to declining health. You will appreciate that she shares the wisdom she reaped from her loved mother, the wisdom she taught her own children, and her faith which shines in every facet of her being!

Her Song: As you read you will find how much Lucimarian loves music and singing. Throughout her life special hymns never failed to minister to her loneliness and the difficulties. She shares those spiritual songs along with the stories.

Daughter Robin responds after each chapter and letters from her other children close the book. You will respect and love Lucimarian for her story, her faith, and that positive attitude that overcomes any despair. 

This book is the July 2013 Faith Book Club selection at Delphi Public Library.