Showing results by narrator "Lauren Pedersen" in All Categories

After losing my husband three years ago, I'm ready for a fresh start for me and my daughter. I appreciate all of my parents' help, of course, but I can't live with them forever (and I don't want to). Dr. Drew Reed, my father's coworker, informs me his basement (turned income-property) is available for rent. And he also needs a part time nanny. Lucky for him, I can do both! But living in such close proximity, seeing him in those dang sexy surgical scrubs, and watching him with our girls . . . is making my heart thaw in ways I never expected. But am I ready to love again?

In the face of hardship, you need perseverance and determination. You need grit. But how do you build it? This book explores how you can persist in difficult situations. You'll learn how to convince yourself to do hard things, find support in trying circumstances, and know when you're pushing yourself too hard. This volume includes the work of: Angela Duckworth, Misty Copeland, Shannon Huffman Polson, and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.

At the time of diagnosis, breast cancer patients are faced with many overwhelming decisions about possible treatments. Living with Breast Cancer provides you with an overview of what to expect from testing and treatment, which cancer specialists you may need to see, and common terms to use to help communicate your needs to your team. This empathetic resource full of relatable stories teaches patients and caregivers how to ask the right questions to get the best possible care.

With the survival of the Land at stake and her heart on the line, Bailey must find the courage to love. When Bailey accepts John Colburn’s offer for her to visit Good Springs, she leaves the Inn at Falls Creek expecting to spend the autumn relaxing in her favorite seaside village. Upon her arrival, Connor asks her to cover a shift of guard duty on the equinox, and her quiet vacation takes a shocking turn. Revel Roberts works hard to keep his life commitment-free, making it easy to leave community decisions to men like Connor and John.

Since the early twentieth century, the United States has led a global prohibition effort against certain drugs in which production restriction and criminalization are emphasized over prevention and treatment as means to reduce problematic usage. This “war on drugs” is widely seen to have failed, and periodically decriminalization and legalization movements arise. Debates continue over whether the problems of addiction and crime associated with illicit use of drugs stem from their illegal status or the nature of the drugs themselves.

Politics can be infuriating. From unjust policies to unholy politicians, there are justifiable reasons to be upset or walk away altogether. Yet we must stay involved if we are to protect and sustain our fragile nation from the divisions that threaten it. With more than two decades of experience working in the highest levels of government, insider Denise Grace Gitsham offers a remedy to America's dark political reality: Christians filled with light, love, and Christ's heart for unity.

Every era has its challenges, but ours seem to be majoring in anxiety. Bombarded (via screens) by constant global conflicts, rancorous politics, and church scandals, today we endure seemingly endless external stressors. The reasons are easy to find—division in politics and the pews, caring for kids or aging parents, and the rapid impact of social media on our psyches, to name a few. While exploring these origins may hold some benefit, Sara Billups is concerned with right now: How do we live well in the presence of pervasive personal and collective anxiety?

On the morning of July 3, 1915, John Pierpont Morgan Jr., one of the most famous names in finance, was entertaining guests at his sprawling Long Island estate when the doorbell unexpectedly rang. An armed man forced his way inside. At the same time, authorities in Washington, DC, were investigating a shocking bombing at the US Capitol.

At the height of World War II, five hundred Army flight nurses served with the Army Air Forces as members of thirty-one medical air evacuation squadrons located throughout the world on both the European and Pacific fronts. Their work was not insignificantover one million patients were evacuated by air between January 1943 and May 1945. These specially trained Army nurses took nursing to new heights. Often decorated for their accomplishments, they exemplify the ability of a group of nurses to cope successfully with the challenges of war.

When Celine Lowry leaves Viewpoint, Virginia for the west with her husband and four children, the last thing she expects is to lose her whole family and be captured by Indians. Thinking that her life might be over, she’s surprised when she gets a second chance at love with a recently widowed man too.

The seafood industry on the coast of Mississippi has attracted waves of immigrants and other workers, oftentimes folks who were either already acquainted with maritime livelihoods or those who quickly adapted to the resources of the region. For generations, the industry has provided employment and sustenance to Coast peoples.

Mark and Elias Hammond are brothers in bustling Boston. The two brothers have been very close from childhood, and especially since they made a promise to their dying mother years before that they would never be separated.

Englischer Marcy Sutton flees her home in Ohio when problems caused by her husband Scott’s gambling addiction wreak havoc. She takes her two young children to stay at a friend’s lakeside cabin in Indiana, but on the way, the car breaks down, and they are stranded in a blizzard. Marcy and her children seek shelter with Hester and Gideon’s Amish family, whose simple way of life reminds Marcy of the true meaning of the Christmas season.

Big-hearted Dre Rustin fled her small Nebraska hometown to distance herself from her brother’s troubled past. Texas seemed like a good place to start a new life. Now she’s looking forward to graduating from college, but first she’s got to handle Thanksgiving break. She’ll head home for the first time in years.

Former wild child Katrina Bouvet longs to be taken seriously. So when she’s commissioned to create a garden honoring her late estranged stepsister, she vows to make it serve as her redemption. But her high hopes are threatened after she’s forced to work with the grieving widower–the man who broke her heart.

"Love is patient, love is kind, love is . . ." The words are so familiar they almost lack meaning, a Christianese version of "live, laugh, love." Even non-Christians are familiar with the Love Chapter of 1 Corinthians, read at weddings, painted on decorative signs, and preached regularly from the pulpit. But what happens when these verses are taken seriously? What would it take for someone to live out the Love Chapter as literally as possible?

A thousand eyes were watching me. Nobody in the room was talking, and the only sound was a muffled cough from the darkness in the back of the auditorium. Why wasn’t everyone whispering to their neighbors? Shouldn’t they be playing on their cell phones or even sleeping—like normal teenagers? I quickly thought back to high school when I was sitting where they were today. I couldn’t tell you the name of one person that came to speak, nor could I recall one subject matter that he or she would have even talked about.

My name is Kirstin Hill. I'm a simple girl trying to figure out life in a small town. There are a few things you should know about me before we begin. I grew up in the city. I'm a teacher, a first-year teacher (some of you understand that significance). And finally, when it comes to cooking, I'm a disaster. Maybe none of those things seem story worthy, but trust me—I have a story. I call it The Cupcake Dilemma, and it literally changed my life. How? I'm glad you asked. It all started with an extra assignment delegated to me at school right before Valentine's Day.

"What is it," you ask? I tell my friends who are curious about it that mystery shopping is when companies pay you to act like a “normal” customer and evaluate their business. The idea is that companies want to know what’s really happening in their retail stores, restaurants, and other establishments, so they pay mystery shoppers to go in and evaluate their experiences while acting like a regular customer. The “mystery” is that the companies being evaluated don’t know about it.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a test of our allegiance to the God we serve. Rosemarie Downer will engage you in a thought-provoking discussion of why some lost connection with God or declined spiritually during the COVID-19 restriction on congregate church gatherings. She will engage you in addressing this question: How does your relationship with God before and after the COVID-19 lockdown compare?