Life to the Extreme to release May 14, 2019

Grand Rapids, Mich., November 27, 2018 – Star of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and the current Trading Spaces reboot, Ty Pennington, has inked a one-book contract with Zondervan. Life to the Extreme: How a Chaotic Kid Became America’s Favorite Carpenter, written with Travis Thrasher, will release in May 2019. Pennington is represented by Bill Stankey of Westport Entertainment. World rights were acquired by Senior Vice President of Author and Partner Development Matthew Baugher and Zondervan Acquisitions Editor Andy Rogers.

For the first time, Pennington shares parts of his personal story with fans. From his early life in Georgia where he built his first treehouse, to being diagnosed with ADHD in his college years, to achieving incredible television success—his life has been one adventure after another. In Life to the Extreme, Pennington will share the life lessons he’s learned through years. Serving others, random acts of kindness, and battling whatever life throws are the hallmarks of building a life that matters.

Pennington has been recognized as a leader in the field of volunteerism for his work on Extreme Makeover and Ty’s Great British Adventure. He served as ambassador for the Sears American Dream campaign. In line with his passion for creative and practical housing, he frequently volunteers time with Abōd Shelters Foundation, a charitable organization whose mission is to provide sustainable, quality housing to areas in need around the world.

“Ty Pennington has spent his career serving others and entertaining people with brilliant designs and an infectious sense of adventure,” says Andy Rogers, acquisitions editor. “He has a rare gift to draw communities together and create positive change. And he does so in a way that’s always … uniquely Ty. He’s also a recognized voice of encouragement for those living with ADHD and other challenges. This book will capture all of that and more.”

Book Details

Life to the Extreme: How a Chaotic Kid Became America’s Favorite Carpenter
By Ty Pennington with Travis Thrasher
Zondervan

ON SALE: May 14, 2019 
$26.99 hardcover
ISBN: 9780310357377

Zondervan is a world leading Bible publisher and provider of Christian communications.  Zondervan, part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., delivers transformational Christian experiences through its bestselling Bibles, books, curriculum, academic resources and digital products. The Company’s products are sold worldwide and translated into nearly 200 languages. Zondervan offices are located in Grand Rapids, Mich.  For additional information, please visit www.zondervan.com.

Contact: Robin Barnett, 616-698-3251, robin.barnett@harpercollins.com

WESTMONT, IL—InterVarsity Press is pleased to announce that Library Journal selected Birthing Hope by Rachel Marie Stone for its 2018 Best Books list.

“Rachel Marie Stone is one of the most elegant and perceptive authors I have ever worked with,” said Al Hsu, senior editor, IVP Books. “Her writing makes us reflect deeply on things that matter—birth and death, family and fear, life and hope. I’m delighted that Birthing Hope has been named one of the best books this year, or any year! Congratulations, Rachel.”

In place of the top ten best books list that Library Journal has traditionally released, this year editors sifted through thousands of books that were published in 2018 and put together a larger and more diverse mix of titles across twenty categories, with 188 titles recognized.

Birthing Hope: Giving Fear to the Light was chosen as one of Library Journal ’s top ten books in the religion and spirituality category. The mother of two sons, Stone unpacks how childbirth reveals our anxieties, our physicality, our mortality. She writes, “To bring anything new into the world is to open one’s self and therefore to take on risk, to contaminate oneself with the other, to be made vulnerable. This requires not just courage but many things, among them faith, hope, help, companionship, grace—in a word, love.”

In a June 2018 Library Journal review, Sandra Collins described Birthing Hope this way: “A quiet memoir on hope as the most paradoxical of virtues.”

Rachel Held Evans, author of Searching for Sunday, said, “I’ve been waiting for a book like this one for years, and no one could have written it more beautifully and wisely than Rachel Marie Stone. With the skill of a poet and the patience of a doula, Stone invites the reader to look straight into the face of fear and find in it the spark of hope. There are words and phrases from these pages that I will go on pondering for years. Theologically rich and carefully researched, Birthing Hope is a book for everyone, but as a new mother it proved life changing—the kind of book that leaves you breathless.”

Stone teaches English at the Stony Brook School in Stony Brook, New York. Her writing about food, faith, justice, public health, and maternal health has appeared in the New York Times, theWashington Post, the Huffington Post, Christianity Today, the Christian Century, Books & Culture, Sojourners, In Touch magazine, Religion News Service, Patheos, and more. Her books include the revised More-with-Less cookbook, Telling God’s Story, and Eat with Joy: Redeeming God’s Gift of Food, which won a Christianity Today Book Award and was named by a Religion News Service columnist as one of the year’s ten most intriguing titles in religion.

For a complete list of IVP award winners visit ivpress.com/awardwinners.

Founded in 1947 as an extension of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, InterVarsity Press serves those in the university, the church, and the world by publishing thoughtful Christian books that equip and encourage people to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord in all of life. For more information, visit ivpress.com.

Colorado Springs, CO – December 3, 2018—Alive Literary Agency today announced its Founder and CEO Rick Christian is stepping down March 1 after 30 years, and that an internal sale of the agency has been executed with its President Bryan Norman and Executive VP Lisa Jackson.

“I am grateful I could spend the bulk of my working years doing what I love with people I adore, realize my dreams, and accomplish the tasks with which I was entrusted,” said Christian. “There is no greater joy than to now pass the baton to such qualified successors.”

“It’s an honor to build on the strong foundation Rick established, and we look forward to leading Alive for the next 30 years,” said Norman, who joined Alive in 2013 after nine years at Thomas Nelson Publishers in Nashville. He rose there through the editorial ranks to become Associate Publisher at one of the industry’s leading nonfiction trade groups.

He reported that he and Jackson will continue operations under the same name with their current business titles. “We are grateful Rick will continue to consult with us for three years to ensure continuity of all things within the author and publishing communities, and enable us to fully replicate everything he’s been doing in the film and TV space.”

Christian’s daughter and 12-year Alive agent Andrea Heinecke will continue her employment with the agency, overseeing existing clients, backlist titles, and assist with the burgeoning publishing and film/TV career of novelist Karen Kingsbury and her son Tyler Russell, the sole clients Christian will personally work with under his consulting relationship.

“We’ve been working on this plan for the past three years with the help of outside consultants, most notably a woman in Denver who built a thriving business advising top corporate and military leaders and consulting with the Pentagon,” said Jackson, who joined Alive in 2015 after a publishing career spanning newspapers, magazines and 15 years as the Associate Publisher of nonfiction at Tyndale Publishing House in Carol Stream, IL. “While we’ve faced unique challenges, the transition has been seamless and a fabulous model by any measure. And yet it is bittersweet to see our dear friend and mentor step away from Alive’s helm after such a distinguished and storied career.”

“We’re told for everything there is a season,” said Christian, who turns 65 December 22. “Three years ago when I first broached the idea of the transition, I placed a walking stick and backpack prominently in my office as a visual reminder to staff and others that our paths would diverge at some point. As for the road ahead, I want to take a long sabbatical season to reread my favorite novels and all of Eugene Peterson’s works, hike and fish the high mountains of Colorado, discover new music and poetry, finish a book I started writing, ski plenty, and give my soul breathing room to allow new things to bubble up and provide direction for my next assignment. My wife Debbie and I are rich with friends and privileged to have a large and close family, and so there’s much to look forward to with them and our 12 grands.”

Christian launched Alive in Los Angeles in 1989 and moved operations to Colorado Springs in 1991. In his tenure, he has 15 New York Times #1 bestsellers to his credit, and books Alive represented have sold more than 250 million copies.

Christian’s efforts on behalf of top authors have been widely chronicled in leading newspapers and magazines, including a cover profile for Christianity Today. His biography and record of achievement have appeared in Who’s Who in America.

Raised in San Diego and a 1977 graduate of Stanford University (communications and creative writing), he also studied at Capernwray Bible School in England and the University of Southern California where he pursued graduate work in professional writing, though he never completed that degree.

Christian launched his publishing career as a newspaper reporter and columnist, followed by a career switch to magazine publishing. He served as associate editor of Campus Life magazine, executive editor of The Saturday Evening Post, and then transitioned to executive leadership in book publishing. Along the way, he wrote several books himself, including the youth devotional Alive, The Woodland Hills Tragedy, A Gift of Life, and Silent Night, which was adapted for the television series “Sue Thomas F.B.Eye.”

It is as a literary agent that Christian became renowned, particularly for his entrepreneurial efforts behind such mega-sellers as Jerry Jenkins’ and Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind series (70 million copies with millions more in 27 languages), Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible (20 million copies), Karen Kingsbury’s novels (25 million copies), Lisa Beamer’s post 9-11 Let’s Roll (1.5 million copies), and the Life Recovery Bible (3 million copies).

He is also celebrated for his literary efforts on behalf of Brennan Manning, Anne Graham Lotz, Henri Nouwen, Emerson Eggerichs, Elisa Morgan, Dave and Jan Dravecky, Rwanda President Paul Kagame, and select titles from Billy Graham and Philip Yancey, among many others. Other Alive phenoms include Don Miller’s Blue Like Jazz (1 million copies), Ron Hall and Denver Moore’s Same Kind of Different as Me (1 million), and Heaven is for Real (13 million). Additionally, he has championed the adaptation of Alive books for film and TV, including Tri-Star’s hit production of Heaven Is for Real, Paramount’s Same Kind of Different as Me, Karen Kingsbury’s upcoming Baxter Family streaming series with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, and numerous films for Hallmark Channel and various independent producers.

Christian’s representation of high-profile properties, negotiation for major film and TV adaptations, and pioneering work to develop crossover markets and leverage support across all formats and media earned him and his Alive team its reputation as the premier agency for inspirational content and authors.

Christian also served as the longtime Board Chair of Tirzah International, a grassroots ministry that addresses issues of injustice affecting women and girls worldwide. He and his wife Debbie have a blended family of seven children and live on a ranch in Black Forest, outside of Colorado Springs.

“I was given a leg up by many, and am glad I could pay it forward along the way,” Christian said. “Authors, publishers and retailers face critical challenges, but I’m encouraged that industry sales are largely up in the latest reports and that young parents continue reading to their children who hopefully will become the next-gen authors Alive represents in seasons ahead.”

For more information, contact:  Rick Christian  rchristian@aliveliterary.com  cell: 719-331-7073

December 03, 2018–CHICAGO–LSC Communications (NYSE: LKSD) and The United Church of Canada announced today that they have signed a new multi-year book fulfillment and distribution agreement. As part of the relationship, LSC will provide a range of distribution services for the United Church of Canada from LSC’s Newmarket, Ontario location.

SANTA MONICA, Cal. (November 26, 2018) – A humorous memoir by 80-year-old Peggy Rowe, About My Mother (November 13, Forefront Books) hit three major bestseller lists over the weekend appearing at #8 on the New York Times, #6 on Wall Street Journal and #16 on USA TODAY.

“It’s such an honor to work with Peggy Rowe,” said Jonathan Merkh, founder and publisher of Forefront Books. “The strength of her humor and storytelling has captivated America.”

About My Mother features a foreword from Rowe’s son – Executive Producer, Show Host, and Podcaster Mike Rowe, who has helped make his mother a favorite among his “little Facebook friends” (as coined by Peggy) with a regular bit he calls, “Mondays with Mother,” where he shares her humorous antics with more than 5 million Facebook friends. Mike’s fans have turned out in droves to support About My Mother, which now has 85,000+ followers on its own Facebook page.

Upon its pre-release in September, About My Mother temporarily trumped Bob Woodward’s Fear to become the number one seller on BN.com and caused havoc at Amazon.com due to its overwhelming popularity. When it originally released this summer, the then self-published title sold 10,000 copies in three weeks, drawing the attention of publishers including newly-created Forefront Books, helmed by former Howard Books/Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Merkh, who picked it up. About My Mother: True Stories of a Horse-Crazy Daughter and Her Baseball-Obsessed Mother released from Forefront Books on November 13 and distributed by Simon & Schuster.

“It never fails.  Every time I involve my mother in a TV show or a commercial campaign, she upstages me,” says Rowe.  “Now, just as I was preparing to write a book of my own, she cranks out a feel-good hit of the summer.  And I’m not even in it! Typical.”

Peggy Rowe is working on her second book.

About My Mother:  There’s a Thelma Knobel in everyone’s life.  She’s the person taking charge—the one who knows instinctively how things should be. Today, Thelma would be described as an alpha personality.  But while growing up, her daughter, Peggy, saw her as a dictator–albeit a benevolent, loving one. They clashed from the beginning: Peggy, the horse-crazy tomboy, and Thelma, a genteel controlling mother, committed to raising two refined, ladylike daughters.

When major league baseball came to town in the early 1950s and turned sophisticated Thelma into a crazed Baltimore Orioles groupie, nobody was more surprised and embarrassed than Peggy.  Life became a series of compromises–Thelma tolerating a daughter who pitched manure and galloped the countryside, while Peggy learned to tolerate the whacky Orioles fan who threw her underwear at the TV, shouted insults at umpires, and lived by the orange and black schedule taped to the refrigerator door.

About Forefront Books:  Serving as a concierge publisher, Forefront Books works directly with clients to create a winning publishing strategy.  Forefront Books’ founder and publisher, Jonathan Merkh, has over 25 years of experience and has published over 1,000 books including over 50 New York Times best-sellers with 10s of millions of copies sold with authors such as Dave Ramsey, Charles F Stanley, The Robertson family from Duck Dynasty and many more. Forefront Books is distributed by Simon & Schuster.

Contact:  Jennifer Willingham / Paige Collins, ICON Media Group, jennifer@iconmediagroup.com / paige@iconmediagroup.com, 615-483-4729 / 615-934-4162

New York, November 11, 2018 — Held every October in Lille, France, the Clowns of Hope Relay Marathon event raises money for this charitable organization.  The money is used to send clowns and other artists into children’s hospitals to lift the spirits of the ailing children.  The event attracts around 1500 runners, all of whom run a 5k, 7k or 10k leg of the marathon.

With sunny skies and temperatures reaching 75°F, it was perfect weather for the race.  Nord Compo sent three teams to support the charity (and to run).  While no Olympic records were broken, thousands of Euros were raised for this worthy cause.

Pictured is Nord Compo’s “Team USA.”

Moody Bible Institute, an organization that has already trained generations of Christian leaders around the world, distributes millions of books and provides biblically-based programming through one of the oldest Christian radio networks in the country, today dedicated its new global media center, The Chapman Center.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a heart-wrenching and redemptive new story in the Baxter Family series about a couple desperately waiting to bring their adopted child home and a young mother about to make the biggest decision of her life.

About the Book:  Cole Blake, son of Landon and Ashley Baxter Blake, is months away from going off to college and taking the first steps towards his dream—a career in medicine. But as he starts his final semester of high school he meets Elise, a mysterious new girl who captures his attention—and heart—from day one.

Elise has her heart set on mending her wild ways and rediscovering the good girl she used to be. But not long after the semester starts, she discovers she’s pregnant. Eighteen and alone, she shares her secret with Cole. Undaunted by the news, and in love for the first time in his life, Cole is determined to support Elise—even if it means skipping college, marrying her, and raising another man’s baby.

When Elise decides to place her baby up for adoption, she is matched with Aaron and Lucy Williams, who moved to Bloomington, Indiana to escape seven painful years of infertility.

But as Elise’s due date draws near, she becomes focused on one truth: she has two weeks to change her mind about the adoption. With Cole keeping vigil and Lucy and Aaron waiting to welcome their new baby, Elise makes an unexpected decision—one that changes everyone’s plans.

Tender and deeply moving, Two Weeks is a story about love, faith, and what it really means to be a family.

Karen Kingsbury, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, is America’s favorite inspirational storyteller, with more than twenty-five million copies of her award-winning books in print. Her last dozen titles have topped bestseller lists and many of her novels are under development with Hallmark Films and as major motion pictures. Her Baxter Family books are being developed into a TV series slated for major network viewing sometime in the next year. Karen is also an adjunct professor of writing at Liberty University. In 2001 she and her husband, Don, adopted three boys from Haiti, doubling their family in a matter of months. Today the couple has joined the ranks of empty-nesters, living in Tennessee near five of their adult children.

Learn more about Karen’s books and upcoming projects and speaking events at www.KarenKingsbury.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @KarenKingsbury.

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Karen Kingsbury’s own Adoption Story

For years, shelved somewhere in the storage space of my mind was a dry statistic, a fact that had little bearing on my daily reality. The statistic was this: Millions of children around the globe are without a family. My husband and I were vaguely aware of this truth. At times we had even discussed adoption. But the statistic about homeless children was not something that kept us awake at night.

We were busy, after all, my husband, Don, teaching and coaching, and me, writing Life-Changing Fiction ™. Besides, we already had three beautiful children, a number we planned to stop at after our youngest, a boy, was born with a heart defect that required surgery when he was just three weeks old. And so the statistic about homeless children remained, and we did nothing about it.

Then late one night alone in my office I met Emmanuel Jean.

In the quiet incandescent glow of my computer screen, I stumbled upon an Internet site that had a photo listing of children available for adoption in Haiti. One of those was a darling five-year-old boy with huge brown eyes and dimpled smile. “Emmanuel Jean,” the heading stated. Then it gave his nickname: EJ.

The connection between us was instant.

“EJ is a charmer,” the accompanying description said. “He is the first to hug the workers at the orphanage each day and is easily one of the fastest learners in our classroom.”

His photograph made an impact that was overwhelming and indelible. In a moment’s time, Haiti was no longer another country with starving homeless children. Rather it was the homeland of this precious child.

I could almost hear him calling out to us: “Mommy, Daddy, I love you. I’m here waiting for you. Please come take me home. I need a family.”

Until then, family discussions on adoption had been brief and esoteric. All that changed the moment I found EJ. I called my husband into my office and for the next hour we talked about this sweet child. There were no disagreements. EJ belonged in our family. Now we needed to present the idea to our children.

I printed his photo, and the next morning Don and I introduced him to Kelsey, Tyler, and Austin. Setting his picture up in front of an empty chair, I asked our kids, “How would you like EJ to be your brother? He’s five years old and he lives in Haiti.”

“Well,” our only daughter, Kelsey, 12, said thoughtfully, “he looks friendly.”

“He’s five?” seven-year-old Tyler chimed in. “That’s right between me and Austin.”

Two-year-old Austin just grinned and pointed. “That my brother? Huh Mommy and Daddy? That my brother?”

We studied EJ’s picture for days until he actually felt like part of our family. At night we prayed about him, connecting, building a bond that grew stronger with each glance at his face. He was living at the Heart of God Ministries orphanage in Port-au- Prince, so we contacted workers there and learned more about him. Finally, with full hearts, we made our decision. EJ would be our son, a part of our family forever.

Over the next several months, we completed a daunting amount of paperwork for the INS and Haitian dossier. But because we took it one document at a time, we were never overwhelmed. Through every step we were driven by EJ’s face. In fact, it wasn’t long before we were driven by another little face as well – that of a six-year- old boy named Joshua. The photo listing said Joshua was a happy child who excelled in academics and sports. He had great leadership qualities.

“Kids, what would you think about having two brothers?” My husband asked our three children one evening. “Mommy and I think maybe EJ would like a brother who was more like him – another little boy from Haiti.”

Again our kids were excited about the idea. But for reasons we didn’t understand at the time, we were given wrong information about Joshua. The website description was incorrect, one of the workers told us.

“Frankly,” she said, “Joshua would not blend well with other children.”

With unsure hearts, we decided on a different boy, a six-year-old named Sean Angelo. Six months later, we got the call every adoptive parent waits for.

“Okay,” the orphanage director told me, “your children are ready to come home.”

Haiti is widely known as one of the poorest countries in the world. It is a place rife with dangers, and there were months when I considered having our new little boys escorted home. But in the end God made it clear I was to go there. Take pictures, absorb myself in their culture if only for a short while, and bring home a piece of their heritage. Something I could share with them later.

My first impressions were exactly what I expected for a country with 80 percent unemployment and no sanitation system. Trash piled high along city sidewalks, inviting the random cow or pig that mingled amid wandering pedestrians. Wide- eyed children begged on the corners and a vacant stare masked the faces of most. Buildings and roadways were in disarray, reminding me of scenes from earthquake and hurricane disaster sites.

I was taken to the orphanage and introduced to my two new sons – EJ and Sean. The boys were dressed in their best, donated clothing, and both offered me shy smiles as they sat on my lap. They didn’t speak a word of English.

This – all of it – was what I’d expected.

But I didn’t expect what happened next. As I sat there searching for a common bond with EJ and Sean, a little boy walked up and brushed a lock of hair off my forehead. “Hello, Mommy.” His voice was clear, his English perfect. “I love you.”
Then – while the noise from forty-two orphans faded away – he sang to me, “Lord, I give you my heart. I give you my soul. I live for you alone””

My heart was hooked and snagged in a matter of seconds. “What’s your name?” I asked the child.

“Joshua,” he told me. “My name’s Joshua.”

This was the six-year-old Joshua we had considered adopting before finding out about Sean Angelo. This was the child we were told might not fit into our family. An hour later I knew the whole story. Joshua was still up for adoption. The orphanage worker who had given us misinformation about him no longer worked there. Joshua was a wonderful child, outgoing and confident, brilliant in his studies and good with the little ones at the orphanage.

He and EJ and Sean were buddies – inseparable.

I called my husband that night and wept. “Joshua belongs with us. I can’t imagine leaving him here.”

My husband’s answer was something I’ll never forget. “Two … three … what’s the difference, Karen? If you feel that strongly about him, bring him home.”

Of course in the world of international adoption the process is never that simple.  Six months after EJ and Sean came home, Joshua followed. Only then did we truly feel our family was complete.

Those early days together hold dozens of moments we’ll never forget. The time when EJ and Sean first entered the bathroom to wash their hands. Slowly the water grew warm and as it did, they began speaking loudly in Creole, pointing to the water and jumping up and down. It wasn’t difficult to figure out why they were excited. They’d never felt warm running water.

Then there was the day our family visited the zoo. EJ and Sean were mesmerized by the animals, but the experience was nothing to what came next: A trip to the grocery store. It was a starving little boy’s paradise.

As their English improved, we learned more about their past. Our boys had lost parents to starvation or illness and had gone without food for days at a time. They customarily ate something called “dirt cakes,” which looked like cheap pottery made from clay, dirt, and water. Village women mixed this recipe, baked it, and gave it to the children to ease the pain in their empty tummies.

Meals came only after great effort. Our boys were adept at using rocks to knock mangos from trees, or to kill wild birds. In the early months, Sean, especially, would see a bird and nearly go ballistic, pointing and motioning toward the nearest rock. His message was simple – “Please, Daddy, this is something I can do! Let dinner be on me tonight.” Politely, and with a full heart, my husband dissuaded him from killing birds.

In those first months, we dealt with the basic cultural adjustments. Sleeping in beds instead of on the floor, using bathrooms, table manners. Often people commented on the blessing we were to these little boys. But we corrected them every time. The blessings were all ours.

One was watching our three biological children embrace their new brothers. This was especially obvious when the kids played together, or did homework. Because of the efforts of Kelsey, Tyler, and Austin, our new sons quickly learned basic reading and were welcomed by their classmates. Their school even took on the Heart of God Ministries orphanage as a service project and collected two suitcases of school supplies for the Haitian children.

Adopting has also made me more compassionate in my novel writing. That much is evidenced by my mention of adoption in several titles including my upcoming novel TWO WEEKS.

Another blessing was realizing the depth of faith these children had when they came home. They had nothing in Haiti, not even a chance to live. But they had a deep love for Jesus, and prayed and sang throughout the day. In a culture ridden with voodoo, it was especially comforting to know that a Christian orphanage in Haiti had given these children so strong a foundation. In the early years, the boys loved singing for God, and sometimes cried during worship time at church.

“Are you sad, honey?” my husband would sometimes ask.
“No, Daddy. I’m just so happy when I think of everything Jesus has done for me.”

The boys were very loving in those early years, hugging us often and telling us – first in Creole, then in English – exactly how much they loved us. I can remember Sean saying, “Mommy, when I get big I’m going to get a job and make lots of money. I’ll send some to the people in Haiti and give the rest to you.”

I was puzzled by this. “That’s very nice, but why do you want to give me money?” “Because …” his eyes glistened. “You and Daddy have given so much to me.”

People often asked us about the transition. How did you bring children into your home who have nothing in common with you, they wondered. You have different skin colors, different cultural understandings, different languages – even different food preferences.

We tell them this: With much prayer.

Often in those early years we had conversations about skin color.

“Why do I have black skin and you and Daddy and Jesus have white skin?” Sean asked once in the first few months after he came home.

“Well,” I said, “First, Jesus didn’t have white skin. He had brown skin. And God gave everyone a special color, a color he loved for that person. All the colors of skin are the same to Jesus, and they’re all beautiful.”

Sean thought about that for a minute. “What color skin will I have in Heaven?”

“I’m not sure.” I pulled him into a quick hug. “But I hope it’ll be just like it is now. Because you’re skin is beautiful, Sean … and you’re such a handsome boy. I wouldn’t want you to look any different than you do right now.”

Sean’s smile stretched across his face. “Thanks, Mom.” Then he ran out of the house to join his brothers in the backyard once again. I’ll never know if that was the perfect answer, but I know this: God alone provided the answers as questions like that come up. For our part, we always welcomed the discussion.

Other than curious moments like this, adding three Haitian first-graders to our family during the growing up years was nothing but wonderful. None of the problems we feared materialized. As for skin color and race, all people are unique, God-designed individuals. The color of our current tent is not important to God.

Still, we believed that their Haitian background would one day be important to our sons. As such, I learned to cook Haitian beans and rice. In the early years, we ate that way at least once a week and we marveled at the platefuls of food our new boys could put away. To help the boys maintain their Creole, that first year or two we sometimes spent the dinner hour asking the boys to teach us various phrases. In addition, we networked with a small Haitian-American contingency not far from our home.

We have also started a family foundation called the “One Chance Foundation.”  This foundation is supported by readers like you, and it gives grants to parents at the end stage of the adoption process. Parents ready to bring their adopted child home to their forever family.

The boys are grown now. Two are out in the world figuring out life and EJ is in his senior year at Liberty University.  We wouldn’t change anything about our story. But we do believe and stress this fact: Our primary heritage is found not in our ancestors or family genealogies or birthplaces.

But at the cross, in Christ alone.

There is a story often told of a particularly rough storm that came up one night and left a sandy beach strewn with starfish. The next morning, a child walked along the shore, stopping every few feet to pick up a starfish and fling it out to sea. An old man watched the child and finally shouted at him. “Why bother, son. There’s too many starfish to make a difference.”

With that, the boy picked up another starfish and looked at it intently before heaving it out to sea, then turning to the old man he said, “It makes a difference to this one.”

The statistics on homeless children in our world remain daunting. But our family has seen this truth at work: Adoption makes a difference – even if only for one child.

Ada, Mich. (November 15, 2018)—The winners of the 2018 Christy Awards were announced on Wednesday, November 7, at the Christy Award Gala in Nashville, Tennessee. Baker Publishing Group authors won a total of five Christy Awards, including True to You, which won the 2018 Christy Book of the Year and also won in the Contemporary Romance category. The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright won in the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category, Missing Isaac by Valerie Fraser Luesse won in the First Novel category, and The Lacemaker by Laura Frantz won in the Historical Romance category.

Established in 1999, the Christy Awards recognize the value of Christian novels in contemporary culture and honor authors who create stories written from a perspective of faith. For the complete list of winners, please click here.

True to You by Becky Wade

(Bethany House; ISBN 9780764219368; ebook ISBN 9781441231208; $13.99)

After a broken engagement, genealogist Nora Bradford decides focusing on her work and her novels is safer than romance. But when John, a former Navy SEAL, hires her to help find his birth mother, the spark between them is undeniable. However, he’s dating someone else, and Nora is hesitant. Is she ready to abandon her fictional heroes and risk her heart for real?

 

The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright

(Bethany House; ISBN 9780764230288; ebook ISBN 9781493411986; $14.99)

Fleeing a stalker, Kaine Prescott purchases an old house sight unseen in Wisconsin, which turns out to have a dark history: a century earlier, an unidentified woman was found dead on the grounds. As Kaine tries to settle in, she learns the story of her ancestor Ivy Thorpe, who, with the help of a man from her past, tried to uncover the truth about the death.

 

Missing Isaac by Valerie Fraser Luesse

(Revell; ISBN 9780800728786; ebook ISBN 9781493412617; $14.99)

When Pete McLean loses his father in the summer of 1962, his friend Isaac is one of the few people he can lean on. Though their worlds are as different as black and white, friendship knows no color. So when Isaac suddenly goes missing, Pete is determined to find out what happened—no matter what it costs him. His quest will lead him into parts of town that he knows only through rumors and introduce him to a girl who will change his life. What they discover together will change the small Southern town of Glory, Alabama—forever.

 

The Lacemaker by Laura Frantz

(Revell; ISBN 9780800726638; ebook ISBN 9781493412501; $15.99)

Lady Elisabeth “Liberty” Lawson is a darling of fine society in a rugged land, and she is anticipating an advantageous marriage. That her betrothed is a rake and love is lacking is of little consequence—or so she tells herself. Though her own life seems in order, colonial Williamsburg is a powder keg on the verge of exploding. Those with connections to the British nobility are suspected as spies, and Liberty soon finds herself left with a terrible choice.

 

Bethany House has been publishing high-quality books for over 50 years. Recognized as the pioneer and leader in Christian fiction, we publish over 75 new fiction and nonfiction titles annually in subjects including historical and contemporary fiction, Christian living, devotional, family resources, and theology.

Revell has a passion for providing books that inspire and equip readers, offering them hope and help for daily life.

Baker Publishing Group publishes high-quality writings that represent historic Christianity and serve the diverse interests and concerns of evangelical readers.

Contact: Ruth Anderson, (616)676-9185 x8131, randerson@bakerpublishinggroup.com