Download or read book The Gift of an Ordinary Day written by Katrina Kenison and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2009-09-07 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition, with boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, and an attempt to find a deeper sense of place—and a slower pace—in a small New England town. This is a story of mid-life longings and discoveries, of lessons learned in the search for home and a new sense of purpose, and the bittersweet intensity of life with teenagers—holding on, letting go. Poised on the threshold between family life as she's always known it and her older son's departure for college, Kenison is surprised to find that the times she treasures most are the ordinary, unremarkable moments of everyday life, the very moments that she once took for granted, or rushed right through without noticing at all. The relationships, hopes, and dreams that Kenison illuminates will touch women's hearts, and her words will inspire mothers everywhere as they try to make peace with the inevitable changes in store.

Download or read book Night Driving written by Chad Bird and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2017 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journeys that begin in brokenness rarely follow a straight road to healing. There are twists and turns--and setbacks--on the path of repentance. Night Driving tells the story of a pastor and seminary professor whose moral failures destroyed his marriage and career, left his life in ruins, and sent him spiraling into a decade-long struggle against God. Forced to fight the demons of his past in the cab of the semi-truck he drove at night through the Texas oil fields, Chad Bird slowly began to limp toward grace and healing. Drawing on his expertise as an Old Testament scholar, Bird weaves together his own story, the biblical story, and the stories of fellow prodigals as he peels back the layers of denial, anger, addiction, and grief to help readers come face-to-face both with their own identities and with the God who alone can heal them.

Download or read book Ordinary Poems for Extraordinary People in These Ordinary Times written by Jon Sanders and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2007-02 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I write poetry that uses ordinary language but still has the capacity to hold sophisticated ideas. Language is meant for communication and is usually lost somewhere within the confines of the modern poet. My poetry's profound in many instances, but it never tries to elude the grasp of the reader's mind. I write for the ordinary person. And that's why I write ordinary poetry with extraordinary ideas. I write that way so that those who might think they're just an ordinary person will realize the truth. I write so that the ordinary may realize that they're extraordinary, because that's the truth of who they are. That's the truth that most have unfortunately forgotten throughout the years. I write ordinary poems for extraordinary people in these ordinary times.

Download or read book Life Is Too Short to Be Ordinary written by Jeanne H. Chambers and published by . This book was released on 1996-11 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Ho hum. Ho hum. It's off to work I run." If that sounds like a tune you sometimes hum, this book is for you! You'll giggle, ponder, create, and cheer as you: Rekindle your spirit of adventure, learn to be your own fairy godparent, making the most of resources you already have and opportunities that come your way, make sure it's golden on those rare occasions when you do lay an egg, wake up singing every day (well, almost every day!), get out of your own way, gain the confidence needed to design and live the life you want, nix negativity, bring life to the most boring part of your job, erase stress and clutter from your life and surroundings, shift from drudgery to delight, mundane to meaningful, stale to special.

Download or read book Your God is Too Glorious written by Chad Bird and published by New Reformation Publications. This book was released on 2023-11-14 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most of us are regular people who have good days and bad days. Our lives are radically ordinary and unexciting. That means they're the kind of lives God gets excited about. While the world worships beauty and power and wealth, God hides his glory in the simple, the mundane, the foolish, working in unawesome people, things, and places.In our day of celebrity worship and online posturing, this is a refreshing, even transformative way of understanding God and our place in his creation. It urges us to treasure a life of simplicity, to love those whom the world passes by, to work for God's glory rather than our own. And it demonstrates that God has always been the Lord of the cross--a Savior who hides his grace in unattractive, inglorious places.Your God Is Too Glorious reminds readers that while a quiet life may look unimpressive to the world, it's the regular, everyday people that God tends to use to do his most important work.

Download or read book An Ordinary Age written by Rainesford Stauffer and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best Book of 2021 —Esquire? Featured on Good Morning America "A meticulous cartography of how outer forces shape young people’s inner lives." —Esquire, Best Books of 2021 In conversation with young adults and experts alike, journalist Rainesford Stauffer explores how the incessant pursuit of a “best life” has put extraordinary pressure on young adults today, across our personal and professional lives—and how ordinary, meaningful experiences may instead be the foundation of a fulfilled and contented life. Young adulthood: the time of our lives when, theoretically, anything can happen, and the pressure is on to make sure everything does. Social media has long been the scapegoat for a generation of unhappy young people, but perhaps the forces working beneath us—wage stagnation, student debt, perfectionism, and inflated costs of living—have a larger, more detrimental impact on the world we post to our feeds. An Ordinary Age puts young adults at the center as Rainesford Stauffer examines our obsessive need to live and post our #bestlife, and the culture that has defined that life on narrow, and often unattainable, terms. From the now required slate of (often unpaid) internships, to the loneliness epidemic, to the stress of "finding yourself" through school, work, and hobbies—the world is demanding more of young people these days than ever before. And worse, it’s leaving little room for our generation to ask the big questions about who they want to be, and what makes a life feel meaningful. Perhaps we’re losing sight of the things that fulfill us: strong relationships, real roots in a community, and the ability to question how we want our lives to look and feel, even when that’s different from what we see on the ‘Gram. Stauffer makes the case that many of our most formative young adult moments are the ordinary ones: finding our people and sticking with them, learning to care for ourselves on our own terms, and figuring out who we are when the other stuff—the GPAs, job titles, the filters—fall away.

Download or read book Advice from My 80 Year Old Self written by Susan O'Malley and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The voices gathered here display incredible wit, sincerity, and generosity; we are lucky to be able to listen to them.” —Artforum If you had the opportunity to meet your eighty-year-old self, what do you think she/he would tell you? That is the question artist Susan O’Malley, who was herself to die far too young, asked more than a hundred ordinary people of every age, from every walk of life. She then transformed their responses into vibrant text-based images. From a prompt to do things that matter to your heart, to a reminder that it’s okay to have sugar in your tea, these are calls to action and words to live by—heartfelt, sometimes humorous, and always fiercely compassionate. This stirring celebration of our collective humanity unveils the wisdom we hold inside ourselves right now. “Everyone, regardless of age, can take something away from this uplifting work.” —Real Simple

Download or read book Ordinary written by Michael Horton and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there’s a “next-best-thing,” if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom—the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be “ordinary.” Yet pastor and author Michael Horton believes that our attempts to measure our spiritual growth by our experiences, constantly seeking after the next big breakthrough, have left many Christians disillusioned and disappointed. There’s nothing wrong with an energetic faith; the danger is that we can burn ourselves out on restless anxieties and unrealistic expectations. What’s needed is not another program or a fresh approach to spiritual growth; it’s a renewed appreciation for the commonplace. Far from a call to low expectations and passivity, Horton invites readers to recover their sense of joy in the ordinary. He provides a guide to a sustainable discipleship that happens over the long haul—not a quick fix that leaves readers empty with unfulfilled promises. Convicting and ultimately empowering, Ordinary is not a call to do less; it’s an invitation to experience the elusive joy of the ordinary Christian life.

Download or read book Ordinary Life written by Elizabeth Berg and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “An extraordinary short story collection that deserves our closest attention.”—Detroit Free Press “Elizabeth Berg’s gift as a storyteller lies most powerfully in her ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, the remarkable in the everyday.”—The Boston Globe In this superb collection of short stories, Elizabeth Berg takes us into pivotal moments in the lives of women, when memories and events come together to create a sense of coherence, understanding, and change. In “Ordinary Life,” Mavis McPherson locks herself in the bathroom for a week, shutting out her husband and the realities of their life together—and no, she isn't contemplating a divorce. She just needs some time to think, take stock of her life, and to arrive, finally, at a surprising conclusion. In “White Dwarf” and “Martin's Letter to Nan,” the secrets of a marriage are revealed with sensitivity and “brilliant insights about the human condition” (Detroit Free Press) that have become trademark of Berg's writing. The Charlotte Observer has said, “Berg captures the way women think as well as any writer.” Those qualities of wisdom and perception are everywhere present in Ordinary Life.

Download or read book Ordinary Girls written by Jaquira Díaz and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the Must-Read Books of 2019 According to O: The Oprah Magazine * Time * Bustle * Electric Literature * Publishers Weekly * The Millions * The Week * Good Housekeeping “There is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime.” —Julia Alvarez In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age. While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be. Reminiscent of Tara Westover’s Educated, Kiese Laymon’s Heavy, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club, and Terese Marie Mailhot’s Heart Berries, Jaquira Díaz’s memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated history—and reads as electrically as a novel.

Download or read book The Ministry of Ordinary Places written by Shannan Martin and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Find your life and true calling by losing yourself in the ordinary rhythms of life with the people God has placed around you. Popular blogger, Shannan Martin offers Christians who are longing for a more meaningful life a simple starting point: learn what it is to love and be loved right where God has placed you. What does it look like to live lives of meaning? And how do we do it between loads of laundry and reimagining leftovers? Where do we even begin? For Christ-followers living in an increasingly complicated world, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to live a life of intention and meaning. But in The Ministry of Ordinary Places, speaker and writer Shannan Martin offers a surprisingly simple answer: it’s about being with people, the ones right next door. As she walks you through her own story she challenges you to see your community through a wider lens of love, following in the footsteps of a Savior who came as an everyday man and spent his life circled up with regular folks just like us. Along the way, she shares discoveries about the vital importance of showing up and committing for the long haul, despite the inevitable encounters with brokenness and uncertainty. With transparency, humor, heart-tugging storytelling, and more than a little personal confession, Martin shows us that no matter where we live or how much we have, as we learn what it is to be with people as Jesus was, we'll find our very lives. The details will look quiet and ordinary, and the call will both exhaust and exhilarate us. But it will be the most worth-it adventure we will ever take and The Ministry of Ordinary Places will help guide you along the path.

Download or read book Life s Too Short to Pretend You re Not Religious written by David Dark and published by Broadleaf Books . This book was released on 2022-12-13 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We can't just be done with religion, argues David Dark. The fact of religion is the fact of us. Religion is the witness of everything we're up to--for better or worse. David Dark is one of today's most respected thinkers, public intellectuals, and cultural critics at the intersection of faith and culture. Since its original release, Dark's Life's Too Short to Pretend You're Not Religious has become essential reading for those engaged in the conversation on religion in contemporary American society. Now, Dark returns to his classic text and offers us a revised, expanded, and reframed edition that reflects a more expansive understanding, employs inclusive language, and tackles the most pressing issues of the day. With the same keen powers of cultural observation, candor, and wit his readers have come to know and love, Dark weaves in current themes around the pandemic and vaccine responses, Black Lives Matter, the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements, Critical Race Theory, and more. By looking intentionally at our weird religious background (we all have one), he helps us acknowledge the content of our everyday existence--the good, the bad, and the glaringly inconsistent. When we make peace with the idea of being religious, we can more practically envision an undivided life.

Download or read book My Life as a Third Grade Werewolf written by Carole Marsh and published by Gallopade International. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When you purchase the Library Bound mystery you will receive FREE online eBook access! Carole Marsh Mystery Online eBooks are an easy, effective, and immediate way to read your favorite Carole Marsh Mystery on the go! Each web-hosted Online eBook is filled with the same exact pages as the book, plus additional features like pages that "flip" with a fun sound as you read, a full chapter directory, full-screen and thumbnail viewing capabilities, and more! - Online eBooks allow readers to access their book anytime, from anywhere - by using a computer, tablet, or other device with Internet access. - They require NO additional access or hosting fees - When you purchase a library bound Carole Marsh Mystery book, you get unlimited access to the Online eBook version for FREE. - You don't need to download Online eBooks - they are available to you online 24/7! - Online eBooks are available exclusively from Gallopade, and are compatible with Macs, PC, iPad, and other devices with Internet access.Devon is a regular third-grader well, sort of. Devon seems to have an awful lot of hair and a lot of big teeth. Principal Ernie worries that he has some king of "weirdo kid werewolf" on his hands. Devon's friends insist that he is not a werewolf. "Then why does he only eat raw meat?" their teacher, Ms. Bogus, asks. "And why does he how at the moon?" Seems like there's some explaining to do _ about how kids don't all develop in the same way? As for Devon, he just likes to sing and dance!My Life As A Third Grade Werewolf also includes: A discussion of why do we like monsters and what a "Wolf in Sheep's clothing?", A glossary, Activities, Questions for discussion and debate. With all the bullying that goes on today, it's hard for kids to come to the point of self-acceptance. The purpose of this book is to shed light on individuality and being comfortable in your own skin regardless of how different you might feel. Journey along to discover how the characters learn to embrace their uniqueness and find self-acceptance.æLike all of Carole Marsh's Mysteries, this mystery incorporates history, geography, culture and cliffhanger chapters that will keep kids begging for more! This mystery includes SAT words, educational facts, fun and humor, built-in book club and activities. Below is the Reading Levels Guide for this book: Grade Levels: 3-6 Accelerated Reader Reading Level: 3.3 Accelerated Reader Points: 0.5 Accelerated Reader Quiz Number: 166147 Lexile Measure: 480 Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level: K Developmental Assessment Level: 20

Download or read book Down Too Deep written by J. Daniels and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2019-10-08 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two single parents and three adorable kids are about to have a summer they'll never forget in this sexy, heartwarming new novel of the New York Times bestselling series. Following the sudden death of his wife, Nathan Bell spent nearly two years burying himself in work and neglecting his biggest responsibility: his daughter. Overcome with guilt, he wants to connect with little Marley, but he doesn't know how to do it alone. And then Jenna Savage throws him a lifeline. A single mom of twins, Jenna is more than capable of taking care of Nathan's adorable two-year-old and wants to help Nathan however she can. As the days go by and her attraction to Nathan grows, she can't help wondering what might happen if they became a family for real. And the closer everyone becomes, the more right it feels. Falling in love forces Nathan to face his biggest fear, and when hearts -- both big and little -- are on the line, the only thing scarier than needing Jenna and her kids so much is losing them all.

Download or read book Life s Too Short to Be an Underdog written by Dave Smith and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2005-12 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life's too Short to Be an Underdog. is the story of a boy and his dog.and another dog.and yet another one.well, several more after that. Author Dave Smith boldly reveals the sometimes confusing, occasionally tragic, but always amusing history of the 'Smith Family Dog Curse". For so many years the family was denied in their attempts to cultivate a lasting bond with any dogs because of a series of mysterious events. In the midst of the family's pain and heartache, one dog managed to beat the curse and became the inspiration of many spiritual insights for his beloved master. Dave opens up the family history book and invites you to laugh along, secretly hoping it doesn't cost him the vast family inheritance. Life's too Short to Be an Underdog. is a book to share with friends, family, pet lovers, the criminally insane, and anyone else who knows how to read. It will bring smiles to faces of those who remember their own favorite doggie memories and challenge them to look for God's leading in the little things of life.even in the sometimes bizarre antics of a little dog named Ballpark.

Download or read book They re Strictly Friends written by Chloe Liese and published by . This book was released on 2019-12-04 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Outright enmity between France and England might be long past, but merry war betwixt two people from bookends of the English Channel comes easily to Lucas and Elodie. Verbal sparring, witty jabs, and a feverish dance of mutual interest, their friendship is a model uneasy détente. Lucas Edwards is the consummate English gentleman...most of the time. He might get a bit tetchy when his office is a mess, and he's rather particular about his ties, but otherwise he's as affable as afternoon tea. That is, until a grim diagnosis sets his future on a downward slope. And while Elodie Bertrand might be the only woman he wants-brilliant math-mind, decadent curves, a Parisian flair for butchering British idioms as well as turning Scrabble into a war of words-she's the last person he's willing to make a variable in his negative trajectory. As far as Elodie can project, she and Lucas Edwards will forever exist torturously tangential. No matter that Lucas' keen intellect, dry wit, his penchant for Shakespeare and innuendo equally infuriate and enamor her. Because, while he might be deliciously tall and dashing, not to mention the most chivalrous man she knows, Lucas has made it quite clear they must remain "strictly friends". But when circumstances throw them together, Elodie quickly deduces Lucas isn't putting her off out of disinterest. In fact, after plotting the points of their every intersection, only one solution remains: he actually feels quite the opposite... The first Tough Love Spinoff, a standalone friends to lovers, forced-proximity romance. Full of lost in translation laughs, Harry Potter Easter Eggs, a cast of international characters, and an oh-so-satisfying happily ever after.

Download or read book Life s Too Short to Cry written by Tim Vigors and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2007-01-31 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A newly discovered “exhilarating and moving memoir” of an RAF fighter pilot in World War II (Daily Mail). It is not often that a long-hidden gem of a manuscript is published, bringing a moment in WWII history to vivid life for today’s readers. Geoffrey Wellum’s First Light was one example. The memoir of Timothy Vigors is another. Born in Hatfield but raised in Ireland and educated at Eton and Cranwell, Vigors found himself in France in 1940 flying Fairey Battle bombers. After the Fall he joined the fighters of 222 Squadron, with whom he saw frantic and distinguished service over Dunkirk and persevered through the dangerous days of the Battle of Britain, when he became an ace. Vigors transferred to the Far East in January 1941 as a flight commander with 243, then to 453 Squadron RAAF, and on December 10 of that year he led a flight of Buffaloes to cover the sinking Prince of Wales and Repulse. Dramatically shot down, burnt and attacked on his parachute, he was evacuated to Java, and from there, to India. As he describes these experiences in his handwritten account, the author provides a fascinating and valuable record, a newly discovered personal narrative of air combat destined to be seen as a classic.