inspirational journal with coloring pages

A highly talented athlete, Leigh Cooper experienced self-image issues as a young girl which led to eating disorders and destructive behavior. While a student at Appalachian State University, she was abducted and raped by a man who five days earlier had abducted and brutally murdered another young woman. After three hours of physical and mental torture, Leigh managed to escape. She provided key evidence which allowed authorities to quickly capture her abductor, and her testimony resulted in the death sentence for this killer. Realizing she had been given a second chance on life, Leigh took control of her eating issues, resumed her college studies, and became one of the greatest runners in ASU history. After graduation, she coached high school cross-country for ten years, producing four state champion teams and six state runner-up teams. She became an advocate for victims, speaking at numerous rallies and events and was featured on national TV and in magazines. She was also a beloved high school teacher, a loving wife and mother, and a beacon of light admired and followed by an ever-increasing cadre whose lives were positively affected by her. Leigh died suddenly and unexpectedly of MRSA pneumonia in December, 2012, while in the process of writing this book. Her father spent the next four years completing the book with the help of other immediate family members.

Though the end of your life may be near, it doesn't mean you have to stop living After being diagnosed in her early thirties with terminal breast cancer, Heather McManamy felt like her life was crumbling. Her "normal" vanished—and was replaced with multiple surgeries and dozens of chemo treatments that could briefly extend her life, but would not prevent her inevitable death. With an effervescent spirit and a new perspective, Heather started to live each day as if it were her last. She learned to soak in the moment, appreciate the beauty around her, and celebrate her blessings. She also pondered her daughter's future journey without her mother—and gracefully prepared for it. Heather began to write greeting cards to Brianna. Cards for her first day of school, her sixteenth birthday, her wedding day. Cards for when things were going right and when they were going wrong. Cards for when Brianna would need her mother—whether in five years or in fifty years—and Heather wouldn't be able to be there for her. Cards for Brianna is the story of one mother's powerful love for her young daughter and Heather's unmatched experiences, laced with laughter and charm, are a reminder to never take a single day for granted.

A tragicomic story of bad dates, bad news, bad performances, and one girl's determination to find the funny in high school from the author of Denton Little's Deathdate. Winnie Friedman has been waiting for the world to catch on to what she already knows: she's hilarious. It might be a long wait, though. After bombing a stand-up set at her own bat mitzvah, Winnie has kept her jokes to herself. Well, to herself and her dad, a former comedian and her inspiration. Then, on the second day of tenth grade, the funniest guy in school actually laughs at a comment she makes in the lunch line and asks her to join the improv troupe. Maybe he's even . . . flirting? Just when Winnie's ready to say yes to comedy again, her father reveals that he's been diagnosed with ALS. That is . . . not funny. Her dad's still making jokes, though, which feels like a good thing. And Winnie's prepared to be his straight man if that's what he wants. But is it what he needs? Caught up in a spiral of epically bad dates, bad news, and bad performances, Winnie's struggling to see the humor in it all. But finding a way to laugh is exactly what will see her through. **A Junior Library Guild Selection**

Have you ever wondered where the abundant life Scripture promises is, and how you seem to have missed it? Do you ever catch yourself saying, “Those were the best years of my life?” A failed relationship, a health crisis, a job loss, the death of a loved one—all can cause us to hide out, go numb, give up. Before we even know it, we’re simply coping with life instead of living it to the fullest. It happens to most of us at one point or another. For author and Bible study teacher Denise Hildreth Jones, it happened in the wake of her devastating divorce. But she fought desperately to reclaim her God-designed heart, and now, in her transparent, authentic style, Denise challenges you to do the same. Sharing stories from her own journey and others she’s walked alongside, Denise will help you identify ways you’ve given your heart to “lesser gods” like performance, people-pleasing, and control, and how to find your way back to God’s design for your life—to laughing, loving, and living life to the fullest.

This book is a compilation of many posts written to a wonderful list about all things Golden. These dogs are the epitome of love and laughter. The author is a bit of a goofball himself, so writing about these crazy canines was a joy!