"No Ordinary Family," is a story, a true story, about young girls that came together and played softball as a team called the Arkansas Playmakers. I had a fellow author read an early copy before it was sent to the publisher. I asked him to look it over and then get back to me with ways the manuscript could be improved. He had many good ideas, and I hope I was able to implement them to his satisfaction. However, he had one question? Were these girls real? Yes. "Their names, too?" he asked. Yes. The story is real, and unlike "Dragnet" the names were not changed. I did not know what I was getting myself into when I chose this assignment; but, I hope everyone that reads this book will come to understand that not everything has to be a soap opera or a world of drama queens. There are parents that coach hard, but remain parents and see the world as one of many colors not just black and white where winning is everything. Fortunately for the Arkansas Playmakers, the parents and the girls have come together to form a unique family that lives, loves, plays and enjoys life together. This book is their story. It is a story of a brother and a sister, girls that came together to form a team but eventually became sisters first and foremost, the bond between softball fathers and their softball daughters and what makes a team a championship team (on and off the field). It is about how a team became part of a small, rural community in the southeastern corner of Arkansas. I hope those that read this book, find it enjoyable and worth your time and effort.

Find your Happily Ever After with two feel-good stories of dogs unleashing romance in small-town settings. A new kind of family Colorado Fireman When firefighter Adam O’Malley risks his life to rescue Carly Spencer’s young son, he assumes that’s the last he’ll see of them. But then Adam’s mother invites Carly, her children and Molly the dog to stay at the O’Malley ranch! Adam has been avoiding relationships, but the more time he spends with Carly, the more he begins to imagine a different future…one that includes a family. Stand-In Mom After a night of passion, Scott Matthews hoped he’d see Ginger Winchester again—just not as his daughter’s new teacher! Ginger’s happy to offer Scott tips on handling rambunctious kids. She’s even willing to help the Matthews family adopt a big, lovable puppy. But when it comes to handing over her heart, Scott must first prove to her that she’s the only one for him.

Starting in 1996, U.S. television saw an influx of superhuman female characters who could materialize objects like Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, defeat evil like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and have premonitions like Charmed's Phoebe. The extraordinary abilities of these women showed resistance to traditional gender roles, although these characters experienced infringements on their abilities in ways superpowered men did not. Supernaturally powerful women and girls have remained on television, including the heavenly connected Grace (of Saving Grace), telepathic Sookie (of True Blood), and magical Cassie (of The Secret Circle). These more recent characters also face numerous constraints on their powers. As a result, superpowers become a narrative technique to diminish these characters, a technique that began with television's first superpowered woman, Samantha (of Bewitched). They all illustrate a paradox of women's power: are these characters ever truly powerful, much less superpowerful, if they cannot use their abilities fully? The superwoman has endured as a metaphor for women trying to "have it all"; therefore, the travails of these television examples parallel those of their off-screen counterparts.

Stella Jackson and her new sexy bodyguard, Julian Stone visit Rocky Mount, North Carolina to solve the mystery of her missing mother, Anna. Instead, she finds her grandmother, Celestial waiting at her grave site to give Stella the information she needs to find Anna. For Detective Reese, the problem is knowing Stella is going to be alone with Julian for five days! Neither man is her boyfriend which doesnt seem to matter to them. Julian leads Stella on her first mission to catch two evil cousins on a vicious crime spree. Both cousins are known as the Two Coreys. As Stella search for information about her mother, she befriends a woman who lost her entire family to the brutality of the Coreys. This woman becomes the first person Stella adds to her eclectic and angelic family. When they arrive at their hotel, Julian magically enters Stellas dreams and makes love to her setting off a chain of events he soon will come to regret. Stella is taught the rules of being a Sephilim angel and how to use her unusual supernatural powers. In doing so, she draws closer to Reese and he learns her secret. As Stella search for information about her mother, she befriends a woman who lost her entire family to the brutality of the Two Coreys. This woman becomes the first person Stella adds to her eclectic family. She is on her way to becoming a people hoarder. In the meantime, Jena tries to help Detective Reese find terrorists and she meets a new friend named Christopher. Julian displays his first sign of jealousy engaging Reese in their first fist fight while Stella watches in horror. This book will set the reader on a roller coaster ride they will never want to stop riding or reading.

In this new volume, two distinguished professors of social work debate the question of whether family preservation or adoption serves the best interests of abused and neglected children. Arguing the merits of keeping families together whenever possible, Ruth G. McRoy examines the background, theory, and effectiveness of family preservation programs. She provides practical recommendations and pays particular attention to the concerns of African American children. Claiming that there is insufficient evidence that family preservation actually works, Howard Altstein counters that children from truly dysfunctional families should be given the chance for stable lives through adoption rather than left in limbo.

Award-winning historian Cassandra A. Good shows how the outspoken stepgrandchildren of George Washington played an overlooked but important role in the development of American society and politics from the Revolution to the Civil War. While it’s widely known in America that George and Martha Washington never had children of their own, few are aware that they raised numerous children together. In First Family, we see Washington as a father figure, as well as meet the children he helped raise and trace their complicated roles in American history. The children of Martha Washington’s son by her first marriage—Eliza, Patty, Nelly and Wash Custis—were born into life in the public eye. Raised in the country’s first “first family,” they remained well-known as Washington’s family and keepers of his legacy throughout their lives. By turns petty and powerful, glamorous and cruel, the Custises used Washington as a means to enhance their own power and status. As enslavers committed to the American empire, the Custis family embodied the failures of the American experiment that finally exploded into civil war—all the while being celebrities in a soap opera of their own making. First Family brings new focus and attention to this surprisingly neglected aspect of George Washington’s life and legacy. As the country grapples with concerns about political dynasties and the public role of presidential families, the saga of Washington’s family offers a human story of historical precedent.