Being a good mom isn't about doing everything right to create a set of perfect trophy children--though every mom has felt the pressure to do just that and to do it all on her own. To ask for help feels like defeat. Yet when we try to do it all by our own strength, we end up depleted, lonely, and ineffective. Heather MacFadyen wants you to know that you are not meant to go it alone. Sharing her most vulnerable, hard mom moments, she shows how moms can be empowered by God, supported by others, and connected with their children. With encouragement and insight, she helps you foster the key relationships you need to be the mom you want to be. Whether you work or stay home, whether you have teenagers or babes in arms, you'll find here a compassionate friend who wants the best--not just for your kids but for you.

Who was your mother before she was a mother? Essays and photos from Brit Bennett, Jennifer Egan, Danzy Senna, Laura Lippman, Jia Tolentino, and many more. In this remarkable collection, New York Times–bestselling novelist Edan Lepucki gathers more than sixty original essays and favorite photographs to explore this question. The daughters in Mothers Before are writers and poets, artists and teachers, and the images and stories they share reveal the lives of women in ways that are vulnerable and true, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always moving. Contributors include: Brit Bennett * Jennine Capó Crucet * Jennifer Egan * Angela Garbes * Annabeth Gish * Alison Roman * Lisa See * Danzy Senna * Dana Spiotta * Lan Samantha Chang * Laura Lippman * Jia Tolentino * Tiffany Nguyen * Charmaine Craig * Maya Ramakrishnan * Eirene Donohue * and many others

Not My Son, Not on Mothers Day is a true-to-life story about a mother and son who were both going through a life-altering personal struggle. The mother was struggling with a call to preach, and the son was struggling with substance abuse, which started at a very young age.

Life was fine for Xavier, a man with a wife and a couple of little ones excited to celebrate his wedding anniversary. X's marriage was great but not without its share of ups and downs. An unexpected turn of events and a life-altering conversation on Mother's Day is about to send X reeling. Mother's Day is a story about family, faith, and perspective that will have you reassessing your own "first-world problems." How Xavier manages a challenging season in his life will require him to appreciate his wife for the soldier she is, respect the fact that sometimes people are who they are, and recognize when the Lord is speaking to him. The man with the carefully planned life will find that, perhaps, he's been looking at things all wrong.

Corporate trainer and mentor Maralee McKee turns her attention to the home and shares the simple, savvy, and sincere skills kids need in order to flourish in today's culture. Skills for each stage of life make this the go-to book for moms with children of any age. Readers will learn how to impart the basic tools that empower kids to relate to others well, as well as... gain self-confidence by learning to make conversation pleasant, not painful overcome self-doubt by mastering new etiquette for today's on-the-go, casual, techno-savvy families develop the interpersonal skills that will help them become the best version of themselves they can be in any setting Fun, practical, and thoroughly up-to-date, this manual offers everything moms need to equip their kids to flourish in their relationships.

"A spectacular tale of violence and forgiveness."— Salman Rushdie “It’s kind of unique in my experience. . . . It’s a novelist writing about an actual event with a depth and thoroughness that you never get from the news.”—Michael Cunningham, via New York Times What does a mother say to the person responsible for kidnapping, torturing, and murdering her son? National Book Award-winning author Colum McCann channels Diane Foley’s voice as she tells her story, as the mother of American journalist Jim Foley – in search of answers, beyond justice, found through dogged, empathetic, spiritual enquiry. In late 2021, Diane Foley sat at a table across from her son's killer, Alexanda Kotey, a member of the ISIS group known as "The Beatles" who plead guilty to the kidnapping, torture, and murder of her son seven years before. Kotey was about to go serve life imprisonment and this was Diane’s chance to talk to the man who had been involved with brutally taking her son's last breath. What would she say to his killer? What would he reveal to her? Might she even be able to summon forgiveness for him? So begins American Mother— which reads alternately like a thriller, a biography, a mystery, a memoir, and a literary examination of grace. Diane looks back on the early days when Jim was a child and his journey to journalism, and the killing fields of the world where he reports with indefatigable determination and insight on the plight of those caught up in the agonies of war. She guides us through her family history and the difficulties they faced when Jim was captured. And she also charts the tenacity it takes to turn her grief into grace as she seeks to give voice to those who are still being kidnapped and wrongfully detained around the world. Few journeys are more worthy than this and, in this astonishing book, we are all invited to celebrate the lives of those who are never, in the end, gone.