General Practice Books

WOW what a book, I find each page is a personal message to me, helping me through the day, after reading a page, I feel ready for any challenges of the day. I write down the thought of the day and throughout the day, I take another glimpse and feel Blessed to be alive and surrounded by my angels. Buy this book it is money well spent and you will be inspired to achieve, set goals and soar towards your true potential, and feel the love generated by the angels surrounding you.
Love and light to all.

I really enjoy this book. Its provides great, positive daily meditations that are fun and uplifting. Its easy to read, and makes you feel more spiritually "in tune". Love it!

I love this book for the inspiring messages. It is a wonderful way to start the day. Just open a page and read and it will put you in a positive frame of mind.

I use it everyday to start the day.
I firmly believe in the angelic realm and also Doreen Virtue.

It is a great way to start off your day! It has a reading on each page that you read everday a different page. It is positive and helpful thoughts for that day! Order it you will be happy!

Brian Garner is the man. He had me hooked from Legal Writing in Plain English. Modern legal Usage gives the modern legal writer confidence to dispense with legalese and write with precision. I will use this book as a reference throughout my career.

As an editor of legal newsletters, I do not know what I would do without this absolutely necessary tool of the trade. Not only do I, a non-attorney, find it indispensible, but my colleagues who are members of the Bar are constantly borrowing my copy "just to check." And whatever they, or I, am checking--it's in there.

Garner has a way of condensing solid and often very intricate information into a few paragraphs so succinct, and so informative, that anyone can understand. When one is rushing against a deadline, editing for and about attorneys and the law, reaching for Garner often makes the difference.

I would give up my dictionary before I would part with this book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Garner has earned his place in the annals of legal writing and editing, and I hold him--and this book--in the highest esteem.

I'm starting my second year of law school. I got this book near the end of my first year, and it proved to be an invaluable tool for editing journals and working for law firms over the summer. I wish I had this earlier.

As a side note, I would strongly recommend this book over Garner's American Usage if you are in a legal field. Even non-legal terms are covered in a way more useful to legal writing.

This is a must-have and a must-read by all who use the English language professionally, including attorneys, journalists, teachers, etc.

This is, by far, the single best resource on legal usage one can buy. I never cease to be amazed at how often I pull this book off of my shelf to find it giving me a clear and accurate answer to a usage question. I purchased this book several years ago after attending one of Garner's legal writing seminars. That seminar and this book have dramatically improved my legal writing skills. Those two tools positively influence my writing every single day. If you follow Garner's advice and guidance, you will eliminate deadening and condescending legalese from your legal writing and replace it with clear and concise prose. My clients appreciate receiving contracts that are actually readable and my contracts are less frequently subject to alternative interpretations because ambiguities are largely eliminated. As a lawyer or paralegal, do yourself a favor and buy this book. Better yet, buy this book and take Garner's Advanced Legal Drafting seminar. You won't regret it.

Gary Henry has written a devotional book that really motivates a serious believer to diligently seek God. I am going through the book for the second year and have purchases several for friends and family.

This book gives thoughtful ideas and counsel based on the Bible. It gives help, encouragement and cheer based on scriptural principles.

This is an excellent devotional book. It makes you think about increasing your seriousness about your relationship with God. I'm so glad I bought it as it has excellent entries to read and think about.

I so enjoyed my copy of "Diligently Seeking God" that I purchased copies for everyone in the family this past Christmas. This little book is easy to pick up, read and meditate on the well-written articles. Gary Henry has an obvious deep love and faith in our Lord and it shows on every page. I highly recommend this to anyone to use as a daily devotional. It will inspire you to pick up your Bible and study further. Thank you Gary for an inspirational book!

"Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness." ~James Thurber

Gary Henry presents daily moments for reflections in "Diligently Seeking God" where we can find inspiration for any day of the year. September 30 is titled: "On Not Missing the Moment."

Here we find three paragraphs exploring a perspective on time, ideas from the apostle Paul and Jesus' perspective on the future. A verse begins each page and then the paragraphs are followed by a wise quote.

Some of the selections include enlightening information on:

Our Deepest Need, Our Greatest Reward
The Joy of Fulfilling Our Purpose
The Ultimate Paradigm
Silence and Solitude
Inner Strength, Inner Light

Gary Henry presents his thoughts along with biblical wisdom and inspirational quotes. I especially loved the quote by David Smith: "The love of God is the ultimate reality, the deepest and strongest force in the universe; and it is revealed to the man who resolutely girds himself to the conflict."

~The Rebecca Review

As a person who was not born and raised in West Virginia, Loughry's book was an eye-opener. It takes the reader beyond the flippant comments and sound bites that emerge every political season, to give one a baseline, if you will, of the sordid past of politics in the state. The political shenanigans occur on both sides of the aisle, and some of the strange bedfellows that emerged at various times are truly fascinating.

The book begins with the Kennedy campaign and how a largely Protestant state voted for Kennedy, a Catholic, and changed the balance between Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in a primary season very different from what we see today. Loughry takes us into the inner workings of the political machines, lubricated by money from Joseph Kennedy (who is responsible, verbatim, for the title of the book).

From there the book shifts backwards to the development of political bosses of the distant past and then takes us through to some of the aspects of politics in play to this day.

I cannot verify Loughry's claim that everything he has gathered is verifiable through media excerpts, but I can say that it is a fascinating read that is a must for any armchair politician in the state, and a great read for anyone interested in how our the voting process works or does not work

After having this book recommended to me, I was a bit skeptical, figuring it too dry for my taste, but I was immediately drawn in and had trouble putting it down. Growing up in West Virginia I was startled at how deep the corruption in politics has been and its continuing nature. The book examines corruption itself in a very fair and even manner without attacking any particular group. After reading this, the need for election reform and accountability in public office is obvious. Not just for West Virginia but for the country. I found the book to be interesting, informative, entertaining at times, and very thought provoking. I would recommend it to anyone, whether or not they have an interest in politics. I can even see the value of the book as a required text for high school students because it provides a taste of history that is sometimes buried, along with a plan for the future.

Don't Buy Another Vote....is a wonderful, easy to read, eye-opening book. I think everyone including college students, West Virginians, people that follow politics very closely, and people that just vote should read. It is a very honest look at political corruption with a little humor along the way. Very well written! Go get a copy!!!!

I just finished "Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay For A Landslide" and find it to be one of the most amazing books I have ever read! I started reading and surprisingly, I couldn't put it down. Being a political junkie I thought I knew just about everything about politics, but this book breaks it down to a much more detailed level in a very comprehensive, yet readable way. The detail is mindboggling, but the conversational style of the author is refreshing.
In all of my years of reading political books and following politics, this is the first time I have ever read a book written in such a non partisan manner. I was skeptical at first because individuals often proclaim to be non partisan and write without bias, but that rarely is ever the case. The author is an equal opportunity offender, but it is clear that he doesn't pick on anybody. Instead, he tells the story of incredible corruption broken down at a state level. It includes amazing information about Mother Jones, the Hatfields and McCoys, the Coal Mine Wars, governors going to jail, a state attorney general hiring hit man to kill one of his deputies, another governor having his wife bribe a juror, a judge who bit the end off of a defendant's nose, and countless other stories. What makes this book different, however, is the that author provides a step-by-step way to fix the system that can be applied to all fifty states. This guy should run for Governor or U.S. Senator because we lack these types of visionaries in state and federal government these days.
This book should be read by everyone with any interest in politics, history, psychology, elections, etc.... I was overwhelmed and have told everyone I know. Every single high school student in America should be given a copy of this book as they graduate. This book changed my life! READ THIS BOOK!!!!

Dr. Allen Loughry's "Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide" is truly a breath of fresh air in a genre that sorely needed it. Most books written these days about the political arena and the corrupt nature attendant to it are riddled with shortcomings and philosophical pitfalls and, in the end, simply don't deliver. More often than not they serve to advance the agenda of their own writer, and the most painful part of the whole experience is how patently transparent that writer's intentions are. They provide little more than a laundry list of rants by an author perched high atop his/her soap box driven by a far greater concern for hijacking the pages of his/her own publication to simply rail against the establishment. The greater problem with this is how rarely they provide anything substantive in the way of suggested remedies for a very broken and morally bankrupt system that rules the day in American politics.

With "Don't Buy Another Vote" Loughry breaks that mold. His writing is not only to the complete contrary of such a dissatisfying style, but it downright hits home. This is the political narrative that we've all been waiting to read, and it was well worth the wait. Unlike may authors who complain about the proverbial weather without doing anything to change it, Loughry does plenty, or at least he inspires us to do so. Not only does he call nearly 150 years worth of corrupt West Virginia officials out on the carpet for their egregious misdeeds, but he also provides suggestions for the type of reform he feels is necessary to correct this longstanding crisis.

Loughry's "Contract With the Voter" is as innovative and well thought out as it is groundbreaking. Before the smoke settles, don't be surprised if this model for change might very well be adopted as the accepted norm for those seeking office not just in the Mountain State, but in any state. It's prolific in its simplicity and after reading it you'll find yourself saying..."Yes, why can't we implement something like THAT!?" From cover to cover Loughry's message resonates and his voice is true to the mark. A crisp writing style that goes a long way toward walking us through a murky history in which nothing sacred holds. A must read for all of us, irrespective of our own political affiliations. Loughry points out that corruption is not confined to party lines. Neither, for that matter, is the book now chronicling its long and ugly history in West Virginia.

Words can not express the impact this teaching has had on me. I spent 11 years in counseling with no clear answers only knowing, "all my issues." I had no real healing only feelings of inadequacy. This teaching has transformed my life and strengthened my faith. Anne Hovell Dew has brought together a model for healing and transformation that works. It is not a matter of knowing our issues but having the healing power of our Lord into the circumstances and situations for healing and transformation. I will be forever grateful and pray that God will continue to bless you and annoint Anne for his service.

Anne Dew's remarkable book owes some allegiance to the work of John Bradshaw, who is generously credited in "Emotional Transformation." Before Bradshaw, W. Hugh Missildine, MD, was, arguably, the first mental health professional to connect child-developed influences to adult behavior. Missildine, a practicing psychiatrist before becoming a professor at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, also referenced religion, and did so years before Bradshaw and Dew.

In "Your Inner Child of the Past," Missildine's seminal 1963 work, for example, he referenced St. Paul: `"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things."' Missildine's translation: "While you can make a serious and sincere effort to be responsible and mature, you cannot manage the feelings and actions of your `child of the past' by putting them away. They are part of you and must be accepted before you can give your attention to your mature goals."

All of this leads to Anne Dew, who has added considerably to the works of Missildine and Bradshaw, in effect, extending and opening the earlier concepts. Chock-a-block full of examples, "Emotional Transformation" is a great read.

Dew has mastered the genogram, and ties its provocative family-of-origin mapping-a charted way of discovering the why of one's self, all the way down to the inner child-and to the resulting problems and reactivity of adulthood. You may not feel that you have such difficulties, but Dew's book will make you a believer, and, in its pages, you will almost discover self truths.

. While the book is Christian-centered, Dew offers enough in the way of insights and general information to satisfy any curious and intelligent intellect, Christian or not. If you want to discover some of your own truths, Emotional Transformation is where to begin.

Felicity Finch, Ph.D.

Emotional Transformation is a wonderful book that marries the basics of spiritual inner healing principles as taught by the founders of Elijah House, John and Paula Sandford, with the understanding of human behavioral issues. The book takes the reader on a journey starting with the recognition of their own issues, working back through the past looking for the roots of those issues and then applying forgiveness and repentance to accomplish the healing needed in the heart. Anne has stayed true to the biblical truths of the spiritual laws that we teach at Elijah House, while teaching her reader how to appropriate the work of healing prayer in their own hearts. Although this is not a substitute for personal prayer ministry, the workbook format allows the reader to understand how God works to heal and restore His wounded children and learn ways to identify and pray through bitter root judgments and inner vows. It teaches in a simple step by step manner, how a person can look for the spiritual root causes of the "bad fruit" they experience in their lives and use that revelation to pray for healing. Anne addresses issues that are relevant to our society today, including eating disorders, family relationships, illegitimacy, adoption and control, all the while, directing the reader back to the Lord Jesus as their healer. She uses examples that are easily understood and relevant to society today.

I enjoyed Emotional Transformation and appreciated the ease with which Anne was able to address the prayer ministry process as well as teach the readers to hear their own heart. As the Director of Prayer Ministry at Elijah House, I recommend this book to people who are looking for healing in their lives; and to other prayer ministers as a good tool to familiarize people with the work we do. I often recommend this book to those who are looking for a way to prepare for their week of intensive ministry.

This book will start you on a journey of healing that has at its end, a closer walk with your Heavenly Father and healthier relationships with friends and family. If you let the Lord heal the wounds in your heart through the gifts of forgiveness and repentance, you will indeed be transformed by His grace and His love.

Trying to describe Anne Dew's new book "Emotional Transformation" is a pleasure. "Emotional Transformation" is a true contribution to the literature of emotional and spiritual healing. Anne combines an excellent knowledge of family systems theory with well-defined concepts of spiritual healing.

All are presented in a lucid, easy to read style that leads the reader through steps which can tease out and bring to light unhealed areas of early conflict and its effect on present day functioning in every aspect of life. Anne then reveals application techniques to the believer, which take Christ's promises of healing and make them real.

As one who is both a practitioner, and a recipient of God's healing light through Anne, I can attest to the fact that the system works and that all Anne writes here is true. It is laid out for the prepared reader in manual form leading to much deepened understanding and facilitating a Christ-centered, Christ-empowered way of healing in anyone who is ready and willing to hear.

The writer is an experienced, well-trained psychotherapist in her own right and her training in the theories of man and the power of Christ are evident throughout the book. To anyone who wishes to embark on a faith-based journey into the use of Christ's promised power, "All I have done you can do and more," the book is a clear, lucid compendium on healing emotional pain.

What an insightful book! Anne has such a wonderful humor in dealing with life's most serious problems and hurts. This book should be read by everyone--- married, single and old, but especially young. For those newly engaged or pre-engaged couples, this is a book that must be read and worked through. Counselors and pastors of all denominations could use this effectively as a primary pre-marital counseling book! Anne's book will be in our libraries for constant review and as a gift to others. All of us have relationship issues whether we are married or not. This will help many come to grips with who they are and why they do, say and react the way they do. The book gives us not only the knowledge ,but also a way of receiving healing that is needed.

It is amazing how one text can cover so much ground. This is truly a must have for all beginning therapists as well as a helpful checklist or guideline for the more experienced therapist. What I appreciate is the dual perspective of both what the client is potentially thinking, feeling, desiring, fearing, as well as what the therapist is experiencing during the interview or session. Chapters are very practical, relevant, and specific as types of training or theories are almost always followed by an example or actual case. It is helpful to have different theraputic styles included, allowing the reader to be more widely exposed. Just the many assessment tables, charts and lists, are worth having all under one cover!

v
Issues addressed in this volume include:
Client expectations for therapy
How to manage the initial interview
What information should be gathered at intake
JoEllen Patterson, et.al, offer readers of this volume a broad overview of foundational skills required in the practice of family therapy. Chapter by chapter the authors present treatment issues/concerns with proposed remedies for those difficulties. Beginning family therapists' questions are dealt with in a respectful and practically helpful manner by the writers. The content of this book is drawn from the authors' many years of instructing and supervising graduate level marriage and family therapy students in one of the premier COAMFTE programs in the U.S.

Family Therapists proceed in the practice of their profession through various developmental stages. Patterson and the other contributors attempt to provide the beginning family therapist with information needed at each of those levels in order to successfully move on to the next. In the authors' model there are three major developmental phases for family therapists:

Stage One: Learning Essential Skills

Stage Two: Learning to Conceptualize Cases

Stage three: The Therapist-as-Self


Who should attend therapy sessions?
How to join with clients
Establishing credibility
Defining goals for therapy
Building motivation
Administrative concerns
Establishing fees
Managing crisis situations (suicide, violence, abuse)
Assessing for substance abuse, biological factors, meaning, spirituality, social systems outside the family, and developmental issues
Developing a treatment focus/plan
Major theoretical models of therapy
Length of therapy
Use of questions
Normalizing, reframing, confronting, supporting, pacing
Working with adolescents and children
Working with couples
Dealing with infidelity, sexual difficulties, mental illness
Getting unstuck in therapy
How to utilize supervision and peer consultation
Handling "no shows", secrets, agency issues, countertransference, burnout
Terminations


This book provides the beginning family therapist with a comprehensive, practical resource for trouble-shooting at the predictable stages of therapist development. It is thoroughly systemic in its approach yet deals with the realities of of individual diagnosis, mental illness, and managed care. For family systems purists that compromise may be problematic. For someone who has taught in a graduate level family therapy program and supervised them for several generations I applaud the effort. This is a "real world" not an "ivory tower" tome. I also commend the authors on their use of relevant research data to support the interventions they propose. Emphasis on self-of-therapist furthermore is a strength of the book. It calls to mind some of Harry Aponte's material. I cannot think of a more comprehensive volume to put in the hands of graduate students in family therapy. I wish I had been given it when I launched my career. I wish I had written it. I will use it from this point forward.

JoEllen Patterson in her book has done an excellent job in giving good hands on approach for those practicing marriage and family therapy. This book has been a great help to me in a practical sense. I'm not a trained marriage and family therapist, and I know my limitations in this area. As a caregiver for a mission organization, the many insights I gained will enhance my ability to assess, understand, and develop avenues of referral to professional therapeutic caregivers such as marital and family therapists.

Essential Skills in Family Therapy is a guide of the process of therapy to be used by those learning how to do therapy. The book is also a good refresher for practicing therapists. Chapters cover topics from the beginning of therapy through termination and include special issues like working with children and adolescents.
Getting started
The developmental stages of new therapists are learning the essential skills, learning to conceptualize cases, and dealing with the therapist as self.
Before the initial interview
In the initial contact, therapists should listen and reflect what they hear and assess for crisis. This initial contact contains only basic relevant information and is not the time for interventions, advice, or suggestions. Therapists must know whether they have the knowledge and expertise to treat a problem or if they need to refer the client to someone else. The "business" of therapy, such as policies regarding making and canceling appointments and payment, should be discussed as quickly and efficiently as possible. When beginning therapy, it is helpful to know who made the initial contact and why, although the therapist should build rapport with all involved. A sample intake form is included, and the authors also discuss which family members should be involved in therapy.
Initial interview
The first task of the therapist is to join with the client. The credibility of therapy and/or the therapist may need to be discussed. Goals should be defined, and the therapist should begin to build motivation for change. Administrative issues like confidentiality, videotaping, observation, etc. should also be discussed.
Guidelines for conducting the assessment
The initial assessment is the time to explore the presenting problems, attempted solutions, and crisis and stressful life events. The therapist must constantly be aware of possible issues of harm to either self or others. Suicide, violence, abuse, substance abuse, biological factors, meaning systems, spirituality, family system, and social systems are all considered.
Developing treatment focus
The therapist must select the problem list, examine the history and treatment of problems, select a treatment modality, and determine the length and frequency of treatment. The treatment modality selected will be influenced by the therapist's orientation and experience, research, the financial constraints of the client, and the client's willingness and availability to follow the suggested treatment. Referrals may be considered. The therapist may wish to consult with the client's physician or request psychological testing.
Basic treatment skills
Therapy includes asking questions, normalizing, reframing, providing support, confronting, and pacing the therapy to meet the needs of the client. Handouts may be given to clients. In developing their expertise, beginning therapist should establish their understanding of the theoretical foundation of treatment skills; consider process and content, timing, and clients' anxiety levels; and create a family treatment plan.
Children and adolescents
Parents or primary caretakers should be involved in therapy and as cotherapists during the remainder of the week. In working with adolescents, the family need for maintaining structure must be balanced with the transformational needs of launching the adolescent.
Couples
Each spouse should get his/her turn to talk so that the therapist can understand the needs of both. This chapter deals with some of the common problems that couples present.
Mental illness of family member
Depression, anxiety, and alcoholism and drug abuse are discussed. When a family member is involved with drug or alcohol abuse, the first goal of therapy is to stop the abuse and then the reasons for the abuse can be examined.
Getting Unstuck
Resistance is a normal part of therapy. The familiar is comfortable. Therapy often involves both first and second order change. First order change is behavioral with the goal of acting in a new way. Second order change deals with behavioral, cognitive, affective, and relational realms and seeks to change the entire system. In dealing with cancellations and no shows, therapists need to review goals with the client and possible terminate or go to more infrequent appointments to address other goals.
Termination
Termination can be client initiated, therapist initiated, or mutual. Having clearly defined goals will tell therapists and clients when it is time to terminate therapy. Temporary relapses can be predicted by explaining that we often take two steps forward and one back.
Future effects of managed care
Managed care makes it more important for family therapists to maintain a relationship with family physicians. To meet managed care expectations, therapist need to articulate the problem, possible treatments, the chosen treatment, and expected outcomes.
This is an excellent resource for beginning therapists or those considering studying to become therapists. Therapists should be able to clarify their strengths and limits immediately, and this book can help them do that. The tables on such things as violence and abuse are helpful guides. Meaning systems are defined as cognitions, beliefs, memories, and emotions, which are often a part of culture and have implications for those of us who work cross-culturally. I appreciate the emphasis that the authors placed on developing the relationship between the therapist and the client. Therapists must know their role as they have full responsibility for therapy and for the relationship. As divorce has become so prevalent in the U.S., it is important for us to know that only about half of divorced couples develop cooperative coparenting. Couples need five positive interactions for every negative interaction. Families put energy and resources into being stuck, which is sometimes helpful to point out to them in the course of therapy. I appreciate the explanation of the goals of terminating, which are helping clients consolidate gains made in therapy, empowering clients, and being sensitive to loss issues, as I have not always thought through these goals when terminating therapy.

I really enjoy this book. It answers questions you have and questions you do not know you have. You read it like a novel, but it is great! It is a step-by-step guide.

This tape set was incredibly helpful. Listen as you drive and feel empowered to help your organization grow.

The book "The Fifth Discipline" is a standard in the field of Organizational Learning. The CD is interesting to hear, sometimes a bit lengthy, butin any case worthwhile hearing!

I must say I think I was lucky on reading this book after I had read "The art of systems thinking" and being familiar with the concept of feedback loops, etc. Yet what makes this cd-book unique is not only the fact that cover the essentials of systems thinking, but also to the fact that you have to personal values that will make you recognize interdependencies and the fact that there are lags to deal with, and that wisdom is indeed a time process.

The insights are so deep, the narration so intimate, the examples so clear.. this is one of my favorite for my 10 hour drives.

If you are in a leadership position, read this book! If you want to be in a leadership position, read this book! Change management is one of the more challenging aspects of leading any organization or team. Change in your organization to create a "Learning Organization", can put your team at the front of the pack. This book seems to the best analytical manual I have read that helps accomplish this goal. This book puts it in perspective from the viewpoint of "Circular Thinking" versus "Linear Thinking". Through leveraging, you can develop your organization into a learning one. The book works in concert with 5 Learning Disciplines and 10 system archetypes that can help develop you to be a circular thinker, or a systems thinker. My favorite archetypes that hit home the most to me were: Balancing Process With Delay, Fixes That Fail, and Eroding Goals. All ten are rock solid, but I related the most to those three.
If you want you and your organization to grow together, I recommend this book.

The Fifth Discipline is a seminal book by the famous author Peter M. Senge. The book teaches the concept of the learning organization namely that the successful organization must continually adapt and learn in order to respond to changes in the environment effectively and therefore to grow and prosper. I have read the book a number of times and keep on referring to it as is filled with a lot useful knowledge and wisdom. System thinking and learning is critical to organisational growth and development in the present highly dynamic operating environment.

According to Peter Senge, "real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we reperceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning"--powerful advice indeed from a real learning guru.

I recommend this book for individuals interested in understanding the nature of how organizations develop, how behaviours are formed, and how organizations achieve growth and augment their capabilities. You will learn how to improve the way your organization or department functions, how to review and improve systems and how to develop shared visions, create long term goals among other critical insights.

Fr. Kevin has done it again. Just when you think Fr. Kevin has run out of entertaining stories what does he do? He rounds up the Friars and has them share with you peices and stories of their lives that will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you think. Then make you laugh again and again. WONDERFULL!

As I sat back nursing my flu, I proceeded to read one of the most delightful little books I have ever read! I found myself moved to tears more often than not. The insights and displays of love and miracles left me deeply touched. Other times I was tickled so I laughed aloud.

Spiritual candor personified! I believe it should be mandatory reading for secular and professed franciscans all over. It truly is God's Book...His great works should not go unnoticed, uncirculated, unexperienced, unknown. Toot your horn! The ripple effect will benefit all.

A good book about good people, trying to do good, that will make you feel good! Take a magical walk through the pages of a mystical Sherwood Forest where, walking in the sandals of a modern day franciscan friar, and hearing their stories, you will encounter a modern day Friar Tuck, Francis of Assisi, Brother Juniper, ar Anthony of Padua! Fifteen Friars Minor have written stories from their lives where they experienced the Divine Mystery at play which gave them the great joy they wish to share with you.

It is "joy" and it is "magic"! To all the friar authors, Bravo and Thanks!

Praise the Lord!
Another refreshing book by Tommy Tenney!
I had never studied the Tabernacle of David, like Tommy shares in this book!
Another life changing book!
In His Grip,
And learning to Worship all over again!
Pastor Rob

This is one of my favorite books mainly because it is revolutionary, non-traditional and status quo shattering, yet at the same time focused totally on the reason and motivation for all this revolution--to be passionately in love with Jesus. We may be revolutionary, we may be willing to die to our self centered traditions and programs, we may gladly leave all and follow Him--but NOT because we have learned a better, more New Testament way of doing it, but because our love for Him wants to kill everything that gets in the way of our relationship with Him. We live to see Him smile at us and nothing keeps us from that, for it is our love for Him that motivates us and to feel His arms around us that stirs us. This is the Church--the house that God wants. It is a house that does it His way... just to please Him, just to worship Him, just to love Him. In all this talk about leaving dead "churchianity" and worshiping as the Church in simple, home-business-coffee shop, relational style gatherings, we can still forget the reasons why we do what we do in the Church-- to build a House that God loves to visit and to inhabit. Even for God, home is where the heart is. It is all for Him! "If we build it, He will come" the subtitle says-- and that is really all we care about--that HE is there with us.

This book will stir you--not to technical, procedural changes, but in what really matters, in seeking Jesus so passionately that we naturally build the Church into a house that makes Jesus feel at home. This book will stir that desire, the only desire that really matters.

This is another awesome Tenney book. I cant hardly keep a dry eye.

If you've ever sat in a church service and wondered why the worship leaders didn't pick more songs you liked to sing or if you've ever snuck a yawn during the service, THEN YOU WON'T BE THE SAME AFTER YOU READ THIS BOOK. As I was reading it, I felt my heart laid open, the sin of not giving the Lord His rightful place exposed, and then found myself moved into repentance by the third chapter. Worship is the Lord's proper due, and it's not for our entertainment. God's Favorite House is at the forefront of bearing the message of the contemporary worship movement- He longs for our worship and fellowship. King David lived thousands of years ago, yet his holy abandon to worship is an example for us today. The God Chasers excited me, God's Dream Team gave me knowledge, and now God's Favorite House gives me a plan for action to draw closer to my Father.

I truly enjoyed this book it was awesome. I being a Worship Minister, this book help me put my worship in perspective. Mr. Tenney, knows how to experience God through worship. I have even begun to pray to have the same kind of Kabod experience (the Weighty Presence of God) that he talks about in his book. God bless Mr. Tenney for putting this book into my hands, it truly was a wonderful spiritual walk, as I read the words on the pages, they became alive in me. The field of dreams is one of my favorite movies. Lord help me build it, so they could come.

"The Heart of Motherhood: Finding Holiness in the Catholic Home" by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle is both encouraging and inspirational. A mother of five, Donna has weathered the storms and inspires me (as a new mom) with her experience and wisdom.

Peppered with inspirational quotes from Mother Teresa, among others, Bible passages and heartfelt prayers, The Heart of Motherhood, inspires from within. Donna-Marie begins the book with the statement that motherhood is, indeed, a truly ordinary and yet extraordinary vocation. By being mothers and by welcoming, loving and teaching our children, we are truly doing the Lord's work. She explains,

"A mother's day is filled to capacity with many ordinary tasks, not unimportant, but rather works of love that may be overlooked or unnoticed. Changing diapers, doing laundry, schedule keeping, house cleaning, planning and cooking nutritious meals and helping with homework are just some of the ordinary tasks in a mom's repertoire. Her own family family may take these loving acts for granted. Although these tasks may seem mundane, or even monotonous, they are the nitty-gritty details that keep the family going and together. . . . A mother's deep inner faith affirms that a day's sacrifices and seemingly ordinary tasks please our Lord because they are done with extraordinary love."

And later reminds us that "love is not merely a feeling or emotion. Love is also a decision . . . at times, this decision may be an enormous sacrifice."

Donna-Marie notes that today's society, unfortunately, rarely respects the woman's role as mother and wife nor the mother's domestic role in the home. However, rather than focus on that, she encourages her readers to bring back the dignity and respect motherhood deserves by being an example of holy mothering to one's family and, ultimately, to society. She continues by explaining how one can focus on holy mothering, the importance of a mother's prayer life, shares inspiration for those times when you feel anything but holy in your mothering, gives inspirational examples of holy mothers (including the most holy mother, Mary) in history and ends each chapter with beautiful prayer.

It is a blessing to me to have read this book. I kept starring and underlining passages and prayers that spoke to me! I couldn't put it down! This is a book that will be an inspiration for years to come. It does not tell you how to run a household, how to clean a sink or how to get your family pulled together each Sunday morning to make it to church on time. Instead, it delves deeper into the holy vocation of motherhood and encourages mothers young and old to keep the faith and to recognize the immeasurable importance of the job to not only their children and families, but to society, the Christian family and God.

I'll be keeping this book handy, by my bedside, on my kitchen counter, in the bathroom (yes, you read that right. You KNOW it might be the only quiet time you get all day!) . . . maybe for a few minutes of refreshing, or even for 30-seconds of inspiration and prayer.

The essence of "The Heart of Motherhood" is love. God is love. "And the greatest of these is love. . . . " We do easy, and difficult, ordinary and extraordinary things for our family and children because we are mothers (and wives) and we do them out of love.

This book came in a brown paper package a few months ago, and I saved it to be my hospital book (though it nearly killed me to see it sitting there so patiently on my shelf, waiting for the baby right along with me). What a book to read during those first few days with my new baby! As I savored the excitement of my new daughter, feeling much the way I remember feeling on the Christmas mornings of my single-digit years, Donna's book reminded me about the hard work and the bright rewards of motherhood. She doesn't gloss over the difficulty, nor does she make light of the responsibility. In this book, she does what she does so well - she encourages all of us mothers.

In the past few months, I've gotten to know Donna a bit, through her blogs and some emails we've exchanged, and reading this book was just like talking with Donna. Each chapter ends with prayer, the kind that you'll want to copy into your prayer book or post on your bathroom mirror. I felt the same sort of comfort in reading this book that I feel when I'm having a cup of tea with a dear friend. So go and grab a copy of this book and a steaming cup of tea. Donna has some words of encouragement for you!

I am a mother of soon to be 3 children ages 3 and under and have read THE HEART OF MOTHERHOOD and it has truly changed my life! The author's outlook on the vocation of motherhood could only have come from the Holy Spirit....Donna Marie Cooper Oboyle's writings are awe inspiring. I encourage all mothers to read this book. It is easy reading and one you can't put down. The writings of this book are ones you remember in the middle of the night when you are up with sick children and want to break down and cry or the days you don't know how you are going to make it through the day....the voice of this book sticks with you and truly helps you become a better mother and helps you to live a holy life at home. IT is a reminder of the true vocation of motherhood that has been lost in today's society.

This is exactly the book I was looking for. I am a stay at home Catholic mom who at times needs a few words of encouragement. It is hard to pray when the 3 year old is up at 5am, the 1 year old just went back to sleep, the 11 and 14 year old need to get up and be ready to go at 7:30 and I am trying to find time for a conversation with God. It is helpful to hear that everything we offer up for our children is a prayer. While I was reading this book I thought of friends and sisters who have and have not given up comfort and wealth to raise souls for God. The Chapter on the Cross made me think of my own Mother who lost my adult sister a few years ago. This book is highly recomended for moms and dads who suspect that there is more to life than what our culture is trying to sell us. God is love and the fullness of his love is in loving our children.

I've read MANY books about being Catholic, being a Mom & being a Catholic Mom...but none of them have touched my heart & mind the way this one did. It was SO common sense about how to weave our Catholicity into our daily lives when there are children at our feet before 5 AM (when it's near impossible to get up before them to pray...even if we really, really want to) and at night, we just pass out, not fall asleep. I read this book twice, have MUCH highlighting throughout & even bought a 2nd copy to give to my sil for her birthday this past Feb. Being a Mom can seem to be a thankless job, being a stay-at-home mom is less than respected in today's society and being a Catholic Mom in the truest sense of the word, can be rougher than anything else I could imagine. Using the practical wisdom in this book helped me to see that even though I can't physically be on my knees in prayer, my heart can be bowed down & focused on Our Lord all day, everyday, keeping my focus on the true Heart of (Catholic) Motherhood.