Finding My Special Place

DOES FITTING IN HAVE TO MEAN SELLING OUT? In October 1975, while most teens are worried about their Happy Days Halloween costumes, Tiphanie Jayne Baker has bigger problems. Her parents have just decided to uproot the family to the ritzy suburb of Brent Hills, Colorado, and now she's the only Black girl at a high school full of Barbies. But the longer Tiphanie stays in her new neighborhood, the more her ties to her old community start to fray. Now that nowhere feels like home, exactly where does she belong?

Stacey doesn’t want to merely fit in. She is seeking a special place under the sun. Eighteen-year old Stacey is deeply shaken when her father passes away. Struggling to come to terms with this loss and her mother’s remarriage, she writes heart touching letters to her dear daddy, recounting everyday happenings and wishing he was by her side through all the good and the bad times. Stacey’s candid and emotional reflections bring to light the insecurities of adolescents, the expectations of society, the adventures with her friends, the close bond she shares with her little sister and elder stepbrother, and her awkward relationship with her stepdad. Written in an epistolary format, Finding My Special Place is a poignant revelation of the mind of a teenager who stands her ground in an opinionated world.

My Special Place Today is a continuation of “My Special Place.” From a small girl growing up in a family where there is no unity between parents, and children or between sisters and brothers. This young girl learns many of life’s lessons that take her from the innocence of a child into her adult years where she struggles to make her life in to something that matters. Does she deem herself unfit to be a loving daughter, mother, and wife. Yet throughout her life she struggles to understand the spirituality of her faith. Through her faith in God she reaches out to people of all kinds, the sick, the healthy, the intelligent, and also the happy and the sad. We come to know Deanne as a woman who has been exposed to mental illness and through all her trials we read her story of how she learns to open up herself to those who can learn from her experiences. Her journeys are heart wrenching and truthful with the subtlety of human emotion.

A journal of self-discovery, Finding the Phoenix, by author Dr. Karel James Bouse introduces seven tools for transformative self-discovery, including how to deconstruct one’s lenses, consciousness and identity; use expressive arts to access hidden elements of the self; connect with nature from a mystical perspective; find the meaning of your dreams; use Neo-shamanic techniques for interdimensional self-exploration, demystify anomalous experiences and phenomena; and construct a personal mythology to discover your life purpose. Used synergistically, these tools facilitate a deep, personal investigation that bridges and integrates the conscious with the unconscious, and the mythic with the mundane. Bouse provides you with background information based in academic, scientific, and professional psychological research, and detailed exercises as you follow the fictional “Lucy” through a series of workshops designed to help you find the phoenix of your authentic self. Finding the Phoenix offers a combination of thoughtful instructions, rich personal narrative from the perspective of Lucy, and experiential exercises designed to evoke insight, creativity, and personal development.

“My Special Place” is a story of a young girl living in a world of naivety in a deeply dysfunctional family from Massachusetts. As she grows she does not understand the realities of life and soon she finds these realities shattering her unawareness of what life has to offer. The story takes you through her younger years to her developmental years as a teenager and into adulthood searching her life for the meaning of family love. This young girl is a story told about my life as I remember it to be. I share myself with the reader in hopes that they may see a piece of themselves at a time in their own life when these unseen factors made them the person they are today.

WE are all pilgrims on the narrow road to salvation and WANDERINGS WITH GOD, the first book in the series, was written in the belief that it will offer my fellow pilgrims hope and direction in their walk with God. In it I share some of my experiences as I wandered with God, both the nice and the not so nice, as I share my love of nature and how it helps me to get closer to God. Ive always been fascinated by spirituality and write, for example, of my own struggles to obey the Bibles imperative to pray continuously. I also address such subjects as becoming aware of the continuous Presence of God with us in our daily lives. I try to address the difficulties of being obedient to the Law of God but also to share the value and benefits of always trying to find Gods will for my life. Although there is a lot of advice in COFFEE WITH GOD, the 2nd book in the series. This book is about how to do your quiet time with God. It definitely is NOT a sort of DIY work on meditation or prayer. It was written in the hope that it would be a help in not only developing our own prayer life, but also of becoming aware that God is with us all the time, not just during our Prayers, or our Coffee with God. LEARNING WITH GOD the third book in the trilogy of Journeys With God series, seeks to bring together the apparent angry God of the Old Testament with the God who is Love of the New Testament. Over many chapters covering many different topics it suggests ways for you and me, the ordinary Christians, to live out our Christian calling to be holy as our Father in heaven is Holy, by filling our daily lives with the Presence of Jesus, by trying to make it our aim to act and re-act as He would in all our daily situations. Whilst insisting on total obedience to God, at the same time the book claims that His love is unconditional. Everything is written in the hope that by spending quiet times with God we will eventually become aware of His constant Presence with us and let that knowledge rule in our lives. THINK ON THESE THINGS is a daily devotional to round off the series. People have asked me about how to meditate so I wrote quite extensively about that in my book "Coffee with God." Then they came to me and asked what they should meditate on, and hence this book which gives suggestions for each day of the year. I hope you will also enjoy my FREE EBOOK - GOD CALLS (see extra image) and will get benefits from it. How would you know if or when God called you to serve Him full time? Would you dismiss His call as you would an annoying insect or would you sit up and listen? After all He has your name and number and He has a plan for your life and He wouldnt be calling you for nothing........ Terry Hayward

We celebrate thinking outside the box, but why is there a box in the first place? That box hinders your natural ability to live the blissful life of your dreams. In Find Your Bliss, bestselling and award-winning author J.P. Hansen draws from his successful life-coaching business to provide insight that empowers you to recognize your limitations, then break free of them. Many of us struggle to find meaning in life, yet resist the changes that might help us discover it. Find Your Bliss will help you identify barriers to happiness, then provide proven techniques to recognize and overcome resistance. In addition to real-life examples, it uses the author’s Six Spokes of Bliss and Ten Steps to Break Free. Find Your Bliss is not only inspiring; it offers practical advice on transforming your struggles in life into everyday bliss. Meaningful happiness is your birthright; this book will help you rediscover yours.

Cathy Blount has a unique gift of being able to communicate her story with heart-wrenching honesty and emotion, yet with God's strength and hope. For anyone who loves someone who is gay, this book is for you. You will go on a rollercoaster journey with Cathy as she shares her feelings of shock, sadness, anger, despair, and finally acceptance with anticipation that nothing is impossible with God. This book is an encouragement to any Christian parent who has faced disappointment and heartache because of their child's unfair suffering or unwise choices. Cathy will inspire you as you read her words of faith, hope, and love. a "Nancy H. Burgess, Director of Heart and Soul Connection"