If I Could Sing This Life I Live

Coco affectionately refers to her family as "The Jackals". How will she juggle The Jackals, her man, a wedding, two funerals, and a baby shower, without losing her mind?

Celebrating the spirit of song In A Song to Sing, a Life to Live, Don and Emily Saliers help readers see the connections between Saturday night music and Sunday morning music by exploring the spiritual dimensions of music itself. They tell the stories of their own lives in music, and they share what they have learned and observed about the power of music in human life. They help us appreciate the joy of music and also how music carries us into places of sorrow, where we must go if we are to live with honesty about ourselves and compassion for others. This book is for churchgoers and spiritual seekers alike. Music is described in terms of spiritual practice; it has the power to embrace those who are deeply immersed in the life of Christian faith and speak to those who are spiritual but may question formal religion. The book explores a wide variety of musical traditions and offers an invitation to embrace a broader and deeper vision of the power of music and the spiritual dimensions of attentive listening. "This is a beautiful expression of music as many things--healer, gift, symbol of freedom and community, and agent of change" (Mary Chapin Carpenter).

This heartwarming picture book reassures children that a parent’s love never lets go—based on the poignant lyrics of JJ Heller’s beloved lullaby “Hand to Hold.” “May the living light inside you be the compass as you go / May you always know you have my hand to hold.” With delightful illustrations and an engaging rhyme scheme, this book offers the promise of security and love every child’s heart longs to know. From skipping stones and counting stars to climbing trees and telling stories, every moment is wrapped snugly in the certain warmth of a parent’s presence and God’s blessing. With poignancy and joy, this bedtime read captures the unconditional love parents want their children to know but so often fail to express amid the chaos of daily life.

It seemed an unlikely matcha minister and a bartender. But Rev. Norman Helm and Gretchen fell in love and became man and wife in 1981. They lived a happy life together until the day Norm was hit by a car while crossing the street in Westborough, Massachusetts, on December 1, 1989. He suffered a traumatic brain injury that also left him virtually deaf. In this memoir, Gretchen tells the honest and personal story of how they have dealt with Norms traumatic brain injury, the loss of his profession as a senior pastor, his profound deafness, and his recent diagnosis of dementia. From the sad to the lighthearted, she shares anecdotes from their life togetherhow they have coped with the many challenges placed in their path and how their experiences have made them stronger. A testimony of hope for a bright future, The Birds Will Sing Again demonstrates how sharing painful experiences can help ease the burden of living with disabilities and shows the power of celebrating the joys of each day.

Recognized today as one of the great modernist painters, Paula Modersohn-Becker was also a gifted writer, and her large body of letters and journals represent the story of her life. This volume presents the journals and every extant letter, each carefully annotated.

The blind mendicant in Ukrainian folk tradition is a little-known social order, but an important one. The singers of Ukrainian epics, these minstrels were organized into professional guilds that set standards for training and performance. Repressed during the Stalin era, this is their story.