It Takes More Than Love

Embrace the beauty and challenges of transracial adoption. Being an adoptive parent is hard enough. But when your family is multiracial, things get even trickier. Parenting transracially doesn’t come naturally, nor does it just happen with time. Love is essential—yet by itself, love isn’t enough. Cross-cultural parenting also takes intentionality, listening, learning, growing, repenting, changing . . . then starting all over and doing it again. It’s hard work! And yet, when an adoptive family honors the ethnic heritages of their children, the whole family—as well as the watching world—gets to see the beauty of a gloriously creative God. In It Takes More Than Love, Brittany Salmon shares her own family’s story of transracial adoption and offers a biblically-based guide for others following the same path. Brittany recognizes that we live in divided times and there are extra challenges whenever race is part of the conversation. But with wise insight and hard-won experience, she provides guidance about topics such as: Maintaining a Gospel perspective throughout the journey Celebrating your child’s history and heritage Confronting racism Responding to comments about your family Avoiding pitfalls in adoption Helping your kids feel represented in your home and community No one is promising transracial adoption will be easy—least of all Brittany! Yet the extra effort is balanced by a beauty that images our eternal destiny. Until the day God makes all things new, the welcoming an inclusive transracial family can help fulfill Jesus’s words, “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Harlowe Baylor is in control of her life and chief protector of her heart. After her first love proved he was unworthy, she moved on. What she didn't expect was to fall fast and hard for another man so quickly. However, being who she is, a tough decision has to be made and goodbye is on the table, but not before they created something beautiful. Quinn Parker has always struggled with his definition of love. When the one woman that had his heart rips it out of his chest, he's convinced his definition of love doesn't matter, and is done trying to figure it out. When Harlowe and Quinn are reunited, fear and the need for forgiveness come to the forefront. Sparks fly, nevertheless. Still, there's secrets and insecurities that won't stay in the background. Although they are convinced the love is genuine and true, discovering it will take more than love to make it gives them both more than they bargained for.

The “graceful, loving,” (The New York Times Book Review), never-before-told story of Hollywood icon Natalie Wood’s glamorous life, sudden death, and lasting legacy, written by her daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner. Natasha Gregson Wagner’s mother, Natalie Wood, was a child actress who became a legendary movie star, the dark-haired beauty of Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story. She and Natasha’s stepfather, the actor Robert Wagner, were a Hollywood it-couple twice over, first in the 1950s, and then again when they remarried in the 70s. To Natasha, she was, above all, a doting, loving mom. But Natalie’s sudden death by drowning off Catalina Island at the age of forty-three devastated her family, turned Robert Wagner into a person of interest, and transformed a vibrant wife, mother, and actress into a figure of tragedy. The weekend has long been shrouded in rumors and scandalous tabloid speculation, but until now there has never been an account of how the events and their aftermath were experienced by Natalie’s beloved eldest daughter. Here, for the first time, is a“deeply intimate chronicle of life with her famous mother and how Wood’s death devastated the family” (Los Angeles Times). Cutting through the shadow hanging over her mother’s legacy, More Than Love is a “poignant” (The Washington Post) tale of a daughter coming to terms with her grief, as well as a “revealing new look at Natalie Wood” (Good Morning America).

"From the internationally best-selling author--and revered moral voice--a remarkable novel of suffering, love, and healing, the story of three generations of women and a secret that needs to be told. The story was inspired by the life of a friend and confidante of David Grossman who, in the late 1940s, was imprisoned and tortured on the notorious Goli Otok, a barren island prison off the coast of Croatia. Grossman's telling focuses on three strong women--Vera, 90; her daughter, Nina; and her granddaughter, Gili, who at 39 years old is a filmmaker and a wary consumer of affection. A bitter secret divides each mother and daughter pair, though Gili--abandoned when she was just three by Nina--has been close to her grandmother throughout her life. With Gili making the arrangements, they travel together back to Goli ("the Adriatic Alcatraz"), where Vera was imprisoned, enslaved, and tortured for three years as a young wife, when she refused to betray her husband and denounce him as an enemy of the people. This unlikely journey, documented by Gili's camera, lays bare the intertwining of fear, love, and mercy, and the complex overlapping demands of romantic and parental passion. With flashbacks to the stalwart Vera protecting what was most precious on the wretched rock where she was held, and Grossman's fearless examination of the human heart, this swift novel will thrill his many readers and bring new ones into the fold"--

I hooked up with my temporary roommate. Now I’ll do anything to claim her for good. I’m Noah Weston. For a decade, I’ve quarterbacked America’s most iconic football team and plowed my way through women. Now I’m transitioning from star player to retired jock—with a cloud of allegation hanging over my head. So I’m escaping to the private ocean-front paradise I bought for peace and quiet. What I get instead is stubborn, snarky, wild, lights-my-blood-on-fire Harlow Reed. Since she just left a relationship in a hugely viral way, she should be the last woman I’m seen with. On second thought, we can help each other… I need a steady, supportive “girlfriend” for the court of public opinion, not entanglements. Harlow is merely looking for nonstop sweaty sex and screaming orgasms that wring pleasure from her oh-so-luscious body. Three months—that’s how long it should take for us both to scratch this itch and leave our respective scandals behind. But the more I know this woman, the less I can picture my life without her. And when I’m forced to choose, I’ll realize I don’t merely want her in my bed or need her for a ruse. I more than love her enough to do whatever it takes to make her mine for good.

MORE THAN LOVE is a candid account of contrasting emotions - hope and lost hope, joy and despair, perseverance and helplessness – that resulted from parenting three Attachment Disorder adopted boys. It also describes the adoptive parents’ frustration at the system for not providing the help they were promised prior to the adoption. The book takes the reader through the emotional roller coaster experienced by both of the adoptive parents as they searched for answers from therapists, psychologists, social workers, clergy, teachers, friends, and family. It also provides explicit details of the boys’ deviant behaviors and describes the behaviors observed by outsiders. Others only witnessed charming, sweet, and "good" boys. Unfortunately, children with attachment problems are experts at manipulation and often dupe others, including those trained to detect such deceitfulness. Tragically, these adoptive parents finally had no choice but to let go of the boys in order to protect their family, friends, and society.

My child. I am not always with you as much as I’d like. But you are always in my mind and my heart. Some families look different than others. A father who doesn’t live full-time with his son tells him all the ways he misses and loves him. I Love You More Than ... by Taye Diggs, illustrated by Shane W. Evans, is perfect for families who are separated, whatever the circumstances. Its message of love underscores the bond between parent and child in ways that little ones will understand.

The Mayhalls share a multitude of things they've found that are vital to a good marriage--a solid foundation in God, open and honest communication, a clear definition of roles and responsibilities, exciting sex, and more.