Valerie Howard

Elise Gilpatrick never thought she would be a parent, especially not like this. After agreeing to take 15-year-old DJ as a temporary foster placement straight from the police station, she feels like she's in over her head. But, as she learns on the job, and with a little help from her coworker, Elise realizes that she and DJ need to lean on each other, and on the God who pieced them together. Their rocky journey will only prove that it's never too late to find the love of a family.----------------------------------------------Editorial Review: "I had the privilege of working on this book with Valerie. On the surface, it is a story of a woman who takes in a foster child. They both learn a lot about themselves and each other. It may not be a romance, but it is a love story. Below the surface, Picking Daisy shows the reality of the system where children bounce from home to home at the mercy of adults who do their best, but are all too human. The emotional scars from going through any long-term foster care may never heal. The day a child ages out of the system is, at the same time, the anticipated day of freedom, and the terrifying day when they are pushed into the world without support. Deeper yet, the story is one of redemption, of loving past the brokenness in our lives. It's about second, and third chances, of a refusal to give up on hope, and learning when we are in the darkest of places, we are not alone. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of books which brought tears to my eyes. Picking Daisy is one of them."

Fans of Shel Silverstein will enjoy the fun, zany, and relatable poems for children in grades 1 through 6 Chickaboodle is a silly poetry book filled with over 40 fun, funny, and relevant poems for children in elementary school. Filled with unique illustrations and fun concepts, Chickaboodle is sure to be a fun introduction to poetry and provide entertainment to even the most reluctant reader Sample poem: Puppy Breath The scent I treat as most divineComes from the mouth of my canine. Sweet onions do not dare compareTo how his breath improves the air. It swirls around his teeth and gumsAnd lands upon his panting tongue. My puppy's breath is so unique, I'll sniff it all day long, I think Grab Chickaboodle in Kindle or paperback today

Can God save someone in a night club? Can He save a high school dropout? A victim of child abuse? What about someone who tried to burn their parents alive? Find the answers in this collection of over 35 true inspiring stories Excerpts: "Once I had watched a movie about a kid who hated his parents, and he burned his house down. I thought, I could do that. So one night, I stayed up late soaking gasoline on the carpet in my parents bedroom. I took newspapers and laid them around their bed. I poured gasoline all over the doorway. I lit a match, dropped it into the carpet, and ran out of the room to avoid the explosion.""One night at supper, as I sat at the table with my husband and three children, I looked at them and thought, Where did this lonely feeling come from? When did I start feeling so unhappy? How long have I felt this way?""As a young boy, I feared death, and though I didn't think about it often, when I did, it was a scary thought. By the time I became a teenager, I had been introduced to all sorts of bad and wrong ideas of what was acceptable for me to do and say. I didn't consider myself a bad person, but I struggled with anger and it showed. I also had trouble "adjusting" to high school. It was an unpleasant experience, as I remember it, and I did not make it far before dropping out."

Arrested at the age of twelve, Mara has spent the past decade as a slave, awaiting the death penalty handed down to traitors like her. But when her sworn enemy, the Prince, arrives at the slave yard, holding out the promise of freedom in exchange for allegiance to him in marriage, Mara agrees to his terms. The journey to the Prince's palace is more difficult than she imagined, but she has nowhere else to turn. As she travels with her royal companion in the face of fierce wolves, violent lightning storms, and the threat of being captured by the rebel army she deserted, can this future princess learn to love the one she spent her whole life hating?

**REVISED in 2019**Jamie Walker has a secret. And she'll do anything to keep it that way. Her missing cousin's cold case has been reopened at the worst time. And by the worst person: a hot shot detective from New York striving to close his 100th case. As the detective gets closer and closer to uncovering the truth of what happened all those years ago, Jamie will go to any lengths to make sure this dusty mystery is one he'll never solve. Plagued by her guilty conscience, Jamie searches for forgiveness, finding an unlikely ally in a pastor she interviews for her magazine's monthly cover article. Will Pastor Byron Mitchell let Jamie in on the key to lifelong peace before her dark past drags her to drown in the depths of despair?