Although Zack Taylor has become an alcoholic after asking his drug-addicted wife to leave the home, he has two delightful children, Sissy and Danny, who implement a search for their grandparents that Zack and Elaine had excluded from their lives. Zack is neglecting the children with gambling and alcohol consumption. After losing a tidy sum to Zack in a betting card game the loser, a drug cartel kingpin, abducts Zack eventually transferring him to a drug packaging factory in Belize where he's held prisoner. As Zack goes through alcohol withdrawal, he recognizes the foolishness of his path in life, and as he's exposed to the Christian faith of his fellow prisoner, he finds new hope in Jesus. Sissy and Danny reconnect with their grandparents who welcome them joyously while Zack and his new Christian friend break out of their factory prison and join Zack's younger brother, Evan, an engineer working in Belize. After several harrowing experiences Zack, Evan, and Evan's fiancee, Alice, make it back to the United States to rejoin their families. Soon after their return a successful effort is made to find Elaine. However, she is terminally ill with a drug-related infection. The families take Elaine home to give comfort care; eventually, Elaine declares her Faith. Can Zack and his children take this opportunity to rebuild their lives despite Zack's history of alcohol addiction and a destructive lifestyle by turning to and trusting in Jesus Christ?

Read Out Loud to Your Child!"This book is a must for anyone who is ever around children! Imagine how different the world would be if all parents, teachers, grandparents, and aunties read this book!" -Amazon review Reading aloud is the essential tool for preparing your child for kindergarten and beyond The single most important thing you can do for your child. Longtime elementary school teacher Kim Jocelyn Dickson believes every child begins kindergarten with a lunchbox in one hand and an "invisible toolbox" in the other. In The Invisible Toolbox, Kim shares with parents the single most important thing they can do to foster their child's future learning potential and nurture the parent-child bond that is the foundation for a child's motivation to learn. She is convinced that the simple act of reading aloud has a far-reaching impact that few of us fully understand and that our recent, nearly universal saturation in technology has further clouded its importance. Essential book for parents. In The Invisible Toolbox, Kim weaves her practical anecdotal experience as an educator and parent into the hard research of recent findings in neuroscience. She reminds us that the first years of life are critical in the formation and receptivity of the primary predictor of success in school language skills and that infants begin learning immediately at birth. She also teaches and inspires us to build our own toolboxes so that we can help our children build theirs. Inside discover: Ten priceless tools for your child's toolbox Practical tips for how and what to read aloud to children through their developmental stages Dos and don'ts and recommended resources that round out all the practical tools a parent needs to prepare their child for kindergarten and beyond If you enjoyed books like Honey for a Child's Heart, The Read-Aloud Handbook, Screenwise, or The Enchanted Hour; you will love The Invisible Toolbox from a 21st century Charlotte Mason.

Child care environments have received extensive research attention by those interested in understanding how participating in nonparental child care might influence the children's development and learning. Throughout the United States (US Census Bureau, 2011) and Europe (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006) a large number of young children are cared for outside of the home by non-parental adults. Young children's nonparental care is commonly referred to as ""child care," and is provided to children whose ages range from birth to 12 years of age. The provision of child care services has become an increasingly important part of early childhood education. In fact, the United Nations Children's Fund (2019) states that a large majority of children worldwide spend at least some of their week in child care, such arrangements include center care, family child care, in-home child care, relative child care, and supplemental child care. Child care researchers have been conducting studies to understand how participating in nonparental child care might influence the children's development and learning outcomes. There are more than enough child care studies to make numerous major inferences. For example, research outcomes show that child care quality seems to be more influential than either the kind of child care or age of admission in determining the children's development and learning. The adults' child care affects the quality in child care. In the environment adults who are caring for the children have the opportunity to effectively assume both nurturing and instructional roles to help young children cultivate their social and cognitive abilities. The teachers' effectiveness is related to their individual characteristics, such as formal education, specialized training, and the classroom environment. However, the majority of the studies show that both family and quality of child care have the most significant effects on the children's development and learning. Therefore, the concept of child care has heavily influenced modern views. Researchers, scholars, and educators are beginning to understand the current foundations based on theoretical frameworks that contribute to the purposes of the child care in the United States and Europe. The contents of the child care volume reflect the major shifts in the views of these early childhood researchers, scholars, and educators in relation to research outcomes on child care, its historical roots, the role of child care in early childhood education, and its relationship to theory, research, and practice.

What prenatal tests and down syndrome reveal about our reproductive choices When Alison Piepmeier-scholar of feminism and disability studies, and mother of Maybelle, an eight-year-old girl with Down syndrome-died of cancer in August 2016, she left behind an important unfinished manuscript about motherhood, prenatal testing, and disability. In Unexpected, George Estreich and Rachel Adams pick up where she left off, honoring the important research of their friend and colleague, as well as adding new perspectives to her work. Based on interviews with parents of children with Down syndrome, as well as women who terminated their pregnancies because their fetus was identified as having the condition, Unexpected paints an intimate, nuanced picture of reproductive choice in today's world. Piepmeier takes us inside her own daughter's life, showing how Down syndrome is misunderstood, stigmatized, and condemned, particularly in the context of prenatal testing. At a time when medical technology is rapidly advancing, Unexpected provides a much-needed perspective on our complex, and frequently troubling, understanding of Down syndrome.

A soothing book for mums-to-be celebrating the wonder of pregnancy. Follow the journey of your own little bean as they grow and develop, from the first little wriggle to the boxer of your ribs! Cherish the milestones, enjoy the relatable humour, and finish by recording the joyous result of your own personal experience in the keepsake pages. Written by a midwife, this charming little book is a meditation on the precious, but short time, we carry our children magically within us.