Rescuing Hope: A Story of Sex Trafficking in America

As I sit here quiet and alone in my hotel room on yet another work trip, I am reminded of what is happening all across America (and the world, for that matter) in hotel rooms of people on business trips, sporting event trips, or just pleasure trips.

I was forced to face the reality of what is happening literally under our noses here in our very own homeland of America to our sweet, innocent, young girls when I read Rescuing Hope by Susan Norris.

Though this is a fiction story, it is woven from true details of America's sex trafficking underworld. Norris did not set out to write a novel. She merely began to discover unexpectedly how prevalent the modern-day slave industry of sex trafficking has become in our very own hometowns.Upon the shocking, sickening realization that girls as young as nine years old are being tricked into this prison of life, Norris felt the earnest need to learn and share as much as she could about this secretive world that thrives all around us. In doing this, she ultimately wove a compelling fiction novel from multiple threads of truth including survivors of human sex trafficking, detectives who have worked countless cases in order to rescue and bring justice, as well as even the input of a former pimp.

Thankfully this horrific hell on earth is more and more in the spotlight these days than it once was, however, so much still remains to be done in this battle. This industry MUST be shut down! If you don't understand why I feel so strongly about this, read Rescuing Hope and then you will.

I would like to close my review of this excellent work with a portion of Norris's Acknowledgement / Introduction section in her own words:

To my readers, thank you for taking the time to read about a difficult subject, when it would be easy to turn away. I pray Rescuing Hope stirs something inside you to propel you into action. Find your place in the fight against the commercial sexual exploitation of children. There's room for everyone in this battle. We need your voice, your gifts, your talents. What part will you play in becoming a voice for hope?

You may choose to look the other way,

but you can never say again that you did not know.

~ William Wilberforce ~

(as quoted in Rescuing Hope by Susan Norris) 

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Glass Road PR. No other compensation was received. The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.

A Scrapbook of Motherhood Firsts ~ Stories to Celebrate & Wisdom to Bless Moms

Have you been thinking ahead to Mother's Day?

What can you...what SHOULD you give the special mother(s) in your life?

I have a wonderful suggestion!

A dear author friend of mine, Cathy Messecar, along with four other precious author ladies got together and wrote a "scrapbook" collection of special highlights about mothers.

In their book A Scrapbook of Motherhood Firsts, these special ladies share everything from their own memories of raising children to delicious, family-friendly recipes.

Not only does this book have many special, inspirational motherhood vignettes, but it also has some very practical, easy-to-follow advice. Additionally, it is a beautiful book to look at and thumb through, making it an excellent gift item for any time of year, but especially for Mother's Day.

Here are some examples of some of my favorite pieces of this literary patchwork quilt:

• You might be a mommy if...weary is written on your face, but happy is written on your heart.
• I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all of my life. ~ Abraham Lincoln
• As children trained in prayer grow up, the world encroaches, and their knowledge of good and evil develops. As concerns deepen, we witness them pray for victims of tragedies. Adults have told me that they've come full circle in their prayer lives because of hearing children's prayers. Our eyes, open to the rips and tears in the world's character, get back in tune with God who also cares about salt, pepper, rice, and dinner plates. (referring to the sweet, simple prayers of children) ~ Cathy Messecar
• Many recipes such as: Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Bananas (for camping or on the grill), Baked Potato Haystacks, Breakfast Tacos, Baked French Toast, and Cookie Cutter Cookies.

Please consider this beautiful, precious book as a gift for the special mother(s) in your life (or even a special gift to yourself...you know who you are!).

What are some special memories you have of your mother, grandmother, or of raising your own children?

Please share!

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Leafwood Publishers. No other compensation was received. The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.

#writetheword

Where have I been?
(Have you been wondering that about me?)

Do I still read?

Do I still write?

Do I still have things I want to share with you?

The answer is yes to all of the above.

However, lately, I have found myself reading more of the Word of God and less of the books that I have in line to catch up on reading and reviewing for you and me and the publishers.

Honestly, my life schedule got completely rearranged several times over the past few months and I am just now starting to see a little stabilization of my schedule in the near future. Along with that, I am also intentionally planning and scheduling time for me to read (God's Word as well as the messages He shares through those He has gifted with the talent of writing). Additionally I am more intentionally planning ahead a schedule for myself that includes more writing. (I have also started a second blog, by the way, that I write weekly. It's kind of a cooking one...you may want to check it out. It's called Sundays with Nanny.)

Most importantly though, as I mentioned, I have been reading and writing, but it has been primarily the Word of God. No, I am not writing NEW scripture! But...since I learn better by writing, I have been writing the scripture almost verbatim in a notebook as I read it.

As I have been doing this, I have noticed a large, unexpected interest from many of my friends and connections. I have shared pictures of these "writings" along the way and have received an amazing response of people asking me about it and how to do it.

So, I have decided that I need to start sharing here my key points of how (and even why) to do this.

It is very easy, actually, and more enlightening than you can imagine.

This post is my promise to you to follow it up with several more posts along the way of more about what I and some other friends of mine have dubbed #writetheword (You can search that on Twitter & Instagram & Tumblr, by the way!).

I hope you'll join me for this amazing adventure!

Radical Well-Being: A biblical guide to overcoming pain, illness, and addictions

Being a healthcare professional, I was drawn to this book, Radical Well-Being, when I saw Dr. Rita Hancock's mentions of its upcoming release.

Not only is it a book written about overcoming pain, illness and addictions (which we all suffer at times from one if not all three of those), but it is also written by a Christian Pain Management Specialist from a biblical perspective.

Needless to say, I quickly requested a review copy.

And now, on the date of its official release, I am sharing my thoughts on it with you.

First, I would like to share her synopsis of it with you as well as her brief bio.

Book Synopsis

Research increasingly shows a strong connection between our spiritual life, our emotions, and our physical well being. Yet too often our physical conditions are treated without taking our whole lives into account. In Radical Well-being, Dr. Rita Hancock shows you how your mind, body, and spirit are connected and addresses the factors that can contribute, and even cause, illness, addictions, and chronic pain.

If you suffer from medical conditions like fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, neck or back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, jaw pain, food and drug allergies, depression, anxiety, or unwanted behaviors such as overeating, an eating disorder, overspending, drug abuse or alcoholism, Radical Well-being will show you a biblical, whole-body approach to overcoming your condition. With nearly twenty years of experience counseling patients from a balanced, mind/body/Holy Spirit perspective, Dr. Rita gives you practical nuts-and-bolts advice, including how to:

· Identify the lies that are manipulating you from a subconscious level
· Deal with emotional factors that can make your pain seem worse
· Address addictive behaviors that you want to get rid of
· Fully accept God's love and forgiveness on a deep, healing level

True freedom and improved health come when deeply-rooted lies are illuminated and replaced with knowledge from the merciful heart of God. Radical Well-being will help you feel better in all three domains—in your mind, body, and in your spirit. You will end up feeling the way one of Dr. Rita's patients put it: "Like the weight of a skyscraper has been lifted off my shoulders."

Author Bio

Dr. Rita Hancock is board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as well as Pain Management and is passionate about helping her patients achieve optimal health and wellness in three dimensions: mind, body, and spirit.

Dr. Rita's books include The Eden Diet (Zondervan) and The Eden Diet Workbook, which are about learning to eat in response to physical rather than emotional hunger. Her second book, Radical Well-being: A Biblical Guide to Overcoming Pain, Illness, and Addictions, offers a road map for finding relief if you suffer with nearly any type of symptom or behavior that can be magnified by stress. Examples of such stress-related symptoms or conditions include fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, back or neck pain, migraine headaches, and others.

Dr. Rita writes from the Christian perspective and lives in Oklahoma City with her husband and children. To find out more about her, visit www.TheEdenDiet.com and www.RadicalWell-being.com.

My Thoughts

In Radical Well-Being, Dr. Rita shares practical examples from stories based on real patient experiences in her practice (in a way that maintains their confidentiality). Additionally she shares practical steps to breaking free from some physical and emotional strongholds that may seem permanent and are even, as we call it in the medical field, chronic (have been around for an extended period of time). She does not make light of ailments and addictions and specifically points out that there are plenty of instances in which they cannot be traced back to underlying stress, yet she enlightens us with example after example of how often stress truly is the key factor in ailments and addictions.

A couple of interesting examples she shares are: 

• A patient with multiple and frequent complaints of pain for which no origin could be located. During one bout with a pain attack, Dr. Rita was able to help her immediately "put a name to the emotion she felt at that moment in time," which turned out to be named "afraid." Within less than a minute of identifying that related emotion, the patient had a realization that led her to recognize what situation and emotion from her past as well as from her current experience caused her to experience the subsequent pain attack. And, upon realization, the patient's current leg pain was decreased by almost half in thirty seconds. Pretty amazing what our emotions can do to our bodies!
• Another patient who was unknowingly holding onto anxiety even after several visits to Dr. Rita as well as pain medication injections during those visits. She finally was able to recognize, confront and release some of the anxiety which resulted in the injections and other pain treatments finally working. Dr. Rita states that, "In an unexpected way, 'Betty' has even become grateful to God for her physical pain. It's her way of recognizing that she's bottling up her emotions. It's like her emotional litmus test for stress."
• Dr. Rita also shares her own story of living for many young years as an overweight child and even more overweight teenager until she finally was able to work to get the weight off by the time she started college. I suggest you read this book to find out more about how she did that and even turned it into inspiration to write this book. (HINT: Don't skip the Introduction!)

And a couple of sections of quote-worthy material:

All-in-all, I would say you should give Dr. Rita's book Radical Well-Being a chance to impact your life, health, and emotions in ways that you may not even realize you need.

And come back here and share your experiences if you do!

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Dr. Rita Hancock. No other compensation was received. The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.

High Five from Haelie

So, if you have followed my blog for very long, you probably know that I am a Mom of Master Books.

As such, I have been blessed to be able to share with you some wonderful books published by Master Books, an imprint of New Leaf Publishing Group.

Now, Master Books would like for me to pick out my top five books I have reviewed for them---or as I prefer to call it---my High Five from Haelie!

This is a difficult task, since I have reviewed MANY of their books and almost ALL of them are my favorite in some way.

BUT---in keeping with the request, here they are with links 
(in chronological order by review date):

BIG Book of History

The World of Animals

Great for God by David Shibley

The Complete AQUARIUM Adventure by Merilee and Bill Clifton

Already Gone by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer with Todd Hillard

So, there you have it!

Now, as you know, I am not the only Mom of Master Books. Please check out the links below for some other Moms of Master Books Fave Five.

Wrecked

Have you ever been wrecked?

No, not IN a wreck---wrecked.

What does it mean to be wrecked?

As I listened to this audiobook version of Wrecked, I had the privilege of hearing the author, Jeff Goins, himself tell me what it means to be wrecked.

I cannot relay to you with the accuracy and passion of Goins what it means to be wrecked, but what I can say is that I think I live in a state of near-wrecked-ness. (Yes, I made that term up.)

To be wrecked, per Goins, is to be so impacted by the need and helplessness of others less fortunate than yourself that you cannot live without thinking of them and tangibly doing for them, with them, and giving to them. And actually, that is truly just a tiny glimpse of what it means to be wrecked. You should listen to Goins describe it to you as I had the pleasure of doing.

In listening to this book, I found myself identifying with the outer edges of the wrecked state, but not yet having been fully affected---not yet fully wrecked. This is why I say I live in a state of near-wrecked-ness.

Now, just a few minutes ago I just finished watching a movie portraying the real-life "Machine Gun Preacher," Sam Childers. I would definitely say that man was wrecked! He went on one trip to Sudan to help repair huts damaged in the Second Sudanese War. During that trip he was wrecked for the children of Sudan and Uganda who were being abducted by the Joseph Kony's "Lord's Resistance Army." His life and mission since then has been and continues to be to help those children tangibly in any way he can---and he does. He is wrecked.

As far as this audiobook from ChristianAudio goes, I highly recommend it. It was especially beneficial to hear it read by the author, as he was able to instill his own passion and intent into each word he wrote as he read it aloud. One drawback of audiobooks is that I am unable to easily quote from them for you since I typically listen to them during my commutes to and from work (which is actually one of the things I love most about audiobooks). So, it's a bit of give and take, but most definitely a rewarding experience.

Disclaimer: I received this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com. No other compensation was received. The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.

While the gumbo simmers...

Mmmm...can you smell it?!

I can!

Homemade Chicken & Sausage Gumbo simmering away on the stove...mmm!

If your taste buds have never had the pleasure of experiencing the unique, tantalizing flavors of gumbo, then just let me be the one to tell you that you are being unfair to those precious taste buds of yours. What have they ever done to you? They deserve the comfort and blessing of this frugal delicacy.

Are you convinced?

Well, I am, so I guess that's what matters at this point, since I am the one who is sitting in a house that smells of simmering gumbo...and I can't even have any yet!

Yep. You've got that right. No gumbo tonight for this tempted soul. This is for tomorrow's lunch!

Why? What? How can I wait, you ask?

Well, it's really not that hard (said the person who tried to convince me to bungee jump...which I never did).

Okay, really though. You see, here's the thing.

Gumbo, like a fine wine, gets better with time. The flavors come together; the textures develop; the aroma thickens with temptation. It's just all around amazing after it has had time to truly come together.

Kind of like life...

You kind of have to understand the process of making gumbo to understand its comparison to life. Here---I'll help you. Stick with me now.

So---"first you make a roux." 

(That's pronounced "roo"---like Kanga-ROO---for you non-Southern folk that might be joining in here.) Yes, all good Cajun recipes start with this famous line---"first you make a roux."

What is a "roux" and how do you make it and why do you make it first, you might ask?

Well, I could tell you, but I would rather show you. But before I do, I must slightly disagree with the "first you make a roux" part. No, before you make the roux, you MUST have every chopped and/or boiled ingredient ready before you proceed. Once you start with the roux, you must stay with the roux---every inch of you is devoted to the roux---head to toe.

Here's why.

Making a roux consists of *gently* burning flour and fat (oil or butter depending on your recipe). I said GENTLY, which means you are cooking them together to the point that they are brown like chocolate and almost nutty flavored---but NOT SCORCHED---which is where the head-to-toe devotion comes in.

You can't rush a roux! It will either get scorched or, if under-cooked, will cause the gumbo to have the taste of raw flour throughout it.

As a matter of fact, my Facebook post tonight about sums it up. "I must say...making a roux & cooking gumbo cannot be done without a WHOLE LOTTA music & dancing...cause it takes a WHOLE LOTTA standing in one place & stirring. Just sharing some experiential wisdom...for what it's worth."

So, before you start the roux, you chop, chop chop. I used some nifty goggles to help keep the tears away while chopping.

Now, let me jump back to the part where I said making a gumbo is a lot like life.

Life involves some necessary though uncomfortable and tear-inducing chopping and boiling along the way. 

You know what I'm talking about, so I don't think I need to go any farther with that analogy. I am sure some vivid examples are sitting at the forefront of your mind right now.

But, without those painful, hot, tearful experiences, 

the outcome just would not be as satisfying nor as sought after.

Now, fast forward through the prep work, and we're back at the roux.

Remember how I described a good roux? The color of chocolate. Nutty flavored. No, I'm not in any way describing a Reese's peanut butter cup, but I am pointing out that you need to remember how delicious and necessary the appropriate outcome is to endure the next part.

As soon as you put the flour and fat (oil or butter) in the pot and turn on the heat, you MUST stand there and STIR, STIR, STIR. No questions asked! A scorched roux ruins a gumbo! (Ask anyone who attended my wedding and sampled the fare...)

Finally, once you have gotten the roux to the desired gently-burnt-not-scorched state, (NO, you DO NOT get to stop stirring...not yet!) you then add in the chopped Cajun Trinity of vegetables (onions, celery, and bell peppers).

And guess what you do now...KEEP STIRRING! (until the veggies are a bit wilted, per Emeril).

Once they are wilted, you add the sausage (in the recipe I made tonight, at least) and you KEEP STIRRING for just a little longer.

THEN, you can FINALLY pour in the water component (I used the stock from my boiled chicken) and...well...yes, KEEP STIRRING...but only until the water and roux start to blend together well and the mixture starts to come to a boil.

THEN, and ONLY THEN, when the mixture finally starts coming together and boiling, you can STOP STIRRING and let it simmer for a while (about an hour) only stirring occasionally (which will feel like a beach-side vacation after all of the CONSTANT stirring you've been doing).

After the first simmer-time, you then go back and add the chicken (for this recipe, at least) and let it simmer some more...a LOT more...like about TWO HOURS more.

Simma' down now! ;)

And of course at the end, you add the finishing touches of some chopped green onions, parsley, and Gumbo File'.

What?!?!?! 

You don't know what 

Gumbo File' is?!?!?!

Of course not. I knew that. Seriously though, it is a very finely ground powder that is made from the leaves of a sassafras tree. We can thank our local Native American ancestors for it. File' (pronounced "FEE-lay") adds a nice earthy flavor and even a unique texture to dishes it is added to. I saw one description that said it is spicy, but Wikipedia, I must disagree. Maybe it's just my Southern taste buds, but no spice detected here when tasting a File' infused dish.

Well, I really wasn't trying to be all Cajun Pioneer Woman or anything with this post, but it looks like I have accidentally tip-toed into food blogging.

Anyway, my real point of all of this is to say that, life takes some hard, intentional, work that is sometimes hot and painful and is sometimes boring and monotonous (except for the awesome Pandora music mixes playing in the background). But like a good gumbo, that starts with lots of chopping and then a good well-stirred roux, that hard work that is put in all the way through pays off each step of the way, but most of all in the end.

You may be tired, achy, bored, and/or hungry for what you have envisioned that final outcome to be; I know I am. 

But, please, please, please, don't cut any corners or stop paying attention along the way.

It will be worth it very soon. God has unexpected, soul-satisfying blessings and paths for you that He will be bringing your way sooner than you think or can imagine. He's not waiting until "the end" to give you all the satiating riches He has in store for you. He is changing your current desires to match His desires for you so that He can give you the desires of your heart HERE and NOW! And many more are awaiting you and me in eternity, which by the way is not "the end" but merely "the beginning!"

So, don't scorch your gumbo!!! 

STIR, STIR, STIR 

and then enjoy the fulfillment of its rich flavors 

and inviting textures at the appointed time. 

Remember, if you have to wait to dig into it, that's not a bad thing. 

It gets better with time.

But as for me and my real gumbo, I'll be enjoying mine tomorrow, thank you very much! 

(By the way, I was inspired to write this post to also help you understand that, if you have wondered where I have been in my writing and reviewing, I am here...cooking stirring my gumbo. My life is full of interesting, time-consuming, energy-consuming, and mind-consuming ingredients right now, so please know I am here and will be writing as able. But, in the meantime, I am stirring and waiting...while the gumbo simmers...)

How about you?

Is your gumbo raw, scorching, simmering, 

or finally offering you the delectable product 

of all of that hard work and monotony?

Please share!