Books by Linda Kay

Unlike a lot of people I know, I had a dad who stayed married to my mother for fifty-eight years. He was in love with her the whole time, and always loved his children, grandchildren, and great granddaughter. My parents were there for me in childhood and adulthood. Were they perfect? No. I wondered sometimes if they really understood me, but I never wondered if they loved me. I always knew they did. You may not be able to relate to my experience at all. Maybe your dad hated you, or maybe he abused you physically, emotionally, or both. Maybe your dad left when you were young, or before you were born, or has been incarcerated for years. Maybe your dad died before you ever met him. Whatever your relationship or lack thereof with your earthly dad, you have a Father who loves you very deeply. You may not have realized it, but He has been here for you all along. He wants a personal relationship with you. You need Him, even if you think you've got it covered now. In this book you will find stories both of what an earthly father should look like as well as what your heavenly Father looks like. If you don't know Him yet, these stories are a good opportunity for you to see what He is like. If you do know Him, you will enjoy reading stories about Him as well as stories about my dad and grandpa. I don't know why God chose me to be so blessed, but I know He wants me to share that blessing with you. Please open the book and be blessed as I take my privilege to share. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" I John 3:1

There are many missing years and little mention of Mary of Nazareth in the Bible beyond the birth of Jesus. I, Mary fills in these missing years with Mary's own story of her emotions and her experiences as she cares for her husband and family. The story is interspersed with quotations from biblical texts to make the story one of historical fiction. She demonstrates her very human responses to events and struggles with her own perception of the promises of Jesus's life. Explore with the author what might have been in Mary's mind and heart.

C. Clyde Squires depicts abiding love in a print of a couple with a child. This artwork is a part of a series of five prints of the stages of love, given to my grandmother in 1916 for her bridal shower. The prints serve as an inspiration for the novels written for each. The first is mother love in Annie's Love, the second is puppy love in Sophie Writes a Love Story, and the third is Out of Darkness to Accepted Love.In love in their high school years, Colin and Carrie marry shortly after graduation while Colin is still in college. Together they face the usual challenges of married life, raising three boys on a farm in the Midwest. As with many women when the children are grown, Carrie reluctantly begins a career in banking. Her life is divided between her children, her career, and her parents in their declining years.The farming business grows substantially, giving them both hope for a happy future. A series of falls and consistent pain in her knees sends Carrie to doctors to determine the cause. The diagnosis of a progressive muscle deterioration changes their future dramatically. Despite the prognosis and their plans for the future, Colin and Carrie work together to research the disease and discover and invent tools to aid Carrie. The love that began in their youth becomes an example of abiding love, one that overcomes all obstacles.The book shares conversations with family members in telling their story. It is filled with laughter, tragedy, and hope for each new day. Those who have faced many life challenges will relate to how the future can quickly change.Books by Linda Kay: Flavors from the Past: Memoirs and Recipes of Wilma Weiland Diekhoff Annie's Love Sophie Writes a Love Story Out of Darkness to Accepted Love

Do you love short poems with double meanings? Do you enjoy reciting alliterations to impress your friends? Would you like to learn how to write different kinds of poetry? Would you like to be inspired by poems about God, Bible characters, and nature? If you enjoy rattling off alliterations, limericks, or other short poems to impress your friends, you will find an alphabet full of alliterations, pages of limericks about Bible characters, and a variety of other short poems about nature. If you enjoy free verse, Japanese poetry, concrete poems, or acrostics, you will find plenty of each to enjoy. If you enjoy learning how to write a variety of poems, you can learn how each kind of poem is written from the explanation at the beginning of each section. There are even pages in this book for you to add your own poems! This book will inspire you to see the truths about God in nature and Bible stories. Many poems about nature also teach a truth about God. Look for the truth about the character of God as you read each poem.

Do you want to serve the Lord, but find it just too hard to be good enough? Do our good deeds really need to outweigh our bad, or is a sincere desire good enough?After God delivered the children of Israel from slavery, parted the red sea for them, gave them manna every day, water from a rock, and made them His special people, the people said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do." (Exodus 19:8)And then what? They said they were afraid to even listen to God (Ex.20:19-21), and they whined and complained, grumbled, disobeyed, and wandered...So are we any different? ''Fraid not, my friend. That is why God said in Ezekiel 36:26-27: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."As badly as we want to fulfill God''s covenant to make us holy and blameless, we can''t do it. And what''s more, He already knows this and has paved the way to fulfill His covenant in us.And this He can only do as we allow. We allow Him by surrendering ourselves completely to His will - His covenant with us.Start each day by contemplating the beautiful character of God and His excellent plan for your life (and for your day). Let Him do His work in you. Let Him fulfill His covenant in you.This book contains 365 scripture passages with a prayer to claim the deliverance promised in each passage.Watch for Bible and Nature Poems, an interactive poetry book, available in the beginning of 2016.

Finding the right book for each student is almost impossible if you serve several hundred students, as most school librarians do. Read It Forward offers an innovative way around that problem: a program that lets librarians saturate the school with a title that encourages middle school students to read for pleasure. As an added bonus, Read It Forward (RIF) creates learning opportunities that can be leveraged across the curriculum.The program presented here is based on the author's experience with a community RIF project that was a collaborative effort among nine middle school librarians from schools with varying needs and socioeconomic levels. This thoroughly practical book takes librarians through the process step by step, offering specific examples of what worked and what didn't, then showing how the process can be extended to almost any book. The author also discusses other aspects of running a successful RIF program-such as getting buy-in from school administrators, the PTA, and department chairs-so that parents and teachers can collaborate in the experience.

The Reading List, a timely memoir that traces the path of a young female journalist thrust into a story involving a famous author and a convicted criminal, considers the symbiosis between journalists and their sources. This book is an astute reflection upon the often-unsatisfying quest for truth.

How a train ride to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 revolutionized the journalism field for women.