R & R: Relationship and Religion by Ricky Sanderson

Why do relationships fall apart?
Why do couples break each other’s hearts?
How can one have lasting, healthy, and fulfilling relationships?

Learn from these short stories of individuals and their good and not-so-good life events and struggles.
Restore your relationships with a little R&R.

About the Book

Author Ricky Sanderson is tired of seeing couples destroyed because of relationships that went south. So, in his book, R&R Relationship and Religion, he centers into an important basic theme: restoration of relationships.

This book is more than just a collection of short stories; the individuals have shared their life events – both the good and bad – and have demonstrated how God can effect change in a relationship when couples place Him first in their lives. It gives a sad but truthful look on the effect of slavery, family torn apart, and no family values.

For far too long, these things have been ignored, that’s why this book examines them and gives suggestion toward healing. God has to play a part… especially if it’s to be a successful relationship.

About the Author

I was born in a little town called Holly Springs, in Mississippi. At the age of two I was abandon by my Biological parents and adopted by Wilson and Olivia Sanderson, who were my Aunt and Uncle. This book is dedicate to them. They showed me what relationships are all about through good and bad times. I wish they were here to enjoy this time. My mom was a Nurse, Hairdresser, mid-wife, and caregiver; She was the best mother any child could have. I never understood many of the things she tried to teach me. Until I left home to joined the NAVY, and later started my own family. She was a strong individual that didn’t mind helping anyone in need. She once told me that in everyone life there will be a time that they could use a helping hand, and if you refuse to lend a hand; than what is your worth? She was an incredible lady. I LOVE YOU MOMMY!

My dad was a rock, he believed in family, I watched him interact with his dad and wanted the same relationship between us. He was close to all the member of the family, he always spent time communicating with them. He told me family relationship has to be strong, because it’s family that you can count on during a crisis. One Memorial Day weekend I was home at his request, to help him around the house. He had gotten up in aged and couldn’t do much. One evening as we sat talking, he leaned over and said, “How do you see me?” I said, “You are my dad, you’re the only father I’ve ever known and I’m proud to be called your son. I love you.” He looked at me and said, I love you too Then he said, if you ever tell anyone I said that I’ll deny it. That was the only time he ever said he loved me, that fall he passed away. I’m glad I got the chance to have him as my father, and if I can be just a bit of the man he was than he did a great job with me, Thank you Daddy.

I’m the father of three wonderful kids Ricky, who is married and has a family of his own. He’s also a musician and song writer, I hope to see his name in lights one day. My Daughter Rachel has a daughter as well, she a great mother. Then there’s my baby boy Ryan, doing his thing very hard working. I have 5 grand kids I am very proud of my kids and I thank God for them. I live in Cape Cod Ma. my life has gone through some changes but I am happy, living in Cape Cod has been an interesting one. I know it was God’s plan that I move here to learn and understand him better. I am an associate minister at one of the local churches, I also teach Sunday school, as well work as a youth advisor for the Greater Fellowship Association of RI and Affiliates. God is truly doing a great work within me so I will be equipped to help someone. I don’t call myself a relationship expert, but I do know what the Bible says about relationships. So I want to share that with others through these short stories. I pray that someone relationship is strengthen by this book. So many negative book on relationships are out and have destroyed marriages and ruin relationships. I hope this book will help restore broken relationships…

Psalm 127:1 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it:

The Carver Literary Arts Society 2010 Anthology

If you’re looking for something comforting but honest… truthful but healing… thought-provoking but adventurous… funny but soulful… then this book is for you.

Author Antoinette V. Franklin shares an anthology of literary arts with these stories of women dealing with abuse, teen abortion, racial pride, internet dating, culture, change, and more.

In this first African American Anthology written in the city of San Antonio, Texas, the author features 16 African-American writers and one Mexican-American writer, who share words that will fill your heart with joy laced with some sorrow.


About the Book
Immerse yourself in poetry, short stories and essays with The Carver Literary Arts Society Anthology 2010.

What began in April 2009 as an appreciation group of African American Literature has transformed the Literature scene in San Antonio into a new cultural experience. This anthology celebrates seasoned writers as well as the novices that are expressing their talent.

Many areas reflect their muse’s special touch and how they have captured her charm. There’s a young poet who spoke bravely about losing a loved one; there’s a poem about fun in the Jamaican sun and witnessing the transformation yet to come. One poet wrote a stirring poem about the Watts Riot; others penned down spiritually uplifting messages that tell the story without preaching.

Experience freedom of expression with the love of words and hope for tomorrow in this collection that celebrates writing of various cultures and backgrounds with the inner voices’ musings that tell the stories passed down and many stories that were lived through.

Find yourself enwrapped with joy, laughter and so many life lessons in these pages.


About the Author
Antoinete V. Franklin is a sixth generation Texan and began writing at the age of six. She is an educator and creative writng teacher in San Antonio, Texas.

frustrating GOD: How Open Theism Gets God All Wrong By Luis Scott

Discover how to mend your relationship with God and learn the paradox of God’s foreknowledge and human free will…

God sees and knows all things, including every individual’s future. But how does His knowledge of the future impact your free will to live your life any way you want to? Pastor Luis Scott offers a challenge to the assumptions of open theism and provides answers that are both refreshing and new in his book, Frustrating God:How Open Theism Gets God All Wrong.

Theologians and laypeople alike have struggled with the extent God's knowledge, the limitations of human free will, and the practical implications these ideas have for everyday life. They ask these important and honest questions:

• Why doesn't God do something about all the evil in the world? 
• How can God answer prayers if He does not know and may not be able to anticipate the future consequences of those answers? 
• How can the apparent conflict between human freedom and God's overwhelming power be resolved? 

These and so many more questions will be answered in this book.

In this challenge to the theological view of open theism, Pastor Scott offers a radically new alternative to the seemingly tense relationship between God's foreknowledge and human free will.

This is the beginning of a journey to a deeper knowledge of the mysterious God of the Bible, the God who baffles everyone but still loves them enough to lay the penalty of sin upon His beloved Son.

The Names of My Mothers by Dianne Sanders Riordan

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1942, Elizabeth Bynum Sanders was a young woman who left home under false pretenses and traveled to Our Lady of Victory, a home for unwed mothers in upstate New York. Shortly after surrendering her daughter for adoption, she returned to her life in Johnston County, North Carolina. She never married and never had another child of her own.

Through writing that is both evocative and straight-forward, nuanced and poetic the author carries us into a world of reunion that is both celebration and challenge. Through story, it brings us into the complexity of the adoption world.

The Names of My Mothers is a moving and powerful memoir that tells of the profound need for connection. It is a story about identity, the hunger one feels for a sense of belonging, and the ineffable significance of blood.



REVIEWS

Carol Schaefer, author, The Other Mother

“Just finished reading Dianne’s beautifully written and inspiring book and I highly recommend it. I hope that it especially reaches adoptees who connect with a mother resistant to reunion, for fear of people discovering her “shameful” secret.”

Ann Attayek Carr, George Mason University

“I could not put this book down. It is not only a beautiful story, it is a work of art – an elegantly written heart song. Having grown up nearby, I know the sleepy southern culture of the period. Dianne brings the members of her birth family alive on the page – I can hear their soft voices and see their faces and feel their grace. Her thoughtful description of the small-town rural culture gave me a new appreciation for my own Southern roots as I could see it and appreciate it through her eves. Her loving, intimate portrayal of her experience is better than a prayer. Get ready to fall in love with this family and this author.”

Keith Elkins, actor

“Last night I sat down to read for a few minutes. But I picked the wrong book. I ended up reading Dianne Riordan’s The Names of My Mothers straight through. Knowing a bit about separation from experience, I was deeply moved by the grace and respect with which the author reached out to find, and then establish a caring relationship with, the biological mother who’d given her up for adoption at birth – as well as by the courage with which her mother responded.”

Mary Herbst, co-author, Have Mercy

“From the beginning of this beautifully crafted book, I felt I was a witness to the compelling experience of the author as she searches for and finds her birth mother. With emotional depth and vivid description, Dianne Sanders Riordan allows the reader to be a part of her journey.”



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dianne Sanders Riordan and her husband Frank reside in Buffalo, NY where they resettled after twenty years serving as a Navy family. They have seven children and thirteen grandchildren.

Dianne received a B.A. in English from Rosary Hill College (now Daemen College). She recently retired from the Mental Health Association of Erie County where she worked as a Family Advocate.

As a member of TRIA (Truth and Reconciliation in Adoption), Dianne’s energies now focus on advocating for open records for all adult adoptees, especially for access to their original birth certificates!

For fun, you can find her strolling the beach (any beach will do!), reading or relaxing with her family. She meets weekly with fellow poets, sharing words and wisdom over coffee or tea. A yearly writing retreat at Martha’s Vineyard helps her keep balanced.

Dianne’s poems can be found in “Women of the Vineyard”, Volumes 1 & 2.